Oct 09, 2010 17:52
Okay, I know, it's a day late, but hey, you're not paying for this. Anyway, I wanted to talk about music for a bit...
It wasn't until college that I got into Metallica, and metal in general. I was an odd duck in grade school, dodging the rock trends -- or trying to be adamant fan of more "classical" music. Of course, I have to admit, one music teacher tried to analyze some "pop" music (much to her distaste) -- two songs in particular being "Touch and Go" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and "And She Was," by the Talking heads. She didn't just stop with playing said songs ad nauseum, trying to gleam meaning from the lyrics and critique the quality of the music, oh no. She also played the songs on the piano and had us sing along. Yeah, it pretty much soured my taste in popular music for about five years -- although that doesn't explain my early love for Journey.
So any way, I missed out on the "Big Four" in high school. I didn't even like heavy metal because I thought it was all just F-bombs and noise from wrecked guitars. Mind you, I thought the opening riff to Metallica's "Frayed Ends of Sanity" was pretty cool, as the high school level gamer geek in me had a vision of an undead army on the march. However, I didn't get into Metallica until 1991, when I first heard the "Black Album" and later the rest of the catalogue from "Kill 'Em All" to "... And Justice For All." When the documentary, A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica came out, I watched it, and found myself a fan of the band. This was, of course, well before the days of Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter, so getting a glimpse at what the people behind the band were like held some sway over my opinion.
I stuck with the band as my tastes in metal expanded, enduring "Load" (even though today I don't care for it) and the subsequent albums, and bought into the "St. Anger" hype as the beginning of a return to old form. And now, well after "Death Magnetic," I've come to wonder if I'll still stick with the band.
Over the course of nearly 20 years (God, it feels weird saying that), I've come to enjoy other metal bands as well: As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Fear Factory, Communic, Slipknot, Disturbed, Iron Maiden and two of the "Big Four" of Metal -- Anthrax and Megadeth. (As a side note, I tried getting into Slayer but they just didn't do anything for me. Not hating, just saying) Recently I came to the conclusion that Metallica is going the way of the Rolling Stones, while Anthrax is going the way of Rush.
Lemme 'splain.
Anytime I hear or see about a live Stones performance in this decade, I wince and grimace -- and I doubt I'm alone in this. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are pushing 70, and yet they're still doing the same sort of dancing and goofing around the stage. Only thing is nowadays, Jagger is one misstep from a broken hip, and Richards is one heartbeat away from passing into undeath and eating Charlie Watts' brains. They've recorded three albums since 1990 (no, I'm not counting any videography, I'm just going with music) and to be quite honest, I have to wonder if they did them just for a stab at more money and another 15 minutes of fame. They look like they're taking themselves too seriously when they're on the stage and at this point it's just groantastic.
Rush, on the hand is not that sort of band. Okay, Geddy Lee's only 57 and the band all wears sensible shoes these days, but when you see these guys on stage it's a different story. They have a sense of humor about themselves, as can be seen on the video screen before the show and during the intermission, but also in their stage set up. To contrast Alex Lifeson's wall of amps, Lee stands in front of industrial size driers or a massive chicken rotisserie. During the instrumental moments you catch glimpses of Lee talking to Lifeson and every now and then you see either of them break out in a smile or a laugh -- though never Neil Peart, the man is a machine (although his demeanor did break once when Lifeson started rambling on the mic during the Pittsburgh show in their "Vapor Trails" tour). But the point is these guys are still having fun on the stage, secure in their popularity and knowing they have a loyal audience for their music (and merchandise).
Any more these days, that's a big thing for me -- it shows in the music. If you're not having fun with something, you should consider moving on.
While Metallica's latest album "Death Magnetic" has been claimed to be a return to the band's roots, I'm just not hearing it. Ever since they went the pop metal route with "Load," I think the band has been struggling to find their sound since. Some good works have come out of the process, no doubt about that, but at this point I'm wondering exactly when the band truly lost their edge. Like the Stones, I get the impression that future albums will be forthcoming in an attempt to be "relevant" to metal and music in general. In addition, it'll be another Metallica album because … well, that's all these guys seem to have. Again, this feels like a case of a band that takes itself too seriously.
Hetfield is an excellent rhythm guitarist and Trujillo's a good bass player, but I keep scratching my head over Hammet and Ulrich. Hammet always came across as an "artiste," going through the nods, motions, and grimaces that come with a guitar solo even if it's as weak as the one in "Until It Sleeps." Ulrich was a good drummer up to "...And Justice for All" and has been declining since.
Anthrax, on the other hand, still holds a lot of charm for me, despite the band going through some serious business and music troubles after "The Sound of White Noise" and lead guitarist Danny Spitz's departure. However the core of the band remains true -- Scott Ian does some top notch rhythm, Frank Bello is amazing on bass and Benante shows tremendous skill that's grown over the years. And through it all they're still having fun making music and performing.
I have no doubts that I'm showing a bias here -- this is a matter of opinion, after all. But the favoritism has to come from somewhere and for me it's a matter of passion behind the music and a damned good rhythm section. Metallica lacks the former and scores two out of three on the latter. Anthrax still has it on all counts.
Further proof that if you love what you, you'll always know some degree of success.