A year and a half in the life of Metallica (parts 1 and 2) DVD

Cymro · 09-04-2004, 11:17 AM

So, I was in the old local music shop yesterday and happened to spot this. Being the gigantic Metallica fan I am, I was intersested, and in a KERRANG! Metallica special I picked up last year (a fucking good read, I might add) it got a 5 star review, so I went to buy it, but the guy said it was region 1 and he didn't have any region 2s in stock so he advised I keep the receipt (it was pretty expensive too, £25, perhaps because it was originally 2 films on seperate vhs cassets). So I took it home, didn't work on either of my DVD players. I was gutted.

Shortly afterward my mate came over, and I told him what had happened, and he told me he read somewhere that some players could be easily hacked into multiregion players, so a couple of googles later, I had the hack code, and it was incredibly easy to do, a simple text file burned onto a CDR and inserted into the DVD player, and the fucker worked! So now I have a multiregion DVD player

Anyways, the DVD itself is worth the money, it part 1 documents the months spent recording The Black Album and part 2 documents the tour that followed it. It is very interesting to watch, especially now, I mean the personalities are exactly the same now as they were 13-14 years ago, except that they really didn't seem as comfortable with eachother as they are now. even 10 years before Newstead left the band, you can see his reasons. The other 3 might not have been good friends as they seem to be now, but they were still friends in the macho drinking buddy sort of way, and you generally get the impression that Newstead is isolated, he barely says anything when the other 3 are around, and while the other 3 play games and fuck around, he seems to always be sitting quietly in the corner. In the few times he's interviewed (he gets a lot less screen time than the rest of them) he "jokes" about how he has to put up with them (he is often the victim of their jokes), but it sort of shows through that he's not joking.

Lars' egomania is in full bloom during this documentary, he's the one who really plays up to the camera, there's footage of him picking up groupies, and he basically is the one you don't really want to like in the band, he's constantly got a "fuck you" attitude, and is basically a numbskull, I'm guessing he was learning from Axl Rose...

Kirk is a total guitar geek, he's really the most likeable guy, he always has a joke to tell and is the only member of the band who seems to accept Newstead, he's basically a lot fun to watch, he's very honest compared to everyone else, and just loves his job.

James is interesting, he's got a macho thing going on all the time, and is pictured with a drink far more often than the other band members. He's also a pretty honest character, though you can tell he's holding some back, he's not affraid to subtly criticise other people (Lars and Axl Rose for instance), and is focused more on the music than the others, it's cool to see his excitement at playing with Queen and Tony Iomi from Black Sabbath at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, which seems to be the best time he has during the whole film. He also makes a comment on the extremeness of doing what they do, and how you have to keep control over excesses such as drink, which was kinda haunting.

The DVD's most heartwarming moment is seeing a 14 year old kid who's dying of cancer come in to the studio and meet his idols, and acctually jam with them, and you could tell he was having the time of his life, it was great. There's some other cool stuff on there too, all the music videos for The Black Album are in there, as well as live performances of Black Album songs as well as a couple of classics (Harvester of Sorrow and For Whom the Bell Tolls), done at a time where Hetfield still sang live the same way as he does on the records. (BTW: Brikar, I liked all the performances on the "Some Kind Of Monster" EP except Damage, Inc, which looses it's edge without the angry vocals, but the Kill 'Em All stuff sounds better).

Overall, a good purchase for any serious Metallica fan.

Bean · 09-04-2004, 11:50 AM

Heh, I used to have the double vhs set of this documentary and I loved it as well. I liked the first part better than the second part, but maybe that's just because the concert footage is stuff you see all over th music stations anyways.

I watched it over and over and over etc, until the first tape snapped from over play

Cymro · 09-04-2004, 12:07 PM

Yeah, the first is better. Maybe you should go digital, cause you can skip over the Music Videos if you've heard Enter Sandman one too many times, and it won't snap from overuse

Brikar · 09-08-2004, 05:21 PM

I've only seen the first part... and I've never been able to find it on DVD.

Cymro · 09-08-2004, 05:57 PM

Highlights from the second part are the performance of "Harvester of Sorrow" (which was the first time I realised how great that song was) simply because of the energy you see they have when playing, plus it's in Moscow and there are shitloads of Soviet soldiers there "diciplinging" the crowd, which kinda goes well with the song, the parts around the Freddie Mercury concert are cool, and I was rather entertained by the chapter immidiately after the "Sad But True" video, which included some funny moments.

09-04-2004, 11:17 AM	#1 (permalink)
Cymro Religious Fanatic Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: Shitsville, CF63 Posts: 4,921	A year and a half in the life of Metallica (parts 1 and 2) DVD So, I was in the old local music shop yesterday and happened to spot this. Being the gigantic Metallica fan I am, I was intersested, and in a KERRANG! Metallica special I picked up last year (a fucking good read, I might add) it got a 5 star review, so I went to buy it, but the guy said it was region 1 and he didn't have any region 2s in stock so he advised I keep the receipt (it was pretty expensive too, £25, perhaps because it was originally 2 films on seperate vhs cassets). So I took it home, didn't work on either of my DVD players. I was gutted. Shortly afterward my mate came over, and I told him what had happened, and he told me he read somewhere that some players could be easily hacked into multiregion players, so a couple of googles later, I had the hack code, and it was incredibly easy to do, a simple text file burned onto a CDR and inserted into the DVD player, and the fucker worked! So now I have a multiregion DVD player Anyways, the DVD itself is worth the money, it part 1 documents the months spent recording The Black Album and part 2 documents the tour that followed it. It is very interesting to watch, especially now, I mean the personalities are exactly the same now as they were 13-14 years ago, except that they really didn't seem as comfortable with eachother as they are now. even 10 years before Newstead left the band, you can see his reasons. The other 3 might not have been good friends as they seem to be now, but they were still friends in the macho drinking buddy sort of way, and you generally get the impression that Newstead is isolated, he barely says anything when the other 3 are around, and while the other 3 play games and fuck around, he seems to always be sitting quietly in the corner. In the few times he's interviewed (he gets a lot less screen time than the rest of them) he "jokes" about how he has to put up with them (he is often the victim of their jokes), but it sort of shows through that he's not joking. Lars' egomania is in full bloom during this documentary, he's the one who really plays up to the camera, there's footage of him picking up groupies, and he basically is the one you don't really want to like in the band, he's constantly got a "fuck you" attitude, and is basically a numbskull, I'm guessing he was learning from Axl Rose... Kirk is a total guitar geek, he's really the most likeable guy, he always has a joke to tell and is the only member of the band who seems to accept Newstead, he's basically a lot fun to watch, he's very honest compared to everyone else, and just loves his job. James is interesting, he's got a macho thing going on all the time, and is pictured with a drink far more often than the other band members. He's also a pretty honest character, though you can tell he's holding some back, he's not affraid to subtly criticise other people (Lars and Axl Rose for instance), and is focused more on the music than the others, it's cool to see his excitement at playing with Queen and Tony Iomi from Black Sabbath at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert, which seems to be the best time he has during the whole film. He also makes a comment on the extremeness of doing what they do, and how you have to keep control over excesses such as drink, which was kinda haunting. The DVD's most heartwarming moment is seeing a 14 year old kid who's dying of cancer come in to the studio and meet his idols, and acctually jam with them, and you could tell he was having the time of his life, it was great. There's some other cool stuff on there too, all the music videos for The Black Album are in there, as well as live performances of Black Album songs as well as a couple of classics (Harvester of Sorrow and For Whom the Bell Tolls), done at a time where Hetfield still sang live the same way as he does on the records. (BTW: Brikar, I liked all the performances on the "Some Kind Of Monster" EP except Damage, Inc, which looses it's edge without the angry vocals, but the Kill 'Em All stuff sounds better). Overall, a good purchase for any serious Metallica fan. __________________ "Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. "But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

09-04-2004, 11:50 AM	#2 (permalink)
Bean The Awesome One Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Canada eh! Posts: 5,055	Heh, I used to have the double vhs set of this documentary and I loved it as well. I liked the first part better than the second part, but maybe that's just because the concert footage is stuff you see all over th music stations anyways. I watched it over and over and over etc, until the first tape snapped from over play __________________ "I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing." --James T. Kirk

09-04-2004, 12:07 PM	#3 (permalink)
Cymro Religious Fanatic Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: Shitsville, CF63 Posts: 4,921	Yeah, the first is better. Maybe you should go digital, cause you can skip over the Music Videos if you've heard Enter Sandman one too many times, and it won't snap from overuse __________________ "Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. "But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

09-08-2004, 05:21 PM	#4 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	I've only seen the first part... and I've never been able to find it on DVD. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

09-08-2004, 05:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Cymro Religious Fanatic Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: Shitsville, CF63 Posts: 4,921	Highlights from the second part are the performance of "Harvester of Sorrow" (which was the first time I realised how great that song was) simply because of the energy you see they have when playing, plus it's in Moscow and there are shitloads of Soviet soldiers there "diciplinging" the crowd, which kinda goes well with the song, the parts around the Freddie Mercury concert are cool, and I was rather entertained by the chapter immidiately after the "Sad But True" video, which included some funny moments. __________________ "Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. "But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

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