Metallica ROCKS!!!!

I had been introduced to rock music by Tanny in college. To build the interest it was recommended to me to carefully listen to the instruments – Guitar and the Drums. I did and started enjoying the genre of music which I thought (and many people still think) to be just ‘shor-sharaba’ or unnecessary noise.

Rock was kept in the genre list just to listen at times of a particular mood. You know when you feel a bit disturbed, strangely empty inside.

But then Amit introduced me to “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica and since then Metallica has replaced all the songs on my playlist. The highlight has been the shift of focus from the instruments to the lyrics. What I found is that the lyrics for these songs are simply terrific – a particular theme in every song with thoughtful words put together with so much energy and everything directly coming from their souls.

A brief preview of my playlist for the past month and somethings about each song (Most are the relatively soft songs of the band)

Nothing else Matters
This is addictive – Literally. You Listen it once and you want to listen it again. And then again..and again.. Its 6 different varieties were the only songs in queue at office and at home. So it was nearly 12 – 14 hours of Nothing else matters for around 1 – 2 weeks. This is supposedly the only ‘love song’ of Metallica written at time when James Hetfield got married. One of My All time Favorite songs. Your life is incomplete, if you haven’t heard this.

Wherever I Roam
Lolly introduced me to this song in his car. And the first few seconds are enough to love this song. It starts off with an electronic sitar and the riff [riff: continued pattern of a rhythm] moves on to an electronic guitar. Listen this song just for the music.

One
A soldier’s story – who in a war has lost everything – his limbs, face, eyes and his will to live. The song expresses feelings of that poor guy on the bed. Metallica won their first grammy for this song and it is worth it! Towards the end Kirk Hammett plays the “machine gun” on his guitar which is awesome.

Fade to Black
The song that made Metallica famous. The lyrics are supposedly from the point of view of a person who is going to commit suicide. A trivia from wiki: This song was written after almost all of their equipment, including a very rare amplifier, given to singer/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield by his mother just before she died, was stolen in Boston, MA,

Enter Sandman
This is the story of a child who has trouble sleeping and Hetfield urges the child to sleep and not be afraid of the nightmares that come. Its tough not to continue mumbling the words “Exit Light.. Enter Night.. we are off to Never Never Land”

Mama Said
This is a relatively soft song, written supposedly for his mother by James Hetfield.

The Unforgiven
For this I would like to copy a comment from a site. The person says it all.

“This is a song that changes lifes. In this song you have someone who doesn't challenge his parents. So he becomes what they want him to be. By the time he gets the courage to face them. Hes already an old man and his whole life is gone. Anyone who really listens to this song. When I say listen I mean LISTEN. Blast this song as loud as possible. Think about what you wanna do. Not what people expect you to do or what makes the best money. What do you want to do with your life. I plan on getting some of the songs lyrics tattoed. This song is just insane I have heard it so many times. Its all about free will.”