new thread
In the early 80s Metallica was the definitive heavy metal band with the long hair and the metal music behind it. How much was act and how much was the display of true longhairs?
Dave Mustaine - had long hair with Metallica, has kept long hair since. IMO, a true longhair
Cliff Burton - awesome long hair until his untimely death. IMO, he would have always kept it - a true longhair
James Hetfield - great long hair in the bands initial few years. Quite noticeable hair loss drove him to cut short. Status: questionable.
Kirk Hammett: very long hair in the band's initial years. Suffered some hair loss, cut hair short in the mid 90s, has since regrown: a true longhair who has come back to his roots.
Lars Ulrich: great long hair in the early years, has since allowed hair loss to make him a shorthair: a parttime longhair
Jason Newsted: phenomenal longhair, incredibly great hairline and thickness; willfully soldout with no plausible excuse. Remains with great hair potential and therefore is without excuse. An egregious case of using long hair to forward an agenda, a fake.
Robert Trujillo: the definition of a true longhair. He has incredible hair and has never wavered. It would appear that his long hair is not some act but truly part of who he is.
I meant to include my name.
Hi Jason,
I commented on your recent update in my thread I just posted above; but, no harm in saying it again... "AWE-inspiring!!!"
Re. Mettalica and other longhairs who suffer hair loss (due to hair-thinning and/or MPB), it's a tough issue. I've spoken to many a guy locally that used to be a longhair, but decided to cut it short, mostly due to no longer enjoying their manes as much. I always applaud and fully support those guys who grow or keep their hair long, who, in spite of whatever degree of hair loss they have, give society and the so-called "Fashion Police" their middle finger; but, neither do I want to judge a guy for deciding to go short, either.
I once met a guy in one of the nearby SF neighborhoods who was COMPLETELY bald on top; but, whose hair that he did own on top of his head flowed all the way down to his KNEES!!!! He looked hands-down AWESOME, --- and inspried me to never again whimper to myself about my own receding hairline!
Back in the early '90s, I almost didn't succeed in braving through my 1st time going through the awkward stages, due to recognizing my own minimal hair loss. Now I don't give a flying turtle what people think, --- just so long as I can have it long, I'm happy! But, maybe for me, it's also an issue of, "making up for lost time" (since I wasn't allowed to have long hair when I was in my teens and 20s)....
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject!
Take Care,
Ken
Hi Ken,
Thanks very much about my update.
Thanks also for sharing your insights into the hair loss/hair cutting subject. I do understand there are some guys who truly felt right with long hair but just can't bear to continue having it long after they suffer some hair loss. I guess what I was really referring to are those metal musicians like Jason Newsted who have no hair loss whatsoever but still cut it short when they get older. Of course, it's totally their right but at least IMO it is selling out.
Hi Jason
Thats an interesting assessment of Metallica's longhairs from the early years to today.I can add that they are not the only old time metal band thats suffered longhair lose thats for sure.Basically when I go to a club to see a band that I used to see during the 80s metal heyday that is when you get the big surprise and wonder if these are the same guys that played back then.I'm sure they had their reason for cutting the hair but its sad to see it in person at present date.At least they sound the same more or less but with the hair gone it does loose something:( At least I'm not the only one who has noticed this trend.
Mark( Still is and will always be longhaired!)
I hate to say this but Metallica has basically sold out music wise as well. Their "new" music sounds nothing like the REAL metal they were producing back then. It sounds more like mainstream Rock than anything else. I like Metallica's old material but not the new garbage they release.
More like Metallicountry.
Seriously, after that POS Black Album they went all country, and if you listen to the way James sings it's like he wants to be a f*ckin hillbilly. Pretty much all of the creative force died with Cliff Burton.
Yes that kind of sums it up regarding Metallica.I vividly remember that time when Cliff Burton died in that tour bus accident as they were scheduled to play the Felt Forum in NYC and had to postpone that show.They eventually did the show but I think Metallica changed a lot after that.
I don´t like and have never liked Metallica. This is more a reply to talk about sell outs and such.
ChrisH, note that I´m not argumenting with your opinion about metallica. I´m just taking the discussion one step further because this subject interests me. :)
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All good bands evolve through time. That is a sign of good and serious musicians. In the pop business, they repeat the same things over and over until it doesn´t sell anymore. However, in my opinion, real musicians evolve their music to take it to another level. To improve themselves and their skills.
There will always be people who prefer the old from the new, and sadly, there will always be the haters.
Sell-out is a term I have come to dislike. Not because the term itself is wrong, but because how often it is used in wrong ways. Is a metal band that shows commercials of their music, are they sell-outs? Are bands who print t-shirts, DVDs and other merhcnadise sell-outs?
No matter how you look at it, 99% of all metal bands are commercial. They sell their CDs and often t-shirts. The fact is, being commercial is good for the metal genre. The more stuff we sell, the more money we make. And money, in turn, gives us more time to write music and focus on our band, instead of having to work on other jobs.
Also, more money will allow record labels to sign more and better artists, and to support them to spread their music world wide. The whole "underground" thing is bad for business, and because of that, bad for the music.
Sell-out to me is a musician who intentionally does something he doesn´t want to do, with the sole purpose of making money.
Hi Eric,
Those are some good points. I don't have a problem with bands evolving and changing their sound somewhat. While I prefer the pre-Load era of Metallica, I still found songs I liked until their most recent album, the execrable St. Anger, which was total and complete crap.
All the points you make about merchandising I agree with.
I just don't like it when metal musicians cut their hair because they are now older. If it's truly what they want to do, that's fine.
Jason
Yeah man, I feel the same way about some bands. For example I prefer the earlier work of my fauvorite band Children of Bodom.
And hairwise, I always get disapointed when I see bandpictures with only one or two longhairs. That´s a new trend in metal that I don´t like. :)
I do agree a bit with you Chris, i liked the music they did in the 90's, for example Black Album and Reloaded, but then after that it seems like it's going downhill.
However i don't really listen to Metallica that much anymore, lately i've started listening more to powermetal, like Nightwish, Dragonfoce and such.
I'm a huge metal head but to say one thing I was never into metallica. Actually I can't stand them. I'm into all that European black metal/ melodic death metal. I like more melodic metal instead of crunch riffs and stuff with a lot of keys and synths.
Excellent analysis. I feel for those who felt the need to cut it due to hair loss so I'll let it slide for hetfield and hammet. Lars is a jerk so I won't give him any credit haha. Mustaine is the man!!! And you're right Trujillo has awesome hair and so did Burton.
Speaking of metal, I saw Symphony X with Into Eternity & Epica on saturday. Killer show and there was plenty of longhairs. It was at Nokia Theatre in Time Square, and they basically make you wait on a huge line divided into segments that wraps around the block. It's HILARIOUS how many weird and dirty looks we all got by other people. It's also great to see how strong the metal & longhair community is at these events.
-Phil
Ah yes brings back memories. I saw them in Indianapolis in 1992
when I was more into their music. soon after that I drifted away and now I don't even know what they have done recently.
I won't say James or Lars was an inspiration to grow my hair as that was about the time I started growing or rather soon after.
However they did have great hair back then and it did help motivate mea bit.
Today I'm more into death, and black metal with a bit of thrash on the side when I'm in the mood. When one gets older it's natual to drift towards the center a bit but I find as I get older i drift more towards the fringe, how strange.
Cool post Jason
Kevin
IMO Dave Mustaine has kept making the music he wants to make with the one exception of the Risk album. I know this to be true. Metallica OTOH, who knows? Are they a sellout because they want to try something new? If it's music from the heart, then it's never a sellout. If it's coming from the wallet then yeah, it's a sellout. I don't know Metallica enough to weigh that judgement on them. With hair I feel the same way.
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Splat