Are you a fan of heavy metal? Especially Metallica?

I am, and I love to listen to their thrash guitar playing and I also find their lyrics incredibly poetic as well as relevant to the ongoing drama and tragedy that exists in our world.

Who’s Better than Metallica? Some people like Megadeath, some like Anthrax, and of course there are a slew of younger bands who play all sorts of sub-genres of Metal music. But to me the best metal band of all is Metallica.

Do you play guitar? If you are in the market for a new guitar here’s a link to my music instrument site Music Gear Now.info.

Enough of the crass commercialism! I would like to share some of my thoughts about Metallica and heavy metal music.

Lars & James the Driving Forces Behind Metallica?

How They Became the Top Metal Band of All Time

I learned about Metallica a while back. I have always loved fast loud guitar playing, but I also wanted to find music that had a sense of dynamics, that is a change in volume, used artfully to emphasize a feeling mood or message in a song.

And I need great lyrics, poetic words that deal with important issues, personality, loneliness, politics war, the sub-concious, justice, and even more importantly, injustice.

You probably know that Dave Mustaigne was there with Metallica in the beginning, but I heard that there were personal differnces between the guys. Dave had a kind of domineering attitude when it came to the sound, the themes, the lyrics, and while he was a great artist, I don’t think Lars and James were able to let their creative juices flow. On top of that I don’t think there really was a need for three guitarists, it really was overkill.

And I don’t think it is any secret that the guys in Metallica have a liking for beer, and there were evidently somne personal conflicts which may or may not have been the result of the alcohol haze that are rumored to have engulfed Metallica in the early days.

Heavy Metal Shred Guitar

Now who would think that a bunch of beer drinking head banging rockers with an attitude would have a poetic side to their personalities and their music? If you are familiar with their history, you might have been one of the fans who put Metallica down for the “Black Album”. It was too soft, they felt and many believed that Metallica had turned their back on the core of their being and their art.

Well I saw Lars on MTV and when asked about that he just shrugged, and said “expletive delered” We just do what we want with our music, that’s what its all about, and if anyone doesn’t like it, “expletive” ‘em…

The “Black Album” was the first thing I ever heard by Metallica, so it seemed pretty heavy to me. And subsequently,  when “Justice for All” came out, I found it at first to be a little too hard, with too much treble and reverb, and in a way, I suppose it might have been a reaction to fans who objected to the so-called mellowness of the “Black Album”

This was not the case. I heard Kirk Hammett being interviewed and he laid the sound and feel of the album to his recent (at the time) change of equipment from Gibson to ESP guitars.

He said he was kind of taken over by the guitar itself and he was trying to come up with sounds that he was unable to. Nonetheless, it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the ESP guitar line for Kirk. And over course classics like “One”, “Shortest Straw” and “Blacken” are still some of the finest examples of shred guitar playing you’ll ever hear.

If you want to shred you should get yourself a guitar just like Kurt’s ESP. Check this beauty out Kurt’s Axe

My conclusion? At the heart of every rock band is the guitar. In Metallica, there is a unique teamwork ethic, although James and Lars write most of the lyrics and music. But without the unique personality of Kurt Hammett’s guitar shredding, I don’t think there would be such a thing as Metallica, or at least the band wouldn’t have had such a great impact on the world of rock and heavy metal music.

BEST THRASH METAL BANDS OF ALL TIMES – TOP 10

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