Bleak House – “Rainbow Warrior”
You may hear a resemblance
. . .
Thus ends the greatest album side in metal history. Side A of Master of Puppets: boom, boom, boom, boom. Four untouchable classics, four songs to know by heart. I realize that thinking of albums in terms of sides is antiquated, but that paradigm shaped how I listen to recorded music.
In addition to discrete songs – also a dying craft – album sides offer another layer of depth. Album sides can complement or refer to each other. They can have their own identities – e.g., Side B of Black Flag’s My War – and I’m sure bands have named album sides (e.g., “Day Side”, “Night Side”), though examples elude me at the moment.
Side A of Master of Puppets is “the epic side”. Not that Side B isn’t; its songs are just a little funkier and not as grand in scope as those on Side A. To put this into perspective, imagine if Reign in Blood started with “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” – and then had three more songs just as epic. That’s the power Side A of Master of Puppets has.
As for “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, much of its appeal comes from the fact that it’s easy to relate to. It’s nominally about a mental asylum, but being “labeled mentally deranged” and having others “assuring me that I’m insane” is not exclusive to the institutionalized. As a teenage metalhead, I was doubly vulnerable to such vexations. I did my best to alienate parents and teachers, and was constantly in trouble with authority figures. These words resonated with me:
Just leave me alone
As an adult, I don’t feel that way as much now – and I’m in more of a position to be the type of oppressor the song references. But it’s good to hang on to this song’s fighting spirit. Another metal song comes to mind, Sepultura’s “We Who Are Not As Others”, which repeats its title as a mantra. Being different is something to be proud of. This is one of metal’s greatest lessons for me.
In “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, the seemingly insane don’t think they’re insane. In fact, they see through the eyes of their oppressors: “He’s getting better, can’t you tell?” Now a movie comes to mind, Terminator 2. Sarah Connor is institutionalized, deemed a hazard to others and herself. But, really, she knows what’s up. She’s “got some death to do”, and it’s “the only way for reaching out again”. In contrast to “Battery”, which casts insanity as lack of control, “Welcome Home” portrays it as almost empowering. The guitars, which keep upshifting and uncovering bad-ass riff after bad-ass riff, make that case, anyway.
. . .
“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”
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. . .
METALLICA: THE FIRST FOUR ALBUMS
“The Thing That Should Not Be”
“Master of Puppets”
“Battery”
“The Call of Ktulu”
“Creeping Death”
“Escape”
“Trapped Under Ice”
“Fade to Black”
“For Whom the Bell Tolls”
“Ride the Lightning”
“Fight Fire With Fire”
“Metal Militia”
“Seek & Destroy”
“No Remorse”
“Phantom Lord”
“Whiplash”
“(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth”
“Jump in the Fire”
“Motorbreath”
“The Four Horsemen”
“Hit the Lights”
. . .
posted this once and ill post it again scroll down to see metallica
http://www.cracked.com/article_18500_the-5-most-famous-musicians-who-are-thieving-bastards.html
they may have “thieved” it, but in my mind they made it much better…
And we’re off! “Thieving bastards”… Can’t wait to see the comments on this one…
People tend to accuse musicians of copying others, but also tend to forget the fact that creating music is not necessarily a process that has to begin from scratch; musicians can borrow ideas and concepts from others and build upon those ideas. Even the great classic composers took and idea or two from their predecessors.
For instance, Fade to Black’s opening acoustic guitar riff is based – as far as I am concerned – on Pink Floyd’s Goodbye Blue Sky; both songs are very good on their own right.
Honestly, I don’t see why we should bother poking a finger on musicians for alleged thieving if the byproduct is strong and endurable, as Metallica’s songs on their first four albums are.
Wow, I havent thought about the aspect of ‘album sides’ in quite some time, even though it very much shaped the subtle ways I thought about the music i was listening to.
Not necessarily in any kind of ‘better/worse’ way, but just ‘different.’ If Leper Messiah was track 2, I wonder what my impression of it would be…
OMG it is so true!! They are also thiefs cuz they took my best Kansas song! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HD1FPPGvl4) And don’t forget Lars is poopy and boring!
Every time I read that article, I think about what a great guitar player Randy California was. He did that debut Spirit album when he was 16, and was so good and original, he influenced Jimmy Page!
The dude who played sax with Spirit used to run a music store up here called Clarks Music.
And Yeah 1983, a Merman…totally blows away Children of the Damned.
I haven’t been commenting on these much because there is really nothing more to add! These write-ups have been fantastic and incredibly nostalgia-inducing for me…and I suppose other oldsters. I picked up MoP the day it was released and the rest, as they say, is history. \m/
I was 4 years old (I can’t wait to hear someone say they weren’t born yet–there are going to be some of them) and my parents are not music enthusiasts, so, no, I didn’t get it right away. But I did get it in high school (this would be late 90’s), so I get some of the same feeling. Metallica is the first band I ever actually cared about. The only music I owned before the black album was an MC Hammer cassette and a cassette single by Genesis. It really says something that I still care about them, even the new stuff.
I agree that these have been very good, and there isn’t much to add other than nostalgia.
Nostalgia is certainly not the aim of these posts, though of course people can get what they want from them. If anything, I want these posts to show that this music is quite relevant today and tomorrow.
Of course. I still listen to these albums because they’re among the greatest albums ever made, in any genre. They rival the Stones Let it Bleed, Beggar’s Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Exile four album run of pure bad-assery.
My point was that this album had me dripping with anticipation after having been exposed to RtL just a few months earlier. As a 13 year old, those months dragged on interminably. This day changed my life because I’m still constantly on the lookout for new music…metal or otherwise…that raises my flesh like this did.
I think talking about the effect that the music had on the individual over twenty years ago is still relevant as long as the music still elicits the same response. It speaks of a certain universal quality that still resides within the music. I know that I’m not the same person I was twenty-five years ago, and in that time, a lot of music has come and gone without remaining relevant for much longer than a period of several years. That being said, Welcome Home still creeps me out. I remember listening to it shortly after the album came out. It was my brother’s cassette. I was 11 years old. I remember listening to it late at night on headphones. I recreated the same experience the other night after reading this post, and I got to admit that I felt a little unsettled as I put my head down on the pillow and waited for sleep.
I’m still a vinyl enthusiast and I talk about album sides as well. A favourite of mine is the XBrainiax 7″ “Disgrace to the Corpse of Eric Wood” which has a “Light Side” and “Dark Side”.
Mayhem’s demo Pure Fucking Armageddon has side Fuck and side Off. I’m pretty sure that was on cassette.
Napalm Death’s Scum had a very different lineup on either side. In fact they were recorded nearly a year apart. The vibe on either side of that album is very different. I don’t even listen to it as a complete album anymore. I divided it in iTunes. Both sides are great but for very different reasons.
Minutemen’s Double Nickles on the Dime is a double album and has four sides each named after a member of the band. I chopped that one up as well because I like listening to it as sides.
One of my friends intentionally splits his albums that have LP releases into sides in his mp3 library, so he gets the feeling of needing to “change sides” when one of the sides is over.
I used to think he was a dumb ass, but I understand better now. The order of songs on an album is very important to how I understand it (Reign in Blood is a great example, actually—imo, it wouldn’t be as classic if it weren’t bookended by Angel of Death and Raining Blood, perfect intro and outro songs) and when you also have to consider beginning/ending sides, there could definitely be something that is lost unless you understand “Oh, this song was supposed to be the last thing I hear before I have to turn the record over!”
I’m surprised no one has been up in arms, vis a vis the whole “side” thing, about the content of MOP’s side A being structurally the same (and consciously so, according to an old interview with Hetfield) as side A of RTL. “Sanitarium” is the perfect example of how Metallica totally sold out. Or something.
It was impossible to not compare the two A-sides when MOP was first released. After the novelty wore off, which admittedly took about three years for me, I found myself preferring the RTL tracks over the MOP tracks. Especially when comparing the two ballads. The transition from the clean guitar to distorted guitar just works better in “Fade to Black”. In “Sanitarium”, I’ve always felt the heavy parts in the first half seemed a bit obligatory, as opposed to organic. There really isn’t any transition, and it is too jarring. To the point that it seems poorly thought out.
Of course, the last half rips.
Wow. All the comments on this entry read like everyone is on drugs and went nuts! Wacky!!!
“Sanitarium” is my favorite Metallica ballad because the mellow bits sound like Cocteau Twins. And, for 1986, that is just brilliant.
I had never heard of Bleak House before. This is pretty damn similar. Still, Metallica’s song is much better and the Metallica lyrics spoke greatly to me when I was 15 or so. Just leave me alone is right.
Ah – HTML fail. Apologies.
Cosmo. I know that during the course of this series folks have mentioned turning it into a book. I don’t know you, but I know you are smart enough to realize that the true appeal of these pieces is that they are ideal for this medium: well-written, succinct, smart but not theoretical, and varied. I keep clicking the next in the series expecting something like what I’d read before, only to be taken in by what you’ve chosen for this particular song.
Let’s face it – there is so much that has already been said about these songs, and yet there are likely many people who would like to take one metallic point of view (been watching a lot of cooking shows, so I have “culinary point of view” on my brain) and turn it into a 400 page magnum opus that would be utterly useless after one skim. This series has life, has brought me back to the albums I once loved, and has opened up all kinds of inquiries and interest beyond the nostalgia of first finding these gems. Thanks, Cosmo.
Fitting that you should post about this song today, as the West Memphis Three were freed today. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch the documentary “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills”.
Not much to say, really. This one’s up there with Metallica’s best, pure and simple.
I am partularly gripped by this piece of poetry:
Mirror stares back hard
“Kill” is such a friendly word
Chilling. But empowering also.
—
I think it’s worth to check out and reflect on the supposed demo of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdfZIV_TUjg
It’s interesting; the band set out to write an eery tune from the get-go, but they were initially unsure of the topic, it seems. The lyrics are admittedly cool, and maybe even more sinister than those of the final version of the song, but I do approve of the fact that they went from cultists to a mental asylum, because it fits more with the overall theme of the album.
That’s effin cool. I’m so glad they didn’t go with those lyrics.
It’s good to read about one’s impressions on an album we all know and love but it would be great to have such insights on current albums. Reviewing and commenting on classics is always easier as we have found memories and souvenirs linked to the album. What’s generating as much passion on your current playlist? I couldn’t name a lot of albums. My great memories of musical epiphanies lies in the past, mostly.
I personally don’t think in terms of “playlists” – I just listen to albums – but the new releases I write about here I am passionate about. They don’t have the benefit of time yet over which to accrete experience, but that is what day-to-day living is for – to gain new experiences so as not to live in the past.
If I remember correctly, or more importantly, if what I read years ago is correct, is that Hetfield religiously read the SF Chronicle everyday looking for unique stories for inspiration prior to recording Puppets. I remember my reaction to reading that, that there are stories everywhere, it’s all human experience, although with the news it’s most often tragic and sad news. Given that Puppets’ underlying themes are war, insanity and addiction, it really made me think in terms outside of my comfort bubble, and definitely outside the box insofar as what I was consuming musically at the time (Maiden, Priest, etc). Fantasy themed stuff, or songs about times long ago. Puppets was the first record that brought the contemporary world to my doorstep, nay headphones, and really opened my eyes to the fact that, just as the records’ title suggests, someone pulls the strings for you (which it seems is a frequently revisited mantra of Hetfield’s). More to the point, this was the first recording in which I began to think in terms of power–self power, communal power and the power of manipulating others. And that power is the most corrupting force on Earth, capable of damaging men and nations. Pretty heavy shit for a green 15 year old kid just about to start high school. For me, this record will always be the pinnacle of thrash, and metal, and I still proudly wear an old, beat up MOP T shirt no matter the bands status now. Thanks Cosmo.
i would argue that side 2 of master of puppets is the greatest album side in metal history
Inclined to agree Tom.
Hell yes, mate!
Am eagerly waiting for Cosmo’s write-up on Leper Messiah, Disposable Heroes, Orion and Damage Inc…
Er, slight resemblance with Bleak House?
There even is the “fast/heavy” part as from 01:36!
“Thieving bastards” Cracked calls them? Well, they ‘revamped’ / pimped the songs way up to a level that the orignal artists should be proud of… Ahem, now come the issue of royalties… let their lawyers fight that one.