Part of the Metal For A Dark World Episode #3 - The Thrash Metal Special podcast and info this week!
The Year: 1982. I remember it clearly. I was listening to college radio, WJCU 88.7 FM on either a Friday or Saturday night. Friday and Saturday nights are the nights when they played the heavy metal shows. No, not Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Slade, Night Ranger, Journey or Kiss like they played on commercial radio. I'm talking real metal like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Malice, Black 'N Blue, Black Sabbath and other NWOBHM bands.
I honestly can't remember which DJ it was, either Bill Peters, who started Auburn Records in Cleveland which is still around: http://www.auburnrecords.com) and his Metal on Metal radio show, which is also still going strong to this day on Friday nights on WJCU, or Mitch Capka and his Etched In Steel radio show. It was almost 30 years ago after all. But I remember it well, the DJ, either Bill or Mitch, came on the air and had started playing a new band from Canada, called Exciter. They were fast, I believe they were calling it power metal (later changed to speed metal). I just remember it was fast and furious, faster than anything I had heard before and I loved it! I can't even remember the name of the song. But I dug it!
A few months later, again listening to the college radio station, it was right around midnight, and they said that they were going to play a new song by this really heavy new band, the heaviest band they had heard yet. In fact, I believe that it became a ritual after that, every either Friday or Saturday night at the beginning of the show, the show would kick off with this song. It was tradition. Oh, the name of the song you ask? It was called "Hit The Lights" from a band called Metallica. It was on a compilation album by a new record label called Metal Blade Records and produced by this guy named Brian Slagel. Ever heard of Metal Blade? Everything changed after that song on that night. I absolutely loved it and had to hear more of it!
There was no internet back then. So how do you get more information on a song, a band, a record (yes, vinyl), especially when you're 12 years old and do not have a driver's license yet? Well, I know what I did. I went to the local record store by the mall (it was called Midway Mall, not sure why). It was about a 25-30 minute bike ride from my home. No, I didn't have a chain to lock my bike up, back then we didn't really worry about stuff like that.
So, to the record store one Saturday I went. I do not remember the name of the store. It was not inside the mall (like the Camelot Music "chain" store), but it was outside the mall in a small building in a little strip mall area in the Midway Mall parking lot. I'm pretty sure it was an independent record store. I remember getting to the store, and waiting in line, and finally getting up to the front of the line so I could ask the questions that so desperately needed to be answered.
"And how may I help you?" the guy standing behind the cash register asked me. I quickly responded "Where can I get that metal album, the one with that band, um, Metallica I think?". "Metal i who?" he asked me? Again, I quickly responded "You know, that band that was on the radio last week, 88.7 FM, really fast, really heavy , it was cool! The guy on the radio said it's on some sort of a comp record or something? I don't know what that is, but I want to get it, do you have it?" "Listen kid, I don't know, I don't listen to that radio station. It sounds like you're talking about heavy metal though, and that stuff is over here. We also have a limited amount on cassettes. You can look through this stuff, but I don't know what band you are talking about. I listen to Men at Work, Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Culture Club, you know, the stuff on the radio."
So, I went over to the section that the guy told me was their heavy metal section. Kiss, no. Alice Cooper, who's she? Ozzy Osbourne, oh yeah! AC/DC, nope. I carefully looked at every record and every cassette until, I couldn't believe my eyes, I found a cassette called Metal Massacre, and on the song listing on the back of the cassette, there it was, Metallica and "Hit The Lights". I was stoked! Now I just hoped that I had enough money to buy it, yep, looks like I did, awesome! Hmmm, how am I going to sneak this into the house? I thought about it a bit, and came up with a plan. I bought the cassette tape, got on my bike and made the 1/2 hour trek back home. Once I got home, I hid it outside in the garage until I knew my parents were asleep......then went out to the garage and brought it in. I carefully unwrapped the plastic surrounding the cassette, then I opened it, took the cassette out, and realized I couldn't play it as would probably wake up my parents as the house was silent. So, instead, I read the little cassette booklet cover to cover, over and over again, until I finally fell asleep.
I must have listened to that song several hundred times! I would listen to it, rewind it, listen to it, rewind it, over and over and over again. I eventually listened to the other songs on the tape as well. Some of them were actually quite good, but not as good as Metallica!
During the course of the next year, Metallica had released their first album called Kill 'Em All on a new label called Megaforce records run by Johnny Z. Slayer was getting equal time on the radio with their Metal Massacre release, then their first EP in 1983 on Metal Blade called Show No Mercy, with an extended play album single called Haunting the Chapel in 1984, During this same time-frame, Anthrax from New York had been signed, Dave Mustaine had been kicked out of Metallica and replaced by Exodus founding member and guitarist Kirk Hammet (just a couple of weeks prior to recording their first album Kill 'Em All). Dave Mustaine then started Megadeath, and Exodus signed to record their Bonded In Blood album.
In 1983-1984, thrash metal exploded onto the scene. Tapes of practices were recorded, traded, re-recorded, re-traded just like baseball cards. Live shows were eventually recorded and traded, and the music quickly found it's way across the USA, Europe and other areas of the world, without a world-wide-web or internet to assist. The scene just took off, and bands started sprouting up all over the world. While Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax led the charge in the USA, bands like Kreator, Destruction and Sodom were building the scene in Germany, Annihilator and Voivod were building the Canadian scene and Sepultura bulding the scene in Brazil.
The next generation of thrash bands hit around 1986-1988, bands such as Testament, Forbidden, Death Angel, Flotsam & Jetsam (which Jason Newsted played for prior to joining Metallica), Laaz Rocket, Destructor, Deliverance, Believer, Vengeance Rising, Have Mercy, Tourniquet, Heaven's Force, Vio-lence, Possessed and Purgatory, as well as hardcore/punk/thrash "crossover" bands such as D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbiciles), C.O.C. (Corrosion of Conformity), and S.O.D. (Stormtroopers of Death founded by Billy Milano of Psychos and Scott Ian of Antrhax.
In 1990-1991, Slayer and Megadeth, along with Testament, and opening act Alice In Chains, toured arena's around Europe and the US playing in front of thousands of fans each night. They were at the height of their careers! However, at the end of 1991 Nirvana released an album called "Nevermind", and that's exactly what happened to the thrash metal scene once "grunge" music came into popularity, everyone said "Oh nevermind" to thrash. With what seemed to be perfect timing, Metallica had released what is now called the Black album, which saw less thrash/progressive metal and more of an alternative groove metal feel to their music. They went on sell more records than ever before in the mainstream. Most thrash bands called it quits for awhile, whether it be a few years or even a decade or more. A few bands toughed it out. Anthrax, who changed singers and went to more of a mainstream metal sound, Megadeth, who also went to a more melodic, mainstream metal sound, and of course, Slayer, who added some elements of punk and aggression to their albums in the 90's. Slayer are the only one of the "Big 4" (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) to stay close to their roots during this time. During the 90's, one "thrash" band did stay alive and well playing the heavier music, which was Pantera. They helped to keep the thrash scene thriving and took bands such as Slayer and Anthrax out on tour with them, respecting the elders so to speak.
At the end of the millennium, grunge was losing out to a style of metal simply called nu-metal. Bands like Korn, Lincoln Park, Rob Zombie, and I cannot remember most of any of the other bands involved in this scene (maybe Disturbed?) . Nu-Metal had it's 15 minutes of fame, and the scene began to see a rise in more traditional styles of heavy metal, including thrash metal.
By 2005, the thrash scene was large and thriving again, although nowhere near where it was in the glory day's of the mid-to-late 80's, but still re surging in popularity across the world. We saw bands that had gone on hiatus or broken up reforming and getting back together, such as Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Annihilator and Meliah Rage. We also saw tons of new thrash metal bands starting up and being signed, some fly-by-nighters just trying to catch a ride on the next big "trend", but other serious thrash bands who not only are great bands, but love the old stuff and respect the bands that started the scene back in the day. Some of these bands are still around after 2-3 releases, such as Gama Bomb, Evile, Havok, Bonded by Blood and others, many of which look like they're around to stay. Even bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Anthrax and Slayer are back on top of their game, playing the some of the best and heaviest thrash metal that they have played in years, possibly decades!
The Big 4 just toured Europe in 2010 and played sold out arenas around Europe and other areas of the world, released a double Blueray/DVD of their live show from Sophi Bulgaria (how many hundreds of thousands at that show?), and will probably be known as the biggest tour of the decade. Playing thrash metal. Then, once they finished up with Europe, with the exception of Metallica, they added Testament to the bill and toured the US - selling out shows and giving the millions of fans what they wanted......thrash metal.
Trends do come in and out with the times, and eventually things that were in style come back to be in style once more. However, the thrash movement was not a trend, but a culture and style of music that without it, we wouldn't have several metal sub-genres that we have today, such as death metal, black metal, metalcore, deathcore and grindcore. Thrash isn't going anywhere, and to be honest, it never really did. It's always been there, with bands carrying the torches underground, out of the spotlight, because it's tough. It doesn't need to be in the spotlight to survive, it doesn't need to be on the "Billboard" charts to survive, and it doesn't need to care what the American Idol viewers think about it. It's more than just a musical style, it's a lifesytle!
Keep it METAL \m/
No comments:
Post a Comment