Rob Munday

On this day 30-years ago, armed with a video-camera borrowed from a local public access station, filmmakers John Heyn and Jeff Krulik took to the car-park of the Capital Centre in Maryland and documented the gathering of heavy metal fans there to watch a Judas Priest concert. Leaving with an hour’s worth of footage that the duo cut down into the 17-minute film Heavy Metal Parking Lot, what started as a project to branch out into the field of documentary would go on to become one of Rolling Stone’s ’40 Greatest Rock Documentaries’.

Transporting its viewers back to a time when big hair, mullets and denim was the go-to uniform for those that rocked, it’s easy to see why Heyn and Krulik’s film has become cult viewing in certain circles. Brimming with bold statements and hilarious moments, although the filmmaking is basic point and shoot stuff, the magic of Heavy Metal Parking Lot is very much in the great characters they’ve captured on screen.

Decades later, the footage might have started to look tired (there was no HD available to burgeoning filmmakers back then) but Heyn and Krulik’s short has certainly lost none of its charm over time. Originally gaining notoriety through copied VHS tapes passed from friend to friend, you could say Heavy Metal Parking Lot was one of the first short films to go viral. Now looking to maintain its popularity online, we hope a new generation can discover this classic short film that has surely inspired a host of filmmakers and entertained a community of Rockers.