23 Movie Ads From Heavy Metal—How Many Have You Seen?

23 Movie Ads From Heavy Metal—How Many Have You Seen?

Hats off to R.M. Rhodes*, who is engaged on a massive and fascinating project all about Heavy Metal magazine. Rhodes inherited his father’s collection of Heavy Metals, which was complete through the mid-90s; add that to his own collection (the 2000s—present) and some issues from his cousin (to fill in the late ’90s) and the guy has a complete run of Heavy Metal from issue #1 to present day. On his Tumblr blog (heavymetalmagazine.tumblr.com), he’s posting a page from Heavy Metal every day, starting with the early issues and moving forward. He’s not publishing them in strict order, nor is he publishing complete stories—the effect is a pastiche that gives a general sense of what Heavy Metal was at any time and how it’s evolved.

And he’s publishing all sorts of pages—not just illustrated ones but also articles and reviews, and bits of interviews. And advertisements. Advertisements are interesting documents because they paint a portrait of who the Heavy Metal reader was thought to be. The 23 movie ads below cater to the Heavy Metal audience of the mag’s first decade—put simply, you won’t find ads for Annie Hall, Ordinary People, or Terms of Endearment.

How many of these have you seen—how closely does your taste track with the (presumed) taste of Heavy Metal‘s readership from 1977-1978? These are mostly mainstream releases, so we expect some readers will score very high—although #10 might prevent anyone from getting 100%. Give it a shot.

*This is a tentative “hats off,” until or unless our lawyers advise us otherwise.

May 1978, "National Lampoon's Animal House"
May 1978, “National Lampoon’s Animal House”

November 1978, "Dawn of the Dead"
November 1978, “Dawn of the Dead”
January 1980, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"
January 1980, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
June 1980, “Where the Buffalo Roam”

March 1981, "Altered States"
March 1981, “Altered States”
June 1981, “Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams”

December 1981, “Modern Problems”

June 1982, "The Thing"
June 1982, “The Thing”

June 1982, "The Road Warrior"
June 1982, “The Road Warrior”

June 1982, "MegaForce"
June 1982, “MegaForce”

June 1982, "Blade Runner"
June 1982, “Blade Runner”

September 1982, "Pink Floyd: The Wall"
September 1982, “Pink Floyd: The Wall”

October 1982, "National Lampoon's Class Reunion"
October 1982, “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”

December 1982, "The Dark Crystal"
December 1982, “The Dark Crystal”

February 1983, "Videodrome"
February 1983, “Videodrome”

May 1983, “Doctor Detroit”

July 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
July 1983, “National Lampoon’s Vacation”

August 1983, “Private School for Girls”

April 1984, "Bachelor Party"
April 1984, “Bachelor Party”

July 1984, "Gremlins"
July 1984, “Gremlins”

July 1985, "National Lampoon's European Vacation"
July 1985, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”

August 1985, "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"
August 1985, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome”

Summer 1987, "RoboCop"
Summer 1987, “RoboCop”

23 Movie Ads From Heavy Metal—How Many Have You Seen?

23 Movie Ads From Heavy Metal—How Many Have You Seen?

Hats off to R.M. Rhodes*, who is engaged on a massive and fascinating project all about Heavy Metal magazine. Rhodes inherited his father’s collection of Heavy Metals, which was complete through the mid-90s; add that to his own collection (the 2000s—present) and some issues from his cousin (to fill in the late ’90s) and the guy has a complete run of Heavy Metal from issue #1 to present day. On his Tumblr blog (heavymetalmagazine.tumblr.com), he’s posting a page from Heavy Metal every day, starting with the early issues and moving forward. He’s not publishing them in strict order, nor is he publishing complete stories—the effect is a pastiche that gives a general sense of what Heavy Metal was at any time and how it’s evolved.

And he’s publishing all sorts of pages—not just illustrated ones but also articles and reviews, and bits of interviews. And advertisements. Advertisements are interesting documents because they paint a portrait of who the Heavy Metal reader was thought to be. The 23 movie ads below cater to the Heavy Metal audience of the mag’s first decade—put simply, you won’t find ads for Annie Hall, Ordinary People, or Terms of Endearment.

How many of these have you seen—how closely does your taste track with the (presumed) taste of Heavy Metal‘s readership from 1977-1978? These are mostly mainstream releases, so we expect some readers will score very high—although #10 might prevent anyone from getting 100%. Give it a shot.

*This is a tentative “hats off,” until or unless our lawyers advise us otherwise.

May 1978, "National Lampoon's Animal House"
May 1978, “National Lampoon’s Animal House”

November 1978, "Dawn of the Dead"
November 1978, “Dawn of the Dead”
January 1980, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"
January 1980, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
June 1980, “Where the Buffalo Roam”

March 1981, "Altered States"
March 1981, “Altered States”
June 1981, “Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams”

December 1981, “Modern Problems”

June 1982, "The Thing"
June 1982, “The Thing”

June 1982, "The Road Warrior"
June 1982, “The Road Warrior”

June 1982, "MegaForce"
June 1982, “MegaForce”

June 1982, "Blade Runner"
June 1982, “Blade Runner”

September 1982, "Pink Floyd: The Wall"
September 1982, “Pink Floyd: The Wall”

October 1982, "National Lampoon's Class Reunion"
October 1982, “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”

December 1982, "The Dark Crystal"
December 1982, “The Dark Crystal”

February 1983, "Videodrome"
February 1983, “Videodrome”

May 1983, “Doctor Detroit”

July 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
July 1983, “National Lampoon’s Vacation”

August 1983, “Private School for Girls”

April 1984, "Bachelor Party"
April 1984, “Bachelor Party”

July 1984, "Gremlins"
July 1984, “Gremlins”

July 1985, "National Lampoon's European Vacation"
July 1985, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”

August 1985, "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"
August 1985, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome”

Summer 1987, "RoboCop"
Summer 1987, “RoboCop”

23 Movie Ads From Heavy Metal—How Many Have You Seen?

Hats off to R.M. Rhodes*, who is engaged on a massive and fascinating project all about Heavy Metal magazine. Rhodes inherited his father’s collection of Heavy Metals, which was complete through the mid-90s; add that to his own collection (the 2000s—present) and some issues from his cousin (to fill in the late ’90s) and the guy has a complete run of Heavy Metal from issue #1 to present day. On his Tumblr blog (heavymetalmagazine.tumblr.com), he’s posting a page from Heavy Metal every day, starting with the early issues and moving forward. He’s not publishing them in strict order, nor is he publishing complete stories—the effect is a pastiche that gives a general sense of what Heavy Metal was at any time and how it’s evolved.

And he’s publishing all sorts of pages—not just illustrated ones but also articles and reviews, and bits of interviews. And advertisements. Advertisements are interesting documents because they paint a portrait of who the Heavy Metal reader was thought to be. The 23 movie ads below cater to the Heavy Metal audience of the mag’s first decade—put simply, you won’t find ads for Annie Hall, Ordinary People, or Terms of Endearment.

How many of these have you seen—how closely does your taste track with the (presumed) taste of Heavy Metal‘s readership from 1977-1978? These are mostly mainstream releases, so we expect some readers will score very high—although #10 might prevent anyone from getting 100%. Give it a shot.

*This is a tentative “hats off,” until or unless our lawyers advise us otherwise.

May 1978, "National Lampoon's Animal House"
May 1978, “National Lampoon’s Animal House”

November 1978, "Dawn of the Dead"
November 1978, “Dawn of the Dead”
January 1980, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"
January 1980, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
June 1980, “Where the Buffalo Roam”

March 1981, "Altered States"
March 1981, “Altered States”
June 1981, “Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams”

December 1981, “Modern Problems”

June 1982, "The Thing"
June 1982, “The Thing”

June 1982, "The Road Warrior"
June 1982, “The Road Warrior”

June 1982, "MegaForce"
June 1982, “MegaForce”

June 1982, "Blade Runner"
June 1982, “Blade Runner”

September 1982, "Pink Floyd: The Wall"
September 1982, “Pink Floyd: The Wall”

October 1982, "National Lampoon's Class Reunion"
October 1982, “National Lampoon’s Class Reunion”

December 1982, "The Dark Crystal"
December 1982, “The Dark Crystal”

February 1983, "Videodrome"
February 1983, “Videodrome”

May 1983, “Doctor Detroit”

July 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
July 1983, “National Lampoon’s Vacation”

August 1983, “Private School for Girls”

April 1984, "Bachelor Party"
April 1984, “Bachelor Party”

July 1984, "Gremlins"
July 1984, “Gremlins”

July 1985, "National Lampoon's European Vacation"
July 1985, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation”

August 1985, "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"
August 1985, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome”

Summer 1987, "RoboCop"
Summer 1987, “RoboCop”

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