The 500 - #243 - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #243
Album Title: Black Sabbath
Artist: Black Sabbath
Genre: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Blues Rock
Recorded: Regent Sound, London, U.K.

Released: February, 1970
My age at release: 4
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #255, dropping 112 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Wasp/Behind The Wall Of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.

The debut record from Black Sabbath is one that I first heard in high school in the early ‘80s. More specifically, while attending basement parties in London, Ontario. Listening to it in its entirety this week transported me back to those heady days of my youth. I was going to use the adjective "carefree" to describe that time in my life because, in retrospect, it was. However, back then, it didn't always feel that way. Awash in surging testosterone, I, like many teens, could run the gamut of emotions on any given day. Psychologists have dubbed this turbulent affliction as a period of "emotional overstatement." It can also occur during menopause or andropause. However, as adults, we are often better equipped to deal with it -- at least I think I am. I touched on my experiences with andropause in a 2016 post I called "Twitter and the lesson that makes me cry".

In September, 2022, I wrote about Black Sabbath when the group’s third record, Masters Of Reality, appeared on The 500 list at position #300. I will write about them again in November, 2025, when their best-selling record, Paranoid, arrives in position #131. It is another record that got plenty of plays in those smoke-filled, basement bars of my youth. As my wife said when we were listening to Black Sabbath this week: "When I hear this record, I can actually smell those wood-paneled, basement parties -- that mix of cigarette and marijuana smoke blended with stale beer and a hint of damp, musty mildew." Indeed, the sense of smell, or olfaction, is our most primary sense and one that can trigger powerful memories. How fascinating that music can trigger olfactory recollections.

An online shot of an 80s basement party.

The debut record by Black Sabbath is considered the first in the heavy metal genre. However, their sound had its genesis in a tale of tragedy and perseverance. Before becoming a professional musician, 17-year-old guitarist Tony Iommi made his living working at a steel mill in his hometown of Birmingham, England. On his last day of work, hours before a scheduled departure with his first band, The Birds And The Bees, on a tour of Germany, Iommi came home for lunch and briefly considered skipping the afternoon shift. His mother encouraged him to return to the factory, saying: "You have to finish a job properly."

Iommi as a teenager.

When he returned to the mill, he learned that another worker, who operated a guillotine-style machine on the assembly line, had not shown up. Iommi replaced him. In a 2020 interview, the left-handed guitarist recalled what happened next, saying:

"They said, 'You've got to go on the machine yourself because there's nobody else to do it'. So, as I'm pushing the metal through the press, the machine came down on my hand, and in the action of pulling my hand back quick, I pulled the ends of my fingers off."

As fate would have it, the fingertips were on his right hand, the one he used on the guitar fretboard to make chords while his right hand strummed and picked the strings. When the wounds had healed, Iommi struggled to play through the pain and even considered switching to play right-handed. He was frustrated and thought of quitting music altogether.

However, the manager of the  factory urged Iommi to try something different. The manager purchased him a record by legendary French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Reinhardt had taught himself to play the guitar, masterfully, after losing the use of all but two of his left-hand fingers – the index and ring fingers – in a fire. 

Django Reinhardt and his misshapen hands following
nerve damage resulting from a fire.

Inspired, Iommi fashioned himself thimble-sized fingertips from melted "Fairy Liquid" dish-detergent bottles and pieces of his leather jacket. The homemade prosthetic worked, sort of. He was unable to feel the strings, so he tended to push down on them much harder. Consequently, he was unable to “bend” the strings – an important manipulation to adjust the tone. His remedy was to replace the heavy gauge strings with lighter ones from a banjo. He also loosened the strings, lowering the guitar tone three semitones down from standard guitar tuning.

Iommi's hands, including the prosthetic fingertips, on his guitar fretboard.

Additionally, Iommi was forced to slow down his finger movements to prevent the tips from coming off, so he started to make the most of chord shapes and the sound created by the changes to his strings. The result was a bigger, weightier and darker sound -- and a heavy metal guitar legend was born.

Black Sabbath in 1970, (l-r) Geezer Butler, Iommi, Bill Ward
and Ozzy Osbourne.

I've thought about Iommi's story often since learning about it many years ago. It reminds me that, sometimes, persevering through hardship can lead to something better.

There was the time I was fired from my bartending job at East Side Mario's Restaurant in Oakville, Ontario. I was broke and, at 27, forced to move back home with my parents. It was a terrible time when I felt at my lowest. However, my financial situation forced me to quit smoking and I eventually got a much better job at Kelsey's Restaurant where I met one of my best friends (and frequent guest blogger), Steve "Lumpy" Sullivan. I also decided to go back to school to pursue a second degree and that led me to Teacher's College and to a career that I still love.

So, take a page from the book of Iommi -- you've got to finish a job properly.

 

The 500 - #248 - The Shape Of Jazz To Come - Ornette Coleman

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #248
Album Title: The Shape Of Jazz To Come
Artist: Ornette Coleman
Genre: Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA
Released: November, 1959
My age at release: Not born
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #417, down 169 spots from 248 since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Lonely Woman

As the 20th century girded for the hippies and the topsy turvy Swinging Sixties, the year 1959, marked a seismic shift in the world of jazz. In fact, In 2009, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) released a one-hour documentary, entitled 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz. It focused on the changes happening to jazz music at the time and how the genre was impacted and influenced by societal change. It is available on YouTube and is well worth the watch.

Between August and November of that pivotal year, four monumental jazz records were released: Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis; Time Out from The Dave Brubeck Quartet; Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus; and this week's record, The Shape Of Jazz To Come, by Ornette Coleman.

Four of the important and influential jazz records released in 1959.

I knew the music of Brubeck and Davis and was familiar with some of Mingus’ work. Kind Of Blue was the first jazz compact disc I purchased on the recommendation of a long-forgotten university classmate. Not only is it a personal Top Twenty record for me, it sits at position #12 on The 500 list. Time Out from Dave Brubeck's Quartet is also a record I have owned. It features the well-known jazz standard Take Five, which became a hit single on pop record charts in the 1960s and remains the biggest selling jazz single of all time. If I was going to introduce someone to Jazz, those two records would be worthy examples of the genre and safe bets for the uninitiated.

Single for Take Five by Dave Brubeck Quartet

Ornette Coleman is new to me. I knew nothing about him or his music but was delighted to learn of his powerful impact. Coleman helped develop the sub-genre of avant-garde, or free, jazz which eschews established conventions that include tempo, tone and traditional chord changes. Converts to the emerging style believed more improvisation would enhance the sounds of bebop and modal jazz established in the 1940s and 1950s. Following a move to California in 1958, Coleman connected with like-minded musicians willing to embark on his spontaneous form of music-making, and his first album, Something Else, was released.

It is now lauded as groundbreaking, but was poorly received at the time, with critics calling it "freakishly structured" and "dissonant". Established jazz heavyweight Miles Davis even questioned Coleman's sanity and felt he was "all screwed up inside." Davis, like many others, would come around to the genius of Coleman.

Legendary jazz musician, Miles Davis.

I've been thinking a lot lately about improvisation and risk-taking. I am currently part of a community theatre group that is in the "dress-rehearsal" stage of our preparation for eight Autumn performances. Right now, each rehearsal is a full run-through. If a player makes a mistake, such as flubbing a line, he, or she, is expected to keep going, improvising as necessary to get the scene back on track.

Poster for the upcoming theatre production I am in.

On several occasions I have tripped up only to find the recovery is both terrifying and exhilarating – terrifying to realize your error, then exhilarating at an extemporaneous recovery. A bonus is the euphoric rush of endorphins at the end of the scene. Phew! I imagine Coleman and his bandmates felt much the same as they pushed their musical experiments to the limit.

Coleman (right) with one iteration of his quartet.

An interesting aside to this evolution in jazz is that the trumpet player who worked with Coleman for many years, including the recording of this record, was the legendary Don Cherry. (NOTE: not to be confused with the Canadian hockey broadcaster Don Cherry, -- although, the idea of the blunt, brash, politically-incorrect former hockey player playing free jazz trumpet in his garishly loud suits and high collars makes me chuckle).

Canadian former broadcaster Don Cherry

I discovered trumpeter Don Cherry in 1997 through the music of his son, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and his debut record Desireless.

Desireless, the debut record from Eagle-Eye Cherry (1997)

Years ago, I bought Eagle-Eye's compact disc for his hit song, Save Tonight, and my wife and I fell in love with the entire album. It includes the title track, Desireless, an extended performance built from a hauntingly beautiful trumpet motif showcased originally by his father on his 1973 free jazz record, Relativity Suite.

Relativity Suite, from Don Cherry (1973)

Coleman died in June, 2015, at the age of 85. His pioneering work is now revered among jazz critics and fans as groundbreaking and seminal. It turns out his improvisational experiment paid off and, during the final decades of his life, he was lauded by his peers. Honours included a Pulitzer Prize for Music and a Lifetime Grammy Award. In 2009, he was accorded the prestigious Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Not bad for someone who was once considered "screwed up inside.”

The 500 - #253 - The River - Bruce Springsteen

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #253
Album Title: The River
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Genre: Heartland Rock, Rock
Recorded: The Power Station, New York, NY
Released: October, 1980
My age at release: 15
How familiar was I with it before this week: Somewhat

Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: The River

When I think back on the best times in my life, I reflect fondly on the autumn and winter of 1980. I was starting at a new high-school in a new city after my family had relocated to London, Ontario, that summer. It was a change that, in retrospect, I sorely needed. The previous five years were spent in Kingsville, Ontario, a rural fishing and farming community on the shores of Lake Erie. Life there was fine...but, I knew I didn't fit and making meaningful friendships was challenging.

Kingsville to London, Ontario - 1980.

London was a game-changer. Days after arriving, I went door-to-door in my neighbourhood with handmade flyers to promote myself as a babysitter. Within a few weeks, I was making enough money to enjoy all that my new city had to offer. There was a bustling downtown with a real library, movie theatres, several record and book stores....and so many arcades. I had a bike and the city bus cost only a quarter. To paraphrase the Bard, "The world was my oyster".

London Transit Bus (1979). Photo credit - Chuck Lahickey.

I joined a water-polo team, a Venturer Scout Club (Boy Scouts for 15-17-year-olds), and registered for house-league hockey, soccer and volleyball. I was meeting new people daily and intuitively knew that, finally, I was going to find "my clan" -- that special group of individuals destined to become your lifelong friends, who share similar passions, tolerate your quirks and celebrate your weirdness.

I was also developing my taste in music, and London radio stations played a significant role. The college radio station, CIXX (106.9 FM), featured hip student disc-jockeys playing classic and obscure songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s. However, the local AM stations that played "The Hits" comprised a hearty portion of my auditory diet. CJBK (1290 AM)  released weekly pamphlets of "Top 29" records. They were distributed at the counters of local record stores. I managed to obtain one from December 4, 1980, and simply reading the song titles transports me to that simple, glorious and carefree time. I enjoyed it so much, I made myself a Spotify playlist with those 29 songs.

A CJBK Flyer from December 4, 1980. Shared online
by Andrew Stolarski.

London's hits of December, 1980, comprised an eclectic assortment of songs from multiple genres, with more than half of them performed by artists with multiple albums on The 500 list. It also included Hungry Heart, the first single released from Bruce Springsteen's fifth studio record, The River.

Hungry Heart single album sleeve.

I was already familiar with Springsteen (affectionately called "The Boss") because I'd heard some of his earlier hits (Born To Run, Prove It All Night and Rosalita) on the FM stations I listened to. However, I felt more connected to Hungry Heart because its release coincided with a time when my spirits were filled with glorious freedom, wonder and joy. The lyrics begin:

"Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack

I went out for a ride and I never went back.

Like a river that don't know where it's flowing

I took a wrong turn and I just kept going."

For the longest time, I didn't understand the song at all. The catchy, mid-tempo melody and the infectious hook of the chorus is deceptive. I thought it was a happy song when, in fact, it tells the story of a father leaving his family because his primal desire (hungry heart) compels him to find something better. Additionally, for several months I thought "Baltimorejack" was the full name of an American city and not “Baltimore (comma) Jack”. A high-school chum took great joy in correcting that mistake.

Springsteen performing with his band saxophonist
Clarence Clemons (1980).

The recording for The River took more than a year. Initially, Springsteen intended to release it as a single album with 10 tracks. However, he cancelled the release because "the songs lacked the unity and conceptual intensity" he wanted. He continued to write, eventually composing more than 50 songs before settling on the 20 that comprise the double-record.

The "gatefold" release of the record with liner notes.

Springsteen's previous record, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, featured storytelling lyrics about characters who were down on their luck and trying to survive against overwhelming odds. The River took a different tack, mixing frivolous and fun songs next to more solemn and dark tracks. In subsequent interviews, Springsteen made it clear that this choice was intentional, saying:

 "Rock and roll has always been this joy, this certain happiness that is in its way the most beautiful thing in life. But rock is also about hardness and coldness and being alone ... I finally got to the place where I realized life had paradoxes, a lot of them, and you've got to live with them."

Fortunately, in the autumn of 1980, this 15-year-old London transplant was "paradox-free" --  as he pinballed through his fresh start in a new town full of opportunity and wonder, propelled by the songs of the day and his own hungry heart.

The 500 - #254 - (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary Of Soul - Otis Redding

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #254
Album Title: (Complete & Unbelievable) The Dictionary of Soul
Artist: Otis Redding
Genre: Memphis Soul
Recorded: May to September, 1966
Released: October, 1966
My age at release: 1
How familiar was I with it before this week: A couple songs

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, dropping 194 to #448 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Try A Little Tenderness

In the wee hours of December 10, 1967, Ben Cauley, trumpet player for the funk band Bar Kays, shut his eyes for a little sleep. The plane he was on, a Beechcraft H18, was flying from Cleveland International Airport to Dane County Regional Airport (formerly Truax Field) in Madison, Wisconsin.

Typical flight path - Cleveland to Madison Wisconsin

Cauley awoke suddenly upon hearing his bandmate, Phalon Jones, screaming, "Oh no!" as he looked out of the plane's window. Seconds later, Cauley found himself waist deep in ice-cold water inside the fuselage of the aircraft. He unbuckled his safety belt quickly and grabbed a seat cushion as a floatation device. There was a breach in the side of the downed Beechcraft, allowing the frigid water of Lake Monona to rush through. Kicking his legs furiously, Cauley exited the breach and somehow made it to the surface, a short distance from shore. A non-swimmer, he was unable to return to help his bandmates (Jones, Ronnie Caldwell, Carl Cunningham and Jimmy King) or the other passengers, valet Matthew Kelly, pilot Richard Fraser and singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Otis Ray Redding Junior.

At the time, 26-year-old Redding was enjoying music industry acclaim. He had just released his fifth studio record, The Dictionary Of Soul, and he was on a promotional tour of the United States. In April, 1966, performed for three consecutive nights at the famed Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. California, to a predominantly white audience. A live recording, featuring a selection of the songs he performed at the time, was posthumously released in October, 1968.

Otis Redding In Person At The Whiskey A Go Go (1968).

The show received critical acclaim from  the press and the many musicians in attendance, including Bob Dylan. Dylan was so dazzled, he offered Redding the opportunity to record his song Just Like A Woman. Redding politely declined. However, English band Manfred Mann did not, and had a hit with it later that year.

Redding’s electrifying performances galvanized his appeal with white audiences, notably at the Monterey International Pop Festival, June 16-18, 1967. The festival was also the American debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, and Ravi Shankar. Further, it marked the first large-scale performance by Janis Joplin. With such star-studded talent, that festival is remembered as perhaps the starting point for "The Summer of Love", the, now-infamous, hippie, flower-power, social movement that would end the tumultuous decade.

Promotional poster for the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival.

Redding's performance electrified the audience. According to music historian Ian Inglis:

"Redding had not been considered a commercially viable player in the mainstream white American market...(but)... his performance at Monterey Pop was a natural progression from local to national acclaim and the decisive turning-point in his career."

This performance was also captured on video and posthumously released as a record in 2019. It is an astonishing, 18-minute video that has to be seen to be believed. 

One hundred and sixty six days after that fateful plane crash, on the afternoon of December 10, 1967, the wreckage of the Beechcraft H18 was retrieved from the depths of Lake Monono. Redding's body was recovered along with the other six passengers.

Survivor Ben Cauley would, understandably, be haunted by the memories of the crash for decades after. He continued to perform music with the Bar Kays and several other funk and soul acts until suffering a stroke in 1989. He died in 2015 at the age of 67.

Crews retrieve the Beechcraft H18 from the waters of Lake Monono.

In January, 1968, (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay was released. Redding had finished recording it three days prior to the tragedy that claimed everyone aboard the plane. The record immediately rocketed to the top of the charts, becoming the first #1 hit ever released posthumously and Redding’s biggest hit. The song was in sharp contrast to the high-energy sound that led to his many nicknames – The Big O, The Mad Man From Macon, Rockhouse Redding and, of course, The King Of Soul. In The Dock of the Bay, Redding reflected on a simpler life, 'sitting alone, watching ships roll in and out of the harbour from sunrise to sunset as the tides come and go.'

At 26, Redding was on the verge of massive commercial success when that fateful night intervened. Undoubtedly, he was one of the greatest singers and front-men of his generation. How fitting then that Dock Of The Bay was his final song. Its contemplative simplicity provided a beautiful pause in his hurly-burly life. Perhaps, it also invites the listener to pause, and stop and wonder..."What might have come next for this massive talent had his life not been cut so tragically short?"

It can also serve as a reminder to us that life is short and, sometimes, we have to stop, take stock of our own lives, count our blessings and enjoy the moment.

Shakespeare was right, ‘Life is but a brief candle’.

I hope you can find a moment to do that soon. Thanks for reading.

The 500 - #255 - "The Black Album" - Metallica

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #255
Album Title: "The Black Album"
Artist: Metallica
Genre: Heavy Metal
Recorded: One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California U.S.A.
Released: August, 1991
My age at release: 26
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #235, moving up 20 spots since 2012
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Enter Sandman

Heavy metal music seemed custom built for parody, but not initially. The genre evolved out of the blues and psychedelic rock scene of the late sixties, with U.K. bands Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple being considered the pioneers -- a time when it was indelibly cool to be a rock star.

(l-r) Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple) Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin).

Through the seventies, shock rock bands, such as KISS and Alice Cooper, brought in an element of theatre, while Van Halen and Aerosmith introduced flashy guitar solos alongside lyrics celebrating beautiful girls and a non-stop party lifestyle. A new wave of British metal arrived late in that decade, with Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Saxon. Through them the "headbanger" fan was born. The genre became associated with toughness, power, aggression, and sometimes misogynistic machismo. Concurrently, the typical metalhead began to dress in studded leather and battered denim, replete with chain accessories -- a look popularized in the gay-biker and bondage subculture.

Rob Halford, frontman for Judas Priest, helped usher in
the leather aesthetic in heavy metal.

The eighties marked the arrival of glam metal (Mötley Crüe, RATT, Cinderella, Twisted Sister and Poison). The music was characterized by pop-influenced guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems and the overly-sentimental and lyrically cheesy "power ballad". The musicians' stage attire borrowed heavily from the glam rock era of the seventies (David Bowie, T-Rex, Mott The Hoople). Some of the leather remained, but it transitioned from tough-guy black to bold neon yellow, red and blue, accented by skin-tight spandex. Long hair was back-combed and teased into high, voluminous manes, held in place by powerful, ozone-destroying quantities of aerosol sprays and gels. And then there was the make-up. Some bands used more stage cosmetics than the current cast of RuPaul's Drag Race. In a strange irony, the more you looked like a girl, the more girls you seemed to attract. It was a weird time indeed.

80s glam metal act, Poison.

Unsurprisingly, heavy metal was easy to ridicule. The American sketch comedy trio of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer created the fictional English heavy metal band Spın̈al Tap in 1979, releasing the brilliant mockumentary This Is Spın̈al Tap five years later.

Shearer, McKean & Guest in a promotional poster for the 1984
This Is Spinal Tap film.

In a strange twist of life imitating art, the group went on to release three records, several videos and even tour dates, including their "reunion" Back From The Dead nine-city tour in 2001 and a "One Night Only" World Tour at Wembley Arena, London, on June 30, 2009. The opening act featured The Folksmen -- a parody folk trio comprising McKean, Shearer and Guest, characters who had been featured in the 2003 mockumentary A Mighty Wind.

McKean, Shearer and Guest as The Folksmen.

Meanwhile, across the pond in the U.K., four members of the television series The Comic Strip Presents... developed their own parody of the genre by creating the fictional heavy metal band Bad News. Two short films, Bad News and More Bad News, were released as satirical "fly-on-the-wall" style mockumentaries which purported to document the group's trials and tribulations as they tried to succeed in the British metal music scene of the mid-eighties. Actors Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planner, Rik Mayall and Peter Richardson brilliantly satirized the genre, playing hapless rockers, Vim Fuego, Den Dennis, Colin Grigson and Spider "Eight Legs" Webb.

Bad News were(l-r) Spider Webb, Den Dennis, Vim Fuego
and Colin Grigson

Somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area, in the midst of this weird period of gender-blending, headbanging rock and roll, a new band was being cast. As though instinctively, Metallica took their sound in a different direction. Their story began when 17-year-old Danish drummer Lars Ulrich moved with his family to Newport Beach, California, and placed an ad in a local trade magazine, reading. "Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam..." Guitarists James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine answered the call and, in early 1982, the trio released their first original song, Hit The Lights.

Bassist Cliff Burton was added in 1983 and Mustaine was fired because of drugs and alcohol use. He was replaced by Kirk Hammett. Metallica's evolving sound was dubbed "thrash metal" – a term coined by music journalist Malcolm Dome in 1984. Metallica’s sound was characterized by fast, percussive beats, accented by aggressive, low-register guitar riffs. In many ways, it was a hybrid of late 70s heavy metal (before the glam make-up) and the punk and garage rock sounds of the mid-seventies.

The 1983 Metallica line-up, (l-r) Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich & Burton.

The band released their first full-length record, Kill 'Em All, in 1983 and received critical acclaim, particularly from the writers in the British music magazine Kerrang. I was an avid reader, making the trip to a specialty magazine shop in downtown London, Ontario, every other week to pick up (or at least flip through) the latest edition. I discovered the title because I had become a fan of a lesser-known British progressive rock (prog-rock) band called Marillion, which American and Canadian media outlets ignored.

Marillion lead-singer Fish on the cover of
a 1982 Kerrang magazine I owned.

It was in Kerrang that I first saw an article on Metallica. It included a picture of the group gathered around a table strewn with booze bottles and food, mainly noodles, which they vulgarly displayed in their hands, mouth and nose (see below). 

One of the first pictures of Metallica I saw
in Kerrang Magazine (1983-ish).

As a fan of heavy metal, particularly the work of the pioneers (Sabbath, Zeppelin) and the 70s British wave (Maiden, Priest), one would think that Metallica would be right up my alley. However, upon seeing the article, I decided, without even hearing a track, that I didn't like the band. In fact, I had several conflicting thoughts:

• I recognized "Metallica" was arguably the best name a heavy metal band could have. It was perfectly brand specific and I immediately knew exactly what to expect -- a band that was unapologetically loud, raw and aggressive.
• I didn't like that picture -- I wasn't a prude, it just seemed unnecessarily vulgar and that they were trying too hard to shock.
• And finally, I realized, “those guys are just a little older than me."

It was this third thought that struck me the hardest. I was 18 in the summer of 1983. All of the bands I loved featured members 5-15 years older than I was -- which is a lifetime when you are a teenager. The members of Metallica could have been in high-school with me a couple years earlier.

Metallica in 1983, Burton, Ulrich, Hetfield & Hammett (l-r)
Looking a lot like my high school chums at the time.

Obviously, I've had 40 additional years to adjust to this reality, but it is jarring when you realize people your age (and younger) are creating music, like it or not, and you are goofing off and getting Cs in high-school chemistry.

Eventually, I became a casual Metallica fan when, in 1987, I worked with James Fast (still a good friend) at a pizza joint where he played heavy doses of Metallica in the kitchen while slinging late night pies from the 400℃ oven. I'll share more of that story when we get to Metallica's third album on The 500, Master of Puppets, at #167.

Me, making pizza in the Fluffy's restaurant where James & I worked.

This week's record, the self-titled "Metallica" from 1991, is often dubbed The Black Album. It highlighted the band's flexibility and creativity with their sound, much like they had a decade earlier. In 1981, they eschewed the pop-sensibilities of glam rock and leaned toward a heavier, “thrashier” sound. During 1991, they refined their style, slowing it down to create some of their most memorable songs, including Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters and Sad But True. This coincided with the arrival of grunge rock which quickly made the over-produced glam and pop rock of the eighties seem terribly out of date and completely out of touch with youth sensibilities.

Marvel Metallica Comic Cover

Metallica were, like me, approaching thirty in 1991 and, perhaps, recognized that creative stasis is often unsustainable in the music business. It was a wise choice, the record sold more than 17 million copies in the United States alone and is the fourth, longest charting record on the Billboard 200. It has also earned its spot here on The 500 at position #255.

Comic Jim Bruer performing his Metallica parody routine

All that said, Metallica were not immune to ridicule. In 2003, comedian Jim Bruer worked a terrific parody of Metallica’s sound into a stand-up routine that he bravely performed in front of the band’s members. His take-off included Bruer affecting a spot-on impersonation of Hetfield, imagining him singing nursery rhymes to his children, Metallica style. It can be viewed here.