Battery

There was a time, long before Napster, that Metallica was the quintessential example of how 'ol fashioned tape trading could be used for good instead of evil. Back in 1982 the band built a large worldwide underground following fueled by their demo tape being dubbed and traded. This grassroots support led to their 1st album deal, and the rest is history.

Of course, all good things must end... but the war stories remain. In 1985 Metallica played a pair of hometown shows in San Francisco on their Ride The Lightning Tour:

I knew things had really changed when during one of The Kabuki shows some punter who I had never seen before in my life came up to me and tried to stop me from taping the show... He claimed to be a "friend" of the band (Funny, I never saw you at a Metal Monday, at The Mab, Ruthies, The Stone, KUSF...) Jeeezus. I knew the good old days were over.

At that same Kabuki show, my batteries ran out during Control's set...we saw Doug G. in the lobby and he pulled his spare "Double-A's" out (from his sock I think - BGP security!) and gave 'em to me so I could tape Metallica. Now THAT's pretty old school!!

Click HERE to get MP3's of one of those 1985 San Francisco shows for FREE from the official Metallica download site.