VH1 CLASSIC Celebrates Metal With A Memorial Day Weekend Marathon

This Memorial Day weekend VH1 Classic documents more than 30 years of one of music's most passionate genres with "Metal Weekend". Beginning on Friday, May 23 the network "for classic music lovers" sets the stage for a heavy metal marathon including some of the most memorable concerts, chilling documentaries, and all-access looks at the artists behind this powerful and often controversial music genre. Throughout the weekend metal fans everywhere can saturate themselves with music from KISS, METALLICA, JUDAS PRIEST, PANTERA and more.

VH1Classic.com will also join the metal madness with extensive programming online. In addition to premiering "My Playlist: Judas Priest" simultaneously with the on-air premiere on Friday, May 23, the online home to all things classic music will offer a massive amount of metal playlists including "40 Greatest Metal Songs", "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock", "Box Set: Metalica", and "Box Set: Kiss". Additional video compilations, playlists and video content will rollout online at the beginning of the weekend.

* "My Playlist: Judas Priest" Premieres on VH1 Classic and VH1Classic.com Friday, May 23 at 8:00 PM ET/PT

VH1 Classic's "My Playlist: Judas Priest" features the band's top ten videos of all-time. In a new and exclusive interview, viewers will hear from the band about the videos they loved back in the day and the ones that still get them excited today. Videos that will be featured include "Rock You Like A Hurricane" by the SCORPIONS; "Practice What You Preach" by TESTAMENT; "Ace of Spades" by MOTRHEAD, and "Breaking the Law" by JUDAS PRIEST.

* "Classic in Concert: Mtley Cre - Carnival of Sins" Premieres on Friday, May 23 at 9:00 PM ET/PT

The premiere of the newest installment of "Classic in Concert" captures the original CRE members Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee in 2005 in a stage show that sets a new standard. This "circus gone bad" concept takes place under a circus tent stage complete with demonic clowns and a fire-breathing midget, seductive aerialists and demonic clowns that will keep you roaring for more. The CRE prove themselves still more than capable, playing a mixture of old favorites and new songs to a crowd of equally mixed ages as the crowd goes wild for songs like "Dr. Feelgood" and "Girls, Girls, Girls".

* "Behind The Music: Pantera" Airs on Saturday, May 24 at 10:00 PM ET/PT

In the early '90s, when hair metal was being sheared from the charts by grunge and earnest hard-rockers like GUNS N' ROSES and PANTERA righteously flew the hard-edged heavy metal flag, almost single-handedly saving the genre from extinction. On the road, PANTERA's traveling show was legendary for its debauchery. Vinnie Paul and the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott were known to imbibe a cocktail or ten before, during and after gigs. "Behind the Music: Pantera" uncovers the true story of this resilient, hard-rocking band.

* "VH1 Classic Rock Docs: Metal - A Headbanger's Journey" Airs on Sunday, May 25 at 9:00 PM ET/PT

The film follows 30-year old anthropologist and avid metal music fan Sam Dunn's journey into the heart of heavy metal to study the plight of a different culture, one he has been a part of since he was a 12-year old: the culture of heavy metal. Dunn sets out on a global journey to find out why this music has been consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned and yet is loved so passionately by its millions of fans. Throughout the film, fans weigh in, as well as metal gods including RUSH's Geddy Lee, Ronnie James Dio, Alice Cooper, MOTRHEAD's Lemmy, musician and horror icon Rob Zombie, MTLEY CRE's Vince Neil and IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson about the stereotypes of heavy metal music and why this music genre is still loved so passionately by millions of fans. This documentary is the first of its kind. It is both a defense of a long-misunderstood art form and a window for the outsider into the spectacle that is heavy metal.

* "Rock and Roll Picture Show: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster" Airs on Sunday, May 25 at 11:00 PM ET/PT

Award-winning filmmakers Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger (of the "Paradise Lost" films on HBO) direct "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster", a documentary about rock stars in therapy. After 20 years of heavy metal, a few members of METALLICA decide to hire psychologist Phil Towle to work out some group tensions during the making of their album "St. Anger". Band members Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett work through the difficulties of the group's dynamics, personal demons and relationship issues. The film also features recording sessions, the recruitment of bassist Robert Trujillo, the much-publicized controversies of Internet file-sharing, and Hetfield's drug rehabilitation.

* "Heavy: The Story of Metal" Airs on Monday, May 26 at 8:00 PM ET/PT

What Ken Burns did for jazz, VH1 does for heavy metal only a lot louder. "Heavy: The Story of Metal" traces the evolution of heavy metal music and culture, from its dark, grim beginnings in Birmingham, England to the worldwide force that it remains to this day. In a series of four chronological hours, "Heavy: The Story of Metal" explores four decades of music, each hour examining this powerful and often misunderstood genre, from metal's pioneers to its love of glam and excess; from the fight for metal's rebellious soul to its storied flirtation with the devil.