Headbangers have a real ball

The idea of a heavy-metal awards show, with paparazzi flashbulbs and celebrity wranglers, seems odd. Metal is outsiders’ music, forged in dank garages by fans for whom Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister is a sex object. But it’s also competitive. The comparative merits of Coldplay versus Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are opaque; questions of which drummers can play 16th kick notes at 180 bpm are debates with answers.

The first American edition of the Golden Gods Awards, curated by metal magazine Revolver and held Tuesday night at Club Nokia in L.A. Live, attempted to settle those epochal arguments in a kind of anti-Grammys. The night’s centerpiece was a performance by L.A. thrash pioneers Megadeth alongside younger acts like Killswitch Engage and Suicide Silence, codifying metal virtues like ferocity and work ethic. And, yes, finally getting a consensus pick as to the “hottest chick in metal.”

Outside Club Nokia, nominated artists and presenters lumbered and posed down the “black carpet” entryway.

San Franciscan fan Jared Johnson joined his friend Tom Tanaka of Orange County at the Golden Gods, because, as he cheekily put it, “We’re bonded by metal. That’s stronger than brotherhood.” Once everyone was inside, the VIP bar became a hive of scene legends and the ghosts of headbangers past. “Hard times call for hard music,” said Alice in Chains singer William DuVall. “There’s a real need for catharsis out there.” Scott Ian, of the old-guard thrash act Anthrax, saw a similar cultural hole for a U.S. metal awards show to fill. “The idea of an awards show in general is kind of lame,” he said. “But now that KNAC isn’t on air, and ‘Headbangers’ Ball’ isn’t on the main MTV, this is a great way to pay respect to metal.”

Some acts weren’t so sure about their place in the proceedings. “I have absolutely zero connection to so many of these bands,” said Aaron Turner of the ambient-metal act Isis, who won the award for best underground band. “Maybe we all liked Guns N’ Roses when we were 12.” Across from Turner, Dio bassist Rudy Sarzo (an ex-member of Quiet Riot, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne’s band) pondered his place in the metal continuum. “It’s a river,” Sarzo said. “The reason why you play metal is because you have to do it.”

The presentations traded the Grammys’ self-congratulation for a stoked bonhomie. Testament singer Chuck Billy triumphantly described his fight with cancer, while Protest the Hero donned gold lame tights to take its award for best viral video. Bleeding Through keyboardist Marta Peterson accepted the “hottest chick in metal” title with chagrin: “I’d like to thank my family for all those piano lessons, otherwise I’d just be another hot chick.”

Megadeth laudably closed the show, and though Dave Mustaine’s cackle may have lost an inch here and there, his fiery playing on “Holy Wars” still thrilled.

After the show, Slayer’s King fielded starry-eyed small talk from fans on the outdoor deck. Revolver editor Tom Beaujour said the Golden Gods proved metal has pageantry. “I’m generally a negative person, but this went way better than I thought,” he said. “Metal has such a fiercely loyal audience, but they laugh at Spinal Tap too.”

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august.brown@latimes.com