Thrash was now a firmly established Heavy Metal sub-genre, and Metallica was arguably the biggest/hottest band in Metal. Now, for all record labels and bands within the rapidly evolving Thrash universe, there was another reason why recording a cover version was a good idea: Metallica did it. And, having reached #28 on the Billboard charts, the record was a ‘hit’.
But because much of the material covered was unknown to a large portion of the band’s fan base, it worked as fresh Metallica material while the band continued to get their shit together after the tragic loss of their friend and bassist Cliff Burton. was comprised of thrashed-up renditions of other bands’ material, and the record once again served as a tribute to the band’s early influences. Metallica’s ‘The $5.98 E.P.’ firmly established the recording of covers as a standard practice for Thrash bands.
And where Metallica went, the rest of the movement followed… And so second and third tiers were established within the Thrash genre, with Metallica leading the way, and the rest of the aforementioned ‘Big Four’ following close behind. A feeding frenzy ensued, with labels the world over snapping up any band wearing bullet belts and denim vests. As with Iron Maiden, the practice of using covers for B-sides became the norm with Metallica for decades.Īfter Metallica’s next release, ‘Master of Puppets’ was certified Gold without the aid of radio play or an MTv video, every record company wanted their very own Metallica. When they released their ‘Creeping Death’ single in November, they backed it with two covers: ‘Blitzkrieg’ by Blitzkrieg and ‘Am I Evil?’ by Diamond Head. At year’s end, Metallica stood as the emerging genre’s leaders, and were very much following the Maiden template toward runaway success. And in 1985, New Jersey’s Overkill included ‘Sonic Reducer’ by the Dead Boys on their debut. Metal Church’s ’84 debut included their version of Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’. NY’s Anthrax included a cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Eighteen’ on their 1984 debut. Now we’ll skip ahead just a few years to 1984, when several emerging Thrash Metal bands included covers on their debut albums. They continued this practice for the next 25 years. Maiden were paying tribute to their influences, putting a NWOBHM spin on some choice ’70s hard rock and prog songs while also educating their fans on some of the music that inspired the band. For Maiden, recording covers was an opportunity to celebrate their heroes, and they began recording covers for the B-sides of their singles during their ‘Piece of Mind’ sessions in 1983. Now let’s look at Iron Maiden, one of the biggest bands to emerge from the NWOBHM.
No doubt, covers have featured on Hard Rock and Metal records throughout it’s long history. Or… maybe the record company felt they had a chance at getting the band some extra attention (or airplay) with a cover of an established song. This move is useful for several reasons perhaps a band was short on songs, or maybe they had an interesting take on someone else’s material. Metal bands have recorded covers since the very beginning of the genre the debut albums from both Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer, two records generally credited with birthing Heavy Metal, contained covers. And as Thrash began to break out into the mainstream of Metal, an interesting phenomenon occurred: Virtually EVERY Thrash band of note released a cover version between January 1988 and January 1989, tallying almost TWENTY covers that year.įirst, let’s go back a few years. By 1987, Thrash Metal was breaking out of the underground and into the Heavy Metal mainstream, pushed forward by the massive success of Metallica and their ‘Master of Puppets’ album, and the anointing of Thrash Metal’s ‘Big Four’, Metallica/Slayer/Anthrax/Megadeth as Thrash’s standard bearers. The phenomenon we’ll explore here didn’t make quite the impact that that live album cluster did, as it occurred within a relatively new sub-genre of rock music: Thrash Metal. Well, my friends, I’m about to make another declaration: I hereby declare that within the Thrash Metal genre, 1988 shall henceforth be known as: ‘The Year of the Cover Version.’ I declared 1978 the ‘Year of the Gatefold’, as during that time period, it was impossible to walk through a record store without tripping over a double live LP. A while back I posted a piece here about the live album phenomenon of the late 70’s, specifically the amazing fact that during the 12-months between January 1978 and January 1979, no less than ten notable Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bands released live albums.
0 kommentar(er)
