Originally by Killing Joke blah blah blah. I don't need to talk about my obsession with Metallica. Any male that didn't come up on this stuff...well he's probably perusing Ikea catalogs and/or writing Fan Fiction for some cut rate shit-com like Psych.
A few thoughts:
A) "Killing Joke" is a name that Metallica drops a lot. Critics (like Mick Wall in his book Enter Night: a Biography of Metallica) sa
y that it was supposed to broaden their appeal, and prove that they weren't just brainless metal boner biters. However, like a moth to a freshly squeezed cake of goat dung, it's around this time that Lars Ulrich would do everything in his power to alienate fans, and James Hetfield would start growing his facial hair out in weird patterns (and Mullets...just look to the left).B) It was also around this time that Metallica started messing around with a lot of punk covers. Hetfield admits to liking punk songs because "they're all about me. Not about dudes riding on horses wielding sabers." (Note to self: Write a HC LP specifically about dudes riding around on horses wielding sabers).
C) Hetfield's vocals sound like they were recorded over a prison phone that's been submerged in a pool of mouthwash....I like them a lot.
D) Kirk Hammett's solo is pretty heavy on the whammy bar (per usual) and a good indication of the kind of stuff he'd do on the Black album (and those thereafter) a few years later.
E) This is a (not very) produced attempt at initiating Jason "Newkid" into the band, and they slapped it on their $5.98 Garage Days Revisited EP. It's pretty much the same cracker-dry production they'd use on ...And Justice for All and further drive Jason into emotional devastation.
F) It was used in that dumb Jack Black movie where he molests all the kids and has a Fugazi sticker in his van. Truth be told, I don't really hate the movie because that montage with the Ramones song is pretty bitchin.
G) The intro is really eerie, and it's just one of the fifty Metallica riffs that hardcore bands should start pilfering for their own intros. Thus far, I've only ever seen "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (by Frostbite on the Posi Numbers '03 DVD) and "Seek and Destroy" by a metalcore band that I dare not name.
H) Does it not baffle anyone else that an EP composed entirely of covers managed to chart? That's fairly incredible to me.
I) Final thoughts: Metallica makes the tune their own. I didn't look too far into the lyrics, because Killing Joke lyrics are usually stupid. This is kind of the beginning of the end for good Metallica, but I'm a glutton for punishment, so I tracked the cassette down last time I was at Amoeba in Hollywood.
There are a few live versions of this song, but they're usually from the crappy "Madly in Anger with You" tour, and I'm not tryna make you any angrier at this band than you already are.
Song is copyright 1987 Elektra/Vertigo. Don't download it or Lars will be bummed. Low hanging fruit. I grab it.
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