Controlling a ‘Monster…’
…Part one of a Rock-Doc Showdown.
In the United States, there are few dreams as sought-after as making it big with your rock band. The genre is firmly rooted in the last 60 years of American culture. Four high school buddies pick-up guitars, drums, and a mike, line a garage with sheets, and shake the house until their parents threaten to ship them off to military school. The trend continues until the wannabe-Beatles play their first gig in front of a dozen adoring fans (their friends) in a local backyard at a graduation party. The quartet starts a MySpace, plasters gig flyers on every wall imaginable, and starts a street team composed of said fans. They play and play and play, hoping to score that record deal that will sell-out stadiums and provide for enough sex, drugs, and chicks to actually kill Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx for longer than two minutes.
But few ever make it that big. The ones who do succeed – they’re the heroes of the decade. The rest – well, they resort to plans B-Z.
One from the former category is Metallica. They’ve played on six continents, sold 100 million records, and endured more drama than General Hospital. Sounds like a great story for a feature-length documentary, right?
For every Metallica, though, there are thousands of Anvils. What may sound like a statement of jibberish is actually the theme of two unrelated rock-documentaries. The goals of the bands are the same, but the stories behind them couldn’t be any more different. The results of the films might just surprise you…
I watched Some Kind of Monster in a contempory doc class. I was eager to take a more personal look into the band that made me love metal, Metallica.
What I watched was an unabashed attempt at further stardom that was more akin for a VH1 “Celebreality” show. The doc follows the band into the recording studio as it records its first album in six years – all while it searches for a replacement for its newly departed bassist. Then frontman James Hetfield suddenly leaves the band and checks into rehab for alcoholism. He returns to the band, but is allowed to work only four hours a day. What ensues is a childish feud between Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich about their sounds, attitudes, and everything in between. The management company hires a pseudo-therapist to try to quell the fire between the only two original members of the band.
As a budding documentarian, I appreciate the directors’¹ attempts to show the lives of one of the most successful bands ever. It’s interesting to see how the members act outside of public events, including in their roles as fathers and sons. There hasn’t been such an unflinching account of rock stars behind the scenes since Gimme Shelter.
As my professor and classmates agreed, though, the casting is questionable. For those who are not well-versed in the church of “The Mighty Met,” the look into the crazy life of a rocker is enjoyable and intriguing. However, these same viewers also broke into laughter on several occasions at the explosive bickering between two multi-millionaries. We’re supposed to feel empathy for human beings who have mansions and custom-built cars, when they’re fighting like small children? Why Tipper Gore might have to call a Senate hearing for that one.
And for “Alcoholica” fans such as myself, we must criticize the issue of intended audience. If we are indeed the prime viewers, then we also will laugh at the group – but for another reason. Most of us lost our respect for it 14 years ago. Metalheads across the country were outraged when James and the boys chopped off their hair. It must have contained their metal awesomeness. Since then, the band has slowed down their tracks, shyed-away from face-melting solos, and sued Napster. St. Anger, the album they recorded in the film, is not even respected by fans of the “new” Metallica.²
I was further disappointed that the doc just touches on the tragic death of former bassist Cliff Burton and the feud with ex-member Dave Mustaine. Obviously these issues are not the focus of the movie, but they could have been included more as influences into how the band was at the time of filming.
The second part of the series will be posted soon.
¹ Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky used Metallica songs throughout their three-part documentary series, Paradise Lost. The teens accused of murder in the films are fans of the band.
² The band did regain much of its critical and consumer support when it fired that album’s producer and retooled for its 2008 release, Death Magnetic. Diehards, however, are still not convinced.
