I remember when I first started really getting into the heaviness that is MetallicA about 10 years ago as a child in grade school, my cousin that introduced me to all the madness showed me Live Sh*T: Binge and Purge. It was then that I could feel the magnitude of how huge this band and its following is when hearing the roaring crowd of Mexico City. Fast Forward to 2012 where MetallicA has been kind enough to upload a few videos from one of their latest Live DVD's: Live in Mexico City - Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria, almost 20 years after Live Sh*t was released in 1993! If you love MetallicA as much as I do then you will definitely enjoy these High Quality videos of MetallicA tearing up Foro Sol in Mexico City from the comfort of your home!
My all time favorite band, METALLICA will be taking their musical journey to the next level and will be hosting their own two day music festival called Orion Music + More. The festival will go down in history on June 23 & 24 in Atlantic City, NJ and will feature two headling sets from the Metal Gods themselves, as well as a number of great artists hand selected by Metallica including Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, and Best Coast. Check out the Press conference video below for more information...
Without Metallica I would not be the person I am today. They helped me become the ram I was meant to be and influenced me as a musician greatly with heavy riffs, ridiculous solos, monstrous bass lines and odd timed beats. As a child in grade school they showed me a whole new world of music and inspired me to pick up the guitar, the bass, and the drums. With dynamics like no other band, Metallica inspired me to broaden my horizons and appreciate all sounds and styles of the world's music. They continue to inspire me to become the best I can be and I am proud to say to say that the best band in the world is what started it all for me. Congratulations Metallica on 30 years. I still have yet to see them live in action so I anticipate many many more years from the heaviest band on earth. Check out the video for a recap of the multiple 30th Anniversary shows last december at the Fillmore in San Francisco, California.
I was in the 5th grade and had recently discovered the smooth vocal stylings of Boys II Men. Boys II Men 2 was on constant repeat on my parents stereo system until one night I'll never forget. "What the hell is this wussy music you're listening to?" my older cousin said[more like an older brother. more on that later]. He walked out of the room, went home[he lived around the block] and came back with 4 strange CDs that would forever change my life. He ejected Boys II Men 2 and put in Kill 'Em All. As he did this he instructed, "Listen to these albums in this order: Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lighting, Master of Puppets, and then ...And Justice For All." With those instructions lay the road of discovering MetallicA.
The open guitar chords and cymbal crashes began to fill the room as screeching noise[later I learned that this was called a pick scrape] moved from the right to the left speakers. "Hit The Lights" was the first song that played and instantly got me hooked. It was summer vacation and I had just started learning how to play the guitar. My mother taught me open chords and I took some classes at some parks & rec course but I wanted to know more. With this new music discovery I was set on learning every rhythm guitar part of this album. So every other day or so my cousins would come over and teach me a new guitar lick[on my classical guitar]. My favorite at that time[still is] would be the opening guitar phrase of "Seek and Destroy".
The year was 1983 and I haven't even been born or conceived. But an album that was created would forever change the lives of countless Metal/Trash/Punk/Guitarists lives. Originally titled Metal Up Your Ass, later changed to Kill 'Em All became the re-energizing force that brought back the fierceness into Heavy Metal. MetallicA would often play their songs faster and their amps louder if audience members weren't paying attention. Always with a "F(*)ck you" attitude for those who didn't pay attention they earned the respect through countless shows and a ruthless touring schedule. This was before the days of Social Media|Internet and the only way to get your music out there was to perform live.
Returning back to that summer where I discovered MetallicA, there was another additional force that fueled this interest in the band. Every night on a local radio station called KNAC there was a program called Mandatory MetallicA where they would play various MetallicA songs for an hour. This was before iPods and such so I had my free pocket sized radio from Montgomery Ward keeping me company every night so I could get my nightly dose of Metal. After many complaints from my younger brother and my mother trying to get some sleep for work they bought me a Sony Walkman[R.I.P.] w/ headphones. The summer was ending and my older cousins wanted their albums back. So I made myself some cassette copies and began to study/listen to the albums on repeat every night[the best way to memorize music hands down].
I could go on and on about the ferocity of "Whiplash" or "Metal Militia". Or the time when my older cousins told me that "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" wasn't a guitar solo but a bass solo by Cliff Burton[R.I.P.]. There was also the moment I realized the genius in song structure of "The Four Horsemen" and how this was one of the first instances of song structure dynamics I had heard in my life. The dual guitar solo from 4:10 to 4:34 in "The Four Horsemen" just screams out like cherubim and seraphim. As you can tell I can keep talking about this album until the end of the days but this would do it no justice. So I advice you to pick it up for yourself and find out why this was the album that served as a catalyst for my whole musical journey.
James Hetfield | Cliff Burton (RIP) | Kirk Hammett | Lars Ulrich
