METALLICA THRILL ’EM ALL

METALLICA are this generation’s Led Zeppelin, but a lot of people don’t get it. Joel McIver explains why YOU should take your hat off to them – and seek out their rarities

There are several ways of describing the general vastness of the Metallica phenomenon. Those of an accountant’s mindset would be interested in the numbers: close to 100 million album sales, tours that gross a similar number of dollars, a warehouseful of platinum awards, shows in hundreds of cities. The more musically-minded would be keener on the band’s huge back catalogue, which has oscillated wildly over the last three decades from grisly thrash metal to radio rock, and then to a slick combination of both. Finally, musicologists would point out how widely Metallica’s music has influenced two generations of rock bands: the groups who accompanied them on their initial rise to prominence, and then the kids who followed 20 years later.

Despite those frames of reference, the best way to get Metallica into perspective is the same as it was 25 years ago: go and see them live. You can namecheck Pink Floyd, U2 and Iron Maiden all you like, but there is no more gobsmacking concert experience in 2011 than a Metallica show. Sceptics would counter this claim with the justifiable response that it’s easy to make your band sound good when you can spend a hundred grand on pyrotechnics and a stage set, but that isn’t actually what Metallica do. There’s a bit of pyro, of course, and the occasional clever stunt, but the core of any of their gigs is …

by Joel McIver
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