METALLICA Discussion

Neemo

cool stuff thanks for posting

CrimeSlunkScene

A Few Thoughts From Cleveland at 3 am
4/5/2009

..a weekend of uniqueness. Proper uniqueness. The sort that can NEVER be repeated.

We got our invitations to the family reunion a while ago now, and leading up to last night's festivities and tonight's induction ceremony, there was a lot of excitement and the odd ripple of trepidation.

Managers, tour managers, record labels, A&R men, promoters, old OLD skool metalheads from the underground fanzines and media, close friend and family, the relationships between everyone stretched well over two decades in most cases, and it was most certainly emotional. A tremendous thing. Old faces suddenly became new ones again, long lost friends found each other making contact again and vowing to stay in touch, some people had teenage children since the last time they saw their fellow Metallifamily members, and others had just lived through different lives and arrived at a new one. There'd certainly been no need for it. The unifying factor amongst the roughly 150 people who congregated at the House Of Blues on friday night? Metallica. And who else would actually have the magnitude to bring so many members of their family together like this? No-one. It's what this band has always been about, doing the right thing as THEY know it and not as someone tells them it should be.

Metallica.
A unifying force.
An expression.
A family.
A lifestyle.
For us all.

Yeah, you know I'm right when I tell you that we're all family members, that Metallica is about us all (and if you don't believe me, you know you heard Lars Ulrich TELL you that tonight, right).

I wasn't sure that Flea was the right man to do the actual induction (I love the man, his work and his band, but I didn't 'get' it when I first heard about it...) halfway through his quite brilliant, ultra-personal and very heartfelt speech, I was screaming YEEAAH and applauding like an Energizer bunny.

He nailed it.

He spoke so well, so fucking ACCURATELY, of the band's power and emotion ('a magical, holy fucking thing'). He conveyed his feelings on first hearing Metallica, their blistering outpourage, their total uniqueness. He stone-cold captured Cliff's aura and spirit and contribution. He spoke truly truly from the heart...I promise you, I'm going to find that speech and reprint it in So What! because it was every bit as definitive as you'd hope a moment like that would be, but the man used phrases like 'cosmic chemistry', and a 'beautiful, violent thing' when referring to first hearing the band.

And to see Ray Burton speak, to see the sparkle still in this man's eyes despite the sadness he has learned to manage, to hear the cheerful dignity and gratitude, it was extremely emotional. He thanked Jan. Cliff's Mum. And he smiled so widely as he did so. Tremendous.

Jason Newsted was about as happy as I'd seen him for many many years at the bash on Friday, and once again as he gave a speech his enthusiasm, his sheer raw enthusiasm and pride at being part of the Metallifamily, at being part of their 'heavy metal ambassadorship' was (for many people) both a tremendous relief and the official end of years riddled with rumored recriminations and anger. Whatever. Not so anymore. Any pettiness of the past was blasted away with water cannons by Jason's presence, by the obvious happiness between all the band members, and by Jason's wonderful speech.

And Lars, James, Kirk and Rob all gave thanks to their loved ones, their friends and their families, but most of all to you. The fans. The large large family which are the reason Metallica were even here. James did reserve his final thank you for the man who called him up and asked him to be in a band, for Lars, his brother, his yin or his yang depending on your perspective, his creative soulmate; the bearhug he gave Lars was long and sweet, emotional, a physical outpouring which really did say more than words ever will.

And then they laid into 'Master Of Puppets' with two bass players before crushing 'Enter Sandman', still with two bass players, and with a balcony going crazy and some suited and booted VIPs standing and playing air guitars...Jason and Rob SHARING A MIKE to bark vocals together...beautiful.

And you see, as I keep on fucking saying, that's what this was all about, it was about YOU, it was about the fact that millions of you have helped keep the family so big and strong that finally, FINALLY, "they" had to take notice. And they had to let them in, to recognize them, to honor them for the overwhelming influence Metallica has had over rock culture and various generations. Bobby Womack and Metallica. Wanda Jackson and Metallica. Jeff Beck and Metallica. To name a few, but the point is that this felt like 1988 all over again, like a band crashing through into a world that previously wouldn't have felt like looking but which could no longer deny the power of their music and it's meaning for it's people.

Ha ha ha, suited and booted, Metallica kicked their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with their unique combination of power, love and inclusion.

The jam ('Train Kept A Rollin') after their performance bordered on spectacular if you just consider that Metallica were onstage with Jason, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Ron Wood and Flea, but for me, the sheer POWER of their own twin-bass induction performance was the most special of all moments, another milestone, another pinnacle and another 'world' conquered (that of LEGITIMATE rock legendary) all on Metallica's motherfucking terms.

It's real late now, 4.15 am, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything (it will probably be a few days, and then I'll wanna ask Jeff to let me tweak and nip and tuck and contextualize things more coherently - I hope he tells me to either fuck off or wait and do it in SW!) but it's been quite a weekend. And whether you were there in the auditorium or watching on TV, this one was for YOU TOO BABY!

Indeed, it's been emotional...

Words by: Steffan Chirazi
Photos by: Jeff Yeager

http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=602170

metallex78

Just thought I'd resurrect this thread with the news that I got tickets to Metallica's November Australian tour!!!

Got seats for the first show, and floor section for the second show, both at Acer Arena in Sydney.

What a great year for Aussie tours, Slash in August and Metallica in November, yeah!!!

Axlin16

Very cool. Only way it'd get better is a GN'R jaunt down under before 2010 is out. Metallica & Guns in the same year would have to be damn vintage shit.

-----

Looking back over the HOF induction in this thread, that would've been GN'R up there, with Jeff Beck & Ronnie Wood, if they'd played their cards right. Even if they were to get back together for the HOF induction, I don't think they could put the pettiness aside. It'd all be a bunch of chefs talking about their receipes being the best.

metallex78

Yeah, Metallica's HOF should be the blueprint for all other bands getting inducted. They did it all very classy and included as many people as they could for the celebration of all things Metallica. Hell, they even invited Dave Mustaine to come along!
But Dave being the arrogant dick that he is, turned it down because he wasn't included as part of the band in the awards ceremony or live performance.

Axlin16

I've gotten so sick of that shit over the years, that even I want to punch Dave in the face on their behalf.

That pity-poor cry fest he had with Lars in Some Kind of Monster proved that Mustaine is a legend in his own mind. With all the shit he's done, I don't believe at all that people stop him and talk about Metallica before Megadeth.

Over a quarter of a century later, and Dave still ain't over it. It's about as old as Metallica fans still arguing in 2010 about "when they went gay". Come on man...

metallex78

Exactly. Megadeth have put out some absolute classic metal albums of their own, even Lars says so himself. But Dave always feels second wing to Metallica. Get over it already.

Half the time in interviews, it's Dave who brings up Metallica anyway.

metallex78

On a positive note, I can't wait until the November Aussie tour, it's gonna be great - Metallica two nights in a row. And being Metallica, it's guaranteed we'll get two different setlists too, just look at metontour.com for proof of that. These guys always throw out different songs when they play multiple dates in the same city.

monkeychow

Axlin08 wrote:

That pity-poor cry fest he had with Lars in Some Kind of Monster proved that Mustaine is a legend in his own mind. With all the shit he's done, I don't believe at all that people stop him and talk about Metallica before Megadeth.

I think they do. It's like the fucking Axl/Slash thing. Slash is never going to do an interview again where they dont ask about Axl or GNR. It's just life.

Have a look at any megadeth youtube video - 90% of the comments are people fucking waring over Tallica vs Deth....every fucking video almost....is it old as shit at this point? yes. Is it mindless when both bands are kickass and talented? Yep. Will it stop? No.

I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if Dave was hastled for the rest of his life about not being in metallica. Especially when it's feuds and drama like that which sell shit in the media, and the average fan, well they just can't seem to get over it either.

The sad bit is that Dave feels second rate to metallica. Now i'm a huge metallica fan as well, so i'm not dismissing them at all, they're great. But it's also a fact that Mustaine is one of the finest guitarists around, and that he's constantly assembled bands that are at the top of their genre. So he has nothing to be ashamed of. But i guess part of every musican's aim is to reach the maximum number of people possible, and no one would argue that in terms of cross-over and impact on popular culture overall as opposed to just the metal genre, metallica has dominated that front.

Anyway I get what you mean. Like logically he should be over it.

But on a human level. Think about it. Imagine you were going to be in one of the biggest bands of all time, and, arguably the defining band of your chosen genre and style (at least to the general public who arn't as in depth in analysis). Then you fucked it up with your drinking problem. There was no negotiation, no talks. You're just thrown out the back of a bus and you're gone. Then your riffs and solos set that band on their journey to superstardom. Of course you'd be fucking pissed about it. And like. Maybe that's something a human just can't get over, I dunno, especially when that band is revered wordwide and the drama hungry media constantly pushes you to have an outburst.

Then you have a touchy-feely thearpy session with them 20 years on to try and fix it? Of course he's emotional about it. it's the defining incident in his whole fucking life.

So logically I don't think he has anything to be ashamed of, his band is one of the top of his genre, he's an amazing musican, and in some ways superior, but on a human level, they're like an ex-girlfriend that became fucking queen of the world.....

metallex78

I dunno about that. When Dave was kicked out, Metallica weren't a big band at all, they hadn't even released an album yet. You could argue that Metallica didn't become the biggest metal band on the planet until the Black Album in 1991, which was already 8 years after Dave Mustaine was booted out. Sure they were popular throughout the 80's as THE metal band, but their biggest success came quite late in their career, long after Dave was gone, and none of them could have predicted that way back in the beginning when they first booted him out.

And if Dave wasn't kicked out back then, I'm sure there would've been ego clashes further down the line that would've split the band up anyway, it's inevitable with the way Dave has been carrying on about it all these years.

And I agree, Megadeth have put out some great music, even some superior to Metallica's, but Dave just needs to let go and be happy with what he's accomplished himself.

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