Story behind Caricatures of Metallica Band members

Most of us have been influenced by a particular music genre at some point of our lives, especially during childhood. I was hit by a host of music genres starting with pop and a bit of rock in my 9^th grade. Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Marc Antony etc. were some of the pop bands that I listened to and used to borrow cassette tapes from my friends. They tried to influence me with rock music and heavy metal bands but I guess I wasn’t ready at all.

Until one day!

This was sometime during the 10^th grade. I was a huge fan of Mission Impossible movie series (I still am) and Mission Impossible – II had just released. They had collaborated with heavy metal band – Metallica for an Original Sound Track (OST), ‘I Disappear’ and produced a music video too, which aired on MTV and Channel V. Today’s generation won’t know MTV and Channel V but for us, it was the main source of new music and music videos across genres. Internet was a baby then and online music streaming or YouTube never existed. I was completely floored by the music video of ‘I Disappear’.

Metallica had this raw energy and power to their music that I instantly connected with. But I had never heard of them before and thought they were new to the music scene. I immediately called up my buddy, Mrigank and told him about this, “Hey! You know what? There’s this new band called ‘Metlica’ (yeah, that’s how I pronounced it and still cringe when I think of it) and they have a new single called ‘I Disappear’ that is connected with MI-2”. He laughed his guts out and told the others in the gang, “It’s Time”.

On a Sunday, Mrigank called me to another buddy, Lyon’s home for a meet up. I was oblivious to what was going to hit me that day. I coolly entered his house and saw my buddies waiting for me. Mrigank, Leon, his brother Lennon and Ashwij. After the usual hi’s and some leg-pulling, they told me to sit and relax.

And then BAM! Something hit my chest and liberated my mind. They played a song on Lyon’s hi-tech music system with huge woofers. I had never heard such musical concoction ever in my life. The tempo of the song, the perfect collaboration of rhythm guitars, bass guitar and drums, the raw power & energy of vocals and mind-blowing lyrics just blew my head away. I felt as if I was high on music and went into my own sweet world.

The song was ‘Blackened’, from Metallica’s fourth album, ‘And Justice for All’. They went on with playing the entire album and I came out a different person altogether. My friends had unleashed the beast within from myself. I transformed from a pop-listening boy to metal-listening man. My friends were overjoyed. On that day, they hardly knew that they had changed my life in terms of music. And that, my music taste would define my personality for the rest of my life.

I went home a changed man. Thereafter, I used to pester my parents to buy new cassette tapes of Metallica whenever they released a new album. Gradually, I broadened my horizon to listen to other bands such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Megadeth, Accept, The Doors, Rammstein, Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, Guns’n’Roses, Creed etc. Eventually, I added nu-metal bands such as Sum-41, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Blur, Bush, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Incubus etc.

We used to exchange cassette tapes, record new tapes on Mrigank’s music system. Eventually, CDs came to existence and we used to transfer the music from CDs to tapes. I still have the cassette tapes with me as a remembrance to my musical journey.  

Eventually, I would share similar musical taste with my best buddies, Selwyn and Pathik. By that time, dad had got a big music system from the company, Videocon where he worked and I had a jolly time playing my favorite music on it.

I used to discover new music and listen to them. But, at the end of the day, I always came back to listening to I used to discover new music, but, always came back to listening to Metallica. I have a soul connection with their music. I guess, being a Scorpio (my zodiac) must have got to do something with it, aggressive, happy and calm, composed at the same time. It was as if, their music touched my raw nerve. There’s this enormous energy that I get through their songs and their musical style. No other band has been able to match that and no one ever will.

Eventually, my mother and brother liked Metallica’s songs and other bands that I listened to. I was successful in passing on my music taste to my other set of friends during my engineering days. During my engineering days in Hospet (a small town in Karnataka), I could not find Metallica’s 8^th studio album, ‘St. Anger’ so, I wrote to Mrigank who was still in Mumbai, to buy and courier it to me. And a true-blue buddy that he was, he didn’t disappoint me.

Life came to full circle when I attended their concert in Bengaluru, 2011. Mrigank used to repeatedly go to their shows when he was in Australia. Lucky bugger! I had booked the tickets well in advance as I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of seeing them. I had attended Iron Maiden’s concert too in Bengaluru and a lot of shows when I was in Mumbai. Rang Bhavan was a favorite hangout place for us and we witnessed India’s top and emerging rock bands. But, Metallica’s concert was the best I witnessed in my life. I went crazy watching them live on stage. They played more than 20 songs, their best hits from all of their albums. Nothing could ever beat it.

As a dedication to them, I had created a set of Pen Caricatures of each band member starting with James Hetfield and then proceeding to Kirk Hammett, Late Cliff Burton, Rob Trujillo. I stopped at 4 and couldn’t proceed with Lars Ulrich and Jason Newsted due to my busy schedule. But now, I have completed Lars Ulrich’s caricature and will be finishing Jason’s too.

I don’t think any amount of tribute will show my love for Metallica. That thread still binds me with my metal-gang who stay in different corners of the world. If you ask, what kind of person I am – I can tell I am much similar to Metallica’s songs. Aggressive, fast, high on energy but calm, composed at the same time.

You cannot tell someone about your nature. They should experience it themselves. Similarly, Metallica’s music needs to be listened to, cherished and experienced. I can go all day about them but you need to go and listen to them. Nothing Else Matters!