Metallica, Nothing Else Matters

As I alluded to in my first entry of this blog, one of the reasons that this blog is in existence in the first place is because of the recent Metallica concert that I went to in July.
Metallica is the breakout American thrash metal band and is still cranking the heaviest, although not as thrashy, metal after a 35 year plus career.
When I was getting into metal, I would say that most of what I liked and listened to was glam type metal. You know, like Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Van Halen. Hard rock to be sure.
But Metallica, Metallica was something of a different animal.
My college buddy and my Metal Mentor (whose name I shall not mention due to making his head swell the size of several states) turned me onto to Metallica. Only he did not think that I could handle it. He had a funny way of describing their sound. He would put his hand over his mouth, deepen his voice, and refer to the style as, "TO-TAL THRASH!" I laughed at first but was intrigued. Eventually he lent me a cassette tape of the first Metallica album, Kill 'Em All. Below is the album cover.

All I could say is WOW! Not just WOW! but it really was Metal Up Your Ass*!
I had never heard anything like Metallica. The frenzied guitars and smashing drums were something beyond the glam metal that I was into. I could not get enough of Metallica.
So in the middle of 1984, I on my own purchased the second Metallica album/cassette, Ride The Lightning.

When I told my buddy about getting it, he wanted to borrow it. I almost did not want to give it up. I so got into it. But remembering that he introduced me to the band, of course I let him borrow it. And he was as blown away as I was by such a band.
It was a style that my buddy was correct about.
It was and is "TO-TAL THRASH!"
For the first time, I really began to listen to a whole band and literally bang my head. One could not listen to Metallica at this time and NOT bang your head.
I could not help but share this music with my other friends, some of which were not into metal as much as I was. One of these friends was taken in by the establishment crap of the 80s. You know, Bruce Springsteen, U2, yada, yada, yada. In other words, bo-ring! And yet, after listening to Metallica, he was hooked. He ended up being as big, if not a bigger fan than your humble blogger. He even had a Metallica patch on his Levi's jacket. Even the most fair weather types at least gave it a listen and most got hooked.

But then it came. Quite possibly the greatest album that Metallica put out. And here it is, Master Of Puppets.

No doubt, it is the breakout album for the rockers.

With such hits as the title track, Master Of Puppets to Battery, every song, not one less than five minutes long, is an adventure into "TO-TAL THRASH!"

But the world of Metallica nearly came crashing down on Sunday, September 27, 1986.

On that fateful day on a road in rural Sweden, the band's tour bus went out of control and crashed. One person was killed and that person was in many ways the heart and soul of the band. That person was bassist Cliff Burton. 

And like that, the band nearly ended.

But Metallica does have a code of honor, no matter what one former member would say. They asked Burton's parents if they should continue with the band. They were ready to call it quits. But Burton's parents, said that yes, the band should go on. And later that year, bassist Jason Newsted from the band Flotsam and Jetsam, was brought as Burton's replacement. As a side note, Burton's parents have been giving royalties to school music programs. And they are constantly included with the band in pretty much every way. 

Once the Master Of Puppets tour concluded, work began on the fourth album, And Justice For All.

And Justice For All did quite well and produced some hits as Harvester Of Sorrow, Blackened and One, but it just did not have the same umph as Master. It still was "TO-TAL THRASH!" and rocked hard. The fan base was still growing and there was no doubt that this was THE band of the "Big Four" of thrash metal bands. The "Big Four" are Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. And as all true Metallica fans know, Megadeth is a direct desendent of Metallica as former guitarist Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth once he was unceremoniously dumped by Metallica.

This all leads to what became the breakout away from the thrash and to a more accessible heavy metal sound. 

That album was the self-titled album, also known as the Black album.

The album was released on August 12, 1991 and by February of 2016 had been on the Billboard album chart a staggering 363 weeks. The album gave us such classics as Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Wherever I May Roam, The Unforgiven and Sad But True. This album made them superstars beyond the world of "TO-TAL THRASH!" and caused some long-time fans of accusing the band of being sellouts. One reason was that for the first time, there was not an instrumental track on this album. All previous albums had one instrumental track. It was on this album that they made the most videos. It was here that Metallica would become something that the rest of the Big Four would not. An international headlining band that could play anywhere, indoor or outdoor, and guarantee selling out any venue. They would play a concert at the Rose Bowl in 1992 with Guns N Roses. 

But much of the decade of the 90s, metal of all kinds suffered at the hands of the Grunge movement that was led by Nirvana, Pearl Jam and bands like that. It was also when Hip Hop began it's rise. Some of the material was not all that great for Metallica. It was like they were phoning it in, so to speak. 

It was Death Magnetic that came out in 2008 that got them back to a hard if not more thrashy sound. However, it took another eight years to get them back in the studio and Hardwired. . .To Self Destruct is clearly a return to their roots. It is a real combo of thrash and hard metal. Songs such as Hardwired, Atlas, Rise! and Moth Into Flame was like taking a trip back in time to the mid-80s and the days of "TO-TAL THRASH!" that Metallica brought with a vengeance.
The current line up is James Hetfield, vocals and rhythm guitar, Lars Ulrich, drums (these are the two remaining original members of the band), Kirk Hammett, lead guitars and Robert Trujillo, bass guitar. 

Metallica are true pioneers of a type of music that most in what I call establishment pop music can't really stand. There is no other band like 'em. There never will be.

Metallica is why nothing else matters. 

*-Metal Up Your Ass was going to be the original name of the album, Kill 'Em All.

Is there A Metal Uniform?

Ahh, an age-old question as old as metal itself.
What do I even mean by a metal uniform?
Basically, it is a definable look that a metal fan has, male or female.
Back in the 80s, one could spot a metalhead pretty easily.
In fact, the photo below is of your humble blogger back sometime in the mid-80s.

It was from an old work ID that I had.
What you do not see, besides the long hair (which I might add is au natural curly!) is the leather jacket, band t-shirt (Saxon) the sleeves cut, blue, semi-tight Levis and Puma high-top tennis shoes.
For me, that was the metal uniform.
If one can compare it to a band or genre, it would be like Iron Maiden or Metallica and the genre is either what one would now refer to as classic metal or thrash metal.
There are things that I would never and did not do.
I never did and will never get a tatt.
I never did and will never wear an earring or earrings.
I never thought of ever wearing makeup.
That is just me.
Of course I knew dudes that did have tatts and wore earrings. It was and is not for me.
But there are other metal uniforms, if you will.
There are those who followed glam metal that wore more of that uniform.
Here is a photo of Motley Crue from their breakout hit album, Theater Of Pain.

I don't diss them for this look. It is what they became at that point. They left the aura of misunderstood punks (not punk rock, just punks) and evolved into much more of a melodic metal band. And they look the part here. While always a band into the makeup, even in their early days, such as the Too Fast For Love and Shout At The Devil years, the above photo they really went for the glam metal look.
Below is from the Too Fast For Love, the Crue's first album.

For me, that was not my uniform, if you will.
But here is the thing.
There is no one way to look to have what I would call a metal attitude.
It is more of a way of looking at the world. To some people, it is not a great way of looking at the world. It is in many cases an anti-social view. I personally don't consider myself anti-social, per se. But I am definitely anti-establishment of any kind. Always leery of anything big. Big business, big labor, big banks, big government, and I can go on.
But back to the uniform.
For me, and for many, my act of rebellion was the long hair. The leather jacket. The high top shoes.
To me, that is the metal uniform. And everyone has their own who are metalheads. And we can and should celebrate that.

My First Concert: Armored Saint, Whitesnake And Quiet Riot

Let me start this post with what I think is the obvious.
There is nothing like your first time in anything.
Especially where music is involved. And even if you are part of the music. The first time you participate in something like a musical concert when you are a kid. When you are in the audience at your first concert of any kind.
But there is nothing like attending your first metal concert in a huge sports arena.
NOTHING LIKE IT!
In my high school days, the only time I ever went to the then Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California was to catch a Los Angeles Kings hockey game. Or an infrequent Los Angeles Lakers basketball game. So I did have a sort of the lay of the land, so to speak, as to what other events could be like in such a space.
By the time I started attending college is when I got into metal. I kind of sort of listened in secret and then out of the blue let everyone know that I moved away from my love of classical music (which has never left me) and really liked what I was beginning to really love. Heavy metal rock.
So I was buying cassette tapes of the bands I really was getting into and listening intensely on my Sony Walkman.
Eventually I had an opportunity to attend a concert in the fall of 1984.
That concert was a threefer. Meaning that three bands were going to perform on the same night.
And that concert was on Saturday, September 29, 1984 at the Fabulous Forum with the opening band a local one to Los Angeles, Armored Saint. Sandwiched in between was a band led by frontman David Coverdale, Whitesnake. And the main event was the exploding L. A. local band, Quiet Riot.






The above were the albums (for you youngsters, that is what we called those things that were on vinyl and we played on things called turntables which were part of what were called record players. They do also refer to cassettes and compact discs) that the bands were touring in support of.

If my memory serves me right, the concert began about 7:30 pm when Armored Saint took the stage. It was a short set. as they only had material from one album and one EP released in 1983. It was good and a lot of energy.

The came Whitesnake, led by former Deep Purple singer, David Coverdale. I knew more of the songs from that album, Slide It In. The first three songs on the album were getting heavy play on radio and some television channel called MTV. The songs were the title track, Slide It In, then Slow 'N Easy and Love Ain't No Stranger. There were other songs that I can't really remember. The difference between Whitesnake and Armored Saint is that Whitesnake was more of a kind of fusion of blues and metal. But to be clear, Whitesnake was not hard metal as much as hard rock.

The tension was building as eventually at this point, Quiet Riot finally hit the stage. 

And needless to say, the crowd went wild.

And so did I!

Before Quiet Riot hit the stage, I was just taking it all in. I felt like the typical, dour Episcopalian during a church service. I was more or less just sitting in my seat, swaying to the music of the previous two bands. It was when Quiet Riot finally hit the stage that I jumped out of my seat and began to be taken in by the music. 

It was when I finally let loose and pumped my fist in the air and . . .banged my head!

Quiet Riot started off with one of their popular hits, Sign Of The Times. It wasn't so much that I was singing along as much as I was taken in by the kerrang of the electric guitars and bass as well as the crashing of the drums and cymbals. It truly made me feel alive. 

They continued with Slick Black Cadillac, Party All Night, Cum On Feel The Noise. There were others but near the end of the set and the concert, THE song I really liked was played.

Metal Health. 

I was really banging my head and pumping my fist in the air as the lead singer, the late Kevin DuBrow, was working magic with the crowd.

One more song and it was all she wrote. The concert was over. I did not feel any let down whatsoever. I was still pumped as the three of us that went to the show were leaving and driving home. In fact I really did not sleep much that night. 

The reality is that I was hooked. I really could not wait to get the newest cassette and really could not wait to go to my next show. 

It was the first of many a metal show that I would attend in the 80s.

In many ways that first concert was the best in the sense that I really got to feel the music. It is music that I still love, even in my early 50s.

Once you have metal in your music repitorie, you can never let it go!

As a song lyric says, rock on!

So What Is This Blog Gonna Be About?

Well, duh?!
Heavy metal rock music, of course!
But I think the real question should be why now?
Because I had a revelation this past July 29, 2017, my birthday.
I was able to see one of, if not the greatest metal bands of all time, Metallica. It was the first time I had seen them since they totally broke through with their seminal album, Master Of Puppets. That was in 1986.
In that span of time, metal has been up and down. Many thought it would die in the 90s. And it almost did. But bands like Metallica kept the flame alive and a new generation of metal was born. By the 2000s, bands like Avenged Sevenfold hit the scene.
The point is that seeing Metallica before with about 70,000 others at the venerable Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California made me realize that metal music is about to make a huge comeback.
So that is where I come in with this blog.
It is sort of a trip down memory lane. I want to share what it was like to be around for the greatest era of metal, the mighty 1980s. I hope to share what it was like to see some of the great and maybe not so great bands. I want to share what the overall scene was like in what we call pop music during that time.
But I also want to keep up with what is here and now. What new and not so new acts are doing. Who is going to be the next wave of metal going into the 2020s.
As you can see in the links to the left of this post, I have just begun to link to a lot of mostly 80s metal bands. As time goes on in this journey I will be adding more. And if you become a regular reader of this blog, maybe you will be able to turn me onto something that I have not heard before.
I found the following information by way of Wikipedia. That there are about 26 sub genres of what I call metal music. Twenty frickin six sub-genres of metal. Let that sink in why don't ya?!
Metal is more than just music. It is what many of us live for. The next album. The next show. The next big new thing. Or the best album of a band. A great show that I saw back in the day. What would end up being the next big thing.
That is what this blog is gonna be about.
Stay tuned and enjoy!