Sunday, January 10, 2010

Before E-Mail: Old Metal

Another exciting installment of Before E-Mail!

Umlaut's old friend Konaquon found this letter that I sent to him a long, long time ago in a galaxy that was WAY more Metal than you will ever be. Note that it was typed on a typewriter as well! Reading this letter from the last century is the closest thing you'll ever get to time travel:

The letter dates from the short time when Umlaut *ran* (for lack of a better term) the Official Megadeth Fan Club out of my Teenage Metalhead bedroom at the request of Dave Mustaine. Up to that point the band had only played around 6 shows. For the newbies: These early Megadeth shows featured Kerry King on 2nd guitar but, as the letter says, he had not left Slayer... and he never did.

It's interesting to note that Megadeth was selling shirts before they had even recorded their 1st demo tape! Impressive, but it shows what kind of icon Mustaine was in the underground Metal Scene back then despite his short time with Metallica. For the newbies: Metallica's only releases featuring Mustaine were 3 cassette demo tapes.

The other mind blowing thing about this letter is all of the long forgotten details it contains: Local concert dates, band gossip, album gossip, and even when Cliff Burton was back home in the Spring of 1984 (after Metallica recorded Ride The Lightning in Europe). I was an information junkie even at a young age and the letter notes 2 Slayer shows I attended that are not listed in the Umlaut Archives! I'll have to add them now.. Also, how can you not love that Mustaine described his own new drummer as looking like a poser! That poor guy was doomed from the start... Hilarious, right?

However, the ironic thing is that Umlaut was selling merch back then... from my bedroom. Fast forward to the 21st Century and my life continues to come full circle. For those who give a shit, you can learn more about Umlaut's history with Megadeth at:
In the future will people get as much nostalgia from finding old e-mails and attachments?? I'm happy I grew up when I did...

"Did you see Scorpions? They sucked so badly!!!!!!"