The Fans Have Their Say #5 Metallica

For me Rock Music was where it was 'at'. I grew up in Plymouth (in the UK) listening to KISS, Rainbow, Magnum, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Queen, Saxon, Judas Priest, Motörhead and the like - usually on a large 'ghetto blaster' in our local park or at our nearest railway station. And then it all changed when my friend bought the first album by a new American band and that band was Metallica. Neither of us had heard anything like it before, nor had most of the World... The music had the pure raw energy and speed of punk, added to the grinding riffs of heavy metal. The songs were unlike anything before and it wasn't long until the music was referred to in Kerrang! and Sounds as 'Thrash Metal' and Metallica were the leaders of the new movement, head and shoulders above the rest. It was a few later before I saw them live at Donington Monsters of Rock Festival in 1985, where they were squeezed onto a line-up between the classic British Prog Rock of Magnum and LA's new 'Bad Boys' Ratt. I didn't pay that much attention to them at the time, as I was otherwise occupied on a sunny day in the Midlands... A year later though, having listened to both 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets' I headed to London to see them at Hammersmith Odeon (as it was at the time) on their final UK date of the 'Damage Inc.' tour with Cliff Burton, who was killed in a coach accident in Sweden five days later. It was after catching them at this show that my love of the band grew. I saw all the other members of the 'Big Four' - Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth and many more thrash bands including Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Kreator, Overkill, Testament, Metal Church - but none could match the talent and excitement of a new Metallica album or show. I have had the pleasure of seeing Metallica at Donington five times (both Monsters of Rock and Download Festivlas), four times at Reading Festival, two of their appearances at Sonisphere in the UK, the afore mentioned Hammersmith Odeon show and once at Wembley Stadium, the home of football and they never fail to entertain - if anything, the last time I saw them at Reading was probably one of the best times I've seen them. So now we come to this book, covering my thoughts on one of the greatest bands ever, along with the thoughts, memories and recollections from Metallica fans from all over the world!!! We're off to never-never land...