Brian Slagel (born February 14, 1961) is an American

music executive A music executive or record executive is a person within a record label who works in senior management and makes executive decisions over the label's artists. Their role varies greatly but in essence, they can oversee one, or many, aspects of a re ...

. He is the founder and CEO of the independent record label

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...

. Slagel is known for having initiated the ''

Metal Massacre ''Metal Massacre'' is a series of compilation albums released through Metal Blade Records. It is famous for "shedding light" on bands such as The Obsessed, Trouble, Overkill, Metal Church, Metallica, Slayer, Virgin Steele, Hellhammer, Voivod, ...

'' series of compilation albums in 1982, the first of which included the first commercial recording by Metallica. Metal Blade has since released seminal albums by Slayer,

Mercyful Fate Mercyful Fate is a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann. Influenced by progressive rock and hard rock, and with lyrics dealing with Satan and the occult, Mercyful Fat ...

, Cannibal Corpse, Fates Warning, Amon Amarth and The Black Dahlia Murder, among others.

Biography

Slagel grew up in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...

, and with an early love of heavy music, began working at a rock record store, Oz Records, as a teenager.German, Eric. ''"Behind the Screams Part 2: Interview with Brian Slagel"'', a
Metal Update.com
last accessed December 5, 2006. With the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

sweeping the underground metal scene, bands such as

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), ...

and Diamond Head were virtually unknown in the US, outside of the tape trading underground. Slagel began importing NWOBHM records, and noticing a public interest in European metal, organized one of the first metal fanzines, ''The New Heavy Metal Revue''. As the fanzine started to pick up steam, Slagel began working as a columnist for ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'', ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

Magazine'', and other music publications. In 1982, Slagel organized the release of a compilation album, featuring all local Los Angeles metal bands, called ''The New Heavy Metal Revue Presents Metal Massacre''. The album featured the first recordings of

Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...

, Steeler,

Black 'n Blue Black 'N Blue is an American heavy metal band from Portland, Oregon, United States. The current members are lead vocalist Jaime St. James, bassist Patrick Young, drummer Pete Holmes, and guitarists Brandon Cook and Doug Rappoport . The band ...

, Malice, Avatar,

Cirith Ungol In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, and ...

, Bitch and Metallica. The album quickly sold all 5,000 copies that were printed, and led to a distribution deal with

Enigma Records Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. History Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/d ...

in 1983. Slagel founded

in 1982, and released albums by Warlord, Bitch, Armored Saint and Slayer's '' Show No Mercy'', which sold 40,000 copies worldwide. Metal Blade quickly expanded, signing bands such as Trouble,

Flotsam and Jetsam In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the r ...

GWAR Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

, Sacred Reich, and

Corrosion of Conformity Corrosion of Conformity (also known as COC) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 1982. The band has undergone multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with guitarist Woody Weatherman as the sole const ...

, and although the label's roster expanded, Slagel ran the company alone until 1988. With heavy metal's popularity exploding in the late 1980s, many Metal Blade artists began moving to major labels. After the expiration of their distribution deal with Enigma Records, Metal Blade entered a partnership with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, who would distribute and market some of the independent label's releases, but Warner was soon bought by Time, Inc, and incorporated into WEA. At the same time,

Body Count A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...

's "Cop Killer", also released on WEA, was causing controversy, and after public backlash, the band was dropped from WEA. Following Body Count's troubles, WEA introduced new policies regarding controversial lyrics, and attempted to censor

's '' America Must Be Destroyed''. Not wanting to compromise the artistic integrity of any Metal Blade acts, WEA and Slagel parted ways in 1992, with Metal Blade giving WEA the

Goo Goo Dolls The Goo Goo Dolls are an American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by guitarist/vocalist John Rzeznik, bassist/vocalist Robby Takac, and drummer George Tutuska. After starting off as a cover band and then developing a punk sou ...

, and receiving a distribution deal with

RED Distribution RED Music, stylized RED MUSIC, formerly RED Distribution, LLC (Relativity Entertainment Distribution) was a Sony-owned sales and marketing division that merged under The Orchard in 2017. RED previously handled releases for more than sixty i ...

. Until 2010, Metal Blade was one of the top independent heavy metal record labels, with a roster of over 30 bands. Slagel also appeared in the documentary film '' Metal: A Headbanger's Journey'', concerning the album bans of Cannibal Corpse in multiple countries, as well as the thrash metal episode of ''

Metal Evolution ''Metal Evolution'' is a 2011 documentary series directed by anthropologist and filmmaker Sam Dunn and director, producer and music supervisor Scot McFadyen about heavy metal subgenres, with new episodes airing every Friday at 10 pm EST on Mu ...

''.

References

External links

Metal Blade Records official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slagel, Brian American music industry executives Businesspeople from Los Angeles 1961 births Living people