Heavy Metal Parking Lot
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Heavy Metal Parking Lot is a video documentary produced by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn in 1986. It documents heavy metal music fans tailgating in the parking lot outside the Capital Centre (later renamed US Airways Arena, since demolished) in Landover, Maryland on May 31, 1986 before a Judas Priest concert (with opening act Dokken).
By the early 1990s, Heavy Metal Parking Lot had become an underground cult-classic, usually traded on bootleg VHS videotapes. HMPL was reportedly a favorite on the Nirvana tour bus. It is available on DVD in a 20th-anniversary edition.
American Hi-Fi parodied Heavy Metal Parking Lot in their music video for their debut hit single "Flavor of the Weak". The Backstreet Boys also lampooned it in their music video for "Just Want You To Know". Film distributor Cowboy Pictures gave it a limited 35mm theatrical release in 2003, paired with Chris Smith's documentary Home Movie.
In 2004, Trio aired the TV series Parking Lot, which expanded on the 1986 documentary. Created & co-produced by the original filmmakers, John Heyn & Jeff Krulik (in association with Radical Media), eight episodes were broadcast before Trio TV went off the air in 2006. Parking Lot webisodes are available on Trio's website.
Some have speculated that a fan depicted in the movie urging Judas Priest to "play their heart out for the kids" was future United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. [1]
[edit] External links
- HMPL website
- DVD release
- filmmaker Jeff Krulik's website
- IMDB Entry
- Parking Lot TV series
- A Drive Back In Time: Remembering 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot'
- Review by Lucas Stensland
- Q&A: Heavy Metal Parking Lot 20th Anniversary by Metroblogging DC
