You're gonna lose that hand, buddy!
Metallica was one of those bands that took a while to creep into my radar. Back in my college days - the mid-80's, I noticed a long-haired guy carrying an art portfolio case emblazoned with a Metallica logo. Hm, I thought - a band that I knew nothing about, but should investigate someday.
Fast-forward a couple of years, and as I was settling into my first real job in a brand new city, I met a new co-worker who was all about this Metallica band. The guy sure looked the part: long hair, denim this and leather that, all with metal studs and band patches and pins all over the place. The sort of person whose appearance might frighten your mother, but to me, he was just another music fan. A little to the extreme, but still... just a music fan.
Anyway, said headbanger and I began swapping concert stories and whatnot and eventually he offered me a tape (yes, pre-CD era, still) full of Metallica's music. The tape is long gone, but I believe the two albums Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets were on there. Possibly a little of the first album, Kill 'Em All, too. Metallica music was brand new to me... the radio stations I frequented didn't play this kind of metal. And I guess I had been hanging around with the wrong crowd all along, having missed out on this extreme and challenging music.
The Metallica tunes bowled me over. The music was, for the most part, fast, intricate, super heavy, and loaded with attitude. It would take a little while to get to the lyrics, but the vocals were rough and raw and sounded angry just about all of the time. Once the subject matter became more clear to me, I realized this was intelligent writing... at least after the first album. The visceral-cerebral combination appealed to me and it wasn't long until I craved proper versions of Metallica's albums. So out to the stores to grab the cassette tapes, later to be replaced by CDs. I was a hard-core fan by now, wearing the T-shirts and learning the songs on guitar. Woohoo!
When I first saw Metallica in 1989, it was on their ...And Justice For All tour, the first tour after the death of original bass genius Cliff Burton. It would have been fantastic to have witnessed all of the key players of the band's most influential albums, but newcomer on the low end Jason Newsted was competent and generally accepted by the group's legion of supporters.
...And Justice For All, the album, was a bit of a disappointment for me. The songwriting and especially the sound took a backslide. Others may argue that, but I felt that something big was missing on this recording, and the lean, tinny audio just killed it for me. I liked portions of a handful of songs, but mostly, I disliked the album for its lack of bass. Drums were thin taps and bass guitar, if audible at all, sounded like it was plinked on the bottom strings of a 6-string electric. Can't headbang to that.
The concert, on the other hand, was a blast... in every sense of the word. My big gang of fellow Metalli-friends first hit the dive across the road from the arena, where we ate greasy junk food and threw back many pitchers. We got properly primed for that show! The music was loud and violent, as were the fans.... I seem to remember at least a couple of fights breaking out in the crowd, adding even more intensity to the experience. I was huge into Kirk Hammett's guitar playing, but in concert, the ear-shattering volume turned most of his solos into a million razors clattering together. Yet the overall show was pumped full of excitement and adrenaline, just what the doctor ordered.
I would see Metallica again in '91 and then in '97. The 1991 concert was memorable for its inclusion of songs from the recent release of the self-titled Metallica, which I quite liked at the time (though I admit the album didn't have much staying power). The '97 show represented music from the "new" era of the band - post haircuts (always a bad sign), and though I enjoyed the oldies they played, the most current stuff wasn't even worth a yawn.
Still, those early discs and tours made for some wild good times....
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