Shady Memory Lanes Part One: The Dirge Pit of the mid to late 90s or How I Learnt to stop worrying about Pop and came to love Thrash.

1994 – 1998: Part 1.
Heavy Metal t-shirts acquired during this period: 10
Girlfriends: 0.
Is this relationship inversely proportional?

As you may have been reading yesterday, I decided it might be a bit fun to look at how my own ‘musical appreciation’ evolved (or perhaps devolved. Ok, lets just say ‘progressed’) over the past few years, roughly taking in the time from when I started high school in 1994 until the present day. The focus is ten albums only of which I enjoyed mostly in full. No strict hierarchy here, just exposition on the album and why I did, or may have, enjoyed it during a specific era of my existence, and what other contingent factors may have been linked to how I came to acquire the records. In retrospect, these records create their own myth.

In this first post, I’ll cover five albums, with the other five coming in the next few days (thus fulfilling my first epoch of music love).

As I’ve said, this first section covers my high school years. Years that can be described as the fairly ordinary and probably fairly typical of most 90s kids. I loved school, but when I heard Nirvana for the first time, I wanted to be Kurt Cobain That didn’t really change my love for school, but it did mean I became more open my mind to alternative music. It inspired me to start teaching myself guitar and as it happens, one of the first songs I learned was ‘Come as You Are’ (even today it is still my ‘tuning’ song).

It was pretty damn obvious that my high school years were dominated by grunge, hard rock and heavy metal. I hadn’t really heard of Triple J or 4ZzZ. All I listened to was the ‘rock’ hour on Triple M every night whilst doing my homework. Most of my music came from tape swapping with my friends such as Steve and Conor who shared mutual interests in popular music, and generally speaking, they shared similar taste with myself (though Conor went all psychedelic during years 11 and 12, which our friends and I thought was kind of strange and amusing but later proved to be well ahead of his time).

Ok, enough of the back-story and on to the meat and gravy.


Metallica - …And Justice For All.
This was my first Metallica record and it was life changing. I didn’t know people could play at these speeds. It was different from grunge, somewhat more rebellious, as well socially acceptable amongst my peers (Grade nine boys). But it was the extreme solos that sold me. Take for example the Hammett’s work on tracks like ‘Blackened’, or the drawn out mostly instrumental pieces such as ‘Too Live is Too Die’. Hetfield spoke of the hypocrisy evident within society, a themes that my 14-year-old brain could readily identify with. This served as my introduction to Metallica and, in many respects, 80s thrash metal and heavy metal, despite that the fact this particular record arguably was Metallica’s initial steps towards outright commercial success and the alienation of their former fans.

The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
This record was my awakening into alternative rock. It wasn’t grunge, it wasn’t metal, but had elements of both, but also included other links to other genres which at the time I didn’t appreciate, but are more fond of in the present day. While the first disc was more commercially friendly, I was fonder of disc 2. Great songs like, ‘Where Boys Fear to Tread’, ‘Bodies’, ‘XYU’, ‘Stumbleine’ and ‘1979’ (the last one still holding its own even after over 10 years) were the highlights.

Suicidal Tendencies – Lights…Camera…Revolution.
I got this album on tape from my Irish cousin, who had just immigrated to Australia and introduced me to a whole new world of music (he also gave me the Therapy? album, which I will talk about later). This stuff wasn’t being played on Australian radio. It was strange, unusual, and awesome. Suicidal Tendencies played something you could call an amalgamation of punk and metal, even bordering on rap in some cases. I never really listened to any other of their records, but I read that this one is probably their best. Best tracks include ‘Emotion No.13’, ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’, ‘Lovely’, and ‘Disco’s Out, Murder’s In’. Funnily enough, at this time, Suicidal Tendencies featured Robert Trujillo, who is now Metallica’s current bassist.

The Doors – Self Titled.
My school friend Conor loved the Doors. He’d go into fits during the psychedelia of Morrison and company. The rest of our friends, including myself, were a bit concerned by such behavior. In our final year of high school, Conor convinced myself and a few others to perform a several Doors covers at a ‘Battle of the Band’s’ exhibition, where we went by the name of the ‘Pakistani Ratmen’. From memory, I think we played ‘Break on Through’, ‘Alabama Song’ and ‘Not To Touch the Earth’. It ended in comedic circumstances, with Conor going into a trance, falling off stage and ripping his leather pants. Anyway, after listening to album in order to learn the songs, I eventually came to really enjoy their debut LP, more so than any other of their releases. ‘Take It As it Comes’ was probably my favourite track at the time, but I really enjoyed the entire album.

Black Sabbath – Paranoid
I came to Black Sabbath via Metallica. My friend and Steve and I sought to investigate Metallica’s influences and stumbled upon Black Sabbath. I had heard that Ozzy was a bit mental, eating bats and all that jazz, but, man, they were a cool set of dudes. As everyone acknowledges, they pretty much influenced every genre of metal (which, depending on your musical orientation, could be a good or bad thing). I loved the Ozzy years, rather than the later incarnations. Classics like ‘War Pigs’ and ‘Iron Man’ are well know, but the songs like ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ and ‘Rat Salad’ (along with an outrageous drum solo stuck in the middle) were also as good. My personal favourite was ‘Hand of Doom’, with an mind warping closing section with a killer Iommi riff.

Well, that was a bit of writing. Part 2 to come soon.

All Nightmare Wrong? Thank Hammett, it's Not.

Ok, time to indulge.

Usually, I use my iPod shuffle when I'm exercising and usually I fill it with electronic numbers or heavy metal because of the higher BPM. Unfortunately, Belle and Sebastian's "Tigermilk" doesn't exactly encourage you to maximise your heart rate.

So, as it happens, I was listening to a bit of newish Metallica while running the other night, specifically their release of last year "Death Magnetic", and even more specifically the tune 'All Nightmare Long' and I have to admit that I'm a bit endeared to it.

When I was much younger, Kirk Hammett (the lead guitarist) was my hero. I wanted to be able to play like him, and pretty much be him. I didn't really care much for Lars Ulrich or James Hetfield who wrote most of the songs. I mean, lyrically, they were no Leonard Cohen and Wil Sheff. But the sheer magnitude of rock that burst from Kirk's guitar was something almost holy.

For quite some time now, like many others, I have spurned every Metallica record that has proceeded 1988's 'And Justice For All'. This is mainly due to their jump into mainstream heavy rock and the noticeable absence of the guitar solo. Guitar solos was what made Metallica good. Their music from the black album was a demonstration that they had abandoned their thrash metal roots in search of something a bit more commercial.

Should I blame the production of Bob Rock? Is it a coincidence that the band's first release since dumping Rock is their best album in nearly 20 years? I think not. Metallica have switched to super producer Rick Rubin, who did a lot of work with fellow thrash metal stalwarts, Slayer.

So now that I have justified writing about Metallica, you'll have to indulge me.

The reason I like 'All Nightmare Long' is definitely due to Kirk's guitar work rather than Hetfield's somewhat adolescent lyrics. The latter stages of the song feature two blistering solos that harmonise well with the machine-gun rhythm of Hetfield and the somewhat solid drumming of Ulrich. Hammett deftly uses his wah pedal to great effect, all the while never sacrificing speed and technique.

If you were to delete Kirk's contribution to this tune, then you'd have one average song. It is great to see that Metallica's 'return to their roots' mentality has allowed them to fashion something that stands up reasonably well in comparison to their earlier thrash masterpieces (i.e. anything from 'Ride the Lightning'). Songs like 'All Nightmare Long' allow you to feel justified about liking Metallica again.

So OK, thank you for letting me indulge my thrash metal roots. I'll go back to writing about socially acceptable music tomorrow.

My 2008: Artists and Records of Note.

‘Best of’ lists are a collective certainty in the music blogging world, and I am personally not adverse to them myself. In fact, I think it’s a great method of discovery new artists, and celebrating the lesser known genius that occasionally elude the mainstream press. Everyone enjoys spinning yarns about the aural pleasures that have popped up throughout a calendar and I’m not going to buck the trend by not doing one.

As I’ve said elsewhere before, it can take me some time to ‘discover’ acts from bygone years and I’m not going to attempt to try write an article solely devoted to my favourite new bands or records that have been released throughout 2008. Some of these relationships can be fleeting anyway. I’ll give you a concise overview of records and artists who have dominated my speakers throughout the year.

For most of the year, I’ve been on the move, traveling to several new continents. Consequently, the diverse musical tastes of fellow travellers, work pals and other new friends have facilitated my exposure to many new artists. Generally, I can sum up the year with a few bands that, while most of them I’ve heard of, I grew to appreciate. Sort of like a fine wine I guess (alternatively insert some other innocuous metaphor here).

Wilco was one band that asserted itself in my consciousness with their classic “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” album accompanying me throughout South America (I do recall with fondness traversing the Bolivian salt flats with ‘Jesus Etc’ belting from the four-wheel drive speakers). I now curse myself for once giving up the opportunity to see the band live a few years back when I was slightly ignorant of their talent.

Ryan Adams is another artist that I grew to appreciate, particularly his most recent release “Easy Tiger”. I had cycnically assumed Adams as a petulant rock star of little talent and all hype, but now I’m a bit more forgiving. Yes, he is petulant and given to some childish behaviour but he does write some rather good little ditties such as ‘Oh My God Whatever Etc’ which is a personal favourite.

Fleet Foxes (pictured above) released their sublime self-titled debut which quickly became a personal favourite. I’m sure if you’ve listened to the radio or read the music press at any stage this year then you would have heard about some of this bands work. Trust me; they deserve all the praise they have rightfully garnered.


As you may have read, I delved into some older 80s punk/alternative music, with The Replacements and their records “Let It Be” and “Pleased to Meet Me”, along with some Husker Du. R.E.M’s “Murmur” has also undergone more than a few listens.

In terms of new releases and new records, the folk pop crooning of Chad Vaangalen and Bon Iver have been a pleasure to find their way on to my stereo. On the flip side, the doom metal of Japanese rockers Boris kept the metal monster inside of me alive and kicking. On that point, I’d never thought I’d ever say this again, but my teenage romance with Metallica was wistfully re-imagined after the released of the surprisingly good “Death Magnetic” (despite what pitch-arse might say!).

Recently, The Pains of Being Pure of Heart have shaped up as a great new prospect and I eagerly await the release of their debut record scheduled for 2009. Guided by Voices, Of Montreal, the Magnetic Fields and a dozen other regulars still provided me with a lot of joy, head banging, shower-crooning and even air-drumming.

Well, that’s a typically meandering essay of my musical adventures of 2008. I hope 2009 will provide even more fresh discoveries.