72 Seasons...And Then Some
20+ years of Metallica fandom.
A sixteen year old boy waits for his bus in the pouring rain. Under his soaking wet hood headphones are clapped to his ears. Stuffed into his pocket is a Sony Discman. Blaring through his headphones (at a volume that allows him to feel the music rather than simply hear the music) is Metallica’s live masterpiece, S&M.
He’s not rebellious per se: he just chafes against authority and the sheer aggression of the music speaks directly to his teenage soul, roiling as it is with the dramatic changes of adolescence. Even though Metallica has no clue that this boy exists, it’s almost as if this music was made just for him.
Twenty-two years pass. In that time, the boy has become a man. A man who has been married, divorced, and remarried. And he now has two children. Yet his passion for Metallica endures. They are no longer his favorite band, but they are in his Top Three.
For the last several months, he has been inundated with the hype for Metallica’s newest album, 72 Seasons, and he finds himself once again filled with that familiar thrill. The memory of standing in the rain has stuck with him all throughout his life. Though he spent most of his twenties saturated in heavy metal, and has heard just about every variation of it under the sun, nobody makes that beautiful noise quite like Metallica.
After all, even at their worst…even during their most misguided publicity stunts…Metallica is still Metallica.
The man who was the boy has spent the last few days listening to 72 Seasons whenever he has a spare moment to himself. As so often happens when he listens to Metallica, new or old, he is enamored all over again. The new album is a spectacular aural experience: the best music Metallica has made since the 90’s.
It’s been twenty-two years. Everything about the boy, his life, and the world have changed. Even Metallica has changed.
And yet, Metallica is still Metallica.
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Interesting to read… though I’ll never understand how I fit into this picture. 😅