Metal Sludge
Metal Sludge is a glam metal, hard rock and heavy metal website founded in 1998. It has spawned various tours (known as Metal Sludge Extravaganzas) as well as an album. Male fans of the website are referred to as "Sludgeaholics", while female equivalents are known as "Sludgettes".
The website has been featured on VH1 and various rock music magazines in the past due to the groupie section of the website and "Penis Chart" where groupies share their sexual experiences with rockstars.[citation needed]
History
Metal Sludge was founded in 1998 by Stevie Rachelle, front man of glam metal band Tuff, and his friend Shawn Card.[citation needed] For much of its early years, and the years which it gained most attention, the two of them were anonymously writing on the website via pseudonyms. The pseudonyms used most prominently were "Jani Bon Neil" (made up of the names Jani Lane, Jon Bon Jovi and Vince Neil), "Bastard Boy Floyd" (a play on the band Pretty Boy Floyd's name), "Taime 'Sex' Slaughter" (made up of the names Taime Downe, Steve "Sex" Summers and Mark Slaughter, "Donna Anderson" (made up of the names Donna D'Errico and Pamela Anderson, both ex-wives of Mötley Crüe members Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee), and "Ozzy Stillbourne" (a play on the name Ozzy Osbourne).
Metal Sludge's approach was antagonistic, utilizing humour, but at the same time it was in a tongue-in-cheek manner as the website did support the bands it covered. Their first large rivalry was with Gerri Miller of the now-defunct Metal Edge magazine; a magazine which once covered glam metal, heavy metal music and hard rock.[citation needed] After 6 years, in August 2004, the pressure on Stevie Rachelle got too intense, and he came forward as running the site.[1] This simultaneously led to a falling out between Rachelle and Card which ended in a lengthy lawsuit.[citation needed]
Sludgeaholics and Sludgettes
One personality that emerged from Metal Sludge was C.C. Banana. Inspired by a 2001 Metal Sludge article about Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille, C.C. Banana went on to become a comedic entertainer in his own right.
Other notable Sludge personalities included Evel Dick, who went on to win Big Brother 8, and Static Beth, who created a website showing rock stars' and other famous men's penises.
Rachelle and Card worked together for all facets of the site.[citation needed] Card suggested a monthly pinup girl, the name of which was taken from the band Insane Clown Posse and their fan base being referred to as Juggalos or Juggalettes.[citation needed]
Merchandise and CDs
A line of T-shirts, long sleeves, hoodies, baby dolls, hats, panties, and work shirts were launched. The "Metal Slut" line was introduced in tank tops, baby dolls, and g-string panties. The logo was identical to the Metal Sludge logo only the word Sludge was substituted with the word Slut. The site also sold custom baseball jerseys, hoodies, work shirts, ski beanies and flex fit hats with embroidered Metal Sludge logos.
The site released Hey That's What I Call Sludge Vol – 1 on CD in 2003. This was a play on the Now That's What I Call Music CD series. The CD featured 24 tracks by artists who were friendly with the website. Featured artists included: Sum 41, Lit, Metal Skool now known as Steel Panther, Bowling for Soup, FireHouse, Supersuckers, Wednesday 13, Jizzy Pearl of Love/Hate, Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot, Tuff, former Warrant guitarist Billy Morris, and The Wildhearts.
The Original Gossip Board
The website forum has 30,000 registered members, with several sub-forums. In the past, various celebrities from the era have found their way onto the boards and traded blows with fans. This includes regular visitors Tracii Guns, guitarist of L.A. Guns, Skid Row guitarist Dave Sabo, Robbie Crane of Ratt, photographer Neil Zlozower and Steve Summers, lead singer of Pretty Boy Floyd.
Interviews: 20 Questions, Rewind, 3-Wind, Back 4 More, and 10 questions
The website has conducted hundreds of interviews over the years, with artists from all walks of the rock community. Some examples include Steven Adler of Guns n' Roses, Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, King Diamond and hardcore punk legend Henry Rollins from Black Flag. Metal Sludge has also interviewed various members of more obscure hair bands such as Nitro, Sleez Beez, Kik Tracee, Killer Dwarfs, and more.
As well as rock and metal musicians, interviews are also conducted with pornstars like Jenna Jameson, and professional wrestlers such as Chris Jericho & The Blue Meanie. Interviews have also been conducted with the girlfriends and former-girlfriends of rockstars such as Bobbie Brown and Donna D'Errico.
An artist's first interview is called a "20 Questions" interview, if the person interviewed returns for further ones in the future they are referred to as a "Rewind", "3-Wind" and "Back-4-More" respectively. There is also an interview titled "10 questions" which interviews new talented up and coming bands, and more obscure rock acts and artists of the 80's era.
Metal Sludge exposes people who have agreed to do an interview but later backed out due to the nature of the questions or other reasons. These people are placed on the "Pussy List", which includes Sebastian Bach, Marilyn Manson and Joey Belladonna.[2] If a person has been placed on the Pussy List, but has later agreed to the interview, they are removed from the list. Phil Lewis is an example of this.
Metal Sludge Extravaganza
The Metal Sludge Extravaganzas (MSE or MSX), are a series of tours organised by the website over the years. Below is a list of bands and musicians who have performed at the events:
- MSE: Hair of the Dog, The Phil Lewis Band, Head-Set, Saturday Marketm Ground and Rover's Pinky.
Hosted by: Kendra Jade
- MSE3: Metal Skool, Hollywood Roses, Whole Lotta Rosies and Storyteller.
Hosted by: Ralph Saenz and Josie Pearl.
- MSE4: Metal Skool, Jeff Pilson's Underground Moon, Halfcocked, Psychic Mafia and Belly Love.
Hosted by: Jasmin St. Claire and The Blue Meanie
- MSE5: Faster Pussycat, Every Mother's Nightmare, Aqua Net, Lynam and Medicine Mann.
Hosted by: Kendra Jade
- MSE 2003: Faster Pussycat, Enuff Z'nuff, Pretty Boy Floyd and Crash Kelly.
Hosted by: C.C. Banana and others at each stop
- MSE7:Donnie Vie (of Enuff Z'nuff), Billy Morris Band, London Calling, Chad Stewart, Dave Brooks, The Erotics, Cheap Vinyl and State of Being.
- MSE9: Metal Skool, WWIII, Killingbird, National Dust and Madison Paige.
Hosted by: Jasmin St. Claire and The Blue Meanie
- MSE10 (MSEX): Donnie Vie (of Enuff Z'nuff), American Dog, Ground Zero, Billy Morris Band, All Star New Years Sludge Jam (featuring; Stevie Rachelle, Donnie Vie and Drew Hannah from the band Wildside), Bombshell Crush, Motortramp, The Cherry Pops, Mad Margritt, Amps 2 Eleven and Subtones.
Hosted by: Nate S. Axel
Celebrities & columns
Famous musicians have written columns for the website. Rikki Rockett of Poison wrote for the "Dear Dr. Rockett" section. In addition, Scott Ian of Anthrax wrote during the "Sludgevivor" contest which was a direct parody of Survivor the TV show.
Tour diaries were also featured. Contributors included the band AntiProduct, Ron Keel of Keel, Wednesday 13 the former Murderdolls singer, Mike Tramp of White Lion, and Jizzy Pearl (of LA Guns, ex-Love/Hate and ex-Ratt frontman).
In pop culture
- At the beginning of the Murderdolls video for "White Wedding", the Metal Sludge character Jani Bon Neil is mentioned.
- Evel Dick from Big Brother 8 is a former Sludgeholic of the Month and a long-term supporter of the site.