Comedian to write his history of heavy metal

Andrew O’Neill has signed a book deal to write about his passion for heavy metal music.

A History of Heavy Metal, based on the comedian’s tand-up show of the same name will be published in March.

Publishers Headline say the book will be ‘a fascinating and laugh-out-loud-funny journey through the music and its subcultures. It will also feature tales about its larger-than-life characters  ‘from the household names of Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to the brutal notoriety of the underground Norwegian black metal scene; from Satanists and murderers to stadium-touring billionaires and toilet-circuit journeymen’.

O’Neill said: ‘Finally My Obsession is paying off! Writing this book will involve pouring a life-long love of metal onto the page, and then doing deep research to check my facts are right, so the end result should be definitive and proper, actual funny.’

Headline’s commissioning editor Richard Roper added: ‘Andrew is a unique talent, and I can’t wait to see him harness the passion and creativity of his superb live show in a book that will appeal to hardcore metal-heads and the uninitiated alike.’

Here is our review of his stage show – and the book is available to preorder here, priced £14.99 in paperback or £9.99 on Kindle.

Published: 5 Aug 2016