Former lead singer of Warlock and full-time metalhead Jerry Warden seeks 501(c)(3) status for a Metal Hall of Fame to go in his home town of Arlington, TX. He has trademarked the name and plans to showcase the memorabilia he has collected over the years of his involvement in North Texas metal.
“We’re just waiting on the nonprofit status,” Warden said, “and then we’ll have a full tank of gas.” Among other exhibits, he plans a display of the “big three” of DFW area metal: Gammacide, Rigor Mortis and Pantera.
Our only caution here at DMU is that “heavy metal” is a much-abused term. Metal-Archives took a sensible position on allowing only metal bands, but then bent that position to include the post-punk hybrid modern metal bands; MIT’s “Heavy Metal 101” takes a similar line-drawing approach. It’s harder for a public display to do that when people are going to come there to spend money based on the expectation of seeing their favorite “heavy metal” bands, whether those have any relation to metal or not.
you forgot to mention that he spent 15 years in prison for assaulting his girlfriend. this is the guy you choose to put on the chover of Deathmetal .org? fuck this site, i’m out.
Yes, I am the guy who spent 15 years in prison for assaulting his gf. I am not proud of my actions. On the contrary, I am ashamed of them. I can say I haven’t had a traffic ticket since my arrest, much less been rearrested for any crime. The incident happened over 20 years ago and I’m not the same punk as I was in those days. I apologize to her and the entire metal community for my actions. I am not mad at u or anyone who takes a hard stance against me. I would b very skeptical myself regarding a person of such questionable character. All I can ask u or anyone else is to give me a chance to prove I’m a better person. I’m not perfect but actually care and want to b a decent person.
I am also the person who’s been a life long metalhead who hopes to create a Heavy Metal HOF to represent the world. Yes, we will have my stuff and a section on the D/FW Metalplex but will begin to collect stuff from all the metal bands ’round the world and display them in the Hall.
I apologize to Death Metal Underground and Brett Stevens for bringing any negativity to your site and thank u so much for posting your piece on the Hall. Sincerely, Jerry Warden / Director of the Heavy Metal HOF
Jerry your a stand up dude man, we all come from our own mistakes brother.
Varg and Faust did much worse and we venerate their contributions to metal’s cause. I applaud Jerry’s efforts and wish him the best in his personal advancements.
I just want to say that Jerry Warden is a friend of mine.
Well said Jerry! Of course we all make mistakes and things we regret. As long as we learn from them and improve ourselves, a person does not deserve to be always on the shitlist for something that happened decades ago.
And apathetic loser you nailed it on the head as well: the black metal scene of Norway made great contributions to metal which are widely appreciated, despite many of the violent acts commited by the scene’s creators.
fuck all the weak ass haters, Jerry was the founder of metal in arlington and deserves everything he is going after. We all make mistakes and ill always be proud to call Jerry Warden my friend
I saw Warlock at Rascal’s (by the river) quite a bit, as well as Rip Laff and Pantera for that matter. Who cares what Jerry did in the past. The man paid his price and that’s all that maters. I was around Arlington in the mid 1980’s and it wouldn’t have been the same without Jerry’s contributions to that kick ass music scene.