The first time I met Margaret was at a battle of the bands that Watchtower played at Steamboat when it was on Sixth Street. She was one of the judges. Her and Billy Gibbons were hanging out.
Early on, heavy metal wasn’t recognized much locally in a Fender town. By the time Watchtower was putting on shows with Chris Gates of the Big Boys, down at the Ritz theatre, Margaret was sending young writers from the Chronicle down to review us. She helped me spearhead my whole heavy metal world in Austin when it was not a heavy metal town. She’s as metal as anyone – maybe even more.
People from my side of the street need to realize, when they hear her name, she was helping what my culture has become around here. Hard rock and metal are very accepted here. When I got here, there was no metal. There was a bunch of cover bands and hard rock bands. And I feel like she was one of the ones going, “This punk rock stuff: the Ramones are deserving. The Pistols are deserving. These local bands are deserving. And it’s all coming from the same place, and people need to know about this.”
She was carrying a torch way back when. She cast a wide net and she didn’t leave me out. She was a fire starter at the Chronicle in the early days on a lotta shit. And now look where we all are. It’s crazy.
So, bless her soul with rock & roll. She’s a badass.
This article appears in June 30 • 2017.
