Besides Metallica there are tales about pre-fame encounters with Led Zeppelin, U2, Def Leppard, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Marc Bolan, Iron Maiden, Genesis, Guns N' Roses, Cream, and Rod Stewart. It's a fun read and the Metallica piece was written by former Kerrang scribe Xavier Russell. It describes his random early exposure to the band at an Old Waldorf show while on a trip to San Francisco in 1982.
Rather than paying the spendy import price for the magazine, click HERE for a PDF of the piece. All sarcasm aside, it really was cool to read someone else's perspective on "our" S.F. Metal scene... especially after all these years.
Trivia: The show Xavier attended was the November 29, 1982 performance.
Also, trading e-mails with Classic Rock's legendary editor Geoff Barton was a total trip. Old Metalheads know that Geoff wrote for the legendary English Hard Rock / Metal paper Sounds in the late-70's and early-80's and that he coined the phrase New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). He was also one of the founding editors of Kerrang magazine.
I'm not joking when I say it was my biggest Music Geek moment of the year (yes, even more profound than meeting Paul Stanley); Geoff's writing and opinions back in The Day were a huge influence on my Metal aesthetic. For me it was like the scene in Almost Famous when young William meets Lester Bangs. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways.
"Fire and lightning the gods take revenge, senseless destruction..."
