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Cover of Carl's Cars magazine featuring a couple kissing inside a red car.
Page 1 of a 2-page spread titled 'Parking in the Pictures' with a screencap of concertgoers in the parking lot.
Page 2 of a 2-page spread titled 'Parking in the Pictures' with a screencap of 2 concertgoers in front of a car trunk.

Carl's Cars

 

“What makes [this film] so disturbingly funny and worth seeing is the contrast between the hysterical fans in the parking lot and the dream worlds their idols represent.”

About

Every year, Special Collections & University Archives staff work together to create relevant and interesting exhibits on topics that are of interest to the University, the community, and to scholars.

Jeff Krulik and John Heyn’s critically-acclaimed documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot captures the wild exuberance of Judas Priest fans tailgating before a concert in the Capital Centre parking lot in Landover, Maryland on May 31, 1986. In just sixteen minutes of footage, the film immortalizes the hairstyles, vibrant prints, air guitar, beer and cars—not to mention the unbridled enthusiasm for Priest—that characterized U.S. pop metal fandom in its 1980s heyday. Lauded by music fans, journalists, pop culture historians and scholars, Heavy Metal Parking Lot offers both an entertaining and fascinating glimpse of a truly unique subculture.

This exhibit, “Heavy Metal Parking Lot: The 30-year Journey of a Cult Film Sensation,” commemorates the latest milestone anniversary of the film, detailing the circumstances of its creation and describing its unexpected trajectory from tape trading to film festival favorite and ultimately to global phenomenon.

Curators: Laura Schnitker, Jeff Krulik
Project Archivists for the Exhibit: Alice Rogers, Alex Pirela
Graphic Design: Kelly Andrews

With help from: Laura Cleary, Cindy Zhao, Avery Boddie

Find Us

Visit the exhibit at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center located at 3800 The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1625. The Jeff Krulik collection is housed in Broadcasting collections within Special Collections and University Archives at the Hornbake Library.

Hornbake Library is located on University of Maryland’s College Park campus. This library is home to Special Collections & University Archives, the Maryland Room and Exhibition Gallery.

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