MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM (13)
By:
February 11, 2024
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of metal records from the Eighties (1984–1993, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Heather Quinlan. Also check out our MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM playlist at Spotify.
METALLICA | “ESCAPE” | 1984
Nobody’s gateway to Metallica is through their lyrics. You’re putting the record on because the guitar solos shred, or the bass lines are complex and insane (RIP Cliff), or the drums are pounding inside your skull. Thrash metal wasn’t brought into this world to be loquacious, it blows your hair back with its intensity. James Hetfield was a mere 20-years-old when they recorded Ride the Lightning, and the lyrics can read like the inner thoughts of a high-school journal keeper. Articulation came through the guitar, less so the pen.
I didn’t get into Metallica because of Papa Het’s wordsmithery, either. I began listening to them because I wanted to hear something heavy, something that would throttle my eardrums, something meant to be LOUD. Ride the Lightning is a perfect record, my favorite of the first four — a juggernaut. You can hear and feel it just by looking at its cover. The bassline from “For Whom the Bell Tolls”? You know what I mean. There are eight songs on the record, a mounting force of screaming guitar and elemental drums and those sometimes rudimentary lyrics. But there’s one song that sits outside of the others.
I understand why — it sounds like an attempt at crossover. It’s less heavy, bordering on easy listening amongst the rest. Its song structure is traditional, written to satisfy the record company’s need for something “radio friendly.” It’s “Escape.” While it doesn’t hit as hard sonically, the lyrics embody the Metallica ethos more closely than anything else on this record or any other in their catalog. It’s such a clear and concise vision that it’s almost a disservice that the band, particularly Hetfield, has shunned the song live.
Despite the fact that Het was young when he wrote it, the lyrics of “Escape” outline core values: Being yourself and trusting your own mind is where your power lies. You only have this life, and you can (and should!) choose to do with it what you want. Those choices are not easy or without struggle, but they are crucial. “Escape” captures the underlying thesis of Metallica: Don’t aspire to be like everyone else, be free to be yourself. These aren’t lyrics derived from biblical texts or Hemingwayesque interpretation — it’s Hetfield expressing his truest worldview.
When I listen to Ride the Lightning, it makes me feel powerful and cool and like myself. Its songs deliver on everything the title and its iconic electric-chair promise. When “Escape” plays, “Life’s for my own to live my own way” rings like a mantra. I embrace it. It could be ripped from my own diary. Those words are James Hetfield’s Leonine self-portrait, and nearly forty years later I still want to reflect them. We are birthday twins, after all.
MÖSH YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Crockett Doob on Metallica’s ENTER SANDMAN | Dean Haspiel on Mötley Crüe’s HOME SWEET HOME | Jack Silbert on Poison’s TALK DIRTY TO ME | Adam McGovern on Dio’s INVISIBLE | Mariane Cara on Faith No More’s EPIC | Heather Quinlan on Blue Öyster Cult’s SHOOTING SHARK | Steve Schneider on UFO’s DIESEL IN THE DUST | Carlo Rotella on Primus’ JERRY WAS A RACE CAR DRIVER | Erik Davis on St. Vitus’ BORN TOO LATE | Greg Rowland on Motörhead’s ACE OF SPADES (remix) | Kathy Biehl on Twisted Sister’s WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT | Nikhil Singh on G.I.S.M.’s GAS BURNER PANIC | Erin M. Routson on Metallica’s ESCAPE | Holly Interlandi on Helmet’s MILQUETOAST | Marc Weidenbaum on Celtic Frost’s I WON’T DANCE (THE ELDERS’ ORIENT) | Amy Keyishian on Living Colour’s CULT OF PERSONALITY | Josh Glenn on Scorpions’ STILL LOVING YOU | Alycia Chillemi on Danzig’s SOUL ON FIRE | James Parker on Godflesh’s CHRISTBAIT RISING | Miranda Mellis on The Afflicted’s HERE COME THE COPS | Rene Rosa on Type O Negative’s BLACK NO. 1 | Tony Leone on Slayer’s SOUTH OF HEAVEN | Christopher Cannon on Neurosis’s LOST | Brian Berger on Black Sabbath’s HEADLESS CROSS | MÖSH CONTEST-WINNING ENTRY: Tony Pacitti on Metallica’s THE CALL OF KTULU. PLUS: CONTEST RUNNER-UP: James Scott Maloy on Accept’s MIDNIGHT MOVER.
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