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Ian Christe (born 29 October 1970 in Biel/Bienne) is a Swiss author, disc jockey and the publisher of Bazillion Points Books. He attended Mynderse Academy, The Clarkson School's Bridging Year, and Indiana University Bloomington (1987-1990).
Christe is the author of the heavy metal history book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal , published in English in 2003 and subsequently translated into French, German, Finnish, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Croatian, Italian, Czech, Serbian, and Polish. A weekly radio show known as Bloody Roots was launched in 2004 based on the book, on the Hard Attack/Liquid Metal station of Sirius XM Radio. Hosted by Christe, the show focuses on specific eras or styles of heavy metal, with Christe discussing them in-depth. He also hosted a brief daily spot on the Sirius Buzzsaw channel for several years. His first published work was in the IAN fanzine, and he started as a radio host at WEOS in Geneva, New York, at age 14.
As a freelance magazine writer, his articles appeared in Rolling Stone , Popular Mechanics , Spin , AP , Wired , Revolver , CMJ , Stance, Bananafish , Mother Jones , The Baffler , the Chicago Reader , Warp , Blender , Salon.com, HotWired , Mass Appeal , the Utne Reader , I.D. , and Guitar World . Christe has also made film and television appearances on VH1 Classic, MTV2, VH1, and several metal-related documentaries. He has penned liner notes to releases by Megadeth, Death, Mantas, William Hooker, and others.
His unusual metal band, Dark Noerd the Beholder, appears on the soundtrack to the cult film Gummo . Christe also recorded with the bluegrass band Grouse Mountain Skyride, the experimental drone metal band Kuboaa, and performed during 2000 and 2001 as singer with the Jacques Dutronc "couvert" band Les Opportunistes, one of the first bands of the early 2000s Brooklyn rock renaissance.
In 2007, Christe launched Bazillion Points Publishing to promote books by deserving like-minded authors.
On June 30, 2010 Bazillion Points Publishing released Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-'83 by Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson. The book chronicles the 22 issues of Touch and Go, the DIY hardcore punk fanzine. The zine was the precursor to Touch and Go Records.
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.
Speed metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots. It is described by AllMusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by Washington, D.C., and New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically charged lyrics".
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
Voivod is a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Quebec. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger, guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin and bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault. The band has had numerous members changes throughout its 42-year career, with Langevin as the only consistent member. Their current line-up includes Langevin, Bélanger, Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (guitar) and Dominic "Rocky" Laroche (bass).
Alternative metal is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by heavily downtuned, mid-paced guitar riffs, a mixture of accessible melodic vocals and harsh vocals and sometimes unconventional sounds within other heavy metal styles. The term has been in use since the 1980s, although it came into prominence in the 1990s.
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual transgression".
Avant-garde metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. Avant-garde metal is influenced by progressive rock and extreme metal, particularly death metal, and is closely related to progressive metal. Some local scenes include Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle in the United States, Oslo in Norway, and Tokyo in Japan.
To Hell with the Devil is the third studio album by the Christian metal band Stryper, released in 1986. It was the first Christian metal album to achieve platinum status, selling over one million copies. It remained the best-selling Christian metal album until P.O.D.'s Satellite in 2001.
Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Touch & Go carved out a reputation for releasing adventurous noise rock by the likes of Big Black, the Butthole Surfers, and The Jesus Lizard. Touch & Go helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the pre-Nirvana indie rock scene, and helped preside over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock emerging at the time.
Scream Bloody Gore is the debut studio album by American death metal band Death, released on May 25, 1987, by Combat Records. It is considered by many to be "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner, the band’s founder and leader, performed guitar, bass and vocals, and composed all tracks on the album.
Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing is the debut studio album by English hardcore punk band Discharge, released on 21 May 1982 by Clay Records.
Crossover thrash is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and hardcore punk. Other genres on the same continuum, such as metalcore and grindcore, may overlap with crossover thrash.
Liquid Metal is a Sirius XM Radio station broadcasting a heavy metal format. It is carried on Sirius XM Radio channel 42 and DISH Network channel 6042.
Black Death is an American band who have been noted as the "first all-African-American heavy metal band". The group were also mentioned in Ian Christe's book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, and mentioned in Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection by Deanna R. Adams as "one of the only, if not the only, all-black metal bands in the country" in 1987.
Boulder was an American rock band, formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1992. Members of the group had previously played in hardcore punk bands and were heavily influenced by the new wave of British heavy metal. Before releasing their debut album, The Rage of It All, they had toured in several clubs in Ohio. The group's bassist, Jamie Walters, would later play for Destructor and Midnight.
Mutilation is a demo album by American death metal band Death, released in 1986. The following year, the band would release their full-length debut album, Scream Bloody Gore on Combat Records. American heavy metal magazine Metal Maniacs noted that the demo was "the most polished of the early Death recordings" and that "the underground and Combat Records were in agreement about Mutilation".
Reign of Terror is a demo album by American death metal band Death, released in October 1984. An interview of the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner was later re-released in 1985 as “Reign of Terror II” which includes a set from October 1984.
Bazillion Points is a book publishing company owned and operated by author and SiriusXM radio host Ian Christe. It was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in New York. The outfit has successfully produced numerous books by authors recognized as key figures in the creation and development of heavy metal, hardcore punk, thrash metal, death metal, black metal, grunge, progressive heavy metal, and other originally DIY / underground musical movements. These books are known for their authenticity and striking graphic design, and many have found critical acclaim in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, TheGuardian, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, and elsewhere.
