John Kennys Metal Show

[The Heretic]

He liked Skyclad a lot

[Pentagrimes]

Like logically the fact there was a period where the  man gave weekly air time to Beherit's "Drawing down the moon" and Sentenced's "North from Here" on the national broadcaster is pretty nuts if you think about it.

[Eoin McLove]

I can only imagine what my 12/13 year old ears must have made of Beherit back then  DDTM is one of my favourites now.

[Emphyrio]

It seemed Victimised, from Kilkenny, were always on the Irish demo of the week segment.

[Pentagrimes]

and Hollow Point

[Eoin McLove]

A teenage band I was in made it on twice with the same demo under two different names 

It was scutter...

[The Heretic]

JK gets a lot of shit for not being knowledgeable about metal, and maybe not even being remotely into it. I think that's completely beside the point. It was incredible as a young lad to have access to all that music.

Agree, we have to remember that this was pre-internet days mostly where unless you access to MTV Headbangers Ball and the likes, getting to listen to any metal was difficult

[Eoin McLove]

And the odd metal video on The Beat Box!

[The Great Cull]

And not forgetting Suicidal Tendencies on Jo Maxi!

[phil.t.mosher]

JK gets a lot of shit for not being knowledgeable about metal, and maybe not even being remotely into it. I think that's completely beside the point. It was incredible as a young lad to have access to all that music.

Agree, we have to remember that this was pre-internet days mostly where unless you access to MTV Headbangers Ball and the likes, getting to listen to any metal was difficult

Big time... had mates with MTV at that time and would occasionally see HBB, and even get shows on VHS tapes when I was very lucky. Jesus, that seems so insane now... I feel like an oul lad reminiscing about the oil lamps before electrification!  I think it genuinely was better in many ways though - as others have mentioned here, when you have to work to get it, any music you did get was like gold and actually appreciated. Not like the attention econony nowadays where a song might have 30 seconds before someone will flick to the next. Do people even listen to full albums anymore?

It seemed Victimised, from Kilkenny, were always on the Irish demo of the week segment.

Jesus yeah! 

And always putting the shout out for DAT tapes from any bands that had them. They must've been in the minority that did 

[Eoin McLove]

And not forgetting Suicidal Tendencies on Jo Maxi!

I missed that at the time but someone posted it here or on MI years ago. So fucking bizarre 

[Taranis]

As already said, it was mad that Beherit, Sentenced, Darkthrone, Emperor, Enslaved, etc., got airplay on Sunday evening on a national radio station in my last year of primary school and first year of secondary. It was mental to hear stuff on the radio you were reading about in the likes of Ultrakill and Terrorizer, and it was only because of the Metal Show that I wasn't completely lost when I picked up those magazines for the first time.

I remember being delighted when it was mentioned on the Beat Box that there was finally going to be a Metal Show on 2FM, starting that night, even if it took until the second week to tune in (I remember him playing Body Parts by Sodom in the first hour a couple of songs in and As the World Burns by Bolt Thrower in the second). It was always great when John Kenny filled in for Dave Fanning before that, as he would play a few metal songs. I taped Ministry's Just One Fix and two Richard III songs in August 1992 when he filled in for him, and I suppose positive feedback to that led to the show starting in September or October.

It really should have started earlier, as 1992 was when loads of lads were getting into rave and yokes, which decimated the potential listenership.

I have a few tapes from the early years still. Lost the best one in 1994, alas.

Was it perfect? Of course not, there was no way he could keep everybody happy, and while he was not really into the extreme stuff, he was certainly into many of the metal bands he played. Several of my tapes have him saying things like "I like that album, I must say" (e.g. Always).

I also had the feeling the poor chap was rarely given press-releases or any other info to go with some of the albums and had to wing it and try to figure out what the logos said. To this day, I've not been able to figure out what he meant by the name one of the Irish demos he played in 1994 or 1995.

It did get a bit worse as time went on, but that was as much due to the way metal was moving as to the show itself. There was rarely anything in the first hour worth taping after 1996 or so, but it was still essential listening to hear about gigs, etc., as for the likes of myself in Ennis, it was the only way of hearing about anything (and even then, it was only a fraction of what was going on, at times), especially before the great leap forward in the Irish scene in 1998.

[phil.t.mosher]

I'll be returning to Ireland in August for a week. I'll see if I can find any of my old tapes when I visit my folks

Good man.

Jeez lads if anyone has any old tapes of shows lying around, please do at least consider digitizing them before they degrade to the point where it's no longer possible (if that ship hasn't already sailed indeed - 30 years on, it's going to be down to how they were stored at this stage I'd say).

[Circlepit]

Marcus Connaughton spoke at a college lecture one about music, the music business, radio etc.

When he opened the floor up for questions myself and 2 others bombarded him about The Metal Show.
He seemed to know more about that was in and out when they were doing it.
He said the best person he met was Max Cavalera, quite intense but zero bullshit.

[Don Gately]

Remember Kenny struggling with Deicide's Feasting the beast , think he called it Featuring the beast more than once. Great show got into the Butthole Surfers because of it amongst others. And ProPain of course.