I heard this explaination in an interview with Tweedy himself: Jeff grew up just outside St. Louis, and would often go to an area on the St. Louis riverfront known as "The Landing." The Landing is a very cheezy, "touristy" place full of cheezy, "touristy" bars, and the only attraction it held for Tweedy and his friends (or for many St. Louisans, myself included) is that it serves alcohol for several hours after most of the other bars in the city close. So, Jeff and his buddies would go there late at night, and see all the metal heads in their cheesy hair bands. Being "punk" hipsters, Jeff and his friends would sit and make fun of them in their spandex pants and hairspray. They were "too hip" for that scene, and would sit drinking miserably, looking down on the guys in the hair bands. Years later, Tweedy realized that while they were busy mocking these guys, it was the cheesy guys in spandex who were having all the fun. They were having a blast playing in bands with their friends, getting drunk, and getting laid. All Tweedy was doing was being miserable. Jeff now feels that he was foolish for spending his nights mocking these guys, while they were having all the fun. He wrote Heavy Metal Drummer as kind of a tribute from the perspective of the cheesy 80s metal heads.
I heard this explaination in an interview with Tweedy himself: Jeff grew up just outside St. Louis, and would often go to an area on the St. Louis riverfront known as "The Landing." The Landing is a very cheezy, "touristy" place full of cheezy, "touristy" bars, and the only attraction it held for Tweedy and his friends (or for many St. Louisans, myself included) is that it serves alcohol for several hours after most of the other bars in the city close. So, Jeff and his buddies would go there late at night, and see all the metal heads in their cheesy hair bands. Being "punk" hipsters, Jeff and his friends would sit and make fun of them in their spandex pants and hairspray. They were "too hip" for that scene, and would sit drinking miserably, looking down on the guys in the hair bands. Years later, Tweedy realized that while they were busy mocking these guys, it was the cheesy guys in spandex who were having all the fun. They were having a blast playing in bands with their friends, getting drunk, and getting laid. All Tweedy was doing was being miserable. Jeff now feels that he was foolish for spending his nights mocking these guys, while they were having all the fun. He wrote Heavy Metal Drummer as kind of a tribute from the perspective of the cheesy 80s metal heads.