Monday
Aug292016
'Hardwired' Doesn’t . . . Well, You Know
Monday, August 29, 2016 at 12:01AM Today's post is from our friend HIM.
Here’s the bits:
So, what do you think?
My take? This is the closest you will get to Master of Puppets. It isn’t St. Anger. It sure isn’t Load. A band that once sounded dangerous now seems to sound content with sounding like they are still edgy.
Others say it feels “forced.” Some say the lyrics are “juvenile.” I say: Het’ ain’t yodeling. Lars doesn’t sound like he is slapping a salmon against a garbage can. I can’t see a lot of crab-walking. Newsted is now acoustic? So the sound of a bass must feel like a blast of cold air for those fans who feel their love has been "Trapped Under Ice" for years. Where was this attempt to emulate years ago? Orion, as a festival, might be gone. But, for losers like me, the attempts at branching out felt like stabs at being more than they should be. So this is a peace-offering: do no harm, reinvent no rules, and go through the motions that we wanted for years.
This isn’t Burton-era ‘Tallica. But this sorta’ sounds like Metallica. So I, with a lot of misgivings going into listening to this, am going to give them a shout out. Good job.
I lost a lot of respect for them a lot of years ago, even as I admired their (Lithgow runs the show) business acumen. But this feels like a stab at being young while we know they aren’t. And, to be fair, neither are we.
So let’s give them a pass. No. Let’s give them credit. They are going through the motions and finally delivering what fanboys have wanted. Not sure they heard us. But we hear them.
Reader Comments (23)
I'm not sure if this signals that the band is 'back in form', whatever that really means, but it is definitely nice to hear them play the type of stuff that they are best at.
Lol
Him: I've been listening, too. It's not about me and what I do. It's about them and what they do.
Him didn't mean Newsted was in Metallica - he was referring to Newsted's acoustic project. Just another sign of the band members - past and present evolving, aging and changing their sound.
- Allyson
And I certainly wasn't bagging on Newsted's turn to acoustic music (his explanation for the switch makes sense to me). The band owes that guy a lot and he put up with a lot (exhibit A: the mix of AJFA).
Good comments, Bryon and Bkallday. I, too, don't think this is a return to form (said as much, given that 'going through the motions' is usually not a completely positive description of things). Ulrich can say this--and by extension, the album--has hints of _Kill 'Em All_ to it. That's his right as one of the creators (and perhaps the full album will be a pleasant surprise). I think the song has shadows, or echoes, of that era. Others might hear something else. That's the cool thing about music and opinions.
When I got done listening to the song, I wasn't so miffed that I wanted to hit something. In fact, I listened to the song again several times over several days. Then I went and dug up my copy of _Ride the Lightning_. So the song at least pointed me back to what I want to hear when I want to hear Metallica. That's not a bad thing.
And, after an awful lot of what they put out since MoP and AJFA, that is going to have to do for fans wanting something approximating that era in time. But they do get credit for doing what they want to do when they want to do it, on their terms, and with full control of their catalog and their destiny. Like I said in other posts, the market decides. And live, when they aren't dabbling in Coachella-esque festivals and self-congratulating movie gambits, they still have a huge share of the market. Picky dinks like me don't really factor into the equation.
So, yeah, good job guys. Your reminded me of why I love(d) Metallica in the first place. At their age (and mine), I didn't expect that. So I figured I would be honest and note it.
Cheers everyone.
My position hasn't changed -- it's the best thing out of Metallica in decades and actually makes me like them again as anyone familiar with my past comments pre-"Hardwired" knows, they're a band I have previously made known I'm not terribly fond of.
But now all that's changed as I'm really liking this song AND the video and will become even more of a renewed fan of there's if the rest of the album lives up to it.
This just flat out ROCKS in nearly EVERY possible way and, as I've said before, I don't hear what you guys are hearing if it's anything negative.
Viva Metallica!
Is the song horrible? No. Is it generic and uninspired? Yes. Am I willing to settle for generic and uninspired music just because I'm getting older? No.
since they speaking badly about the glam bands like Motley Crue, since leaving manipulate the sound by Bob Rock .. (not going to make a ballad, but .. Nothing else matters ..), from what happened with Napster. ..the Lulu thing..Lars soundi like shit in St. Anger..they are false---I -hate-them
GNR was / is the really dangerous band, this is crap whit a little speed
And I can certainly see your point, Bob. Even respect it. I guess the difference for me, with a band like Metallica, is that they are their own bosses _and_ employees. So unless you are an annoyance (Mustaine), die (Burton), or leave (Newsted), you have a job for life. Not saying I don't get your point. I just think artists play by different rules even while they ignore the business aspects of their careers at their peril.
Where your analogy works is in re: corps. that either do or do not adapt. In that sense (and this also relates to what Steve Argentina posted), Metallica adapted. Now, we might not like _how_ they adapted (I am on record about that). But they did. For me, it isn't really a case of settling for anything. It is simply acknowledging that an attempt was made. Like I said, it led me right back to what I want to hear when I want to listen to Metallica. And I really never expected that I would even sorta' like a new Metallica song again.
And, Metalboy!, I read those comments earlier this month. If anything, I wanted to piggyback on what Allyson wrote and, to a lesser extent, what you and some others said (while offering a rejoinder to the, ahem, relevant naysayers). So I figured: why not submit it and see what Allyson thinks?
Besides, discussions like this always interest me. You take one song, by one band, and you get a myriad of responses. Especially when it comes to bands like Metallica who are in the paradoxical position of "can't win/don't care" when it comes to what they and their fans (and critics) want.
sensible shoes
http://www.metalinjection.net/video/someone-covered-metallicas-hardwired-with-the-bands-classic-tones-instead
I found this very interesting as a non-musician. But this is probably just a test for echo sorta' post.
Carry on . . .
Gotta hand it to Creblestar for creating such a cool experiment and executing it's exploration so deftly.
That said, I like the way "Hardwired" actually sounds much better than these versions as it clearly punches through stronger due to today's state of the art recording capabilities.
Don't know what the purists will think of this but I actually played the h*ll out of those albums (they're best thus far) as they came out and always thought their extraordinary music suffered from poor sound quality, Bob Rock, et al, be damned!
No question, the songs from the majority of those albums are incredible, just aurally challenged, IMHO, the last two of the classics (AJFA & The Black Album) being the weaker of the set, the latter marking the end of their career, as far as I am concerned...
Until now!!!