prison as a metaphor for the sufferings of mankind: metallica vs. megadeth written by dave on 02/21/07
metallica examines the prison of the ostracized with “the unforgiven.”
megadeth, in their typical quest for one-upsmanship, studies the dark and tragic world of the prison of psychosis with the scholarly “sweating bullets.”
where fools may turn to literature for a detailed emotional study of humanity’s grand tragedy, i turn first to early ’90s metal music videos. but whose profound and illuminative voice should i gain my personal insights from? the phd dissertation-level genius of metallica’s james hetfield or the subtle, almost eastern philosophies of megadeth’s dave mustaine?
in the years of 1991 and 1992, these two mental giants took the human psyche head on with a powerful one-two punch of “the unforgiven” and “sweating bullets,” and finally, the people of america realized that, while they *thought* they had been building a life, they had really spent their lives building prisons. you may now ponder the depth of the mind-chasm that lays before you.
the nobel peace prizes may still be pending, but metallica and megadeth have forced us all to consider whether we, ourselves, are “unforgiven”… or even “sweating bullets,” and for that, we owe them a great deal of gratitude and peace prizes. if my young self hadn’t seen these videos on mtv (or mental transformation vision), i never would have torn down my house (or prison, as it’s better known), brick by brick, to live under the stars.
in hindsight, “prison” had a heating system, and sheets.
such is the price of enlightenment.
filed under mtv, music: 90's
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