Metallica
The cultural downfall of Metallica, once hands-down the most influential metal band since Sabbath, might have started at any one of a number of watershed points – the radio-friendly, ballad-heavy, Bob Rock-produced Black Album, the country twang on Load's "Mama Said" which presumably lead to the Skynyrd cover (another possibility there, actually), drummer Lars Ulrich's unpopular early anti-Napster stance, the nearly universally snickered-about 2003 musical and interpersonal trainwreck that was St. Anger... shall we continue? (The 7pm start time for this show isn't doing them any favors, either – off to Never Never Land before Letterman? Come on, guys. That's unforgivable.)
Stay home, drink whiskey, and blast "Orion" and "The Call Of Ktulu." That's what 1989 Lars would have wanted.
4 comments
I'm 21 and all we were talking about all week was finally getting to see a good band in town. All the doubters...you loose and the show was that much better without you. There were plenty of big fans young and old to fill the place pretty good. I hate the people that go to a rock show just to look. There's always some of those but we didn't have many, those people went to U2 or are holding off for Jimmy buffet.
Neither here nor there, really, but I just learned that this side-splittingly terrible cover of "Unforgiven" was released as a single last year and took the album to #1 in Switzerland.
I personally stopped giving a crap a long time ago, but having said that, I still vividly remember staying up to listen and record when WROV in Roanoke decided to premiere the symphonic live double album S&M by playing it in full late one night upon its release in 1999. That sort of thing just doesn't happen anymore -- bands don't get that big, album releases are rarely considered so momentous, and radio isn't as important as it once was. Now where's my jar of whiskey?
Wow! whoever wrote that bit on Metallica as not been paying attention. Depending on who you talked to they might've peaked between 87 and 93. But apparently you're aware of the Guitar Hero generation. That has changed the everything and I tell you last night there was an obvious large combination of the Metalllica veterans, between 33 yrs old and like 50, some with their kids. and the younger generation I'd say early 20s or younger. James even asked who was there for the 1st time and seriously about half the crowd exploded. They knew all the newer songs and were very much into the newer stuff. I also noticed a lot of parents who obviously weren't into the band but took their kids that were just nuts the whole show. Not many people in their late 20s but the demographics were all over the place otherwise. Obviously the show was legendary from the nosebleed section to the GA area it was non stop fists in the air.