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Want to hear Chinese Democracy for yourself? Well, after fifteen years, one can finally, truthfully, write these words: Now you can. The album commenced streaming on the official Guns N Roses MySpace at midnight Eastern last night. How is it? It's actually... not bad. There are layers and layers of sounds; myriad guitars, riff walls, drum loops, vocal backgrounds... it's easy to see why it took so long to sort out. And given that Axl is a perfectionist who knew each note would be closely examined, well... the years just kept adding up.
So here we are, mere hours before The Big Day, a day that many thought would never come. (And truthfully, a day that many stopped caring about.) The music is online, ready to be listened to. Best Buy is surely getting all of their Chinese Democracy posters, staff pins/flair, and other promo items ready like the little blue-clad GNR fans they are/must be. Exciting, right? Everyone's stoked to hear it, yes?
Not everyone. Not James Hetfield, therapy-laden curmudgeonly leader of Metallica. A seemingly innocent interview he recently did with the Houston Chronicle has become plastered all over the internet due to a few remarks concerning one Axl Rose. Most of the interview is normal: How is touring, what's working with Rick Rubin like, blah blah blah. But then, at the end, things get interesting:
Q: You guys have an uneasy history with Guns n’ Roses. Have you heard Axl Rose’s new record? Do you even care?
A: I’ll certainly listen to it. But I haven’t lost sleep waiting for it. I thought we took a long time to make an album. But you know he’s late for everything so it makes total sense. We saw him play at a festival in Germany two years ago. He’s a good frontman. He’s eccentric, but all artists are. If they don’t show that they’re quirky, they’re lying to you. They’re either pretending they’re not or they’re pretending they’re an artist.
Ooh! Someone's a little upset. Let's break this down shall we?
I'll certainly listen to it.
Of course, he'll listen to it, it's the competition - he has to. But the word 'certainly' is vital here. It implies that he has thought about whether or not he will listen to it. It also communicates an exasperation with Axl, and the hype surrounding this album.
But I haven’t lost sleep waiting for it.
Here, Hetfield completes the thought started in his first sentence, but, crucially, he attempts to strike an almost disinterested tone. As if he didn't care about how the album will be received, or how it will sell. Which is bulllshit - of course he cares. He cares. A LOT.
I thought we took a long time to make an album. But you know he’s late for everything so it makes total sense.
A time-tested tactic debaters will often employ is to casually reveal a personal shortcoming in order to, via juxtaposition and comparison of degrees, negatively paint a rival. The rival in this case being GNFNR.
We saw him play at a festival in Germany two years ago.
Of course, he needed to back up his observation/accusation with some personal experience. Hence, this implication that at said German festival, Axl was late.
He’s a good frontman.
A brief attempt to neutralize his earlier attack.
He’s eccentric, but all artists are. If they don’t show that they’re quirky, they’re lying to you. They’re either pretending they’re not or they’re pretending they’re an artist.
Hetfield closes by expanding his take on Axl to include a more macro analysis of the artistic personality as a whole. He seems to be positing, in a somewhat confusing manner, that artists are eccentric, and that performers who pretend to be eccentric, but are not, are not artists. But does eccentric essence matter if the audience is unsure, and more importantly, doesn't care, if an artist is actually quirky or not?
Perhaps only Hetfield's shrink knows.
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L ars Ulrich says old Metallica albums and fancy cheese inspired Death Magnetic.
Where did the magic happen?
We recorded the basics at Sound City in Van Nuys. Rick Rubin wanted us to get out of HQ—our place in San Francisco—and closer to his.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult was it to record this record?
Three. There was no nine-person documentary-film crew, no psychiatrist.
The money spent recording this album could buy …
A year’s subscription to Blender. Trust me, all the flights we took to L.A. were on Southwest. They have the best on-time record. There’s no first class. Who gives a shit? I’d rather be on time than sit in a seat that’s two and a half inches wider.
Studio demands include?
Electricity.
You guys didn’t have some vanilla-scented candles?
I think you can answer that yourself.
Most frequently ordered takeout dish?
Strange fruits and imported cheese.
Why should someone buy your album?
Because even people who are not on the payroll say it’s really good.
Casualties during production?
Brain cells? Sanity? You’ve heard all that before. We didn’t lose any band members, and we didn’t have to do a midnight move-all-the-equipment-when-nobody’s-watching dine and dash.
Album you unabashedly ripped off?
… And Justice for All.
The haters will say?
The same thing they’ve been saying since 1984: that Metallica is over. They hated us since the beginning, and they still hate us 25 years later, even though they have every record and go to every show. We have the No. 1 haters in the world. I’ll put our haters up against any band’s. Fuck you and your fucking entry-level haters! Ours fucking rule!
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| Music-as-Torture on U.S. Soil? |
| Posted 10/9/2008 1:28:00 PM by Nisha Gopalan |
| Filed under: Bach, Barney the Dinosaur, Beethoven, Chopin, Christina aguilera, David Gray, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Manuel Noriega, Metallica, Paris Hilton, Sesame street, torture music |
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 Recently, an Ohio judge took action against a dude charged with listening to his rap music too loudly in his car. The fine: $35 and 20 hours hanging out with the sonic stylings of Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin. The kid didn’t last past 15 minutes, and agreed to pony over 15 more bucks instead.
Music-as-torture is hardly a new concept, but the aforementioned instance may be the first time it’s been employed on American soil. Thus far, it’s been all the rage for the US government in dealing with international rogues. About twenty years ago, America invaded Panama, so its corrupt, drug-trafficking leader, Manuel Noriega (pictured), high-tailed it to the Vatican's embassy for refuge. In retaliation, the troops allegedly flushed him out of his hiding place by regaling him with pop and heavy-metal recordings turned up to 11. But this had greater international resonance: A few years later, Israel’s supreme court would shoot down an attempt to ban this type of interrogation/torture tactic.
More recently (and famously), the Feds have allegedly harassed prisoners at Guantanamo and elsewhere by cranking up the tunes of Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Metallica—as well as less-menacing, if high-pitched, offerings from Sesame Street and Barney the Dinosaur (“I love you/You love me…”). There was even a rumor that the army bought up scores of Paris Hilton’s debut album for nefarious purposes; no shock there, if true.
What, no easy listening? Not so fast! David Gray’s catalog is apparently a priceless resource at the American-controlled Cuban prison. When asked what he thought of this, an incensed Gray attempted to defend his compositions by saying: “It doesn't matter what the music is—it could be Tchaikovsky’s finest or it could be Barney the Dinosaur. It really doesn't matter, it’s going to drive you completely nuts.” Well, then! (It should also be noted that across the pond artists can deny usage of their tracks to European governments.) But, cheer up Gray: one lawyer wonders whether such usage actually mandates the payment of royalties. Yes, democracy can be a great thing.
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 Thousands of Metallica fans have taken to the Internet to complain that the band's brutally awesome new album Death Magnetic is just too damn loud for its own good. Their main beef, which has been gaining some mainstream news attention as of late, is that the CD sounds tinny and sacrifices dynamic range - the difference between the soft and loud parts of songs - in favor of pumped-up volume.
(For some analysis of the issue, go here and here).
But Metallica co-manager Cliff Burnstein has claimed that 98 percent of listeners dig what they hear. "There's something exciting about the sound of this record that people are responding to," he added.
So far, more than 12,000 people have signed an online petition requesting that the band release a newly remixed or remastered version of the album. Not going to happen, says drummer Lars Ulrich, the first member of Metallica to comment publicly on the controversy. Here, in his own words, is the talkative drummer's take on the issue:
"Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality. It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin' smokin'.
"Somebody told me about [people complaining that the Guitar Hero version of Death Magnetic sounds better]. Listen, what are you going to do? A lot of people say [the CD] sounds great, and a few people say it doesn't, and that's OK. You gotta remember, when we put out ...And Justice for All, people were going, 'What happened to these guys, this record? There's no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin' garage on an eight-track.' And now ...And Justice for All is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death-metal bands. The difference between back then and now is the Internet.
"The Internet gives everybody a voice, and the Internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice. Listen, I can't keep up with this shit. Part of being in Metallica is that there's always somebody who's got a problem with something that you're doing: 'James Hetfield had something for breakfast that I don't like.' That's part of the ride.
"I will say that the overwhelming response to this new record has exceeded even our expectations as far as how positive it is. So I'm not gonna sit here and get caught up in whether [the sound] 'clips' or it doesn't 'clip.' I don't know what kind of stereos these people listen on. Me and James [Hetfield] made a deal that we would hang back a little and not get in the way of whatever Rick's vision was. That's not to put it on him - it's our record, I'll take the hit, but we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound."
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 Metallica
Death Magnetic
Warner Brothers
Righteous Kill - Rock's big-game hunters rediscover their barbaric taste for speed and death.
By Ben Sisario
>> Read the full review here.
BONUS: Curious about what went down during Metallica's studio time? We've got you covered - read about studio demands and production casualties here.
EXTRA BONUS: Wish you could ask Lars Ulrich any question under the sun? Guess it's your lucky day. Submit your questions for Ulrich here and maybe it'll appear in an upcoming issue of Blender.
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As part of our ongoing awesomeness we are giving you the people the chance to submit questions for Metallica founder/drummer Lars Ulrich. Mr. Ulrich's answer to your question may appear in a future issue of Blender, so what are you waiting for, Submit Now! |
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We want to feature your music-related photos on Blender.com.
Not a professional photographer? Doesn't matter! If you have great live
shots or any music-related photos, submit them at photos
at blender.com, and include any Web site or link that you’d
like to run with your photo. There’s no limit to how many you can
submit, so keep 'em coming as you take 'em!
Photographer Owen Fegan caught this photo of James Hetfield of
Metallica onstage at Bonnaroo 2008 this past June. "This was my one and
only time seeing Metallica live, and they were 110 percent awesome. The
extra 10 percent is for the pyrotechnics ... And for the fact that I
charmed my way past two security guards to watch the second half of the
show onstage." Check out more of Owen’s photos at his Web site: www.owenfegan.com.
See past Photo's of the Day here.
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