RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT METALLICA’S RN’R HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Hey y’all. First of all, thanks to everyone who wished me well during my “family emergency” on Saturday. I may have inadvertenly made it sound more grave than it was. In any case, I appreciate the good thoughts.

ANYWAY, I finally watched Fuse’s broadcast of the ceremony last night. First of all, my DVR cut off the end – did this thing seriously run past 1 AM EST?!?! – so I’ve only been able to watch the performances online. Still, here are my thoughts, not collected or organized in any particular fashion:

• Was Jason Newsted totally fucked up or what? Not that I blame him – I’d off been thirty sheets to the wind, too – but during his pre-show interview he was speaking wwwwaaaayyyy slowly, and then, during the acceptance speeches, he was rocking back and forth (almost distractingly so) the whole time.
• When Hetfield said, during the pre-induction video, that “every band dreams” of being inducted… I did cringe a little. I mean, I’m sure it’s very flattering to be feted this way, but I have a hard time imagining that the members of, say, Wolves in the Throne Room spend a lot of time plotting their path to induction.
• Very cool to include Ray Burton. I assume that was Cliff’s mom, Jan, weeping in the audience; it was easily the only really, truly emotional moment of the evening. I thought what Flea said about “singing your song,” as cheesy as it was, was pretty cool, too.
• Newsted thanked Floatsam & Jetsam!
• Trujillo thanked Mike Muir & Rockey George!
• Hammett didn’t mention Exodus. Fail.
• No one mentioned Mustaine. Fail.
• No mentions of Megaforce, Jonny Z, etc. WTF???
• Good to see Ulrich’s pops hasn’t shaved.
• I actually had no problems with the performance. Sure, it was a little bass-heavy, but what did you expect with two bassists?

Overrall, I actually thought this was okay. Weigh in with your thoughts below; but first, enjoy these acceptance speeches/performance.

-AR