When I write up the Sunday Metal posts, frequently I choose themes or take inspiration from somewhere. For a while I’ve thought about having some guest postings, and that starts now.

The next some posts will be from my close friend, W. He’s flown the flag of metal for many years, including being a metal radio DJ around the same time I was (tho we didn’t meet until after). We’ve been friends for many years, been to numerous shows together, and share a love of the music. So I figured he’d make a good first guest to Sunday Metal. So with that, onwards!

Metallica is one of the top five most influential and important metal bands of all time.

Musically, they were instrumental in defining what thrash metal is. Their influence has been felt far and wide by the dozens if not hundreds of bands following in their sonic footsteps.

Also, MetallicA are almost single handedly responsible for bringing metal – real metal, not the pansy-ass LA poser glam crap – to the masses. Can anyone born since the 70s say they’ve never heard a MetallicA song? Until I was 16, I could.

I clearly remember the first time I ever heard one of their songs. I was 16, driving around Big-D in my aging ’77 Chevy Nova listening to “this cool new radio station” called Z-Rock, when this song came on. It’s not my favorite MetallicA song, but I can say it is the most influential on me, as I had never before entertained the idea that MetallicA would be something I would like. The crushingly powerful rhythm and the imaginative lyrics opened my mind to a new world of awesome, and I wasn’t the only one. It’s songs like this that earned them the oft-repeated moniker “Mandatory MetallicA.”