The whole getting into Metallica thing for me is kind of interesting. The last musician I got into in such a huge way was Rufus Wainwright a few years ago. Since then, I've been very hard to please when it came to music, though there have been a few bands I've gotten very partial to in the meantime such as Crowded House and INXS. I'll grant that Michael's absolute favourites,Big Country aren't bad either. I guess I've just been hanging out for the X-Factor, and I mean the proper X-Factor, not that tawdry excuse of a 'talent contest' on the box. But, then, I just happened to encounter the 'Tallica, and let's just say it's been a very happy musical love affair ever since. I mean ,Kirk Hammett has managed to usurp George Harrison as my all time favourite guitarist and they've just about toppled The Beatles as my Favourite Band, full stop. I apologise now for the gushing prose, but heck, I was a music journalist in my late teens, and to do that effectively, you need to be a bullshit merchant. I guess once a bullshit merchant, always a bullshit merchant!
I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go through some of the songs I've seriously gotten into in comparison to some and write my thoughts on them, as one is wont to do when they have a blog and have the chance to bat their gums on whatever they feel like. I have a feeling this might be an ongoing, if irregular, exercise. And hopefully won't lead to a heated debate til 4AM between me and The Boy over why I think some songs are great, while he reckons they're crap, henceforth known as 'The One Controversy', which can be explained as thus: One is a Metallica track highly regarded by the vast majority of fans, though one I don't feel acquainted enough with to comment on, but my general impression so far is that it's great. Michael
Could be counted under The One Controversy. I have to say, it's my favourite. It's one of those songs you hear for the first time and it completely blows your socks off. Actually, I got a bit emotional first time I heard it. Yes. I can be a complete Girl at times (how many sexism accusations could this raise I wonder). What really cemented it for me was watching Metallica perform it at the 1999 S&M show, a clip I saw courtesy of YouTube, which I recommend to just about everyone:
“So close no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters
Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don't just say
And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters”
Stories associated with it I've come across online is that Hetfield wrote it about a girlfriend (who he can't remember) whilst on tour and had no intention of recording it. Until Lars convinced him otherwise. These days, Metallica dedicate it to their fans, and it has been covered a few times. Most curiously enough by a group of Gregorian monks doing their chant thing!
All Nightmare Long
From the latest album "Death Magnetic", which isn't a) distorted and too loud (how the heck can Metallica be too loud!) or b) another miserable failure. The intro to this is the ringtone on my mobile - the effect of Robert Trujiillo's nifty bass riff on me. All Nightmare Long is one of Hetfield's little ventures into HP Lovecraft land (minus arguments between Cthulhu and the Flying Spaghetti Monster), along the lines of The Thing That Sleeps and The Call Of Ktulhu - though the latter is really an instrumental by Cliff Burton (RIP). Being a Lovecraft fan myself, this of course it something that appeals. The particular story this is based on is The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belnap Long, described by James Hetfield as a 'head****' (censored for the courtesy of family members who might happen to be reading!).
I read the story myself the other night. It's certainly a mind twister, but in a good way. Not quite on the weirdness level of Lovecraft though, but then, he is a special case. I watched the video to All Nightmare Long a few weeks ago - now that does fit Hetfield's description of The Hounds of Tindalos and quite possibly one of the maddest things I've ever seen. Link to the video here. Seriously, don't watch if you're scared easily. If you find mild horror hard to stomach, then I'd avoid, because it's quite extreme.
The Outlaw Torn
Doesn't fall under The One Controversy - Michael reckons it's one of the last classic Metallica songs. I'd figure it to be a little problematic to some of the more anal 'Tallica fans, purely by virtue of the fact that it's off the not very liked "Load" album. But then, people are fickle. This was also part of the S&M show. Hetfields vocals kick ass (I was going to say soar, but really!) and Kirk Hammett really churns out the guitar solo. I note that some fans on YouTube - I get much of my Metallica fix there when checking out live stuff - think this is the craziest guitar solo Hammett has ever played. He pretty much lets rip.
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Pretty much has to get mentioned as it's the song that hooked me. From “Master of Puppets”, this is off the last album that Cliff Burton ever worked on. I will explain who Cliff is eventually, I promise, for those getting a little puzzled. Nifty intro, and probably some of the bleakest lyrics I've ever heard. For instance:
"Welcome to where time stands still
no one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
just labeled mentally deranged
Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, No windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred"
If Sylvia Plath lived an extra couple of decades and got her mitts on a Gretsch Flying V...
...probably completely killed that song for Michael now! He's not too fond of the first Mrs Ted Hughes to say the least.
The Call of Ktulu
First off, it's spelt Cthulhu and comes from, 'Ride The Lightning', and the bands first instrumental. According to Cliff Burton is responsible for introducing the rest of the group to the joys of Mr Lovecraft, the idea of the song allegedly coming from The Shadow Over Innsmouth (personally, I'm a little dubious, but open to being corrected) . The opening of this frankly awesome track is played by Cliff Burton, who to me played the bass like it was just another six string guitar. I've always thought of bass guitar as being a simple tack on affair to bolster the rhythm. Then I heard Cliff Burton. I was still a bit dubious about bass being able to sound that great, then I came across a live video of Cliff playing the opening riff to For Whom The Bell Tolls and I'm still eating my words.
So, Cliff Burton? For the uninitiated, Cliff was Metallicas second bassist, who replaced Ron McGovney. The story is that Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield were out to replace McGovney as they thought he was, frankly, shite. They saw Cliff play live one night, were rather blown away by him, in the words of James Hetfield:
"We heard this wild solo going on and thought, 'I don't see any guitar player up there.' It turned out it was the bass player, with a wah-wah pedal and this mop of hair. He didn't care whether there were people there. He was looking down at his bass, playing."
James, Rolling Stone, 1993
After the gig, they went up to Cliff and said, “PleaseJoinOurBand! PleaseJoinOurBand!”, to which Cliff said no, but finally said yes at the end of 1982, on the basis the band relocated to San Francisco from Los Angeles. Needless to say, Lars et al made the flit. Cliff played on the first three Metallica albums. The group were starting to get huge, but sadly in August 1986 while on tour in Sweden, their tourbus crashed and Cliff was killed. He was 24 and is still missed like crazy to this day. The remaining band members weren't sure whether or not to go on, but got the blessing of Cliffs family and recruited Jason Newsted as bass player. He left the band rather acrimonously in 2001, and was replaced in 2003 by Robert Trujillo.
The Unforgiven I/II/III
I think this can best be described as a three parter. The first one appears on “The Black Album”, and is fair enough. I actually prefer no II from “Reload” (another disliked album). Again, it's a lyrics thing, not to mention the fact I think the entire song is greatly improved by having the electric guitar riff. Lyrics wise:
“Lay beside me
Under wicked sky
The black of day
Dark of night
We share this paralyze
The door cracks open
But there's no sun shining through
Black heart scarring darker still
But there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining through
No, there's no sun shining
What I've felt
What I've known
Turn the pages
Turn the stone
Behind the door
Should I open it for you? “
I like the turn of phrase. Blame it on a mixture of being raised on Bob Dylan and listening to John Lennons wackiness as heard in “Revolver” and I am the Walrus. Plus I just like a good lyric. The sentiment also appeals, probably because I've been through a few periods in my life where those lines would just fit. I think James Hetfield views the Unforgiven trilogy as a marker of his psychological state thanks to the crap he's been through, from the slightly mad childhood that left him a bit wonky, to his recovery from alcoholism. In the behind the scenes footage of “Death Magnetic” where the band are deciding the final songs to go on the album, he's emphatic that The Unforgiven III should be included as he says it shows a personal journey for him. Number III takes a completely different tune from the first two and isn't quite so heavy, in a light at the end of the tunnel. Or to put it another way, he's happier in his dotage, though at 46, he's not quite in his dotage! Either way, III is a pleasant, slightly melancholy, but lighter affair. I wonder if we'll see IV?
St Anger/Sweet Amber
No doubt the “St Anger” detractors will insist I get my head checked for this as that's seen as the worst album. Metallica were pretty messed up at the time, Newsted having just quit, the band infamously enlisting a therapist to help them work out their issues and Hetfield vanishing for several months to go into rehab for alcoholism. For the record, he's been sober since, and good on him. I just like the energy behind it, and the demented drumming. I have a history of panic attacks, and strange as it may seem, St Anger sums up pretty well the racket that goes on in my head when my anxiety is playing up. I guess Sweet Amber can be said to be the come down of it. Hetfields vocals, which are quite raw, also strike a nerve for me. A bit of Aristotelian catharsis there for you.
Enter Sandman
Okay, having gone on for longer than I thought and on fewer songs than I envisaged, I'll make this the last one for now (it really is going to end up the blogger version of The Unforgiven I, II and III!) This again comes under The One Controversy between myself and my dearly beloved. He thinks it's overrated and overplayed. Probably doesn't help that I mess about playing the riff of it whenever I remember to practice guitar! For the record, this is ironically the song that got Michael into Metallica as it was used in ECW as The Sandmans theme (the former being a crazy, extreme pro-wrestling promotion that has been revived in recent years by the WWE, the latter an even crazier, drunken pro-wrestler who comes down to the ring guzzling beer before thwacking opponents with a Kendo stick). Anyone who knows Michael will know he is a huge wrestling fan and a walking, talking encyclopedia on the subject.
There's something darkly Roald Dahlish about it. I'd say Gaimanish too, but that might be a bit obvious given Neil Gaiman was the originator of the most successful comic strip of the 90s, The Sandman. It's like a black lullaby, the kind of thing you'd play to your kid if you had a cruel streak in you. In fact, knowing me, my own offspring are probably going to be the sort who'd love this being sung to them at the age of four! Again, the lyrics illustrate it best:
“Hush little baby, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
Its just the beast under your bed,
In your closet, in your head
Exit light
Enter night
Grain of sand
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never never land”
*The writer of this post was greatly traumatised in bringing it to you as it was originally written in Open Office and pasted onto Blogger, which then took it upon itself to reformat just about everything and required meticulous editing in the Edit HTML window to get rid of reformatting, taking away an hour of said writers life that will never be gotten back. The writer can found sittingrockinginacornerbabblingpleasemakeitstop/canihaveacupoftea/will larsulrichlikeit/wibblewibble/wantmyteddy.*
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