Une petite story-interview intéressante de Thor, où il explique en quoi il était un précurseur
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The music biz has had its share of enigmatic, transcendent characters. David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons. Enduring creatures who will never die.
Jon Mikl Thor is one of these characters, going beyond even the realm of enigmatic. You can call him an entertainer, but that doesn't really do justice to a man who's been a top competitive weight lifter, an actor, a film and record producer, an entrepreneur, a stripper, and a comic book superhero come-to-life fronting a heavy metal band.
"I'm an inventor," said Thor, the self-proclaimed Original Rock Warrior, after a press conference in New York City. "Like Einstein."
This soft-spoken, multi-talented hulk of a man is modest even when comparing himself to the famous theoretical physicist. For 30 years, Thor has influenced major changes in the climate of popular music, from glam and glitter, to metal and big hair, to the aggressive muscle rock of Henry Rollins. But ironically, and unfortunately, you've probably never heard of him.
"I've never had a No. 1 hit," he said. "But I've created an industry over the years."
His industry is his image and his over-the-top live show. If you know Mötley Crüe, Manowar, GWAR, or David Lee Roth, then you know Thor. Since the early '70s, with his sculpted body usually clad in Nordic battle gear, he's been wielding ax or hammer "He-Man"-style, bending steel bars, blowing up hot water bottles until they explode in his face, staging gladiator-type sword fights, and encouraging audience members to jackhammer slabs of concrete off his chest. All the while, he's kicking out sets of glam rock and fueled-up early '80s-type metal such as Judas Priest and WASP.
It's stuff you won't see on a rock stage. Ever. Anywhere.
"People are crazy for theatrical rock again," he said. "I see people in their teens and 20s who've only heard rap and hip-hop, having a great time, pumping their fists. We're a new band to them, not like a nostalgia act."
When Thor was 14, he was quiet, naturally athletic Jon Mikl, living in Vancouver, sneaking out of his parent's house to weight train. He had an obsessive passion for comic book superheroes; he wanted to become one.
"It's that larger-than-life, iconic status," he said. "People are still coming out in droves for movies like 'Batman Begins', 'The Fantastic Four.'"
As a teenager in the early '70s, he won top body-sculpting contests such as Mr. Canada and eventually competed against the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno for Mr. USA and Mr. Universe.
But his love for comics and early heavy metal from Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Iron Butterfly soon overshadowed his drive to compete on the weightlifting circuit. That's when Jon Mikl picked up a microphone and became Thor, the King of Muscle Rock.
"David Bowie was the Thin White Alien, Alice Cooper was the Horror King - I wanted to be the Rock Gladiator," he said.
His parents, polka lovers originally from Austria, didn't quite approve of what he was doing.
"They didn't understand at first," he said. "They wanted me to play accordion."
He took his act to Las Vegas and landed an appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show," performing for even more disapproving people. He stunned the older crowd with a bizarre, pseudo-strip tease, complete with hammer wielding and hot-water-bottle-blowing. He sang a cover of Sweet's "Action," backed by Griffin's orchestra which was desperately trying to pull off the heavy rock song. It was awesomely ridiculous -- in a good way.
"It was a matter of being on stage," he said. "I was honing my craft."
As the '70s melded into the '80s, Thor dropped the pretty-boy act and settled into more of a god-of-metal image, writing songs like "Thunder on the Tundra," "Keep the Dogs Away," and "Let the Blood Run Red." He put on elaborate shows and produced and starred in some of the campiest movies of the '80s, including 1987's "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare."
Musically, Thor disappeared for a while in the '90s, devoting his rainbow of creative energies to producing films. But the call to perform live again was strong.
On his new album, Thor Against the World, Thor rocks out like Danzig starring in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" - all sci-fi effects and super-human lyrics, all wonderfully tacky.
Thor also just appeared with Lou Diamond Phillips in the USA Network movie "Murder at the Presidio," and U.K.'s Classic Rock recently listed him as one of the "Greatest 100 Frontmen of All Time" alongside Jim Morrison, Robert Plant, and even Elvis.
"It's an honor," he said. "People remembering your music all this time."
With the new CD and a hilariously endearing career retrospective DVD, "An-Thor-Logy," the ageless warrior is successfully luring yet another generation of rockers into his lair. He's done it before.
"I read an interview with Vince Neil, and he said he took a lot of his early image (for Mötley Crüe) from my Keep the Dogs Away album," said Thor. "I was before him, way ahead of that. I was the originator."
