Music lovers and tourists pay homage to Liverpool, home of the Beatles, or they go to Manchester to pay tribute to Graeme Park and the Happy Mondays; but strangely enough, only a few make the trip to Birmingham, the birthplace of groups like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Napalm Death. All this might change with the exhibition Home of Metal, at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; a celebration of the city and the surrounding Black Country, home to some of the biggest bands in the rock arena.

International heavy metal became famous in the 1980s and 1990s and bands such as Iron Maiden came on to the scene; later this type of music benefited from globalization of media, with the rise of the Internet. Home of Metal traces the music back to its Black Country origins. A mixture of leather jackets, and a large range of memorabilia are all around the museum; there are also listening posts where fans and visitors can listen to interviews to bands from decades ago.

The display of the Birmingham Museum focuses on the early life of Tony Iommi, guitarist and founder member of Black Sabbath. When he was 17, as a sheet metal worker, he was injured when a machine sliced off the tips of two fingers on his right hand. The musician thought his guitar-playing days were over until a friend introduced him to one of the best guitarist, Django Reinhardt, who lost the use of two fingers in a fire; this inspired Iommi to give the guitar another try using plastic tips on the ends of his fingers. As a result, songs as “Iron Man”, “War Pigs”, and “Children of the Grave” were born.

Artist Mark Titchner describes heavy metal vocals as “very creative”; he affirms that heavy metal music treats words as distorted and broken up, changing the sense. He believes that heavy metal music is a tool to liberate the voice, almost as riding a horse into a battle. The atmosphere at the Birmingham Museum is very intense; it feels as if one has taken a dive into the heavy metal world and nothing else matters. Even “nonbelievers” are affected by it. The exhibition is a must see and it takes place from today through September 25th.