Back in the 20th Century, ümlaut was a xeroxed fanzine that existed from 1992-95. Despite limited distribution, loyal readers ranged from coast to coast and included Rock Stars of various credibility, including Neurosis, Sonic Youth, Melvins, and Metallica. This 21st Century version of ümlaut has been ranting since 2004 and is also the co-author of the book Murder In The Front Row.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Holy Grail
THEHoly Grail when it comes to Metallica is the proshot video footage from their August 31, 1985 set at Oakland Stadium. This show came 2 weeks after the band had played their biggest show to date in front of 80,000 at the Castle Donington Festival in England. It was pretty amazing to even see Metallica's name on the bill since I'd grown up attending Bill Graham's Day On The Green shows at Oakland Stadium; they were a Bay Area institution dating back to 1973. When the band stormed onstage with 'Creeping Death' it was even more amazing and, as we thrashed and raged down front, I still couldn't really get my head around the fact that Metallica were playing a fucking Day On The Green! Although they were the 4th band on the bill, the local boys completely owned the day... COMPLETELY. After Metallica left the stage, I remember the stage manager saying something sarcastic like "That was interesting..." before announcing that Y&T were up next... The old hippies of Bill Graham Presents didn't have a clue about Metallica.. but 6 years later they would headline the same stadium and have the Number One album in the country.
The only official use of any footage showing a complete song was 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' on the 1987 Cliff 'Em All video compilation... but other than this one clip nothing else has ever been officially released.
From Cliff 'Em All
Also, as far as I know, aside from this 5:00 minutes of footage, the only other clips that have even surfaced over the years from this show are these snippets of 'Ride The Lightning':
Okay, SOMEONE out in the Umlaut Nation must know SOMEBODY who has a history with Tasco Video, right? As credited in the last clips, Tasco was the production company in charge of the stadium's video feed in Oakland on that day in 1985. SOMEBODY has to have the complete footage from this show... and I'm tasking... nay.. I'm DARING the Umlaut Nation to prove me correct! Find me this footage, my minions. You can e-mail me offline and I will use the utmost confidentiality of course. Danke schön!
The only official use of any footage showing a complete song was 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' on the 1987 Cliff 'Em All video compilation... but other than this one clip nothing else has ever been officially released.
(From the Umlaut Archives)