October 15, 1981 is an important starting point in the history of Metallica. On that date, two 23 year old rockers with different backgrounds but one common goal formed the future of Rock-n-Roll. A few hundred songs, several discarded bandmembers and plenty of grey hair later they are still rocking. My first experience with the boys (as I refer to them) was December 5, 6 and 7 in my home town of Chicago. I was living with my brother Bob and I have to admit, I wasn't really into the music yet. Yes, I listed to their music but I couldn't run down their catalog like I can now. I didn't evne know what the Four Horseman represented. On the 5th of December, their first night of three sold out gigs at the then Rosemont Horizon is suburban Chicago, I met Metallica. Being fully into the autograph scene we found Metallica at their downtown hangout swanky and plush Ritz Carlton. We sat in the bottom lobby awaiting our first encounter with the boys. First down was Kirk Hammett and he signed and chatted with us, followed by Jason, then James and finally Lars Ulrich. That was it, I was hooked. I went back the next day and met them again and my obsession started. While I never made it to Rosemont to see them on any of those three nights, I would see them again, again, again, again and again. I must admit. Their music has had a positive effect on my life. I have thoroughly enjoyed their old stuff (pre 1987) as much as their newer material. While I missed out on the entire Cliff Burton experience, I have lived through Jason Newsted and his predesessor Robert Trujillo. These pages will chronicle my collection of autographed Metallica material. Most of it I have been lucky enough to recieve in person, the rest I have purchased through the years including one of the most significant and important vintage signatures of this band known to exist. Please enjoy, it's for everyone to enjoy. It's not for sale, it's for show. I constantly add new items so check back often.
KILL EM ALL
For the diehard headbangers, the fans who can't stand Metallica beyond Ride the Lightning, this is where it all began. The 1983 release features some of the bands staple's. This was thrash metal at it's best. The boys let loose a masterpiece of epic proportions combing real life storytelling with flawless execution. Their introduction to the main stage was long overdue and their fans across the world were treated to some of the bands most memorable songs.
HIT THE LIGHTS
THE FOUR HORSEMAN
MOTORBREATH
JUMP IN THE FIRE
ANESTHESIA - (PULLING TEETH)
WHIPLASH
PHANTOM LORD
NO REMORSE
SEEK AND DESTROY
METAL MILITIA
What more can you say? Ask James Hetfield who said in an interview, "Just the honesty and the innocence of it all is so cool. It's all we knew at the time: "bang your head," "crush the town" and all that shit." At the time I couldn't write a lyric to save my life, so all I could do was listen to other bands and see how they phrased things. I just wanted to put our attitude into it -and that's why I loved punk at the time. It was that honesty, which is something I'm not sure a lot of the older metal bands had. I mean, what was Judas Priest really writing about? Or Iron Maiden? It was all this weird fantasy stuff. And we maybe got into a little of that with "Phantom Lord" or a few other songs, but we've always tried to stay away from writing about things we didn't know about."
Image:
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
The follow up to the bands first release came a year later in 1984. Ride the Lightning. As good as their first LP was, this is better. Spending some actual time in the studio to write and discover what they can actual accomplish, the boys didn't disapoint with some timeless classics. Three of the personal all time favorites are featured on this album.... Creeping Death, Fade to Black and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hearing these songs in person like I have many times over, the feeling is purely euphoric. "Die, Die, Die" as Kirk wails in the background, Jason pounds the cords while screaming, Lars bangs the skins and James thrashes is a life changing event. A friend of mine Andy from New York sheds tears during events like this and I can fully understand why. It's that good.
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
FADE TO BLACK
TRAPPED UNDER ICE
ESCAPE
CREEPING DEATH
THE CALL OF KTULU
I would be neglegent if I didn't mention the experience of seeing the boys play Fae to Black or For Whom the Bell Tolls in person. Both songs are completely different entities and both elicit different responses from the audience. They have both been staples in the set list for the boys for years and hopefully for years to come.
Image:
MASTER OF PUPPETS
Released on February 21, 1986. Bassist Cliff Burton would be dead seven months later. His legacy lives on in this power packed LP featuring some of the boys best work to date. While some bands out there produce albums which feature nice sounding music, Metallica makes albums that outdue themselves live. If you have seen the boys live through the years, they dip into their archive featuring some their classic material. The title song, Master of Pupets is raw engery. Period, end of story. It's a great encore for the band or as a buffer about half way through the set. However you like it played, it's a true masterpiece and one of the bands best works. Another one of my favorites, Battery is the lead song but has been known to close many a show. For some reason I can never get the song out of my head when i'm in the boys adopted home of San Francisco. Near the wharf a street shares the same name and when I see that street name all I can think of is speed.
BATTERY
THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE
WELCOME HOME (SANITORIUM)
DISPOSIBLE HEROES
LEPER MESSIAH
ORION
DAMAGE, INC.
Sanitorium, leave me be, it repeats itself. Much like Fade to Black, this song has it's high's and lows and James screaming Leave me the f_ck alone! I'm glad we didn't. All in all one of the bands true masterpiece works and the final installment of Cliff Burton's short lived career as a Four Horseman.
Image:
Singles, EP's, ETC.....
Often forgotten by many, these singles are some of my favorite's. I have most of them signed and I would call a few of these the best in my collection. How many copies of Whiplash can be signed???? I have only seen one before and this is it. Of course these are all vintage signed, autographed by the band when they were released. There are some real gem's here and they feature some of my favorite sets of the boys autographs.
