The facts as they happened... Many people who consider themselves to be avid fans of the once thrash-based speed metal group Metallica, know very little, as you will find if you try to sit down and have a two-sided discussion with them as to what really happened to Metallica. I mean some of these people do not even realize that there was breath of life in the group long before the "Black Album" as so many of us now refer to the precursor to the "made for TV music" on their next two albums, appropriately entitled Load and Reload. The first of these being a load of crap fed to the general public, and touted by the band's reigning rhythm guitarist, James Hetfield himself as the "music that Metallica had always wanted to play, but were afraid no one would really like." If he had only taken those words to heart a little deeper, things may have turned out differently. Reload is also an apropos title for their second lousy album. The fact that it is nothing more than a rehash of the first of these two lousy albums, dressed up, or at least an attempt has been made obviously to dress up this album by way of various usage of old much more popular, and meaningful ballads. This makes the title perfect for this album. However the very usage of these beautiful and insightful lyrics and music from previous eighties smashes, does nothing more than introduce the new Metallica "fans" as they like to call themselves to the very reason Metallica became such a phenomenon in the early eighties. And it further leads these otherwise uninformed individuals to form ideas based on the half-truths, and at times, absolute fallacies found in the two recent albums, this is because now these older, more solid songs are lost in a swirling sea of commercialism and consumer byproducts, namely ignorance. For those of you in the cheap seats out there, simply put.... Metallica finally sold out, and this is a compilation of the events leading up to, and the results of this decision on the part of the band members. I have listed in a table form the past members of the band, and those that currently perform under the name "Metallica".
| METALLICA BBC-- (before the buzz cuts) | METALLICA ABC-- (after the buzz cuts) |
|---|---|
| James Hetfield--vocals, rhythm guitar, lyrics | James Hetfield--vocals, rhythm guitar, lyrics |
| Dave Mustaine--vocals, lead guitar, lyrics | Kirk Hamett--lead guitar, lyrics |
| Cliff Burton--bass guitar | Jason Newsted--bass guitar, lyrics |
| Lars Ulrich-drums, lyrics | Lars Ulrich--drums, some lyrics |
As you can see, much has changed since the original band was formed, and shortly thereafter, performed at Radio City in Anaheim, California on March 14, 1982. For instance, The band's original bassist, Cliff Burton was killed in an accident involving the band's own tour bus. Former Flotsam and Jetsam bassist, Jason Newsted, then replaced him. Dave Mustaine, a wonderfully talented guitarist went on to form his own band. Dave was replaced as well as possible with the talents of Kirk Hamett. And for some reason unbeknownst to all of their fans, Lars and James gave the duties of writing the lyrics to both Jason and Kirk, a change that any true thrasher would agree was a huge mistake. Eventually, Kirk Hamett, admitting he was a bisexual turned the band onto the neo-nazi, skinhead style haircuts. This, I personally feel worked as a sort of "Samson" effect upon the group. Samson was the biblical character, with unheard of strength that allowed the beautiful Delilah to cut his hair, to show his love for her. When she had done the deed, Samson realized his lovely long mane had been the source of his amazing strength. Truthfully, Metallica's downfall was due to bad judgement, I believe, but it is interesting to note that shortly after Jason, then Kirk, then Lars, and finally James cut their defiantly long locks, the band seemed to lose its strength, of character, at least. The band's main driving forces, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich both had major influences for previous groups of the era. James enjoyed the satanic stylings of a well- known heavy metal rock band when he was a teen, which called itself Black Sabbath. He also appreciated the arrogant attitudes that came along with listening to well-known and loved guitarist, Ted Nugent. Motorhead, a less popular group in the early eighties, influenced James' own style of delivery of the lyrics. This can be heard in later songs, such as The Unforgiven, and Holier than Thou. Here James' voice, as the lead singer of Motorhead, Lemi's voice was known to do, would fade out towards the end of specific verses, for impact, to make the audience listen just a little harder for that last drowning syllable. It can be an amazing effect when heard live, in a sea of screaming head-bangers. Though the album on which these two well-known songs appear is one of Metallica's later achievements, it shows the talents of all the current members of the band. Kirk Hamett's screaming leads on his ESP guitar continue on in the "Black Album", the last album to ever wear the badge proudly, of "music with a message". Lars, also an original with the band was influenced by Motorhead as well as his classic rock favorite, Deep Purple. This second band was well known for its attitude music, which held a melodic twist within its drum "riffs"--a concept foreign to most of today's percussionists. Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine were greatly enamored of Iron Maiden. Cliff, of the accompaniment of the band's bass guitar in its music, and Dave by its original operatic lead singer, Paul Dianno who made his voice yet another instrument in Maiden's band. In the short time that Dave Mustaine was a member of the Metallica band, he helped Lars, and James write a few Metallica tunes including The Mechanix, which used to be a Metallica song exclusively but was later taken by Dave for his own band. Metallica used the original tune to create a similar song entitled The Four Horsemen. Dave however was booted out of the band, following one of his still infamous alcohol binges. His behavior was beginning to interfere with the business end of becoming famous as far as the other members of the band were concerned. And so on the band's trip to New Jersey, after Dave's particularly unattractive display of puking on and cursing at the executives and fans enroute to sign with Megaforce Records, the three other members of the band, Cliff, James and Lars made the painful business decision to permanently remove Dave Mustaine from the band. This was unfortunate for both Dave, and Metallica, because Mustaine was and is still one of the top five guitarists in the world, and Metallica is still one of the top five selling bands out there. But so is Megadeth, Dave Mustaine's own band, which he formed after being ousted from Metallica. Almost as a vendetta on Dave's part, he began Megadeth in the winter of 1983. Megadeth was awesome in its own right, putting out such obnoxiously popular albums as Peace Sells, But Who's Buying? The lyrics of this album were, as are even now most of his songs, based on an idea of anti-establishment. Maintaining one's freedoms is first and foremost with Dave Mustaine, and it shows in his music. It was no accident that the lyrics "Slay all the giants..." is found within the song, Hangar 18, referring to the supposed secret place the government keeps things hidden from the public. The song is an account of a man caught in the middle of a government in which large governmentally funded corporations, called "defense contractors", is maintaining secrecy concerning Area 51. This now-famous place has been a sore spot for our government since the nineteen forties. It is said to be the top-secret area, in Roswell, New Mexico, to house the only known captured alien space vessel in the history of the United States. I mention this for the sole purpose of contrasting it with the empty lyrics which follow so closely in the footsteps of the "born again into TV land" members currently playing the music of Metallica. These are not the same people who, at the tender age of 16, were wowing folks at the Whisky a Go-Go with their amazing bass solos, and unheard of guitar bends and slides. The attitude of the eighties is gone now, and what we, the public are left with is a diluted, or even more accurately, watered down version of the fiery group that would make us ask questions about our government, our society, and ourselves. This band will forever be remembered fondly by die-hard fans of days gone by, as the band with the melodic attitude. As Dave Mustaine said so eloquently on his album by the same name, "Rust in Peace". A rundown on the music of which I have been speaking for a page and a half now, and my short critiques about each will now follow:
Kill 'Em All, The first album to hit American record stores featuring the original demo song entitled Hit the Lights, is a call-to-arms, to join the "Metal Militia". These were considered the people who refuse to accept what is spoon-fed to them by the radio airwaves. Back when this was released, on Megaforce Records, you would have had to travel to Houston Texas, and search on the AM dial to find even one of these songs on the air. One of the songs on this early album, called Whiplash, quickly became a sort-of headbanger's anthem. It is titled after what over-zealous fans often were recovering from back then after a night at a Metallica concert. It is in fact still a major part of the band's live set. No Remorse, another song found on this album is considered today as it was in 1983 to be a message to end fighting and wars. This song may in fact be seen by metal thrashing headbangers as a message to the industry of conformists and therefore society at large, that the days of institutionalizing creative diversity are numbered, saying such things as "No remorse, no regret, we don't care what it meant. Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath...No remorse."
In their second album, Ride the Lightning, Metallica challenges itself as a band to create and perform the most difficult instrumental changes of any thrash band to date at that time. This is obvious when listening to the track entitled Trapped Under Ice in this epic about a person whose life seems to be as if drowning and trapped under a thick sheet of ice, the changes in tempo are notable. Lars Ulrich lets the listener know what is coming during the instrumental breaks in the song. Kirk Hamett, a long time student of classical guitar and composition, shows his stuff during the lead guitar breaks in this and in other songs such as Fade To Black, a ballad about the grim contemplation of suicide. The changes in this song are incredible, and become songs within the song. The chorus speaks to people who just can no longer accept the pain of reality. The lyrics are powerful, and flow in rhythm with the tempo rising to show the fast-beating heart of the person thinking of taking his own life. The words are this in the last stanza, "No one but me can save myself, but it's too late. Death greets me warm, now I will just say goodbye." The song then repeats the instrumental chorus line, adding a new sort of symphonic ending, with Kirk Hammet throwing in a few "licks" on his guitar. The whole song fades, until it is gone completely, leaving you gasping for breath, as if you are the one who has just made the decision to continue your life, after wishing to end it all. The effect of this song on a person's outlook, following a listen to its words and music are remarkable to say the least. Many people, since the release of the album, Ride the Lightning in 1984 have written to thank the band for inspiring them through this song to continue on with their own lives instead of simply snuffing them out. Creeping Death also appears on this album, and although parts of this song are borrowed from the rarely heard song, Dying By His Hand. The lyrics to Metallica's version in Creeping Death are based on the film The Ten Commandments. Throughout the lyrical part of the song, you can hear echoes of Moses speaking to the Pharaoh, and the angel of death vowing death to all in families of Egypt who do not paint their door with the blood of the lamb: "So let it be written. So let it be done. I'm sent here by the chosen one. So let it be written. So let it be done. To kill the first-born pharaoh's son. I'm creeping death."
Garage days, Revisited was an album designed to get new bassist, Jason Newsted into the Metallica "vibe", and make his name known to Metallica fans. This short compilation of songs is generally cover tunes from other bands, revised by Metallica. One of these songs, Last Caress/Green Hell is featured on the EP. This is actually a duo of contrasting Misfits covers, the first, morbidly humorous parody of the pop song format. Such words can be heard as "I got somethin to say, I killed your baby today. Doesn't matter much to me, as long as it's dead. The other half of this duo is hard core from beginning to end. In fact, few serious Misfits or Metallica fans actually know the words to this song. It is famed that if a listener were actually "high" enough, they may be able to understand the lyrics, otherwise it is a cacophony of sorts to any ear. It all ends with the band's hilarious, but painful false start of Iron Maiden's Run To the Hills. This album, which sold in 1985 for $5.98 dollars in America was removed completely from publication, and then from the sales venue by 1988, and so it is consequently one of the rarest, and therefore most valuable artifacts you can possess relating to any album collection of Metallica music.
And Justice For All marked a change in the original pattern of progress for Metallica. Elektra Records, signing the band in January of 1986, released this new and different LP. A brilliantly orchestrated, and wonderfully executed composition, entitled simply One made And Justice For All one of the top selling albums of the year. This song, as many of Metallica's songs were, is anti-war, and anti-government. It is the heart-wrenching story told in song of a soldier who has lost all of his limbs, and is also deaf, blind and mute. Much as the poor subject in an earlier song from the Ride the Lightning album, the soldier in One is trapped this time, in his own thinking, feeling body. He simply cannot convey his wishes to anyone. He wishes to die, and desperately begs, though silently to his caretakers to "Kill me--Kill me". After the album's release, some fans that had purchased the new album, and heard the song, One wrote to the members of Metallica and told them of a movie with a very similar plot line called Johnny Got His Gun. The band, for use in their first music video, purchased rights to the film. This was the beginning of the end for Metallica. By purchasing the filming rights to the controversial movie for use in their first video, they also had acquired the bragging rights that they were now "One", as in "number one" on MTV; a channel then devoted to music and the videos that sell records. It must have been interesting, to see the boys jamming for all they were worth in the black and white music video, learning how many days Metallica's new video could stay on top as number one. But I was sure that this kind of limelight couldn't last forever, not remaining healthy at least. A first indication that this was a short-lived fame for true Metallica fans would have been when the video plummeted from number one to number seven in one day after remaining number one for three whole weeks! There was a real logic behind this dethroning of the kings of commercial thrash. The fact was that as long as all the loyal Metallica fans kept phoning into MTV to vote the One video as number one choice, all of the viewers loyal to the cause would have to sit through an agonizing forty-five minutes watching other types of music. During this time, one of the nimrod wannabes, that had coined themselves "VJ"'s, like Adam Curry clicked off, and showed in their entirety, all the other NINE videos that fell in popularity below Metallica's masterpiece. This meant that all thrash fans, for three weeks, had to sit through a video of Queensryche's popular Eyes of a Stranger, which featured clips from a Mickey Rourke movie, called Angel Heart. This was do-able for most thrashers, I believe, but then there was a video of Winger, She's only Seventeen-ugh! And then Warrant's horribly boring song, Where the Down Boys Go. And so on and so forth. So the natural solution was to make sure that their beloved thrash group, Metallica and their wonderfully soulful video One came on first in the countdown. So Metallica fans around the country stopped calling the countdown hotline, and Metallica quickly plummeted in the ratings to number nine, and eventually number ten. See how they did it? All head-banging thrashers welcome, no waiting! And there you have it; Metallica fans, just didn't really care what the heck TV ratings mean. Testimony to the fact that they somehow still thought it was about the music.
As with the Beatles' "White Album", the "Black Album", otherwise known as Metallica, is a sort of farewell performance preserved for posterity. Instead of preserving it on vinyl, as with the Beatles' album, the "Black Album" was recorded onto chrome tape and later, compact disk, and released under Elektra records in August of 1991. More videos, all black and white followed. And even some memorable music was recorded. The short but to the point, Holier Than Thou contains words that no one can deny they haven't at least felt like screaming at some such family get together. Such phrases as "No more--the crap rolls out your mouth again. Haven't changed, your brain is still gelatin. Little whispers circle around your head. Why don't you worry about yourself instead..Ahh!!" The "Ahh" is, by this time, a patented sound following many sentences sung by the now famous James Hetfield. The actual "Ahh" sound was first available for listening on the 'Lightning album, following a severe cold which James had contracted while visiting Lars Ulrich's parents in Denmark. James and the others were nervous that the lead singer would sound too different to his fans, but the sound, when he first croaked it for copy in 1984, seemed to fit the band's edgy image. The "Black Album", mainly due to commercial hype, debuted at number one and stayed there for four weeks in 1991. Other interesting tunes on the album include The Unforgiven, a song commissioned by United Artists for the band to write. It was to accompany the movie by the same name, starring Clint Eastwood, as a bedraggled cowboy, trying to escape his past. It is an excellent song in its own right. In fact, many people liked the song much more than the movie for which it was originally written. It was the band's first song to include orchestral instrumentation. It details a person, much as Eastwood's character in the movie, who is mentally beaten into conformity while constantly being denied any hope of being an individual. This album marks the beginning of a new Metallica. The One video, and its subsequent popularity sparked the interest of commercial money-makers in the industry, and the whole concept of "Made for TV" music had a snowball effect on the industryas a whole. This idea was not lost on the members of the band. When writing and then producing their next album, the band, now fifteen years old, it's current members in their mid thirties, seemed out to prove that they could "hang" with the younger generation. Unfortunately, in their search for the fountain of creative youth, the band's music actually seemed to regress. Metallica, which had always been on the cutting edge of music, was now floundering for new ideas. What they came up with for their next album was nothing more than a sad excuse for a tour. The album, Load showed a breaking down of both their dynamic style and image. One of the better songs, King Nothing proves that you can't teach an old dog a new way to complain about society. The lyrics are even remakes of other bands. Rhyming and meter are lost on this song, showing the band was by then grasping at straws too old and brittle to hold the weight of the band's past successes. Here they are showing everything old is even older than anyone remembers.
