John Kennys Metal Show

[jpm4]

I was listening to some RTE Radio one documentary with John Kenny on it, brought back memories of his metal radio show in the 90s.

For me as a teen in the mid 90s it was really important because I knew nobody else into metal except maybe Metallica. Extreme metal CDs often seemed to cost a fortune, so this was the show where I first heard stuff like Emperor, Dimmu Borgir etc, which was mind blowing for me at the time as I had never heard anything like it.

Does anyone else have any fond memories of it? Zag used to appear on it occasionally which was pretty funny.

[Eoin McLove]

Yep.  I listened to it from 92 when it began,  right till the end in 98 or 99. Zag did the Christmas show with the top ten of the year.  Good craic.  It was a weekly fixture for me.

[Kurt Cocaine]

It was John Peel and 'TV on the Radio' (Tommy Vance for you yungers) for me.
I was already earning by the time JK's radio show started so I could afford a couple/few records each week. His show was on a Sunday evening if I remember correctly from the few times I tuned in?

[Carnage]

Usually listened to it on the bus heading back to Dublin on Sunday nights. I distinctly remember hearing a (quite awful) death metal version of I Am The Walrus while passing Bachor's Walk one night.

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[Cailleach]

Ah the highlight of a Sunday evening back then. Zag was funny on the Christmas show. The host didn't really seem to be a fan of extreme metal given his comments about some of the bands.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Sundays from 8 to 10. The only period I listened to it routinely was junior cert year, when it accounted for the two hours of "study" I did a week.

And yeah, was very clear JK didn't really know what was going on with the stuff he was playing, haha. I remember Life is Peachy was a new release one week, not quite a highlight. On the other hand, it was the first place I heard Emperor, among others.

[jpm4]

He was doing the top 10 chart thing I guess around 98/99, I remember he played Curse You All Men and I just couldn't believe it, wanted to hear more of this band. Went into  HMV to see if I could find anything by Emperor - if they had anything at all it usually had an "import" sticker slapped on it and cost 25-30 euro.

Times have definitely changed....

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[jobrok1]

Aul 'JK on the Radio' was on twitter recently saying he had some old interviews from the time with the likes of Megadeth, but they were on DAT and he had no way of converting it.

So... eh!
Anyone have an old DAT machine yokey laying about they could loan him?  😛

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[Juggz]

I always thought the Metal Show came a few years too late. For me, it was documenting the sound of it all turning to shit 

Kenny was alright after a while but he was clearly learning on the job in the early days. Tom Hayes' shows on pirate radio from the late 80's were so much better as Tom was into Metal and what you heard was stuff he was into. Still, it gave local bands some time on the national airwaves which was cool. I gave up on it after a few years, though. In my life, 93 was the last great year for Metal and the great albums were fewer and farther between after that. What was played on the Metal Show was less and less relevant to me as it went on.

[Paul keohane]

Listened to it throught the 90s alright ,but definitely got less relevant towards the end.

As was said above ,definitely in junior and leaving cert years it became a religious listen because of 'study'.

Among all the scutter i did discover some amazing bands.

[John Kimble]

It was grand but as already mentioned here, Kenny's heart wasn't really in it. Always got the impression he was more into more mainstream or traditional rock, as opposed to metal. He did, in fairness, give a bit of exposure to irish bands...i think there was a demo slot every week. The 2nd hour of the show was devoted to the Soundcellar Top 10. I can recall In the Nightside Eclipse occupying the top slot for ages, and Kenny being vocally quite nonplussed by the whole fuss over them. Also announced that he would no longer be playing Once Upon the Cross, in response to whatever backlash it faced upon release. He must have loved Clawfinger (anyone?), cos he played them nearly very fucking week!!