Mike Saunders

Michael Earl Saunders grew up in Arkansas and became a Rock critic and founding member of punk band, The Angry Samoans. Saunders was the first to use the term "heavy metal" as a musical genre; in Rolling Stone (1970) and Creem (1971) magazines. He earned a BA in business statistics from UTexas (1973) and an accounting degree at UALR (1975), which allowed him to hold jobs in accounting and finance thereafter. Originally forming the punk band VOM (1977-78), with Gregg Turner, Richard Meltzer, Lisa Brenneis, Dave Guzman, and Phil Koehn; he and Turner went on to form The Angry Samoans with Kevin Saunders, Todd Homer, and Bill Vockeroth in late 1978. The group released two studio albums, three studio EPs and a live EP (1980-90), before disbanding the initial group. The Angry Samoans garage band sound was topped by politically incorrect lyrics that relied heavily on parody and satire; especially of themselves and the music scene in California, before they drifted into a more Psychedelic '60s style later on. In Saunders writings for magazines like The Village Voice, he made no attempt to intellectualize music but evaluated it in his trademark sarcastic manner. Music journalist Natalie Nichols said the band was "...so blatantly offensive that you can't be offended by it" in, Angry Samoans: True Documentary (1995). Having spent twenty-one years in accounting and finance, Saunders retired in 2009, but has continued to release solo albums as "Metal Mike" and tour with a new group of Samoans.