Website design By BotEap.comI know a title like the one above is evidently self-evident and possibly redundant, but has Metallica recently made a subtle statement about their pro-freedom views of the current state of the world? They seem to have done just that in their choice of songs to include on their song lists at the recent Bridge School Benefit in late October, an event that Metallica played two nights in a row. In a surprising move, they opened each night by playing four versions that they had never performed before. However, choosing songs that felt important enough to play give an indication of what they may be thinking about the war, the state, and life in general in these United States of America today.

Website design By BotEap.comMetallica has been writing songs with anti-war messages for more than two decades. An obvious example, which they played at Bridge School Benefit, is “Disposable Heroes”, from their Master of Puppets album released in 1986. With lyrics like “Bodies fill the fields I see, starving heroes end / No one to play soldier now , no one to pretend “and” Raised to kill, I don’t care / Do what we say / Finished here, saluting death / He is yours to take away “, the emphasis is clearly on the disconnection that soldiers have when killing people they do not know for the reasons given to them by people who care more about winning than for moral or personal considerations. Similar thoughts are repeated in songs like “One” about the plight of a soldier who has run out of limbs to move, or senses to use, or way of communicating with the world, and therefore with no real reason to survive. , but that he also lacks the ability to end his life.

Website design By BotEap.comDistrust of being controlled and manipulated has also been a stable message from Metallica dating back at least to the Ride the Lightning album and the song “Escape.” However, the song that was played at Bridge School Benefit is a clearer example. “The Unforgiven” is the story of an ordinary man who, from shortly after his birth, is controlled throughout his life. Even though he vows “Never from this day / His will will be taken from him”, his only reaction to a life of control is to label his controllers as unforgiven. His battle, though he fights her throughout his life, results in his utter carelessness and a death filled with regret. Those who control the man are never named, but certain characteristics point to a “Brave New World” style state that conditions the individuality of the man: “The boy learns his rules”, “This whipped boy did wrong”, they dedicate their lives / Running all his “, and other lyrics, without eliminating the possibility of influences other than the state, seems to point to a system that aims to train and control people against their will to eradicate their own tendencies to better serve the state. : “Try to please them all.”

Website design By BotEap.comSo Metallica has demonstrated an attitude, through songs that span both the old and new era of the band, of being consistently anti-war and anti-state. Their image, of course, had a huge impact on the anti-state position with their battle against file-sharing software like Napster, when they relied on state institutions to defend their claim for intellectual property rights. Having examined Metallica’s position on this in great detail, but without having explored the other side of the argument much, I will not attempt to defend either side in this essay. But from this divisive event in the band’s history, we can now explore the statements the band may have been making in their choice of songs to perform at the 2007 Bridge School Benefit.

Website design By BotEap.comThe first song played on both nights was “I Just Want to Celebrate” by Rare Earth. This song contains a series of statements in favor of freedom, such as “I put my faith in people / But people disappointed me / So I turned to the other side / And I keep going, anyway.” Of course, this may be a defense of the charge against the band every time a sold-out album comes out, but it still illustrates Metallica’s emphasis on individual freedom and doesn’t care what the mob thinks. But also, is the line “I had my hand on the dollar bill / And the dollar bill flew” another in a series of celebrities who denounce the fall in the value of the US dollar? Obviously this is a more subtle message than models who want to be paid in other currencies and rap stars showing euros in music videos, but it is a message anyway, especially since Metallica has deep roots in Europe, with drummer Lars Ulrich from Denmark. .

Website design By BotEap.comNazareth’s “Don’t Judas Me” is a clearer example of pro-freedom, and may even contain some accurate evaluations of the media and its effects on the American population. “Treat me how you like to be treated” is a seemingly simple statement that has been analyzed in its various guises for centuries. The choice of this song, amidst the media hype about the threat from Iran and a runaway police state with daily taserings and intrusive searches at airports, is especially interesting. “Please don’t shrink my head / Don’t hide your innuendo / Don’t lie to me” and “Please don’t number me / Don’t betray my promise of trust / Please don’t anger me / I find it difficult not to be fair / Get frustrated, manipulate me, “could be Metallica’s subtle warning to fans to do some research on their own and not trust anyone who uses a position of power as a thug pulpit. This would fit well with Metallica’s own statements that they feel it is inappropriate to use their fame to defend overtly political views, and may indicate a distrust in a government that used their recordings as a tool to torture enemy detainees in Iraq, which they weren’t used to heavy metal. music.

Website design By BotEap.comThis focus on a runaway environment and glorifying negative messages carries over to the next song from the first night, “I’m only happy when it rains” by Garbage. Lyrics like “You know I love it when the news is bad / And why it feels so good to be so sad” indicate a vision that revels in bad news and a companionable attitude that loves misery. Is this song choice Metallica’s statement that only receiving news through state-influenced media will make listeners complicit in negative messages? Without a direct statement from the band, of course, the conclusion is left to speculation, but the overall tone of these first three songs seems to show a focus on individuality and a distrust of labeling and easy answers given by a controlled source. centrally. like the old media or the state. Of course, singer and guitarist James Hetfield was briefly targeted by the negative news machine, when he was detained at an airport and reported to be a potentially suspected terrorist, due to his beard. If someone who sells 100 million records worldwide can be considered a terrorist and detained at the airport, who is immune? Of course, the message is that no one is a suspect.

Website design By BotEap.comThe last two songs are more openly anti-war than the others described above. The first is “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” by Blue Oyster Cult. this can also be a dual statement about media manipulations and the war itself. Obviously, the psychic wars that take place here at home are just as important as the actual war in trying to convince people that war is useful and going well. The weariness of a war that goes on too long, coupled with an assault on personal freedom and privacy, is the message of lines like “But the war still goes on dear / And there is no end that I know / And I can’t say if any time … / I can’t tell if we’ll ever be free “and” It’s time for us to take a break / It’s time for us to go. ” Metallica has done previous versions of BOC on the album “Garage, Inc.” from 1998, but he didn’t use such an anti-war song. Again, the band’s personal involvement in the war, through the use of their songs as an “enhanced interrogation” technique, and reports that Hetfield was detained at an airport, may indicate their awareness of the need to make such an important statement. as possible opposing the great war and the big government. As the song finally asks, “Did I hear you say this is victory?”

Website design By BotEap.comThe latest version of the song that Metallica chose to play at Bridge School Benefit is “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits. Although the song, throughout most of it, seems to glorify the camaraderie of being soldiers for a common cause, the emphasis on this concept of “brothers in arms” is turned upside down in the closing verses. The song emphasizes the strength of the ties that are formed “Through these fields of destruction”, “As the battles escalated” and “In fear and alarm”, which may indicate that strength is in approach those allies with whom a battle is fought. But, the final lines of the song are “We are fools to make war / On our brothers in arms”, using the same line of “brothers in arms” to show that all humans have common bonds, no matter that “There are so many different worlds / so many different suns “. When individuals go to war for a state, they are making war on their own brothers. Individuals, the song says, have more in common with each other than they will ever have with an abstract state. This message is emphasized in the concert itself when James Hetfield repeats the final lines (“We are fools to make war / On our brothers in arms”) several times until the end of the song.

Website design By BotEap.comSo have Metallica’s experiences since the war on terror began affected your views on war, freedom, or the state? It certainly looks like they have, based on the choice of songs to cover for the Bridge School Benefit concerts. Although these ideas have been expressed in various Metallica songs throughout their history, never before have they played a set with such consistent messages. In fact, that’s the aspect of the shows that immediately caught my eye, having read a lot about the history of Metallica and their personal views on issues affecting the world. It is primarily through the work of an artist that they communicate with us and we can communicate with them, and every concert a band plays is an expression of their own communications with their work and the work of others. In their choice of song covers, Metallica seems to have presented a subtle message about their current views of the world and an anti-war and anti-state stance that has only been reinforced in recent years with public events, such as torture. theme and the airport, and his own personal reflections.