Wednesday
Dec142016
Twilight Of The Idols, Part III: Sad But True
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 12:01AM Today's post is from our friend HIM.
This is the third installment of my “metal lament” series. The first dealt with Black Sabbath. The second dealt with Deep Purple and David Coverdale. This entry deals with Metallica. But, more generally, it deals with the fog of time and the passing of days.
Metallica’s Lars Ulrich recently gave an interview that provided a peak behind the curtain. I am of mixed emotions about Ulrich. He helped provide the soundtrack to my youth. He threw a pity party about Napster. He was likely a fine tennis player and is now a savvy collector of art. That he, in recent years, couldn’t figure out the double bass if he was fishing in a fully stocked pond, or is mistaken for John Lithgow, is beside the point. But he spoke a cringe-inducing truth that some on this site seem to want to avoid. To wit, he of the more recent Skullet said this on CBC Radio One's arts and culture program "Q":
Whether we can do the 'Fight Fire's and the 'Battery's and the 'Master Of Puppets' and all that in our mid-60s and our early 70s remains to be seen. And there's kind of a second part to that, which is that if… I mean, we may be able to still play them — do you know what I mean? — but whether we can bring the weight and whether we can bring the energy and whether we can bring the attitude that those songs deserve in our 60s to 70s, I have no idea. Hopefully we'll have enough clarity to be able to tell if it's not working, to walk away from it graciously and respectfully. But right now we're fine, and we've played some of our best shows in the last couple of years, and I think there's still a bit left in the engine. But whether we can do it in our 70s… hopefully we'll get a chance to find out.
He went on:
Some of the hardest-working people on our team are a couple of guys that travel with us that stretch us out and sort of stitch us back together," Lars said. "Kirk [Hammett, guitar] is the one that does yoga. I get stretched and I get massaged. It's kind of like… Unfortunately, it's kind of like a sports team now. It's actually kind of pathetic. People come backstage [and ask], 'Where's the Jack Daniel's?' There's no Jack Daniel's. It's brown rice and nasty protein shakes and a couple of trainers that are stretching us and stitching us back together again after the show. But at least we're still playing, and at least we're still functioning, and at least it still has some of the weight that it used to. So, so far so good, so we'll see where it takes us.
This is a refreshingly honest take on growing old and playing metal. I applaud Ulrich for this. But I do so with a series of suggestions and observations. What does this portend for those bands of our youth who aren’t privy to such tonics? Do you think Overkill or Saxon have a juice-vendor at the ready, or a masseuse on call? Or what of those bands that do, like, say the Scorpions? How many oxygen tents can be constructed to keep Meine going year after year after farewell? At what point will, say, Rob Halford finally have to call it a day and move in with KK, in a perfume-scented metal bungalow of riffs and screams? And what of those who have passed? Dio is now a cliché-induced scream in our memory. Lemmy still exists, but only as a topiary bush of a statue in a bar that is lucky to host him.
In a certain sense, I kinda’ feel good for the dead who died while they lived as we wanted them to do so. For the Cobains (yeah, I wrote that), Moons and Bohnams (imagine them wrestling), Entwistles (hey, Members Only jackets and doing rails was still cool in 2002, right?), and Hannemans (hot tubs and alcohol don’t mix).
I know, that was far too glib—and that isn’t an Andy joke--for even me. I would never celebrate a death if only to wish for a youthful look back at what once was. Each and every loss is a sad one. And they will continue to mount. They can’t help but do so. The music, like all of us, dies.
So what is left to do? We have no Doctor Faustus to whom we can appeal. There is no tech or pharmaceutical to which we can turn. And, notice here, that I am not talking about the bands we love, but about the fans we are. We should thank Ulrich for this message. Because it speaks to a condition that none of us can ignore: we are getting old. Like our bands. Our creaks and groans get less attention. Our failures less mention. Our successes less hits. But we are Ulrich in this instance. Best we face our fate with the same clear eyes. Sad but true.
Reader Comments (12)
P.S. Jeff Hanneman didn't die because of hot tubs & alcohol. He died from a spider bite.
Any musician who doesn't stretch,tone, & take care of them self if they are touring and are no longer in their 20's, is an idiot or an amateur. Different time zones, atmospheres, & even elevations can trash a touring artist's body. Much like your guitar, you better keep it in perfect tune, if you plan to play more than the occasional bar gig. It's called "professionalism". If you'[re from the coast & do a fly-in gig in the mile high city of Denver, & you're not prepared for the thinner, less oxygen-rich air, you're gonna be falling over exhausted by the 3rd song in your set.
Halford has maybe ten years on Lars and he stills does what he can do.
Metallica put out slow paced tunes with Load & reload and Black didn't they? Can't play "Master" live anymore? Play Nothing Else Matters with incence and carpeting.
We are all aging. Whether it's being able to keep up with 30 year olds as a plumber or trying to avoid age discrimination at a desk job. Deal folks. Deal with it.
I don't do it nearly as much anymore, but I still love squeezing to the front of a mosh pit to scream and jump along with my favorite bands. It's become much harder, though. My voice stays hoarse for days afterwards, and my body feels like it has gone through a war, when really it was just 90 minutes. But that energy...
I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel and there will be a few mosh pits with my name on them this spring at Rock on the Range, but those days are coming to an end unfortunately.
I can't imagine what it would be like for the guys in Metallica or Slayer to keep up that pace night after night. Eventually, as Lars so obviously stated, they simply won't be able to play the most physically challenging songs at the level they deserve. I suppose they could winnow out some of their fastest ones and play a more chill, mid-tempo set, but that wouldn't really be Metallica, would it? Metallica concerts are supposed to be aggressive and loud and fast - when that is gone, what is it?
As said above, Metallica is at least in a very privileged position. They have a back catalog full of slower material and iconic hits, and they could easily continue with a different format if they still wanted to. But it's way, way harder for the guys in Slayer, Overkill, Sepultura, Megadeth, etc. They don't have a plan-B and at some point (hopefully not for another 10 years at least), their catalog will simply be too challenging and too athletic to play on a regular basis.
Sigh. Death and taxes, man.
The bands we love are slowly leaving us and we also arent getting any younger. Bring on MORC 2018
Also stoked for RATT, Junkyard, Dangerous Toys, KIX, Station, Danger Danger, Dokken and VAIN at M3 Festival in April. If there's any way you can catch it, I strongly suggest you add this on top of MORC...
THAT is how to ROCK! \m/
p.s. Gotta come back with a review of your commentary shortly, HIM!
Need you as my editor, Ace. Yes, "peek" it is! But my jab (and it was a a snide one, given how talented he was) at Hanneman's expense doesn't obscure the fact that the joke still works: he got bitten while he was in a hot tub, but he died of alcohol-related liver damage (cirrhosis). Still bums me out, even if all the hush-hush in the months leading to his death was likely out of respect for him and his situation. Also, nice of you to provide some context on professionalism, given that you are an actual musician and I am a keyboard jockey with a penchant for editing mistakes and tangled prose-based asides! No comparison on that count.
Looking forward to your rejoinder, Metalboy! Always do.
I saw a crap ton of metal/glam bands in the heyday. The one's I didn't, well, I missed out. I don't need to see some watered down version of the original (or classic) lineup. Hell, Foreigner is basically touring under that name as a glorified tribute band.
Don't get me wrong, hard rock/metal is one of the few genres where the past is respected, so I'm glad these bands are still out there. But, man, I'm nearing 50. I need the energy of the new bands, so that's where I spend my free time; looking for new stuff. Because we need more than nostalgia acts to carry the torch.
I, too, saw sh*t tons of Glam Metal acts back in the day, but like to track new acts usually from the moment they break.
Some I've run across are listed below. You may already be onto them but great sources where you can find more are not only this site via Allyson's posts as well as recommendations by fellow "Commentators" (haha!) but also heavyharmonies.com, Apple Music (auto recommends acts as you explore a new band) and sleazeroxx.com.
On heavyharmonies.com, look to the left side panel on the site for "Best of 2015" to find a "sh*t ton" of new Glam Metal acts. sleazeroxx.com posts squibs on new acts just as Allyson does here. Also, you can find reviews of new acts on the right on it's home page.
Here are some newer ones I really like I've found in the last year or two, some fairly recently, either on heavyharmonies, bringbackglam.com and sleazeroxx.com:
Striker
The Tip (Thanks for the tip on The Tip, Allyson)
Suicide Bombers
The Wild!
Miss Behavior
Blood Red Saints
Sergeant Steel (Hilarious! Way better than Steel Panther!)
The Treatment (Thanks Kim of BBG! fame!)
Angels Or Kings
Cats In Space (Heavy Harmonies "Best Album of 2015")
The Defiants
Art Nation
Eclipse
Revolution Saints
Love and a .38
Loaded Gun
Resurrection Kings
Voodoo Circle
Thunderheart
Crystal Ball
Hungryheart
Tailgun
Sturgill Simpson (Yee-haw!)
Revolution Saints
Shiraz Lane
Jaded Heart
Hollow Illusion
Wanted
Heavy Star
Captain Black Beard
Inglorious
Danger Zone
Alberto Rigoni (Track: "Bass Guy" Hilarious!)
Tonk
The Radio Sun
Naked
Yardstones
Rusted Guns
Thrillkiller
Texas Hippie Coalition
The Protomen (Album: "The Cover Up" Brilliant!)
Royal Blood
Dead Lord
Ghost
King Company
Maverick
Sister
Sweet Creature
The Dead Daisies
NiteRain
Guzzler
Last in Line
Madd Margritt
Overland
Dirty Glory
Cruzh
Hellyeah (unintentionally comical cover of Phil Collins' "I Don't Care Anymore")
Robert Pehrsson's Humbucker
Devil's Balls
Soul Seller
Herman Frank
Blues Pills
Twilight Force
Dirty Bombshells
Hollywood Monsters
Dario Mollo's Crossbones
White Widdow
Eden's Curse
HORNSS
Glam Skanks
Greg Billings Band
Niva
Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons
The Confounded
Rik Emmet & RESolution 9
Burning Point
Wardrum
My favorite album of 2015:
The Nightflight Orchestra, "Skyline Whispers"
A big omission is The Struts. Because if we are talking actual glam, they embody the modern version of T-Rex and The Sweet. But, hey, I know when we talk glam here we're talking about 80s hard rock.
Some others that I find keeping rock alive are:
Dorothy
The Temperance Movement
Whiskey Myers (Southern Rock, mostly, but if you included Sturgill...)
Monster Truck
Crobot
The Amorettes
Ruby the Hatchet (more metal than glam, but hey)
Rival Sons
Koritni (don't know if they are still together, but had 2 good albums)
Ok, didn't research, just what I came up with off the top my head.