OFF: Metallica's Astronomy

[Andy Gilham]

>Anyone out there able to
> explain the Metallica phenomenon?

OK, here goes!  (Anything rather than watch the news.)

Cast your mind back to the early-mid 80s.  The best, or at least the
biggest, 70s metal bands - Zeppelin, Sabbath, Kiss, Aerosmith, even BOC -
had gone, or were (or at least appeared to be) in terminal decline; punk and
the NWOBHM had come and gone, without leaving much of a trace (particularly
in America); Motorhead and Venom had been great, but even they had seemed to
peak; popular music as a whole was dominated by twee romo bands in makeup
(Culture Club, Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, and worse); a few cock-rock
dinosaurs still walked the earth (yes, David Coverdale, I'm looking at you),
and mostly such metal as was left was horrible big-hair glam from LA (Ratt,
Poison).  It was horrible.  A generation in crisis looked for heroes.

Metallica were simply the right band, with the right riffs and the right
attitude, at the right time.  They were an antidote to all that was wrong.
They simply set the agenda for heavy music for several years.

Whereas Dave Mustaine is a twat.

- Andy

mailto:Andy.Gilham at btinternet.com; http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.gilham