Sometimes I have the feeling “it’s just me”, but…  I’ll hear something on the radio or on the internet or see a band in concert and think, “ahhhh…  I don’t get it”.  Or you’ve got friends that will tell you that X band is the greatest thing since sliced bread or you pick up the latest copy of a music rag and the cover states that “THIS IS THE HOT NEW ARTIST/BAND” but when you finally hear something from said artist/band it just doesn’t register- maybe it’s the hype, or maybe you just have an innate stubbornness to anything that popular media is all over this day/week/month.

However…  let me tell you a tale where this happened to this writer and how it changed my life for the better.  To the time machine!

The year…  probably late ’85 or early ’86…  as a young college freshman, I had very little funds to go out and buy new music.  My fellow dorm mates and I would occasionally share new tuneage with each other or we would all hop into a room collectively and run through each others’ album or tape collections or just sit around listening after a long day in class, which was always a cool experience.  And fortunately, I had two record stores within walking distance where I could go and trade in some of my collection or buy something fresh and new.

I still don’t recall exactly where I’d heard the name, but around this time I caught wind of a band called “Metallica”.  It may have been hearing a song (“For Whom The Bell Tolls” maybe?) or more likely that I’d read something where these guys were considered the new thing in metal.  Being a huge fan of bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio, Van Halen, Ozzy, etc, I figured that if these guys were the hot new thing that I must check them out. One day after class I headed on down to the record store to check out what Metallica they had in stock.  First thing I see in the Metallica section is Ride The Lightning (at the time Metallica’s second disc)-  took a look at the cover, checked out the credits on the back and said to myself, “yep, this looks pretty cool.  Time to buy!”.  So I plunked down my hard earned cash for the album and started on my way back to the dorm (about a good 15-20 minute walk), all the while thinking…  what’s this going to sound like?  These guys look like rock dudes, the song titles are interesting…  I think we’ve got a winner here!

Shortly thereafter I arrive to my dorm room, put the album on the turntable, turned the stereo on, cranked up the volume, dropped the needle, and…  confusion.  Ummm…  what is this?  In my young, musically inexperienced mind I just could not comprehend what I was hearing.  To me, “Fight Fire With Fire” was just unfettered noise that didn’t really go anywhere; just distorted guitar going “BRRRRRRRRRRRRR” and a lead singer who more or less barked the notes.  So I lifted the needle to go to the next cut and experienced the same thing with something called “Ride The Ligthning”…  huh?  Okaaaay… life needle and play next cut…  “For Whom The Bell Tolls”…  this sounds a little bit better, but still…  lift needle, next cut… “Fade To Black”…  not bad either, but…  flip album over…. same thing.

So after giving the album a quick run through I was left scratching my head-  what am I not getting?  How are these guys the best new band on the planet?  Granted, there were some elements I did enjoy to some extent but many baffled me to no end.  In hindsight (and funny looking back on it) it was too fast, too raw, and too dark.  Not long thereafter, I actually saw Metallica open for Ozzy Osbourne to tour their Master Of Puppets album and I STILL couldn’t comprehend the love for the band.  Metallica T shirts were flying off the shelves and people were going bonkers for these guys, which left me shaking my head.  It wasn’t any type of outright disgust or hatred for the band; no, it was more like… am I missing something here?

By now, it’s late 1986.  My brother, who is also a huge music fan as well, picks up a copy of Metallica’s Master Of Puppets and also buys a copy of Anthrax’ Among The Living and plays them nonstop (keep in mind here that he’s still in high school while I’m starting my sophomore year in college).  At some point when I’m back home for the weekend he tells me that he’s bought these cassettes and that these guys are great, so I figured well, maybe this new album is better and we’ll see about these Anthrax guys.  But I’ll be damned…   I STILL DID NOT GET IT for Metallica and the same thing for Anthrax…  but…  the claws were starting to sink in to some extent.

At some point in early 1987 I borrowed the tapes from my brother so I could listen at school.  Both bands were heavy and both bands were different-  different singers, different lyrical content, different levels of musicanship, but I still could not grasp it.  Once I got out for the summer break my brother (bless his demented heart) would continue to play these things nonstop and little did I know that the claws were sinking in even more, ever so slowly.  It’s not that I wanted to like it because someone else did; rather, it was just because I’d not heard anything like it before although I had to admit to some level of excitement being there.  I just kept hanging in there until, shall was say, all was revealed on  June 12, 1987.

Nah, I didn’t have that date memorized (that’s what the Internet is for) but that is the date that kicked my love for music into an even deeper dimension.  I’d already been a big fan of the band Metal Church courtesy of their self titled debut album and the great “Watch The Children Prey” from their second LP The Dark.  These guys were co-headlining a tour of the States for that second LP along with that other band that I didn’t quite yet get… Anthrax.  Kicking off that evening’s festivities were Metal Church, who put on a fantastic, headbanging worthy show of epic proportions-  HEAVY drums, great guitar work, killer singing.  How could anything even get close to that?  Well, little did I know…

Anthrax just SLAYED!  Holy crap…  I suddenly GOT IT and was HOOKED!  The energy level was infectious, their sense of fun enormous, and their overall show was off the hook crazy.  Where that Metallica show was more heads down menace and brutality, the Anthrax show was almost a complete 180 degrees-  it was almost as if a comic book had come to life in front of my very eyes.  I don’t know if it was the members’ sporting crazy and colorful jams shorts or the whirling dervish that was guitarist Scott Ian, but the show was akin to an epiphany and one that has made a mark on my psyche forever.

Shortly thereafter, it was me that was playing Master Of Puppets and Among The Living nonstop and it was the both of us exploring other bands from the budding thrash movement, anyone and everyone from Testament to Megadeth to Flotsam and Jetsam to Sacred Reich to Exodus and even branching out to some of the punk rock bands that influenced the genre.  Thinking back to that time frame, I cannot thank my brother enough and I am happy to say our bond continues to this day as we share each others’ passion for music and frequently share the latest tunes and favorite artists/bands on an ongoing basis (Thanks Steve!).

Oh hang on a sec…  ” Hey!  You forgot about Slayer!”

Well… ha ha ha… Slayer scared the pants off us the first time we heard them but that’s a tale for another day…