The Metal Years: Part One

My recent metal phase has been making me feel nostalgic. I said something recently to someone about being "bitten by the metal bug" and how the love for a good riff never dies.

I have decided to write about this over a few blog entries.

.....And thus began my journey into metal.

Peace sells but who's buying? by Megadeth was my first metal purchase. It was 1987, and I was working at the record shop. There was a copy in the sale bin (vinyl). I'm not exactly sure why I picked it up, but was more than likely the colours of the cover.

I remember getting home and putting it on. I had never heard anything so angry, fast, heavy and "forbidden". I knew this was something that was going to annoy my mother. My brother dug it as well, and we played it heaps. Really loud and air guitars. "Start the clock!"

I needed more pretty soon. I'd always thought Metallica was a terrible name for a band, but apparently they were good.

By hokey they were good. All the above: angry, fast, forbidden, and really heavy. There seemed to be a bit more going on in the lyrics. This one I bought on tape, as I knew it would be perfect for the walkman; both on skateboard and on the bus. Getting into Metallica got me hanging out with some different guys at school. Tough guys, the sort that were always in trouble. The type of guys who drunk, smoked pot and had girlfriends who weren't "nice".

Like anything, it leads on to other stuff.

This was a whole different realm. All the above: really angry, really fast, forbidden, and really heavy. Add to that evil. These guys were going on about Auschwitz, satan, blood sacrifices; everything you weren't supposed to go on about. I had never actually felt scared listening to a record before. I have to admit I didn't really dig it that much. It was just too everything.

Fortunately, Metallica released their new album, ...and Justice for all.

This album completely blew me away. It was such an advance on anything I had ever heard. Long songs, good lyrics, really heavy. It also seemed really intelligent. All of my friends got into this one (well, most of them). I remember my brother stating that this would be the album that all other metal albums would be measured by, a yardstick.

After that, I went into a metal wasteland of WASP, Motley Crue and other assorted stuff. Nothing was going to compare with Justice and I didn't feel like going down the more extreme path of Slayer.

And apparently, there was stuff around that was heavier and faster than Slayer.

But that will have to wait for the next entry...