That time Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax went on tour together

June 29, 2020 7:51 AM

Ten years ago, the "Big Four of Thrash"--Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax--stopped bickering long enough to go on tour together. Watch some concerts from the tour: Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Metallica.
posted by goatdog (23 comments total)

Thanks! I needed this.

Judging by the openers: Anthrax > Slayer > Metallica > Megadeth.
posted by swift at 8:33 AM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

\m/ (>.<) \m/
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 8:42 AM on June 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

I got to see Slayer here in town a couple of years ago. Jeff was already dead, replaced by the guitar player from Testament I think? And Dave had quit again, so it was Paul Bostaph on drums, who played on a few of their 90's albums, including Divine Intervention, which I always really liked.

Anyway, the show was insane. I was probably 30 feet from the stage and the heat from the pyrotechnics was genuinely painful at times. Even in their reduced form, and even well in to their 50's, those dudes were absolutely nuts, and the show was one of the best I've ever been to. Well worth it if you ever get the chance (although apparently Tom sucks so maybe not?).
posted by saladin at 8:43 AM on June 29, 2020 [4 favorites]

......so it was Paul Bostaph on drums, who played on a few of their 90's albums

There can't be that many drummers who even could play in a band like that! That's got to be a very demanding gig.....
posted by thelonius at 9:07 AM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Holy shit. I just had a dream where James yelled at Lars on stage and Lars was like Eff this, and they got a guy who could drum from the crowd to come up, but the crowd drummer sucked, and just did out of time blast beats, and Lars held a grudge against James ever since, and so I woke up and am now blasting Garage Days Re-Revisited.

Yay Synchronicity! \m/

(also shame about Araya being all "i <3 cops" At least Sabbath is doing the right thing. Listen to your grandparents, kids.
posted by symbioid at 9:16 AM on June 29, 2020 [4 favorites]

Needs more Anvil.
posted by acb at 9:21 AM on June 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

Wow, I did not know about Tom Araya and his wife. Kind of ashamed he's Chilean, now. Also, what's up with the beard and hair?
posted by signal at 9:30 AM on June 29, 2020

I tried to watch a bunch of live Metallica shows recently and I found them so... boring. Like, the boys are just going through the motions? And how could then not, having played Creeping Death on stage 10,000 times by now. But every time James would snarl or Lars would stand up on his drums, it'd be like, ok fellas, I appreciate the effort, but you're acting. Not that I'm not still a ridiculous fanboy. After thinking about doing it for years, I finally decided to learn how to play Anesthesia this summer. That's been fun.

I do like how Slayer just comes on stage in the show above and just-- boom, gets into it. RIP Hanneman. Also fuck Araya and his Trumper wife. And don't get me started on Mustaine.

Meanwhile Anthrax still seem like a bunch of lovable nerdy kids from Queens. And those 80s riffs still hold up.
posted by gwint at 10:25 AM on June 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

I saw the original Clash of the Titans tour in High School in 1990 Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax in Virginia Beach. Bodies were flying around the mosh area like crash test dummies.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:45 AM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

> I appreciate the effort, but you're acting.

There was only ever maybe a hot moment where they were actually as pure fire as they pretended and that was long, long ago. They were either young and big-egoed poseurs or old and big-egoed poseurs on either side. I caught a supercut of Hetfield's "how all you mother----ers feeling tonight?!?" schtick which goes back like fourty years.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:47 AM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile Anthrax still seem like a bunch of lovable nerdy kids from Queens.

And this is why I've always loved them.
posted by nickmark at 11:35 AM on June 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

I tried to watch a bunch of live Metallica shows recently and I found them so... boring. Like, the boys are just going through the motions? And how could then not, having played Creeping Death on stage 10,000 times by now. But every time James would snarl or Lars would stand up on his drums.

Lars has been phoning it in for awhile now. His drumming on recent live versions of Seek and Destroy is .... sad. He was never a torrent of rhythm like some of his counterparts, but today he's just doing the bare-assed minimum to keep time.

(I learned to play Seek and Destroy a few years ago and it was right at the edge of the envelope for what I could play, super fast and needing a bit of dexterity to get the ride pings in on the chorus. and then I saw a live version of it and Lars was just sitting there counting his money instead of counting the time)
posted by Sauce Trough at 11:47 AM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

replaced by the guitar player from Testament I think? And Dave had quit again, so it was Paul Bostaph on drums

I just want to say I'm loving this Slayer/Testament crossover series! Two favorites, now the Reese's of metal.

Tom sucks, but that kind of thing is always a risk in marginal subcultures (or in those with a history in them). There's a bond based on a relatively small part of life, so lots of other stuff either gets tolerated or never comes up, especially as time goes on. The more marginal, the more you have to keep an eye out for milkshakes. Heck, I've lost count of the number of skatepunks I ran around with who are now Republicans or right-wing hicks the people who used to grief us.
posted by rhizome at 11:57 AM on June 29, 2020 [2 favorites]

It's funny, Anthrax and Megadeth don't hold up for me at all, even their stuff from back in the late 80s/early 90s when I ate this up.

In 2010?! I tried, I really did, but none of these bands had done anything interesting in over 15 years at that point. There was actually good metal coming out in 2010.

Not to come in and shit all over something; I had shirts of all these bands; I wore those tapes out. I think that's why by 2010 it just seemed sorta depressing.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:58 PM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

rhizome, the sad thing I’ve learned is that all too often angry young white men grow up to be angry old white men.
posted by cazoo at 5:12 PM on June 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

I finally saw Anthrax live 2 years ago. They did not disappoint. I first saw Metallica on the 88 Monsters of Rock tour where they opened for Dokken, Scorpions, and Van Hagar.

Metallica opened for Dokken.

In 1988.
posted by COD at 5:23 PM on June 29, 2020 [4 favorites]

I tried to watch a bunch of live Metallica shows recently and I found them so... boring.

I don't know - for some reason, over the last few months, I've been obsessively watching Metallica live shows on Youtube. They look like they're just having fun, despite getting old and slowing down a bit. I haven't noticed anything particularly wanting in Lars' drumming; but James is tending to fuck up Master of Puppets I reckon, he's not quite up to speed.
posted by Jimbob at 8:22 PM on June 29, 2020

Metallica opened for Dokken. In 1988.

Pre-black album. Hell, pre-Justice by a few months. Makes no sense now, but totally reasonable for the time.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 9:53 PM on June 29, 2020

Meanwhile Anthrax still seem like a bunch of lovable nerdy kids from Queens.

They had a cameo in the Calender Girls movie, about the sweet lovely old Womens Institute ladies putting together a nude calender for charity.

Anthrax always both had a sense of humour about the whole thing and unlike the other three, were open to non-metal influences. They toured with Public Enemy after all.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:07 PM on June 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

I saw this tour. Thankfully Testament played instead of Metallica.

I wore my Clash of the Titans tee from the 1991 tour. Some youths in heavy metal battle vests asked me, "Is that a bootleg?"

"No, I am just old," I said.

And sure enough, a grandpa attempted to pick me up in the beer garden.
posted by medeine at 1:06 PM on June 30, 2020 [5 favorites]

rhizome, the sad thing I’ve learned is that all too often angry young white men grow up to be angry old white men.

Oh, I'm an angry old white man, but somehow I've been able to hold on to the perspective (I think?). Anyway, I think it's more people having kids and having to move someplace else to get a job to support them and that means sometimes you wind up in Eastern Oregon or Indiana or something.

Also, I'm under the impression that there are other effective methods for pushing for change than anger, as there are also some inspiringly even-headed friends who successfully maintained the perspective while also thriving in life. I'm not one of them, but I'm glad I'm still in touch with the ones who are!
posted by rhizome at 1:23 PM on June 30, 2020

Metallica opened for Dokken. In 1988.

Pre-black album. Hell, pre-Justice by a few months. Makes no sense now, but totally reasonable for the time.

Yeah, I know. I saw an interview with James years ago where he pegged that actual show as the moment they knew they were going to be big. He said when they saw that reaction from the heartland of the country they knew they were breaking through.
posted by COD at 2:18 PM on June 30, 2020

Anthrax always both had a sense of humour about the whole thing and unlike the other three, were open to non-metal influences. They toured with Public Enemy after all.

Anthrax definitely wore theirs on their sleeve, but Metallica had some too. Cliff Burton was apparently a huge Beatles fan, and then there’s basically a section of Bowie’s “Andy Warhol” embedded in “Master of Puppets”. Exhibit A.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 3:05 PM on July 1, 2020