Metallica

A slightly different edition of Taken out of Context.  This column was inspired by an essay assignment from Professor Nick Mills’ JO 308 course on Newswriting and Reporting.  We were given the choice to write about anything we were passionate about.  I chose to write about Metallica.  All photos were taken by me.

“Darkness imprisoning me, All that I see, Absolute horror, I cannot live, I cannot die, Trapped in myself, Body my holding cell.  Landmine has taken my sight, Taken my speech, Taken my hearing, Taken my arms, Taken my legs, Taken my soul, Left me with life in hell.”  As James Hetfield, lead singer and guitarist of Metallica, passionately growls these lyrics, 18,000 screaming fans are singing along, pumping their fists, and throwing their “devil horns” in the air.  A smile is on my face that won’t go away.

How could these shocking lyrics, from the song “One” of 1988’s … And Justice for All record, bring such a frenzy of happiness to so many people?  While some might find a song about a soldier whose life has been ruined by war to be depressing or even harmful for children, for me and everyone else in Madison Square Garden, this music is a release for the stress and pain of everyday life: deadlines for final papers, relentlessly demanding bosses, a fight with a close friend, impending financial disaster all are forgotten – or become less pressing – for a few precious hours.

Last month, Metallica played back-to-back sold-out shows at New York’s legendary venue.  The band hadn’t played the Garden since 1999 and the building was louder than I’ve ever heard it from the opening note of each show.  Looking around the audience, while there were some intimidating-looking people – muscular, tattooed — who were only at the shows to “mosh” in the general-admission floor, the crowds were a diverse group of music fans just there for a good time.

I think Ray Burton said it best at the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year.  “You see them play in person and you immediately get a big smile on your face” Burton said.  “There’s something about them that just brings a smile on.”  Ray Burton is the father of Metallica’s original bassist Cliff Burton, who was tragically killed when the band’s tour bus crashed in 1990.  When I listen to Metallica, when I go to a show, everything else goes away.  It’s just the music and me for that special glorious time.

There were musical multi-generations: mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, maybe even some grandparents and grandchildren.  Metallica’s first record, Kill ‘Em All, was released in 1983, leaving the band with a following as large in numbers as in age differential.  As a matter of fact, when my Dad and I were fortunate enough to meet Metallica before a 2004 show in New Jersey, Hetfield inquired as to who brought who.  Did my Dad bring me or did I bring him?  When I proudly told Hetfield that I brought my Dad, his eyes grew wide and he said he was impressed.

My Dad has been into music since the 1960s and has seen hundreds of rock and roll shows, including the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, just to name a few.  We are fortunate enough to be able to share and educate each other on music, with my taste being slightly louder and heavier than his.  Any show that I want to go to, my Dad will be by my side, and vice-versa.  I’ve taken him to see Dropkick Murphys at a bar in Long Island; he’s taken me to see the Allman Brothers Band at New York’s Beacon Theatre during the band’s traditional annual run of shows in March.  I once asked him who his favorite concert of all time was. “No one puts on a show like Metallica,” my Dad said.  “These four guys move around the stage like nobody else. Sure, I’ve seen the Allman Brothers more than anyone else in the past forty years, but compared to these guys, they’re so static onstage.”

When Metallica announced that they would be playing Madison Square Garden back in February at a Prudential Center show in Newark, New Jersey, my Dad and I looked at each other and we knew what each other was thinking.  We would be there.  And sure, maybe the lyrics are a bit dark, and maybe the music itself is a bit loud and heavy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  My Dad and I pumping fists during “Enter Sandman,” the band’s most popular song, at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago will be a moment that I remember, and cherish, for the rest of my life.

At the end of the second night, Hetfield took the microphone to thank the capacity crowd.  “We’ve had a beautiful two nights here, man,” Hetfield said.  “It’s gonna be very hard to top this one.  Thank you.”  My Dad and I respectfully disagree — it’s impossible for the band to top those two shows.

“Our main mission tonight is to make you feel better,” Hetfield said toward the beginning of each show.  Mission accomplished.