An Open Letter Regarding Metallica

Motley Crue

It’s rumoured that Metallica are set to perform at the RDS with both Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson later this year as part of Reading Ireland. While their website says nothing about the band re-touring, the only interview given by the band in the past several months was when Lars Ulrich spoke to Metal Hammer in March 2005 and he personally said nothing about going out on the road again.

Metallica are a broken band. Taking 5 years to produce their latest album, St Anger, the band failed to capture the attention of their die hard fans, who had stayed loyal throughout the Load and Reload years, just on the promise that the old sound would return once again. Containing double drums and no guitar solos, critics slated St Anger and even though it sold at least 1 million copies in the United States and went to Number One on the album Billboard chart, it was Metallica’s worst selling album in 22 years.

Having lost their bass player Jason Newstead in 2002, they recruited a suitable candidate in 2003, but then began to explain in interviews how their sound has never sounded more like it was when Cliff was alive then it does now, blatantly pissing over Jason Newstead’s legacy (the man who helped co-write Blackened and My Friend of Misery among others). Following this, the band then toured for almost 2 years, performing hardly any songs from their new release. Only St Anger, Frantic, The Unnamed Feeling, Dirty Window (with an added guitar solo that Kirk Hamett had begged for) and Some Kind of Monster were performed over a period of 23 months, with most of those songs never performed on the same tour.

In 2004, to silence the critics, Metallica tried out some new “old favourites”, including such songs as Trapped Under Ice and Fight Fire with Fire, songs that hadn’t been played for several years live, if ever before. These tracks helped the fans hear songs they taught they would never hear, and the bands new website Metallica Live allowed fans to purchase soundboard quality recordings of each show the band performed from their European Tour onwards.

Metallica returned to Ireland at the RDS in 2004 a slightly changed band then the year previous, but it was obvious that support act Slipknot could outperform them amazingly well and for the first time, the crowd began to leave early at Metallica.

Personally, I have loved Metallica since I first heard the opening chords to Seek and Destroy at a House Party when I was 13. Seven years on, and the band have progressed from their Trash Metal roots, beyond their Slayer matched riffs and Megadeth styles to a mainstream metal band. There’s nothing wrong with this of course, and it is highly plausible for Metallica to sell out everything they touch for the rest of their lives. The problem comes when the band gets lazy.

Cashing in on nostalgic tours, haircuts and journeys have made Metallica seem like a rather bizarre tribute band to themselves, simply performing the songs of four teenagers who became men on a mission to destroy the iconic image of Pop and Dance being the only mainstream genres prior to Rap.

Metallica, I implore you, for your fans and for your selves, release an album of worth and dignity which remembers the old days, but which welcomes a new one at the same time. Slipknot did it, why cant you?

Doctor J

"thrash" metal, please.

Drevin Fairy

here, here

ether

I agree with some of your points, I don't like the way that they've treated Jason in recent interviews and made him out to be a session player or whatever. They've been going downhill since the black album, Bob Rocks to blame, but they can still play their stuff.
In my opinion Slipknot aren't fit to lick their boots. In years to come you won't remember Slipknot much like most other Nu-Metal bands, theres nothing inspiring or original about them. If Metallica are cashing in on nostalgia then surely Slipknot are cashing in on the boring Kiss mask thing.
They can only return to the days of old with a new producer, and if they let Rob compose some songs they might be onto something better.

Doctor J

Bob Rock never brought them anywhere they didn't want to go and it's unfair to suggest he is the bad guy. They asked him to produce, he did not impose himself. Anyone who has seen the A Year And A Half In The Life Of... and Some Kind Of Monster should be well aware that whatever fuelled the first four albums is long gone. People get old and change, I don't believe there's even a semi-decent album in there regardless of who is behind the desk or playing bass. I've got a lot of time for Trujillo but he's an employee of a corporation. My advice is to enjoy the first four albums for what they are, classics.

As for Newsted, listen to AJFA, that's all you need to know about Newsted's standing in that band. Seek out Doomsday For The Deceiver and Voivod to see what he's truly capable of. He did the right thing by getting out and he's now playing in one of the great Metal bands of our time who are still putting out really excellent albums. There is a new Voivod album on the way, it's just a shame it will sell a mere fraction of what the next Metallica album will, even though it will be exceptionally better than its Metallica counterpart... just like the last one.

Ancient1

It's been 15-16 years since the schism started.

Why cant people just let it go?


Oh, and for you kids who dont know what schism means:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schism

Geddit?

Geiger

To be honest I think if Metallica were going to create another 'classic' album they'd have done it by now. I'd expect to here at least a few solos on their next record but nothing close to their real glory days. It'll be interesting to see what Rob brings in terms of song writing and how much James, Lars and Kirk are willing to let him control things. Of course I hope to be proved wrong and Metallica will release another great record.

Devious

Geiger wrote:

Of course I hope to be proved wrong and Metallica will release another great record.

Aint gonna happen. Just finished watching Some Kind Of Monster and I have to say im feeling rather depressed right now. It was really sad to see how far they've fallen. As the Doc mentioned above, whatever creative juices they once had are long gone and , to be honest, you cant really blame James, Lars and co. - people get old, families come on the scene, tiredness sets in. Im surprised they even managed to finish Stanger in the first place - unfortunately. Oh well.

Deadwing

If it was any other band theyd have been completely written off by now, i mean how many bad albums have they relesed by now? (i regard the black album as thier first sh!tty one but alot of people like it so we wont count that for now) But weve got load, reload, S&M, garage inc, stanger. Thats FIVE terrible albums in a row..how are they even allowed to make music anymore??
Face it, theyll never record another 'puppets' or 'justice', right now theyre doing it for the money, which shows in thier pandering to whatevers popular at the moment style or writing albums, I.E. Load/relaod half ass grunge, stanger, half ass nu-metal.

irokie

Motley Crue wrote:

Metallica are a broken band. Taking 5 years to produce their latest album, St Anger, the band failed to capture the attention of their die hard fans, who had stayed loyal throughout the Load and Reload years, just on the promise that the old sound would return once again.

No one ever said the old sound would return again. The old sound died at Black. In fact, Lars has said on numerous occassions that he doesn't want to go back to the old sound. I don't want the old sound now. That would be more like cashing in on their past than what you accuse them of later.

Motley Crue wrote:

Containing double drums

you've heard ...And Justice For All, right? Maybe you're talking about the out of tune snare...

Motley Crue wrote:

blatantly pissing over Jason Newstead’s legacy

If you're going to get so up in arms about this, at least have the decency to spell his name right (Newsted).

Motley Crue wrote:

(the man who helped co-write Blackened and My Friend of Misery among others).

There were no others. He said himself that they only gave him 2 writing credits. They didn't like his stuff, he didn't get a say. That simple.

Motley Crue wrote:

Only St Anger, Frantic, The Unnamed Feeling, Dirty Window (with an added guitar solo that Kirk Hamett had begged for) and Some Kind of Monster were performed over a period of 23 months, with most of those songs never performed on the same tour.

Fair enough, but they picked the songs that they felt worked best live. Maybe they realised how weak some of the songs on the album were and only picked the ones that they thought worthy.

Motley Crue wrote:

In 2004, to silence the critics, Metallica tried out some new “old favourites”....

Yeah, so they played some old stuff. They were feeling agressive and full of energy, so they played some aggressive and energetic songs. Don't see an ulterior motive in everything.

Motley Crue wrote:

Metallica returned to Ireland at the RDS in 2004 a slightly changed band then the year previous, but it was obvious that support act Slipknot could outperform them amazingly well and for the first time, the crowd began to leave early at Metallica.

Were you even at the gig?
1) Neither 'then' nor 'than' should've been in that paragraph.
2) I was in the crowd during Slipknot. I was in the crowd during Metallica. There were a few teenagers in the crowd during Slipknot, but towards the back, there was no one. When Metallica were coming onstage, I had to battle my way to get up towards the front.

Motley Crue wrote:

...House Party...

No Capital Letters Necessary Here.

Motley Crue wrote:

Seven years on, and the band have progressed from their Trash Metal roots, beyond their Slayer matched riffs and Megadeth styles

1) THRASH Metal.
2) They didn't try to match riffs with Slayer. In fact, they sound nothing like Slayer at all, except for the occassional palm-muted tremolo race.
3) Their Megadeth styles? Seriously... You realise that when Dave Mustaine got kicked out of Metallica, he started Megadeth. To me (and many people I know), Megadeth sounded like a bunch of third-rate Metallica wannabes. They have some good stuff, but if you're comparing them to Metallica, they lose.

Motley Crue wrote:

There’s nothing wrong with this of course, and it is highly plausible for Metallica to sell out everything they touch for the rest of their lives.

All I have to say to that is:

TOOL wrote:

All you know about me is what I've sold you,
Dumb ****.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.

I sold my soul to make a record,
Dip ****,
And you bought one.

Motley Crue wrote:

The problem comes when the band gets lazy.

Have you seen SKoM? They had an entire album written and then tore it up because they didn't like it. I wouldn't call that lazy.

Motley Crue wrote:

Cashing in on nostalgic tours, haircuts and journeys have made Metallica seem like a rather bizarre tribute band to themselves, simply performing the songs of four teenagers who became men on a mission to destroy the iconic image of Pop and Dance being the only mainstream genres prior to Rap.

1) Don't Capitalise Random Genres
2) Worst. Grammar. Ever. Seriously, I don't even know what you mean here.

Motley Crue wrote:

Metallica, I implore you, for your fans and for your selves, release an album of worth and dignity which remembers the old days, but which welcomes a new one at the same time. Slipknot did it, why cant you?

Slipknot did what? Exsqueeze me? Metallica will do what they've always done: release the album that they want to. It might be good, it might be bad, but that's what they've always done.

James Hetfield wrote:

They [Motley Crue] were mingling at the bar, swapping hairspray tips or something, and we were up on stage playing louder and faster...

Check this out

Arucard

Haha! Owned!

Jimmynohands

Oooh, burn!
Aw look irokie, you went and made the kid cry.
(",

Doctor J

irokie wrote:

the occassional palm-muted tremolo race

What the hell does that mean?

irokie

Doctor J wrote:

What the hell does that mean?

That would be the fast chugging on the same note... Think Damage Inc.

Doctor J

That has nothing to do with tremolo, nothing at all.

irokie

On any guitar technique board i've ever been to, instead of saying "Repetitive, Staccatto, high tempo picking" every time this is used, convention is "tremolo picking".

also, tremOLO.

Arucard

huh, for starters you spelled tremolo wrong. buuuut that has nothing to do with it.
and tremolo runs are just tremolo picking. i would always associate a tremolo run with stuff high up the neck, but stuff like the main riff from Morbid Angel's Dawn of the Angry would also be a tremolo run.

in short, yes, that is tremolo!

Doctor J

Damage Inc isn't tremolo picking.

Tar.Aldarion

irokie wrote:

2) I was in the crowd during Slipknot. I was in the crowd during Metallica. There were a few teenagers in the crowd during Slipknot, but towards the back, there was no one. When Metallica were coming onstage, I had to battle my way to get up towards the front.

2) They didn't try to match riffs with Slayer. In fact, they sound nothing like Slayer at all, except for the occassional palm-muted tremolo race.

Slipknot did what? Exsqueeze me? Metallica will do what they've always done: release the album that they want to. It might be good, it might be bad, but that's what they've always done.

ok then lets see.if you were in the crowd during slipknot you would have noticed the incredible amount of people that went from hating them to loving them after they played and counldn't believe they were that good.they have gone from one of my friends most hated bands to his favourite.likewise i like them now and think the subliminal verses is an unbelievable album.
what did we get from metallica?great songs played absolutely horrendously,james could not sing made up for that by adding in 5 million "yeah!"'s i actually saw a lot of people leaving during metallica and i dont think i will ever go to see them again.they are my second favourite band but this is only because of their first four studio albums and S&M.



"They didn't try to match riffs with Slayer. In fact, they sound nothing like Slayer at all" because they can't and yes they don't sound like slayer as they are still very good.the sentence after that "except for the occassional palm-muted tremolo race" has good comedic value i give it that.



"Slipknot did what? Exsqueeze me? Metallica will do what they've always done: release the album that they want to. It might be good, it might be bad, but that's what they've always done."
because they care for the money,what kind of band releases an album they know to be bad,poor kirk....,when they started out they were anti everything they are now.

It wasn't me!

So Marty Friedman is a "third-rate Metallica wannabe"?


...


*Starts slow clap*

Arucard

Doctor J wrote:

Damage Inc isn't tremolo picking.

.......the Damage Inc solo hits over 18 notes a second...not meaning to be smart, but how the **** do you hit that speed without tremolo picking?

as for Tar. I was in the crowd at Slipknot, i didnt notice that many people goingfrom hating to loving them. they werent that good, the sound was pretty ****. not saying they were bad or anything, just you're makin em sound like they were the ****, n they werent

It wasn't me!

The solo might be tremolo picking, but the rest needn't be, and the solo is not the song.

Arucard

It wasn't me! wrote:

The solo might be tremolo picking, but the rest needn't be, and the solo is not the song.

no-one ever said it was. unless it's black metal or some very uninventive death, its not gonna be tremolo picked the whole way through. and tallica are neither of those!

pbsuxok1znja4r

Hey Arucard, are you the same Arucard from UG? Yep Damage inc is not tremolo picked.

Doctor J

Arucard wrote:

no-one ever said it was. unless it's black metal or some very uninventive death, its not gonna be tremolo picked the whole way through. and tallica are neither of those!

Wasn't it described as "palm-muted tremolo race" and "fast chugging on the same note", I don't recall the solo being palm muted or chugged on the same note, for that matter?

necropheliac

hey every1
yeah im new and thought id go exploring and i found this forum ... i think your points are very valid indeed and metallica should defintly play... but to be honest id prefer the point to the rds.... i dont know why...?!

rootofallevil

OK, what the f**k are you kids arguing over here??? We all know Metallica's latest efforts have been sub-standard and only for they were already so big these albums would have passed most of us by unnoticed. There is only one reason why this is.............................
THEY CUT THEIR HAIR !!!!!!! :eek:
we all know its true, Metal is like Samson, long hair gives it that special power
This explains why lars ulrich is the bands week spot, he was the first to go short :mad: Kirk hasn't dealt us a killer solo since going for the Bryllcream user look :mad: and James is a shadow of his former self :mad: The new bassist was lucky to survive with his locks unscathed and was the high point of the abyssmal Sh*t Anger.
So its simple, if you want another rectum rumbling performance from these guys then your gonna need to get them all back to the flowing headbanging locks that gave the power to start their incredible journey

Ancient1

Ok then.

Tar.Aldarion

Arucard wrote:

as for Tar. I was in the crowd at Slipknot, i didnt notice that many people goingfrom hating to loving them. they werent that good, the sound was pretty ****. not saying they were bad or anything, just you're makin em sound like they were the ****, n they werent

they were so much better than metallica though...if they werent there i would have tried to get my money back....
i do like metallica much more than them but only on their recorded albums.
at least slipknots singer can well sing,and don't get me started on how bad their drummer makes lars! edit: Look :P

Arucard

Doctor J wrote:

Wasn't it described as "palm-muted tremolo race" and "fast chugging on the same note", I don't recall the solo being palm muted or chugged on the same note, for that matter?

i dunno, not too bothered to be honest :P

scouser.tommy wrote:

Hey Arucard, are you the same Arucard from UG? Yep Damage inc is not tremolo picked.

yes, yes i am. except i got barred on UG - whoops - so now i'm Alucard II

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

they were so much better than metallica though...if they werent there i would have tried to get my money back....
i do like metallica much more than them but only on their recorded albums.
at least slipknots singer can well sing,and don't get me started on how bad their drummer makes lars! edit: Look :P

hehe, i dont think the Joey-Lars debate should be gotten into, Lars will just end up covered in **** :P

el tel

irokie, I just read your reply to the open letter regarding Metallica.

Anyone can go through a post and pick out mistakes in the grammar and spelling.

Your own posts are littered with the same type of mistakes that you were quick to point out.

Why don't you get a life and realise that you are not an authority on the English language.

Loser.