German Metal Attack: Power Metal in and from Germany

Germany is home to a vibrant metal music scene. Yet, despite having been one of the very early metal nations with the second largest metal industry of the 20th century, German bands struggled to stick out of the mass of bands originating in the 1980s and early ‘90s. With role models such as the Scorpions and Accept, many bands believed they needed success in the USA, Britain and Japan to be acknowledged in their home country. Based on more than 1,000 issues of the German Metal Hammer and the British Kerrang! magazines, this chapter identifies different strategies of German metal bands to establish themselves in the metal music scene. While selling out to an American taste neither proved successful on international markets nor in the home scene, many bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian made long-standing careers by truthfully sticking to their characteristic German power metal style, eventually inspiring many followers in Europe and abroad. Without ever having caused a major stir abroad, bands such as Grave Digger, Running Wild and Axel Rudi Pell are celebrated as cult bands in Germany.