A Little Backstory and Metallica
I'm nearing the end of my 39th year on the planet, and i thought it might be interesting to explain (as best i can) where my love of albums began. I'm not going to begin [at] the beguine ;) but i'll flash as far back as possible.
The first CD i ever got was Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction. I saw the video for "Symphony of Destruction" on MTV and my brain said "yes, more of that, please." I was 12 when that album came out and asked for a cd player and that cd for christmas, but i had already been listening to albums on cassette for years. I remember sitting in the back seat of a car on vacation when i was 8 or 9, listening to Madonna's Like a Prayer on constant repeat (i still LOVE early to mid Madonna). Probably the oldest memory i have is listening to an actual record of the story of Gremlins. Point being, i was born at a time when cassette was king, vinyl still very much existed, and a CD player cost something ridiculous like $800. A portable cd player in 1992 was still a pretty substantial Christmas present as far as i can remember. Nevermind, the Black Album, a friend named Donovan gave me his cassette of Use Your Illusion 1, another friend Scott gave me his cassettes of Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning. I was on the same gymnastic team as Guard Young (if you know anything about gymnastics you've probably heard of him) and he loved AC/DC, but they didn't really click with me. That's what newly teenaged Bottle sounded like on the inside.
KATT used to play 7 at 7, seven full albums on sunday night and i would record whichever albums i might like to tape for repeated listening.
Long story longer, what prompted me to say all that was i've been singing Metallica's "Don't Tread On Me" in my head since about 1:15 this afternoon, and i love the black album so much that i'm going to make this the longest facebook post in the history of facebook.
Every band has it's die hard fans, and Metallica's die hard fans hated it because it sounded like sell out commercial toilet water causing debilitating tinnitus in their ears. But, remember, those guys are bigger alcoholics than the band they themselves affectionately nicknamed "Alcoholica." (Alcoholism is not a joke, but pretending that Metallica "sold out" by writing the best songs ever recorded and going to extravagant lengths to record them perfectly while Bob Rock kept saying "you can play that riff better, and the EQ stays exactly where i put it" over the intercom every 10 minutes for 8 months IS).
This is the album that made metal an acceptable genre for anyone to like. I kid you not, i've met little old ladies who love Metallica (and Pantera). Not a gimmick, that good. Here we are 28 years later, and this is still considered as good an album as any humans could ever hope to produce.
Why? Because they sound like complete human beings. They are scared, they are depressed sometimes, they get angry, they tell ghost stories with relevant moral lessons, they say you have to keep trying even when you want to give up, and most importantly they say take a good look at yourself and be better.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lC7x9GRfczCwtX2tGWY-Fy3wYXTGqsGxQ
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The first CD i ever got was Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction. I saw the video for "Symphony of Destruction" on MTV and my brain said "yes, more of that, please." I was 12 when that album came out and asked for a cd player and that cd for christmas, but i had already been listening to albums on cassette for years. I remember sitting in the back seat of a car on vacation when i was 8 or 9, listening to Madonna's Like a Prayer on constant repeat (i still LOVE early to mid Madonna). Probably the oldest memory i have is listening to an actual record of the story of Gremlins. Point being, i was born at a time when cassette was king, vinyl still very much existed, and a CD player cost something ridiculous like $800. A portable cd player in 1992 was still a pretty substantial Christmas present as far as i can remember. Nevermind, the Black Album, a friend named Donovan gave me his cassette of Use Your Illusion 1, another friend Scott gave me his cassettes of Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning. I was on the same gymnastic team as Guard Young (if you know anything about gymnastics you've probably heard of him) and he loved AC/DC, but they didn't really click with me. That's what newly teenaged Bottle sounded like on the inside.
KATT used to play 7 at 7, seven full albums on sunday night and i would record whichever albums i might like to tape for repeated listening.
Long story longer, what prompted me to say all that was i've been singing Metallica's "Don't Tread On Me" in my head since about 1:15 this afternoon, and i love the black album so much that i'm going to make this the longest facebook post in the history of facebook.
Every band has it's die hard fans, and Metallica's die hard fans hated it because it sounded like sell out commercial toilet water causing debilitating tinnitus in their ears. But, remember, those guys are bigger alcoholics than the band they themselves affectionately nicknamed "Alcoholica." (Alcoholism is not a joke, but pretending that Metallica "sold out" by writing the best songs ever recorded and going to extravagant lengths to record them perfectly while Bob Rock kept saying "you can play that riff better, and the EQ stays exactly where i put it" over the intercom every 10 minutes for 8 months IS).
This is the album that made metal an acceptable genre for anyone to like. I kid you not, i've met little old ladies who love Metallica (and Pantera). Not a gimmick, that good. Here we are 28 years later, and this is still considered as good an album as any humans could ever hope to produce.
Why? Because they sound like complete human beings. They are scared, they are depressed sometimes, they get angry, they tell ghost stories with relevant moral lessons, they say you have to keep trying even when you want to give up, and most importantly they say take a good look at yourself and be better.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lC7x9GRfczCwtX2tGWY-Fy3wYXTGqsGxQ
Next
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