It was a chilly day, my mom picked me up early from school to go to the dentist. At the time we had an all metal radio station, 106.7 Z-Rock... As we pulled into the dentist parking lot, there was a magical sound coming from the speakers of the car. It was "Ride the Lightening." I said "mom, can we wait till this song is over before we go in?" And we sat there listening. Well I was listening, SHE was just waiting. This was, I believe, the beginning of 1986. I didn't know it at the time, but "Master of Puppets" was just being released. After the dentist visit, mom and I went to the store to buy the album with that wonderful song we heard early in the car. At that time, the record stores were not all to "metal friendly". We were able to find "Ride the Lightening" on vinyl. I took that thing home, and worshipped it. It taught me the rules of metal, and of music in general. All I had at that time was a practice pad set of drums. I would play in front of the stereo and the record would skip when I hit the bass drum pad....


Some time later, my friend Ray showed up with a new cassette tape: Master of Puppets. We sat and listened to it over and over and over. It NEVER got old, NEVER!!!!!! Soon I got my own copy on cassette as well. Then I see on MTV, that Cliff died. I was deeply saddened by this news. Would there ever be any more Metallica? Had my poster covered walls now become a tribute? After some time, I heard they were looking for a new bass player. Anxiously I awaited this new concoction of what would soon lead to major disappointment. They released "Garage Days Revisited". All cover songs, but it rocked like hell. Eventually, "And Justice for All" was released, and I bought it ten minutes after it hit the shelves. It was strange and different than what I or anyone else expected, but it grew on me. Soon it became one of my all time favorite albums. I saw them live 6 times on the "And Justice for All" tour. Ah what wonderful days those were. Time goes by and I am hit by the release of the Black album. I like it, but there is something missing. Enter Sandman was the first step down for this amazing band. It was basic/boring/short/blah. I proceeded on with the album, and found its key moments. But for the first time, there were Metallica songs I disliked. What was happening? Is it me?..... Sometimes I wish it was me... I saw them once on this tour, and was greatly disturbed, firstly by the new "ordinary" fans, the jocks who mocked Metallica fans who were now the assholes in the pit beating the shit out of people. Secondly, my disappointment was stemming from the fact that they kept fucking with the songs: shortening them, making album "medleys"..... AHHHH what is this shit? I don't want to hear one minute of each of the songs on "Kill 'Em All", I want full versions. Fight Fire With Fire motherfucker...