At a recent late-night gathering, I somehow got to talking about heavy metal with a colleague of mine. Since that night, I've been going back to my roots and dusting off some of those albums from the glory years of metal. When I was in 6th and 7th grade, metal, so-called "alternative" and the ambiguously labeled genre of "hard rock" were basically all that I listened to. Ah, those adolescent Saturday nights spent flipping between Saturday Night Live (when it was still good) and Headbanger's Ball (ditto).
I also recently watched the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. I actually didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It has its moments, for sure (one of those coming up in a bit). And it's true - you don't have to be a fan of Metallica's music to watch it. It was just a bit too much for me. It's over two hours which is insanely long for someone who hasn't listened to or cared about Metallica since about 1992. Watching them make St. Anger in the studio is painful given the quality of the music.
Of course the draw to the film are the band's group therapy sessions in the wake of Jason Newstead's departure. One of the highlights from these sessions is this clip featuring Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich. Apologies for the Hungarian subtitles.
This clip strikes me as a bit ridiculous on both ends. We already knew that Lars Ulrich was a self-righteous asshole (most clearly evidenced in the Napster debacle). But that Dave Mustaine has apparently been plagued by his rejection from Metallica twenty years ago seems a bit much, particularly given the success Megadeth has had in the interim. Honestly, I always liked Megadeth a little bit more anyhow.
With that, enough of my babble. I give you what I take to be each band at their peak - you decide.
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