Yeah! Anyone remember that one?
While I guess you could compare 'Rock & Rule' with 'Heavy Metal' the movie. 'Heavy Metal' of course being released in 1981 and 'Rock & Rule' in 1983.
I feel about 'Rock & Rule' the same way I feel about 'Spinal Tap' and 'Bad News'. They are both different enough stories to stand on their own, without having to say that this one, ripped the other off.
Mind you, in the end 'Rock & Rule's' ultimate meaning is the same as 'Heavy Metal's' - The battle between good and evil and love with triumph in the end. I find that 'Rock & Rule' is in some ways less constrained than 'Heavy Metal'. Then again, the magazine 'Heavy Metal' had, had years of practice in print with it's artists, on the other hand, Nelvana, the Canadian animation company from Canada (who brought the world animated commercials, kids TV shows and even an animated spot in George Lukas' highly panned 'Star Wars Christmas Special' - probably the only thing cool about that horrid 'special'). The two films differ in that there is far less 'graphic violence' in 'Rock & Rule' than both the 'Heavy Metal' movies 'Heavy Metal' and '2000's F.A.K.K.'
I can't remember where I first saw 'Rock & Rule', for some reason and I believe this because as almost ALL Canadians growing up in the '70's, 80's, CBC was in some places the only channel available... If I HAD seen 'Rock & Rule' on TV, it have been a maybe watered down version.
We did rent a lot of VHS movies in the '80's, so it might have even been then.
I'm pretty sure Mike Fields and I ended up watching while housemates in Vancouver.
We actually went to the Nelvana studios in Vancouver when Fields was still looking for work in the Vancouver film industry. For some reason, I was sure they had something to do with that 1993 Coca-Cola 'Polar Bears' commercial that was so famous on tv... But looking around online it seems that it was 'Rhythm and Hues' who were involved with that commercial and not Nelvana...
So if you haven't opened up a new 'Tab' and searched it out, you're probably thinking, "What the Hell is 'Rock & Rule'. Well it was a Canadian made adult animated movie. Now when I say, 'adult', I don't mean it's a porno, in fact, there's much more nudity in 'Heavy Metal' than there is in 'Rock & Rule'.
'Rock & Rule' is 'adult' because it has scenes of drug use, some 'semi-nude scenes' and what they'd called 'adult themes', and those would be the story somewhat being about a 'evil' arch villain named 'Mok' who's involved with elements of 'Satanism'.
'Mok's' kinda a cross between David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, if that's not the personification of evil right there, I don't know what is!
The story is told in a post nuclear world where there's no humans, but at the top of the pile, intelligent inhabitants of Earth are now mutants, dogs, rats, cats and 'others' that have humanoid forms and speech abilities.
The villain Mok needs a certain sung musical tone in order to bring a massive demon into their world, for what else? The ultimate power!
The 'good guys' are some goofy musicians headed up by 'Omar' and 'Angel' a couple that hints at kinda being Blondie (Debbie Harry) and Chris Stein.
The soundtrack has amazing songs by Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Lou Reid, Earth Wind And Fire and Iggy Pop.
The 'evil' undertones and graphics are pretty outstanding, in fact, like 'Heavy Metal' the animation is pretty sleek for it's time, seeing as the movie was attempted to be released in 1983, they must have began work on it maybe in late 1979 or so.
I say, 'Attempted release' because there was a deal with MGM but while Nelvana was making the animated movie, management changed at MGM and the new powers that be, didn't quite dig the movie as much as their predecessors did and they shelved the movie when it was finished.
Although according to Wikipedia, it was shown in limited runs in the US as well as a movie fest in Europe. It did end up being released on VHS (but was very hard to find, although I know for certain that from somewhere in the 1980's to when Fields and I watched it, that it was on VHS then).
There appears to be two versions of the film, a Canadian cut and an American cut (with some different voices for characters).
The film has developed a 'cult' following through it's many showings on Showtime and HBO in the 1980's and '90's.
If you get a chance, check it out, it Rocks! Truly, it's a Rock Opera! And that's another thing that distinguishes itself from 'Heavy Metal' the movie.
'Rock & Rule' 'Heavy Metal' and 'Heavy Metal - F.A.K.K.' make a great evening of animated Metal, Rock and Pop music.
You should also check out sometime 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News!' (1983).
Done a year before the much more well known, if not infamous 'Spinal Tap'.
'Bad News' is a .... Mocumentary of a Rocumentary.... and really pokes fun at the New Wave of British Heavy Metal' that began to sweep the globe in the early 1980's, giving us bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon & Def Leppard, to name a few of the more popular bands of that era.
'Bad News' is a movie spin off from the comedy gang of 'The Comic Strip Presents', who had a reasonably popular TV show in the UK called 'The Young Ones' which ran in the UK in 1982-'84.
'Bad News' follows the trials and tribulations of the London area Indie Metal band called 'Bad News'.
A documentary film crew follows these rag tag, egotistical, constantly screwing up musicians as they climb from obscurity to semi-obscurity to a total implosion, all in one movie.
In it's sequel - though I think it was released at the same time, 'Bad News... More Bad News' has the same documentary crew catching up with the gang from the band as they are asked to reunite, get a record contract and then play a fatal show at the very real and famous 'Monster's Of Rock' festival in the UK (with bands on the bill such as, Ozzy, Motorhead, The Scorpions and others).
While living in Vancouver, a mutual friend of Mike Fields and I were introduced to this movie and we found it so hilarious that we never returned the video and watched the VHS so many times we had to track down and obtain a new VHS copy (which I still have to this day), we had rendered the original copy we had pilfered unwatchable...
If you love or hate 'Heavy Metal', search out 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News' and check it out!
Personally, I find the 'Bad News' movies to be a hundred times funnier than the 'Spinal Tap' movie(s).
Fields and I found that the guys in 'Bad News' reminded us of some people we knew growing up (kinda like Trailer Park Boys) and that made us laugh even harder. We were such fans of the film, I had recorded the 'songs' of the film onto a cassette that we could listen and laugh to at our leisure, seeing as no soundtrack existed for the film.
The antics of this band make the guys in Spinal Tap look like they are of 'Iron Maiden's' status, even though there's some similarities between 'Maiden' and 'Bad News'
If 'Bad News' doesn't make you laugh your guts out and spit your beer across the room, I'll give you your money back!*
*no I won't
While I guess you could compare 'Rock & Rule' with 'Heavy Metal' the movie. 'Heavy Metal' of course being released in 1981 and 'Rock & Rule' in 1983.
I feel about 'Rock & Rule' the same way I feel about 'Spinal Tap' and 'Bad News'. They are both different enough stories to stand on their own, without having to say that this one, ripped the other off.
Mind you, in the end 'Rock & Rule's' ultimate meaning is the same as 'Heavy Metal's' - The battle between good and evil and love with triumph in the end. I find that 'Rock & Rule' is in some ways less constrained than 'Heavy Metal'. Then again, the magazine 'Heavy Metal' had, had years of practice in print with it's artists, on the other hand, Nelvana, the Canadian animation company from Canada (who brought the world animated commercials, kids TV shows and even an animated spot in George Lukas' highly panned 'Star Wars Christmas Special' - probably the only thing cool about that horrid 'special'). The two films differ in that there is far less 'graphic violence' in 'Rock & Rule' than both the 'Heavy Metal' movies 'Heavy Metal' and '2000's F.A.K.K.'
I can't remember where I first saw 'Rock & Rule', for some reason and I believe this because as almost ALL Canadians growing up in the '70's, 80's, CBC was in some places the only channel available... If I HAD seen 'Rock & Rule' on TV, it have been a maybe watered down version.
We did rent a lot of VHS movies in the '80's, so it might have even been then.
I'm pretty sure Mike Fields and I ended up watching while housemates in Vancouver.
We actually went to the Nelvana studios in Vancouver when Fields was still looking for work in the Vancouver film industry. For some reason, I was sure they had something to do with that 1993 Coca-Cola 'Polar Bears' commercial that was so famous on tv... But looking around online it seems that it was 'Rhythm and Hues' who were involved with that commercial and not Nelvana...
So if you haven't opened up a new 'Tab' and searched it out, you're probably thinking, "What the Hell is 'Rock & Rule'. Well it was a Canadian made adult animated movie. Now when I say, 'adult', I don't mean it's a porno, in fact, there's much more nudity in 'Heavy Metal' than there is in 'Rock & Rule'.
'Rock & Rule' is 'adult' because it has scenes of drug use, some 'semi-nude scenes' and what they'd called 'adult themes', and those would be the story somewhat being about a 'evil' arch villain named 'Mok' who's involved with elements of 'Satanism'.
'Mok's' kinda a cross between David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, if that's not the personification of evil right there, I don't know what is!
The story is told in a post nuclear world where there's no humans, but at the top of the pile, intelligent inhabitants of Earth are now mutants, dogs, rats, cats and 'others' that have humanoid forms and speech abilities.
The villain Mok needs a certain sung musical tone in order to bring a massive demon into their world, for what else? The ultimate power!
The 'good guys' are some goofy musicians headed up by 'Omar' and 'Angel' a couple that hints at kinda being Blondie (Debbie Harry) and Chris Stein.
The soundtrack has amazing songs by Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry & Chris Stein, Lou Reid, Earth Wind And Fire and Iggy Pop.
The 'evil' undertones and graphics are pretty outstanding, in fact, like 'Heavy Metal' the animation is pretty sleek for it's time, seeing as the movie was attempted to be released in 1983, they must have began work on it maybe in late 1979 or so.
I say, 'Attempted release' because there was a deal with MGM but while Nelvana was making the animated movie, management changed at MGM and the new powers that be, didn't quite dig the movie as much as their predecessors did and they shelved the movie when it was finished.
Although according to Wikipedia, it was shown in limited runs in the US as well as a movie fest in Europe. It did end up being released on VHS (but was very hard to find, although I know for certain that from somewhere in the 1980's to when Fields and I watched it, that it was on VHS then).
There appears to be two versions of the film, a Canadian cut and an American cut (with some different voices for characters).
The film has developed a 'cult' following through it's many showings on Showtime and HBO in the 1980's and '90's.
If you get a chance, check it out, it Rocks! Truly, it's a Rock Opera! And that's another thing that distinguishes itself from 'Heavy Metal' the movie.
'Rock & Rule' 'Heavy Metal' and 'Heavy Metal - F.A.K.K.' make a great evening of animated Metal, Rock and Pop music.
You should also check out sometime 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News!' (1983).
Done a year before the much more well known, if not infamous 'Spinal Tap'.
'Bad News' is a .... Mocumentary of a Rocumentary.... and really pokes fun at the New Wave of British Heavy Metal' that began to sweep the globe in the early 1980's, giving us bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon & Def Leppard, to name a few of the more popular bands of that era.
'Bad News' is a movie spin off from the comedy gang of 'The Comic Strip Presents', who had a reasonably popular TV show in the UK called 'The Young Ones' which ran in the UK in 1982-'84.
'Bad News' follows the trials and tribulations of the London area Indie Metal band called 'Bad News'.
A documentary film crew follows these rag tag, egotistical, constantly screwing up musicians as they climb from obscurity to semi-obscurity to a total implosion, all in one movie.
In it's sequel - though I think it was released at the same time, 'Bad News... More Bad News' has the same documentary crew catching up with the gang from the band as they are asked to reunite, get a record contract and then play a fatal show at the very real and famous 'Monster's Of Rock' festival in the UK (with bands on the bill such as, Ozzy, Motorhead, The Scorpions and others).
While living in Vancouver, a mutual friend of Mike Fields and I were introduced to this movie and we found it so hilarious that we never returned the video and watched the VHS so many times we had to track down and obtain a new VHS copy (which I still have to this day), we had rendered the original copy we had pilfered unwatchable...
If you love or hate 'Heavy Metal', search out 'Bad News' and 'Bad News... More Bad News' and check it out!
Personally, I find the 'Bad News' movies to be a hundred times funnier than the 'Spinal Tap' movie(s).
Fields and I found that the guys in 'Bad News' reminded us of some people we knew growing up (kinda like Trailer Park Boys) and that made us laugh even harder. We were such fans of the film, I had recorded the 'songs' of the film onto a cassette that we could listen and laugh to at our leisure, seeing as no soundtrack existed for the film.
The antics of this band make the guys in Spinal Tap look like they are of 'Iron Maiden's' status, even though there's some similarities between 'Maiden' and 'Bad News'
If 'Bad News' doesn't make you laugh your guts out and spit your beer across the room, I'll give you your money back!*
*no I won't
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