Metal Reviews

I mentioned in the Ozzy thread recently about how bands are often different on paper than they are on the album jacket.

What examples do you wanna add to the list?

What do you think the pros and cons of each type of musician?

I think being a free agent is a good idea if you don't sell any records, like a metal band would because you will always get paid.

The one I can't figure out is Metallica. Has or was Kirk ever a "stockholder" in the company? I think how it went down there was something like this:

Original - all four members
enter Cliff - Mustaine, Ulrich, Hetfield
enter Kirk, and later Newsted - Ulrich, Hetfield
exit Newsted - May have given Kirk a vote after this
Current - Hammet, Ulrich, Hetfield


I don't think any of Nevermore's second guitarists were ever part of the band.

It seems like most bands who've been around for a decadeish or longer end up having one or two members who are constant while the others switch up quite a bit.

I don't think a free agent for a band that's not selling many records would get payed much. Even Mike Scalzi from Slough Feg who aren't the biggest band in the world (they're the best though) said in an interview he gets to pick and choose from tons of people who want to be in the band. I could be wrong though.

I think a lot has to do with personality. Look at Iced Earth or Megadeth where pretty much everyone except the "owner" of the band is expendable. The "owner" is the driving force and the source of the band's sound.

You can have multiple "owners" in band - the Hetfield/Ulrich duo in Metallica is an example of multiple "owners." Benante/Ian in Anthrax is another.

I agree that most bands have a certain core and everyone else is there until they either get sick of the leader(s) or are replaced for someone else.

Guys like Richard Christie or Steve DiGiorgio or Nick Barker seem more mercernary and float from band to band based on what they want to do.

Being a session musician is probably the best "career" many a musician could aspire for as a good one would have a pretty steady income. Only problem is you would have to play some pretty vile stuff (Britney Spears anybody?).

Well as sad as that is anything to get your foot in the door and get paid is better than nothing.

Especially if you're a starving musician.