In early 1981, aspiring musician Mike Varney released a compilation album on his newly formed label, Shrapnel Records. The record was titled U.S. Metal Guitar Heroes, and its absurd cover depicted a brutal battle scene in which long-haired soldiers in green army uniforms used Fenders and Gibsons to stab, beat and crush enemy soldiers – ones without guitars.
The music on the record was no less lurid. It featured a range of unknown American bands, including Chumbi, a group notable for a vocalist whose falsetto could strip paint; the NWOBHM-inspired Exxe; and New Yorkers The Rods, whose bluesy, bluster ensured they were the sole band on the album to have a career beyond it.
