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AN-THOR-LOGY, 1976-1985
SMOG VEIL
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Jon Mikl Thor has enjoyed one of the most colorful careers in metal, and this retrospective of TV appearances, live footage, short documentaries, ads, and early music videos plays like a real-life This Is Spinal Tap. A self-made cartoon, Thor has starred in cult films bad enough to rate the attention of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 while indulging in flamboyant hard-rock pageantry. He abandoned a career as a successful bodybuilder in the ’70s to front Body Rock, a traveling revue of musclemen who performed feats of strength backed by a band. He soon graduated to "blue musicals" and eventually brought his "muscle rock" routine to Vegas, (poorly) crooning showtunish songs for female crowds. "I know what you’re thinking — it’s a crazy way to make a living," he tells Merv Griffin’s audience while blowing up a hot-water bottle like a balloon, "but I bet Donny Osmond can’t do it." By 1977, he had a Bowie-meets-Conan-the-Barbarian glitter-rock act, bending steel bars to surprisingly tender songs. Trading camp for kitsch in the early ’80s, Thor swung hammers and broadswords in a power-metal band: it yielded his biggest hit, "Thunder on the Tundra." And by 1985, he was a legitimate speed-metal star. A film career was right around the corner, but his music career peaked with a sci-fi video for a song called "Knock ’Em Down." Like its creator, it’s garishly awful and luridly compelling. Jon Mikl Thor + Intercessor: Another Rock ’n’ Roll Nightmare | Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline | Aug 3 | 617.734.2501.
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