WHAT ABOUT ‘HOT METAL’?

IT’S 1989.

Me, a pimply 20-year-old cub reporter (above) from Wollongong has been dabbling for a few months in what I would only term ‘music journalism’ were I at a dinner party (and I never got invited to those).

One of the bands in which I had taken an interest was Poison, a gender-bending glam act from Los Angeles. I purchased Look What The Cat Dragged In on import at Utopia Records and wrote about them in Juke and On The Street. My interest in Poison had led to their ‘groupie computer’ being mentioned in Queensland Parliament (not charitably) when they eventually toured and topped the charts in Australia.

I was approached by a publishing house to provide copy for a poster magazine on these dolled-up pretty boys. These were the glory days of print media folks – and Sydney was said to have more magazines per capita than any other city on Earth. I wrote the copy, faxed it off, the magazine sold insanely well and the publishing house suggested a monthly instalment might be in order.

That is, not a monthly Poison magazine but a publication on the wider world of heavy metal, which the vast majority of people in publishing in Australia were utterly unable to fathom.

Firstly, I was asked to be editor of this risky new mag. I often wonder what exotic course my life would have taken had I accepted, instead of sticking with my gig at Australian Associated Press. I don’t wonder for long though, since it’s still journalism. It’s very doubtful it would have led me to fame and riches.

Secondly, I was asked what the magazine should be called. There were any number of lame candidates, like ‘Heavy Metal’ and ‘Rock Hard’. 

I guess I’d already given this some thought. Over a coffee in Surry Hills, I tossed up: ‘What about Hot Metal?’. There was a pause. My companion said ‘yeah, it’s rock and it’s publishing. I like it’.

And that was how an iconic Australian media brand was born, over a flat white and a toasted cheese-and-tomato. Although I never worked there full-time, I contributed during the next few years as Hot Metal became the gateway drug for hundreds of thousands of people and the world of heavy music.

It was printed in the UK. Its talented editor Robyn Doreian was pinched by Kerrang! After grunge hit it became just HM. In 2011 I brought it back as a website. It went away again in 2020 (like a lot of things).

And here we are.

Hot Metal is back again – and this time I’d like to think it’s permanent. Three pillars will make it sustainable: free content backed by advertising, a paywalled section supported by subscribers and retail. 

Thank you for sticking with is for more than three decades. I hope you’re as excited as I am. I’m not going to make any wild promises as I sit here in early 2022 – except to say I’m petrified by the idea of letting you down. 

Let’s get cracking.

 

STEVE MASCORD

March, 2022