Metalheadz is a major drum and bass record label based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1994 by Kemistry & Storm and Goldie.
Goldie’s early experiences of the rave scene, especially the club Rage had a profound effect on him. DJ Kemistry introduced him to 4hero’s Reinforced Records where he went on to create some design and artwork for them, leading to doing A&R for the label. In his autobiography, Goldie explains how he took a 1991 design created by Darren Bartlett and that he added headphones to the skull design “so that the skull symbolised the head, while the ‘phones were music because music will be here long after we’re all dead and gone.” During a webchat with British newspaper The Guardian, Goldie stated that the design was also inspired by Wolverhampton FC’s logo.
Goldie credits Grooverider with the term “Metalheadz”, coined with reference to Goldie becoming increasingly obsessed with the metal acetates known as dubplates used to test out the latest tunes before release.Metalheadz effectively started out as a “dubplate label” for Reinforced, with the logo first appearing on an acetate for a Rufige Cru track.
DJ Storm recalls Kemistry bringing Goldie to London nightclub Rage: “The night Goldie really ‘got it’, we came back to our flat and he said ‘right, I want to make this music, you’ll be the DJs, we’ll have a label and a club, we’ll make some t-shirts’. That was our dream and that dream became the Metalheadz label.”
01 - Slipmat with Metalheadz logo.
02 - Promo record of “Terminator”, 1992.
03 - Cover of “Expansion” by Eijer, 2024.
04 - CD of “Platinum Breaks”, 1996.
05 - Metalheadz stickers.
