While on youtube, I found a channel with a lot of Metallica videos, and I watched Metallica’s Hall of Fame Induction speeches in 2009. Speeches were made by James, Kirk, Lars, Rob, Jason Newsted, and Ray Burton, the late Cliff Burton’s father. Something that struck me while watching the videos was that most of the speech thank you’s were directed at the business side of Metallica. Members made sure to thank each other, their families and children, but they also expressed gratitude for their management team at Q Prime, their crew, and the fans, “without whom none of this would be possible”.
I realize that a band like Metallica (“the biggest heavy metal band in the world”) is a monstrous commercial entity, and that in many ways Metallica has grown larger than the music that is their product and art. However, I think that music is art, and regardless of the fact that most of the art we see is commercialized, the impetus for its selling is that it has an intrinsic and appealing value to some, if not all, in large part or small. At its core, Metallica is nine albums and a live show. Even more fundamentally, Metallica is the original music that they have recorded over the past 25 years.
The success of Metallica can definitely be attributed to, as the members say, hooking up with the right people at the right time, and forging business connections that assured their personal wealth, as well as made money for their record company. And in my opinion, the acceptance of Metallica into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in large part due to their massive commercial and popular success. Would Metallica make it into the Hall of Fame if Cliff Burton had lived and they hadn’t “sold out” in 1991 with the Black Album, and become as household a name as The Beatles, as American as baseball and Mom’s apple pie? I would like to think so, but unfortunately the answer is probably no. It seems to me that what was overshadowed, paradoxically, in Metallica’s Hall of Fame acceptance, was an acknowledgement and celebration of what has made Metallica truly great—their music.
Kirk, James, and Lars all had inspirational things to say about the power of music to make “impossible” dreams possible, to not be afraid to “dream a big dream, and dare to fail”. They are “living proof that dreams come true”. Kirk thanked his brother’s support in picking up a guitar as an “angry, young teen”, Lars thanked his father for the constant exposure to music while growing up, and its salience in his home life, and James thanked his brother for access to his drums and record collection. Emotions were running high in these reflections, and understandably so.
However, I would have liked to see more reflection on the music of Metallica and how that played a role in their personal achievement. I would have like Kirk to acknowledge his tireless work in mastering the guitar, and how he went from marathon recording sessions when he couldn’t even bend a note at the end of the day during …And Justice For All, to a smooth solo process on the Black Album. How they composed an excellent debut album, drove across the country to Rochester to record it, and invented a new musical genre in the process: thrash metal. How after each album, the pressure to compose something new and better got greater. And how Metallica, and specifically James Hetfield, time and again, rose to the challenge and took heavy metal composition to new heights, from the landmark, genre-defining Master of Puppets, to the progressive extremes of And Justice for All, to the monumental classic record, the Black Album. How they hit a creative writing block on St. Anger, and returned in thrash glory and fury with Death Magnetic.
As a musician, I appreciate the musical logistics and creativity of Metallica more than their commercial image. I practice guitar so I can play James’ rhythms and Kirk’s solos. I compose music so I can express myself and create satisfying music. To compose a record like Master of Puppets on guitar is groundbreaking, and I would have liked the ceremony to focus on more on that aspect, rather than how “big” Metallica has gotten in the public eye. I’m glad that they are so popular, but even if I was their only fan, their stamp on music is indelible, undeniable, and immortal. Long live Metallica.
