Write Metallica A Letter…Dave Grohl Did
May 8, 2008 by Scott
You may have seen this on Blabbermouth but if not here it is again.
Former NIRVANA drummer and current FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl has released the following “open letter” to METALLICA:
“Dear METALLICA,
“Hey, it’s Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album ‘Kill ‘Em All’ from a mailorder catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can’t remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I’ve been listening to your albums ever since (even ‘St Anger’!).
“I can’t wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I’ll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I’m sure you’ll come out and blow everybody’s fuckin’ minds, because you’re fuckin’ METALLICA!
“Good luck. And don’t release it until it’s kick-ass.
“Yours, Dave Grohl.
“P.S. Are you finished recording the drums yet?”
So…if you could write a letter to Metallica what would you say. Use the comment section below and don’t hold back!
Dear Metallica -
It’s a fan of yours since junior high 1988. I discovered you one fateful weekend at the Sam Goody music store at our local mall. I was looking for new music and found ‘…And Justice For All’ with a big NEW RELEASE sticker plastered on the display. I thought the cover and logo were pretty cool…and even better, it was on sale. Having no clue who you were, I took a chance and bought it. The hard rock and metal world I barely knew (thanks to my cousin) was changed forever.
Soon, every inch of wall space in my bedroom was covered in Metallica posters, magazine pullouts, pinups, drawings and whatever else I could find. Lars and James were my heroes. I wanted to be both guys — James for his attitude and swagger, Lars for his double bass Rockstar drum kits. I bought everything I could get my hands on that was emblazoned with the classic Metallica logo. They were my band.
Fast forward to 1996. Having taken five long years after the Black Album they presented us with LOAD. I was confused. I was unsure. Where are my gods? The long hair, attitude and ‘Blackend’ were now replaced with eye liner, martinis and ‘Mama Said’. I was a bit bewildered. But, myself being an artist and not too afraid of creativity and change — I went with it. I could handle it. They had matured a bit. They ‘heavy’ had also matured.
Fine.
But with each new release, you slowly peeled your leathers and your spikes and became something else. ‘Low Man’s Lyric’ sums it up.
But I REFUSED! I told myself that you were just exploring different sounds. I knew you were still the heavy, badass motherfuckers I met. Going to see you guys in concert was all the proof I needed.
And then you lost Jason.
Jason was truly your beating, metal heart. He was more a one of us than the rest of you. He came into Metallica as a true fan. He loved you. He was the last soul still fighting to keep the METAL in ‘Metallica’. I could see in the last of the live shows you four did. Three of you were phoning it in while he played every note with power and emotion.
You never wanted him. It was always obvious to the fans. Well, at least me.
With his departure, you lost the last remaining element of what made Metallica ‘metal.’
St. Anger.
I hate it. It made me sad to hate it. I WANTED to like it. I played the shit out of it — HOPING it would grow on me. It made me sick to my stomach to think I actually HATED something my heroes — Metallica recorded!
I still hate. I haven’t played it since I bought it 5 years ago. I can’t listen to it. It’s so unfinished. So slapped together. So fake. To me it sounded like a band who forgot how to play. How to make an album. How to write a song.
And then, the ‘Some Kind of Monster’ movie. Oh my fucking God. Not only have they forgotten who they were. They’ve grown vaginas. $10,000 dollars a day or whatever the fuck it was for a therapist for you to cry on?
Jason said it best ” I think this is really fucking lame.”
So. Where have my heroes gone? I found new ones. Anthrax. Exodus. Testament. Guys that have been around just as long as you. The guys that were always eating Metallica’s dust. I loved them then. But I love them now.
I understand what fucked everything up. Money. It made you soft. It made you lazy. It made you lethargic. It made you spoiled. You found success and it swaddled you. It snuffed your fire, your rebellion, your attitude and turned you into silly caricatures. You sell baby clothes on your website.
Anthrax. Testament. Exodus. They’ve never made it to the mind-boggling heights of superstardom that you have. That keeps them hungry. That keeps them angry. That keeps them metal. They’re hungry. Metallica lost its hunger. In losing that hunger, you’ve lost who you are. Who you were.
I haven’t totally written you off, Metallica. I AM looking forward to the new album. I’m hoping Robert Trujillo has put a new fire in Metallica’s belly. A fire hasn’t burned in you in almost a decade.
I will buy the new album. I would love for my heroes to sonically kick my ass again like they used to. I would love to fucking excited again about Metallica. I miss it.
We had a good time, Metallica. You and me. If its’ not in you anymore, I understand. Things change. But I hope you’ll understand that I’ll have to move on if the last of the metal you had left with Jason almost a decade ago. I’ll be sad but the memories will remain.
– a fan
Dearest Lars Ulrich,
FUCK OFF AND DIE!!!
Love Trench
Gary…brilliant! I love it.
Trench….short but also very brilliant.
Standing ovation for Gary.
Thank you, thank you. It’s all from the heart. Jason Newsted — Metal needs you, brother. Keep it heavy.
I was going to write my own but I don’t think I could do it any better than yours, Gary.
dear metallica
your earlier albums where pure genius, your black album was slick and still had the metallica essence, after this point you lost it – i have watched your journey and i have something i wish to share with any of you who would listen. if you identify with what you create, if you believe that it was you who created it, you lose the connection to that which really created it. You did not create those earlier albums, it was an intelligence beyond your ego, beyond your personality.you could call it spirit, god, nature whatever, your personality is just a conduit with which this intelligence can move through you. if you get out of the way, it does, however if you believe it is you who is doing it,( common mistake for most artists) the creative energy dries up and all you have left is the form with out the essence,All of you(except i believe maybe Kirk ) have identified with what you have created, you are now just clinging onto the form of what was metallica, but the true metallica was not the form but the essence, you can find it back by learning to detach from the image of
who you think you are, the mere personality, and connect to the essence beyond the form.
your instrumental ” to live is to Die” points to this, to really live is to let the ego die.
if any body has a way of getting this to metallica
do it, as i believe they need some real truth, to wake them up, the bullshit theripists cannot help, they still only deal with the mind, the mind cannot be solved by the mind, you have go beyond the mind.
Whoa there Nick…I think y’need to step away from the bong now. Take a walk around the block; get some fresh air.
great advice you give, apart from the bong, i gave that up 20 yrs ago.
in hindsite what i wrote is pretty full on, i admit. however there is a seed of truth among the writing.
“pity those that take authority for truth, rather than truth for authority”
dear metallica,
there are a few of your fans who have abandoned you. we love you, always.
thank you for all those amazing moments i’ve had while listening to metallica.
tell me, gary.
have anthrax, testament and exodus NEVER made one single bad album or song? metallica are human beings, and yes while i admit that st anger is exactly the greatest thing ever made, you have to accept that metallica were, one day, going to make a bad album. and as for money, i’d like to see you be worth half the amount of money each of them are worth and it not effect your ego in some way. that’s what money does. as for load and re-load, i fucking love those records. but i can see why some people don’t. but what is fucking annoying. is closed minded thrash heads who think that everything apart from thrash sucks. metallica is still metal. all they’ve done is evolved. with age and time and yeah, probably money has something to do with it. but who cares? they’re still around after 25 years tearing up huge venues and delighting metal fans all over the world.
Joe, you bring up some good points and yes all three of those bands have made at least one bad record. However, with Metallica it started as a dopwnward spiral when Bob rock started producing. I mean…let’s face it…his name is Bob Rock…not Bob Metal and it shows. The Black album wasn’t bad, load wasn’t better and reload was just teh afterbirth remains of Load. Then came St Anger which was absolutely horrible in every aspect. Die hard fans like Gary WANTED to like it. I tried too. A lot of them listened and listened to it on end in hopes for it to grow on them. The ones that do like probably don’t own Kill ‘Em all, Ride The Lightning, Master of, etc.
Every album after the Black Album has been hyped up beyond belief as Metallica’s next huge comeback success. And when the album drops you can hear every Metallica fan sigh in disappointment. Not because they wasted their money (that thought comes later) but because they expected something new, something special…something METALLICA. After 2 mediocre rock albums and one terrible whatever the f*ck you want to call it, people are now expecting to be disappointed. They have hope but by now know better than to expect any really good from Metallica. People still attend their shows and they sell out arena’s. Not because of the crap that they recorded now, but the fans go to the show to hear them play the old stuff. Nobody goes saying “Man, I hope they play Frantic!” NO, no one says that. Everyone says, they’ve evolved when the truth is they just changed. Evolution is an adaptation for the better…there is absolutely nothing better about Metallica these days. I’m not some closed minded thrash head. I like all sorts of different metal and rock…but this new Metallica is just…
Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I knew that one day there would be an album I didn’t really like. Based on all the other albums Metallica had put out in their history however, I didn’t think there would be one that I absolutely HATE.
To be honest, if I had to pick a song from ‘St. Anger’ that doesn’t gag me, it would have to be ‘Frantic’ or the title track. If they had used the same production values as the Black album, cut some of the excess crap out of each song in exchange for a guitar solo, I think St. Anger could have been a decent album. But its so unfinished (they say its ‘raw’ and ’stripped down’) On the soundtrack to the SKOM movie, there is an edited version of the song SKOM. Its shorter, it has polish, the junk in it is gone, Lars’ snare cracks like it should instead of going BONG. Listen to it and compare to the St. Anger album version. THAT’S what I’m talking about.
I have EVERY Anthrax album and have been a fan of theirs for just as long as Metallica. I don’t think there is one album is of the low calibur St. Anger is. Same way with Testament, Exodus, Overkill and the rest of the 80’s Thash Metal group. Judging them against themselves, yeah, there are a few albums that are obviously not their best work.
Like I said, for Metallica, who is the measuring stick that all other bands from their era are judged by, to put out THAT low calibur of an album is a major disappointment.
As far as “everything outside of thrash sucks” couldn’t be further from the truth. I listen to EVERYTHING. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Muddy Waters, Johnny Cash, RHCP, Zeppelin, Elvis, 80’s pop, you name it. I like a little of everything.
I truly hope that the next Metallica album rocks. That I get excited and want to play the shit out of it until I wear a hole in it. But just based on their track record over the last decade, I have my reservations.
I am 15 years old and i have been listning to metallica for about 3/2 years now and they are my favorite band ever. I think its bullshit when people say they have sold out or aren’t “metal” any more. I really like load and reload, there is a lot of great songs on there. When lars says that metallica is or was not afraid to do whatever felt right I find believable. I feel sorry for the closed minded people whos mind set is only on “metal” all the time. If you listen to music, you should learn to appreciate it. Who knows, maybe one day you will have to make a decision on wheather you care to be judged or not. Musicaly.
I’m not knocking you for your age, Ryan but you need to understand that most of us that liked Metallica grew up in the thrash era. We grew up in a time where Metallica came out and set a new standard in metal. Then shortly before you were born some shit-stain named Bob Rock came in and ruined everything.
The truth is when you make such an impact as a band like they did in the 80’s with their first 4 albums you are expected to hold that standard high for longer than 6 or 7 years.
Most Metal fans don’t just have a mindset of only metal and often listen to other music…but Metallica is expected to play metal, hence the name METALlica.
Ryan, this has nothing at all to do with having an open or closed mind. It simply boils down to the fact that Metallica is an extremely different band than the one that many of us grew up listening to. Hell, I even enjoyed the loads when they came out, but they definitely don’t have the timeless quality or staying power of their earlier work. Obviously you see it differently since the later albums are what turned you on to the band. But seriously dude, you need to heed your own advice and not pass judgement on us for not following their new musical direction. A lot of us feel very let down by the band that we also once thought was the best band ever. I myself, along with many others I’m sure, tried very hard to enjoy St. Anger, and are hoping against hope that the new album works as a return to form much as Megadeth’s recent album has been for them.
I, like Ryan, am also 15. I will have you all know that i have listened to EVERY SINGLE METALLICA ALBUM, SEVERAL TIMES. I wish i was born in the trash era, in fact i really really envy the fact that i wasnt. But i was born in 94. I grew up listening to my fathers music – The Stones, Zeppelin, Floyd, AC/DC, Beatles, Jeffreson Airplane – im not going to make some huge list of music, but if the music genre is from the 60’s to mid 90’s – I guarantee you ive heard of them – and for the most part have listened to them, and played the shit out of’em. When i was about 11 years old i started listening to metallica. It was back then that i thought their best song was enter sandman. But I’ve matured a lot. I listen to Master of Puppets, And Justice for All, Ride the Lightning, Kill em all, Garage Days Revisited, fuck it. You name it. I’ts albums like Master, Ride the Lightning, Justice, and Kill’em thats Metallica should want to be remembered for. Its the old stuff that makes metallica who they are. Who they were. Its unfortunate that im 15 because it makes me sound like some little punk saying he likes metallica because “theyre awesome” but ive looked into them a lot. I know a lot of history when it comes to the band. Ive watched countelss interviews over and over. Live concerts. Binge and Purge! Seatlle! New Mexico city! That shit is fucking amazing! Saint anger can suck me. Load can suck me. Re-Load can suck me. Death Magnetic makes me cry. I was expecting so much. It wasnt the stuff metallica is remebered for then. Its the stuff thats slowly going to get them forgotten and neglected as of today.
– Steven, Always a fan.
Hi guy, I just wanna make a suggestion. Can you (Metallica) give us a remakes of your best hit, I mean, why don’t record it again with your actually great sound, and with the way James sign today, I think every fan will die for it!!!
What you guys think?
Pete!!
I think you’re smoking crack; that’s what I think. Metallica’s great sound was back in the days before the black album. Hell, even the black album still sounded good. These days they don’t sound all that great. Leave greatness alone with the old records because they sound amazing the way they are. A remastering couldn’t hurt ‘Justice, but everything else is spot on.
Dear Metallica,
I fucking love you guys, always have, always will. That will never change.
But what the fuck is up with St. Anger and Death Magnetic? It’s complete commercialized B.S.
When are you going to go back to the real thrash riffs? Instead of the cheesy synthesized wah wah bullshit.
You guys fucking rocked your asses off for two hours last night in Charlottesville.
GET THRASH AGAIN! GET THE FIRE! BE FUCKING METAL! BE…. METALLICA. Now please.
Hopefully, we have given you fuel, given you fire, now, give us that which we desire!
-keep it thrash
METAL MASTERS METALLICA, I’M WITH YOU ALL THE FUCKING WAY…I’M ALSO IN YOUR FAN CLUB AND ALWAYS WILL BE…NUMBER 1 FAN IN MEXICO