This post comes a week too late and I can't be sorry enough for the same!
Avoiding any further fluff, this is my tribute to the legend that is Metallica.
What prompted this? Unless you're a Metallica fan and have been living under a boulder, you'd know barely a week before, the little short of being the most worshipped heavy metal band was inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!
If one mere fan among the many zillions can be this overwhelmed, I can just about guess what it could mean to those four gentlemen and everyone associated with the band since they single-handedly invented and perfected a concept called "Thrash Metal"! Big, BIG up to you!
I happened to know of the development courtesy my fellow metalhead brother, Rohan Moorthy. Sometime early last month, as I was walking back home one late night after work, my phone buzzed. Rohan's text read "Metallica to be inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (Dave) Mustaine writes them a letter of congratulations. Metallica invite him for ceremony party and induction......" I smiled; both at the Hall of Famers and the olive branch.
Now, as I scan through YouTube watching the ceremony, I gullibly believe that Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Rob Trujillo and Jason Newsted did thank me personally when they thanked their fans.
I might have cared to begin this note with a disclaimer that would have probably helped to make me seem a less a charmed fan and more a citizen of heavy metal. I'll try now nonetheless.
Disclaimer: I'm not as much a big Metallica fan as I'm an Iron Maiden or Megadeth freak!!! So there!
But this is not about which is a better band or who is a bigger fan. This is about something, I shall honestly say, not every headbanger feels! This is about something bigger. This is about being a family!! A family of outcastes, a family of wasted teenagers and jobless adults, a family of angry hearts and violent minds?? No, this is a family that lies deep under that superficial shit you all see, a family that lies deep and lies warm and lies strong.
Metallica was one of the first bands to have given me that welcome feeling into the fraternity. I've long believed in this one adage--"Birth, School, Metallica, Death!" I've moved on long before to bands I thought I respect more, bands I thought were technically better, bands I thought and the world told me that "didn't sell out" only to come back to this powerhouse of soul.
For quite some time, there was this one song that defined Metallica to me. Little wonder it would be, it was "Nothing Else Matters". It was epic and I couldn't care about what the band had already offered to the world long before The Black Album hit the stands. When I eventually picked up the album a good 10 years since it actually was released, I was shocked to hear the opening riff of "Enter Sandman" as the tape rolled in my walkman. People actually play that fast??? People actually like it????
Don't laugh but I didn't even know Kill 'em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets or ...And Justice for All even existed. It wasn't long enough before I knew better. That did not mean I abandoned that little tape that introduced heavy metal to me.
As much as I risk sounding unbelievably naive, I must admit because it is nothing but the truth that Metallica's thrash metal was my best refuge in few of the toughest days I've lived.
I remember banging my head like a man possessed to "The Unforgiven", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Master of Puppets" and so much more locked up in my little room that defined my little world for a long time.
I remember hearing "Master of Puppets" for the first time and getting goosebumps (and that is not in the least bit over reaction) listening to the epic guitar solos. I remember hearing "Fade to Black" and wonder what kind of a mad genius can write a song that beautiful and so simple. I remember hearing "(Welcome Home) Sanitarium" and feeling grateful that music voices what I want most--"Leave me be". I remember watching the video for "One" and thinking "This is it! This is so fucking it!!!" I remember "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" and wondering "That's a bass guitar being played???" I remember Metallica and I salute!
It could be argued forever between the Megadeth and Metallica camps over who stayed true to the basics of thrash and who gave in to commercial interests. However, it cannot be denied that had there been no Metallica, there would be as much signs of Megadeth.
Metallica today is arguably the most "popular" rock band in the world and maybe they indeed have long frowned upon single "I Disappear" and the almost shunned by loyalists St Anger to thank for the same.
They might have betrayed by chopping their locks, getting Napster banned, shunning the essence of thrash metal in later albums but they have serviced and nurtured the family long enough to be remembered and respected forever.
Outsider music you might have felt, this always was but had you paid heed to Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist who inducted Metallica into the roll), you'd know that you chose to forget that while we outsiders made a "song and dance" about anger and violence, we channelised our pain and hurt into something creative that helped many other in need to embrace the gift with open arms and heart. Something beautiful was built by us urchins that let us stick to guitars while you fine world still pulled out a gun. Think about it! We barely sang about bullets, you shot them and still do!
And today I cannot thank anybody more than Metallica for having given me a gift I've held on ever since and have felt nothing but immense pride each time I made a fist of fury, opened it and found my escapade.
I thank only James, Lars, Dave, Ron, Cliff, Kirk, Jason and Rob for the music and the life. Godspeed!
...and to Cliff Burton--"Bell bottoms shall forever rule and you shall forever be that madman behind 'Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)'. You should've been here. Rest forever in peace!"
"So close no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters"
---
All things bright and Biprorshee
