Believe it or not, heavy metal is a relatively young genre. We don’t just mean in the span of music as a whole. Though it’s up for debate, what we think of today as heavy metal only dates back to the ’80s and its immediate progenitors to the ’70s.

That’s why when heavy metal first popped up in mainstream consciousness, people were frankly scared of it. It was new and mysterious and unlike anything they had ever seen before. It was loud and abrasive and it wasn’t long before it was blamed for every societal ill possible.

That was the subject of an episode of Couchman Over Australia all the way back in 1992. For those who don’t recall, the show was sort of like SBS’ Insight, in which everyday Aussies who sit on opposing views on a subject were brought into a studio to talk it all out.

The episode is truly something to behold. It opens with a performance from Australia’s own Necrotomy, who became the first extreme metal band to appear on Australian television, and the haircuts… oh, man, the haircuts.

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