Metallica Metallicoverkill!

I’m honestly shocked I haven’t posted this yet. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the holy grail of my collection.

The year was 1983. A close friend of mine’s older sister ran a zine in San Antonio. Now for those of you in Europe and other countries, San Antonio was one of the first cities in America to have a proper metal scene, if not thee first. There was a radio station that regularly played the likes of Priest, Scorpions, Mercyful Fate, Riot, Krokus, Accept, Saxon, and Raven! And you could only imagine the collective sense of excitement when it was announced that Raven was finally coming to America. My friend’s sister was set to interview Raven and photograph the show...under the condition that she let the opening band, Metallica, crash at her place for the night. Deal.

Metallica dropped by and were as sweet as a group of acne faced, Venom shirted, bullet belt clad kids could be. They had dinner with my friend’s family and went on about how excited they were to hit the road. They had just released Kill ‘Em All a week earlier and gave my friend and his sister free copies. And for my friend, who was too young to attend the show (18+), they left him this signed sheet as a parting gift.

Little did anyone know they’d go on to become the biggest band in the planet. As much as I rag on about Metallica these days, this era will always be sacred to me. Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning are stone cold classics and that’s a fact. My friend surprised me with this for my birthday a couple years ago. He said it’s because I reminded him of himself as a young metalhead. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. While Cliff Burton and this era of Metallica may be long gone, they live on through this piece of history.