METALLICA: Some Kind Of Monster

REVIEWED BY: K.K.
3651 South Arville Street, Suite 321
Las Vegas, NV 89103
702-362-9269/kenkupstis@yahoo.com

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Looking in from the outside, most people would think that being in METALLICA would be the best gig possible. You¡¦re a rock star, of course, with fans and groupies and world tours aplenty, but you¡¦re also a rock star that has sold ninety¡Kcount ¡¥em¡Kninety million albums, and left an undeniable mark on music history.

You would never know that from watching Some Kind Of Monster, the new feature film about the band. Most would describe it as a documentary; to this writer it¡¦s an actual mystery: a mystery that Metallica were ever able to unite long enough to play or record at all. You soon discover being a rock star is a (gasp) job¡Kone with not just one ¡¥boss¡¦ but many¡Kyour bandmates, fans, management, family, and¡Kpsychotherapist?

Some Kind of Monster catches up with Metallica as they prepare to record their latest record ST. ANGER, just as flaws in their working relationship reach critical mass. Bassist Jason Newsted has just quit the band, after being told by Metallica co-commander James Hetfield not to pursue any outside projects. This is the tip of Monster¡¦s iceberg: pressure from with and without. Pressure creates diamonds, but also takes its toll.

Desperate for some creative breakthrough, to make something new, Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are giving up their ¡¥do this, do that¡¦ approach to making music, starting from scratch and allowing input from Kirk Hammet and Bob Rock. This becomes such alien territory that their managers bring in a psychotherapist to reveal and repair long-standing differences. Halfway through the sessions, a frustrated Hetfield enters rehab for alcoholism, leaving his bandmates to search their own souls.

Irritatingly, Monster drops the viewer into Metallica¡¦s studio (San Francisco¡¦s Presidio military base!) with virtually no background or introduction of the band¡Kbut the band¡¦s fame has probably brought any viewer up to speed on them already. They¡¦ve made videos and DVDs before, but never a feature film, and nothing this intimate. For the first time we can see James Hetfield¡¦s iron grip on the band¡¦s leadership. He admits past abandonment issues have made him somewhat tyrannical, but even his newfound sobriety has done little to change that. He still demands control of almost every facet of the band, and seems baffled or insulted when anyone suggests something different. Even Lars Ulrich admits a fearful revelation that he ¡§Doesn¡¦t want to end up like Jason¡¨ (As if he could be fired by the very band he co-created!).

The psychotherapy sessions throughout the film might make some viewers echo Jason Newsted¡¦s sentiment: ¡§How f**king LAME is that, that we can¡¦t work out our differences between each other, that we need some psychotherapist to do it?¡¨ While the therapy might have helped Metallica¡¦s members on a personal level, on a professional level it severely hampers the creative process. One scene has Lars erupting ¡§Why does every thought, every feeling, have to be examined and dissected?!¡¨ At the thirty-ninth time Lars was asked ¡§How did that make you feel?¡¨ I answered for him: ¡§He probably feels like a musician who was supposed to have created an album a year ago, and still hasn¡¦t, due to this management-ordered therapy, so I¡¦d use the word frustrated, if not furious.¡¨

Some stand-out scenes:

„Ï A candid conversation between Ulrich and his former bandmate, MEGADETH founder Dave Mustaine. Amazingly, despite Megadeth¡¦s undeniable success (15 million albums sold might not stack up to Metallica¡¦s 90, but hell, it¡¦s still fifteen million albums!) Mustaine laments the last twenty years spent outside Metallica. ¡§All I¡¦ve heard is what a great guitarist Kirk is, and what a piece of¡KI was. I¡¦ve watched everything you do turn to gold, and everything I do backfire¡Keven though some people would consider my backfires complete successes.¡¨ (C¡¦mon, man, RUST IN PEACE and THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED are Masterpieces, not ¡¥backfires¡¦.)
„Ï Lars auctioning off his entire art collection, reaping millions of dollars in one night.
„Ï The new bassist auditions, featuring bassists from some of the best-known metal bands around. This spawns the song and film title SOME KIND OF MONSTER: ¡§Man, if we could just put the best parts of these guys together, we¡¦d have some kind of monster.¡¨ And they get one, in hulked-out Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo. After hammering out song after song perfectly¡Kwithout even using a pick¡Kthey offer him a million dollars up front to join Metallica.
„Ï Jason Newsted embarrassing the band by making twice the music and headlines that Metallica does, with his own band Echobrain and playing for Canadian mainstays VOIVOD, in half the time it takes Metallica to set up ST. ANGER.
„Ï Meeting Lar¡¦s father Torben, the only person in the film who is able to honestly point out the flaws of ST. ANGER.
„Ï A website cartoon that ridicules Lars and James for standing up to Napster.
„Ï Live versions of ¡§Seek and Destroy¡¨ played throughout the band¡¦s history.

If you¡¦ve ever wanted a really intimate view of Metallica¡Kor of the ups and downs of rock stardom in general, you¡¦ll want to see Some Kind Of Monster. It¡¦s truly revealing, and it¡¦s not a bad film, by any stretch of the imagination. The only thing bad about it is that it chronicles the creation of ST. ANGER, which is the one Metallica album that both the band and its fans would probably rather forget.

--K.K.

METAL QUIZ: According to Dave Mustaine, what was the original incident that sparked his eventual separation from Metallica? (First correct answer to ShoKKers@aol.com receives a Free DVD of SOME KIND OF MONSTER!)

(K.K. is the Author of INHUMAN RESOURCES, CLOWNWHITE: A COMEDY OF HORRORS, ROCK HER WORLD: A MAN¡¦S GUIDE TO WOMEN, and the Audio CD THIS WON¡¦T HURT A BIT. As an actor, he appears in the feature films GO, BIOHAZARD 2, IMMORTAL, and assorted stage productions. When not writing or acting, he¡¦s headbanging.)