Everyone take a moment of silence to remember Britain's Owen Brown, who passed away at the ripe old age of 87. He was a thousand times more metal than you.
Brown passed away in his home in Herefordshire on Saturday, August 24, though he'll still be kickin' it in the afterlife come his final funeral procession out of Weobley Church, where his family will be blasting Megadeth's "Skin Of My Teeth." According to Brown back in 2009:
‘‘It [was] great because I can play it as loud as I want [out in the shed where he listened to his music]. I can sit back with a drink and listen to Megadeth with no worries in the world. When all the kids were at home they would often ask me to stop playing it or turn it down but it’s only worth listening to at full blast.”
Brown's son Michael had this to say about his father:
“When I used to say ‘it’s my dad’ [listening to loud metal] they could hardly believe it. I used to think everybody’s dad was the same until I got to 18 and realised how special he was. Music was his lifelong passion. He started with rock ‘n roll on the old wind-up gramophone, moved on to 60s bands like Cream, the Doors and Eric Clapton and just kept getting heavier and heavier. He used to listen to music in the hop kilns. He was quite amazing really.”
And:
“Because he wasn't well he’d often be up in the night listening to a programme called Planet Rock. He’d be there at 2am listening to really loud rock music. His hearing was fine, he just liked it loud.”
That's right… as he got older, he only got progressively heavier. How metal is that? Brown said about his love of metal in 2009:
“Rock has a great exciting rhythm that other music doesn’t have. Most people grow out of it but I just never did and still listen to rock as much as possible and will probably listen to it for the rest of my life now.”
Rest in peace, Brown. You were one hell of a fan.
[Photo credit and story via Western Daily Press]
