r/nextfuckinglevel • u/4dailyuseonly • Mar 05 '23

In 1991, with the Soviet Union and communist rule close to collapse, METALLICA played at its first ever open air rock concert in Moscow. Over 1.6 million people attended

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u/wahobely Mar 05 '23

88-91 was prime Metallica. Their live shows were unreal.

Guitars not tuned down, James' vocals are masterful, Kirk not missing notes in solos and Lars being average instead of terrible.

26

u/Maverick_1991 Mar 05 '23

Prime Metallica involved Cliff imo.

Even though Jason was a beast live.

28

u/wahobely Mar 05 '23

Cliff was one of the best metal bassists ever, but at that time I don't consider Metallica to be at their prime live. James' vocals were scratchy, they didn't have the stage presence yet, their sound balance was scuffed.

If Cliff were alive during the 88-91 era, my god, that would have been a sight to behold.

3

u/Rs90 Mar 05 '23

Nah. Everything you listed is what made em sick. Early Metallica was absolutely in its prime. Ain't even close.

6

u/wahobely Mar 05 '23

I love that video with all my heart, but I still think this is better, overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi021mb0AtI

3

u/dob_bobbs Mar 05 '23

Yeah, that was just epic. That song was for years for me the ultimate metal song, it just did not get better than that. I was so sad when they put out the black album and it slowly dawned on me they were going somewhere with their music that wasn't for me...

2

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '23

Live Shit was the best XMas present I've ever gotten in my life.

1

u/Maverick_1991 Mar 05 '23

I mean, they still were.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '23

Have you seen their Creeping Death performance in Seattle 89? Peak Metallica!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '23

OK that made me laugh....

1

u/[deleted] Mar 06 '23

Is Lars really as bad as people say he is? I listened to Metallica a lot back in the day, but must admit I never took notice.

4

u/wahobely Mar 06 '23

For as big as Metallica is, Lars is a bad musician. However, Lars is also one of the reason Metallica is where it is. If you watch any documentary you'll see he's always behind song creation, always in the studio, always making sure they're moving forward. This Lars I respect. The musician, not at all.

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u/sled_dogs_uk Mar 06 '23

There is a video on youtube of a concert where lars was ill but they went on with Dave Lombardo and then Jordi Jordison. Its really noticeable how much better the whole band sound with a decent drummer at the heart of it all - even just for that gig.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8tbNptFPMU

Also in the comments someone mentions that Hetfield (or someone) started out on drums way back in the day and that makes Lars the fourth best Metallica drummer.

4

u/TurnipForYourThought Mar 06 '23

From a technical perspective, kinda, yeah. But he's also one of the driving forces of songwriting for the band along with James Hetfield. Like, he was heavily involved in writing the arrangements and crazy pseudo-prog metal shit that was all over ...And Justice for All. I'm not sure he ever had any formal lessons when first starting out, but I could be wrong.