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Post by hypnotoad on Apr 27, 2018 2:53:36 GMT
First post, Hi, glad to be here. Huge fan, huge. Followed 'tallica since '90, favorite hobby is playing guitar because of them etc etc.. probably the same story anyone has about being a big MetallicA fan who is in their mid 30s. Anyhoo, I'll get right to the title, nobody want's to read a book but first post I thought I'd introduce a tiny. I apologize in advance to some of you who won't understand some of the guitar terms, there's no other way to phrase it. But ya know it bugs me to see James age damn well and Kirk divebomb.
So, I was linked here by an old post - that I didn't want to necrobump - by Googling "What's wrong with Kirk Hammett" after watching his performance of the National Anthem the other day at the Giant's game. I've figured something was up with him for a while, but for whatever reason that ungodly bad showing put me over the top to Google it. I used 2010 just because that's when DM came out. Curious what others think. I have a few thoughts but I just wanna ask about one, and what people thing, because I keep coming back to it. And I'm just talking about live stuff.
Simply, I think he's developed arthritis sometime in the past 10 years. It explains everything. He fell off a cliff. A cliff. People age, nobody expects him to play like he did when he was a 28 year old coked up kid. I'm not going to post anything, but some of the more recent stuff is, uh, to be nice... rough. Fuckin' rough. I love Kirk, I hate to see it. Ya know that, combined with the fact that he's changed the way his guitar is constructed recently (scallopped frets), and raised the action, changed the gauge of his strings, and started using a new pick, within' what 2 years, when he's been the most iffy? His vibrato is shit, way too many bends don't make it, and a lot of the time he sounds of of tune, but the guitar is in perfect tune, it's Kirk's intonation that makes it sound out of tune. Everything points to arthritis in his left hand. Yea?
Ok, that's it. Thanks for readin' if you made it this far and shit lemme know.
-SH
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Post by BigBunny on Apr 27, 2018 5:42:09 GMT
firstly, welcome to the forum.
about Kirk's playing, well his solos on HTSD are forgettable. there are some moments of joy Moth, Dead, Halo & Spit.
but most of the stuff he plays on the 2nd cd is just not sitting right with me. only Confusion & Spit are great tracks on that disc.
I didn't know he fell down a cliff but I don't see how that could make you play bad. unless there's an injury that we don't know about.
arthritis? as far as I know he doesn't have it, that sh*t is painful and could stop you playing guitar all together if you had it.
Kirk is only 55. compared to most of my favourite guitarists he's young. Joe Satriani is 62 in July, David Gilmour is 72, Steve Vai is 58 this year.
Guthrie Govan is only 48? but he shreds like a muthaf*cka and Paul Gilbert is 52 and he'd rip Kirk a new... well you know what!
so for me, age is no excuse.
edit: my bad, Guthrie turned 46 in December.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2018 7:26:16 GMT
After doing the same thing over and over again for 35 years it must get boring.
The fact that he lives in Hawaii and surfs all the time is a clue.
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Post by Alan-P on Apr 27, 2018 8:08:34 GMT
I hate to say it, but I think it's time for him to go...
If he has a problem with his left hand he should be playing an Ibanez RG, with 9 to 42 and low action. All that crap about making playing more challenging is bollocks. He's not Steve Vai, he can barely play a bar without bumming a note.
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Post by yepsure on Apr 27, 2018 14:15:44 GMT
I think it’s been really sad to watch Kirk detoriate as much as he has. I don’t want to start the gossip train, but I also reckon there are more health issues we don’t know about, the guy has aged about 15 years in the last 5. It’s been crazy. I hope the guy is ok.
If it is arthritis, I really wish they just made a formal band statement about it - if they announced in say 2010 that Kirk has serious arthritis that is impacting his playing but he’s still super dedicated and will keep on doing his best until he’s not able to anymore, then I would nothing but respect for the guy. But instead, it’s all, “I’m playing the best I ever have”, and “I feel more connected to my instrument than ever”, and all the Metallica.com live show write ups are all like “Kirk played the best One solo of his career and I’ve seen 120 shows”, etc....while he messes up most of the solos, while his guitar sounds completely out of tune 80% of the time, and while they put him up to play the National Anthem solo and do guitar string commercials and let him improv solos on the new album. Are they in denial? Do they all not hear what we hear?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2018 14:46:50 GMT
They're all likely going to quit around age 60 or so, so Kirk isn't going anywhere. Have we forgotten about Lars' drumming and James' vocals? Not perfect either. This is like watching old basketball players still trying to play. It's the present, not 1989. Our heroes are old and aren't going to get any better. You're just watching them hang on, and hoping to see little shining moments of your childhood band as they fade away.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2018 14:49:27 GMT
They're all likely going to quit around age 60 or so, so Kirk isn't going anywhere. Have we forgotten about Lars' drumming and James' vocals? Not perfect either. This is like watching old basketball players still trying to play. It's the present, not 1989. Our heroes are old and aren't going to get any better. You're just watching them hang on, and hoping to see little shining moments of your childhood band as they fade away. James vocals aren’t really that bad anymore. He has really good nights and some bad ones. When compared to a lot of other rock singers his age he’s miles ahead. In fact I think they have been improving quite a bit since the slow down of touring. Kirk on the other hand is just straight up terrible at this point. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2018 16:44:23 GMT
They're all likely going to quit around age 60 or so, so Kirk isn't going anywhere. Have we forgotten about Lars' drumming and James' vocals? Not perfect either. This is like watching old basketball players still trying to play. It's the present, not 1989. Our heroes are old and aren't going to get any better. You're just watching them hang on, and hoping to see little shining moments of your childhood band as they fade away. James vocals aren’t really that bad anymore. He has really good nights and some bad ones. When compared to a lot of other rock singers his age he’s miles ahead. In fact I think they have been improving quite a bit since the slow down of touring. Kirk on the other hand is just straight up terrible at this point. James's vocals during the DM dates was pretty bad, much better on the HWTSD tour. |
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Post by warhorsewarhead on Apr 27, 2018 22:16:43 GMT
People who criticise Metallica on the technical skill of the individuals who make up the band forget one thing, and it's been constantly forgotten right through the band's career, or at least when they had begun to be seen as technically inferior. It's that Metallica are one of the only, if the only, Metal bands who have primarily traded on their songs as their selling point, especially starting with RTL. Other bands would say, "We're the fastest", or "We're the most aggressive" or whatever. Personally, I find such a preoccupation with minor musical facets to be quite sophomoric, but that's me. Metallica could always say, "We've written the best songs".
And I know we can say, "Well, what's a great song?", and I take that point, but I'd say the nearest approximation to an objectively true answer on this is one that touches the most people and that stands the test of time.
And this is a roundabout way of saying that when your songs are your selling point, your overall reputation will never be defined by technical gripes. It's a valid criticism, of course. Just not near as big a one as it's advocates make it out to be.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2018 22:30:26 GMT
We're talking about playing live. They can't play their own songs as good as they used to.
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Post by BigBunny on Apr 29, 2018 2:14:01 GMT
I think it’s been really sad to watch Kirk detoriate as much as he has. I don’t want to start the gossip train, but I also reckon there are more health issues we don’t know about, the guy has aged about 15 years in the last 5. It’s been crazy. I hope the guy is ok. If it is arthritis, I really wish they just made a formal band statement about it - if they announced in say 2010 that Kirk has serious arthritis that is impacting his playing but he’s still super dedicated and will keep on doing his best until he’s not able to anymore, then I would nothing but respect for the guy. But instead, it’s all, “I’m playing the best I ever have”, and “I feel more connected to my instrument than ever”, and all the Metallica.com live show write ups are all like “Kirk played the best One solo of his career and I’ve seen 120 shows”, etc....while he messes up most of the solos, while his guitar sounds completely out of tune 80% of the time, and while they put him up to play the National Anthem solo and do guitar string commercials and let him improv solos on the new album. Are they in denial? Do they all not hear what we hear? if Kirk did have arthritis or something that was impeding his playing ability it would be nice to know. I mean, he did tell us he used Rogaine and that it worked  James vocals aren’t really that bad anymore. He has really good nights and some bad ones. When compared to a lot of other rock singers his age he’s miles ahead. In fact I think they have been improving quite a bit since the slow down of touring. Kirk on the other hand is just straight up terrible at this point. from the live footage I've seen James voice is doing ok and Rob's playing is great. we all can hear Lars being sloppy on the skins  when it comes to Kirk's guitar playing I wish he would stop abusing that f*cking wah. he wahed all over HTSD  |
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Post by warhorsewarhead on Apr 29, 2018 10:40:17 GMT
We're talking about playing live. They can't play their own songs as good as they used to. This is a criticism that has been levelled at the band, and individually (well, Lars and Kirk, anyway) for, what, 25 or so years? It's not that I don't agree there's been a technical decline. I think anyone who takes an interest in that side of things will see that, but I also know on which side the band's bread is buttered. They have way more people who don't care if Kirk duffs 1 note in 5 or whatever, so the reason that Kirk retires from Metallica will never be that a relatively small cadre of critics have finally made him rethink a fundamental part of his life. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2018 12:00:39 GMT
I think it’s been really sad to watch Kirk detoriate as much as he has. I don’t want to start the gossip train, but I also reckon there are more health issues we don’t know about, the guy has aged about 15 years in the last 5. It’s been crazy. I hope the guy is ok. Smoked too much weed probably, needs to lay off the reefer. |
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Post by SicJes on Apr 29, 2018 12:08:27 GMT
Its not one note out five. It's much worse. All you have to do is watch the intro to "One" over the past 15-20 years, maybe more, 95% of the time he fucks up the intro solo and stumbles his way through it. "One", a song he has played at pretty much every show since it's release, and its not even a hard part. Plus, like mentioned, the praise he gets from the hype machine behind him. Are all these people deaf? Wtf? How can the wider circle of listeners not hear this? It can't be just us, but it seems it is.
Kirk inspired me blah blah blah to pick up the guitar 25 years ago as well, he is still my hero, but what the Hell? It's sad really.
Metallica still kill it live every time I see them, and a few off beat parts or fuck ups I get, but every time "One" starts, it's like OK Kirk, you can do this buddy, I believe in you, and then no, it's a fail. I think back in the mid 90s I saw him do it, maybe once or twice, but that might just be my memory getting old.
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Post by warhorsewarhead on Apr 29, 2018 13:19:56 GMT
Its not one note out five. It's much worse. All you have to do is watch the intro to "One" over the past 15-20 years, maybe more, 95% of the time he fucks up the intro solo and stumbles his way through it. "One", a song he has played at pretty much every show since it's release, and its not even a hard part. Plus, like mentioned, the praise he gets from the hype machine behind him. Are all these people deaf? Wtf? How can the wider circle of listeners not hear this? It can't be just us, but it seems it is. Kirk inspired me blah blah blah to pick up the guitar 25 years ago as well, he is still my hero, but what the Hell? It's sad really. Metallica still kill it live every time I see them, and a few off beat parts or fuck ups I get, but every time "One" starts, it's like OK Kirk, you can do this buddy, I believe in you, and then no, it's a fail. I think back in the mid 90s I saw him do it, maybe once or twice, but that might just be my memory getting old. I just typed "Metallica One Live" into Youtube and picked random unedited performances from the band's latter day period of 2018, 2016, 2008, 2005 and 2004. Only on the Seoul 2004 performance did Kirk stumble his way through the intro solo, and that was pretty terrible. The rest were fine apart from a couple of missed notes among the runs near the end of the intro solo. I'm not trying to gloss over the missed notes in those runs, but on the basis of what I'm looking at, it's not even near one in 5. It's not that some people have a greater sense of hearing than others (aural health notwithstanding) but I think that people don't place the same sense of importance on the elements of what they hear. So, with that in mind, I'll proffer the idea that Kirk's note duffage and sketchy vibrato simply don't bother a lot of people. |
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Post by SicJes on Apr 29, 2018 14:00:07 GMT
Oh come on now. Here are a bunch of random shows, if you can't hear the mess, then there is no convincing you. Funny enough, the official DVD live releases are decent ( cough cough post production)
For the most part this is how's its been, there are a few times he pulls it off, but usually he doesn't.
Maybe its a combo of low light+shity action+arthritis+old age+loss of hearing+the Illuminati etc.
Its always the same runs that fuck him up. He needs to practice, its simple.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2018 11:55:30 GMT
Not bothered about occasional fuck ups live, his lack of contributions on the writing front are a bit worrying.
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Post by FightFireWithStAnger on May 2, 2018 13:33:31 GMT
The solo in Ride the Lightning too.
Ride the Lightning in 2008
Ride the Lightning in 2017
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Post by ampman on May 3, 2018 2:12:41 GMT
It's funny I was just coming here to say "Man I've been watching some videos lately and they seem to be playing pretty dang well lately". But it's probably just because I don't follow them like I used to.
Yeah Kirk makes mistakes plenty but honestly James sounds fucking amazing and Lars is pretty good barring the fact he skimps on the double bass a bit still. The guitar tone is finally sounding nice and chunky again too. I think, in general, they sound good. Just look at that performance of the Wait they had like last week. That shit was phenomenal. James destroyed it. Lars sounded good. Kirk missed I think one bend as far as I could tell. They're like mid fifties guys. I think they still sound good.
People saying it's so much worse, seriously do you guys not remember saying this same stuff on and off for the past decade? I definitely remember people being pissed at Kirk and Lars all the time since before I ever joined when I was a lurker. Ever since the WM tour took off for real there has been constant bitching about Kirk and Lars. And I get it. At times they've been absolute shit. But I personally don't feel like now is really one of the worst times.
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Post by LeeClaire on May 3, 2018 2:44:06 GMT
The most humorous things about all this is people saying that the band needs to release a statement about why Kirk fucks up every now and then -- which I would totally support as long as it was, "What? Are you fucking serious? Stop analyzing everything we do at the molecular level and go outside!" And then it ends with Lars doing a terrible drum fill.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2018 3:32:04 GMT
The most humorous things about all this is people saying that the band needs to release a statement about why Kirk fucks up every now and then -- which I would totally support as long as it was, "What? Are you fucking serious? Stop analyzing everything we do at the molecular level and go outside!" And then it ends with Lars doing a terrible drum fill. I agree, i don't dissect what they do live, it's about appreciating the overall feel of a song. |
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Post by yepsure on May 3, 2018 9:02:54 GMT
The most humorous things about all this is people saying that the band needs to release a statement No one has said that. You’re laughing at yourself, as usual.  But seriously, I said that if Kirk had a serious illness impacting his playing, a band statement stating as such would be appreciated. Otherwise we’re left wondering and speculating why Kirk sounds awful most of the time and its attributed to him just being shit now. There’s no reason for any analysis of a molecular level, one just needs to click play on one of the many live videos they post on their website, email out to all members, or post constantly on social media. Anyway, Kirk has sounded pretty good in the videos I’ve seen from the last month or so, which has been a nice change and has made me want to actually watch more. |
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2018 13:11:48 GMT
Kirkadon dresses like a pimp now, he controls the hoes, guitar playing comes second.
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Post by Jayzon on May 3, 2018 16:50:30 GMT
Kirkadon dresses like a pimp now, he controls the hoes, guitar playing comes second. To be fair, he found his inner pimp in the mid-90s, and hasn't looked back since. |
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Post by LeeClaire on May 3, 2018 20:59:16 GMT
The most humorous things about all this is people saying that the band needs to release a statement No one has said that. It would appear as though you are correct. You fat slut. Always. If Kirk had a serious illness he'd probably be at home instead of touring the world. If he has something that is causing him to flub a note here and there it doesn't seem he considers it serious enough to let anyone but his family and bandmates know. If it comes to that it'll probably be a 'Kirk Hammett and probably Metallica is retiring' statement. Otherwise, I'm sure he doesn't care enough about internet speculation to let the wider world in on what may be a personal issue. That's a bit hyperbolic given that you probably haven't watched every minute of every concert. It's likely that Kirk either: A) Has arthritis and flubs a note every now and then on songs he only plays when he's with Metallica B) Like Lars, doesn't practice unless he's in the tuning room C) Has adopted the Lars attitude of not caring if he messes up as long as he's enjoying himself C) Coincidentally flubss notes in songs they post while playing fine in everything else Regardless, a minuscule section of their fan base analyzing everything they post so they can point out and discuss when Kirk misses a note, Lars plays a stupid fill or loses the beat, James croons too much or Rob making everyone else look terrible doesn't seem like enough incentive to release a statement calling out one of their bandmates in the media for a personal issue -- even if they worded it nicely. Okay then. We play Quintana and O'Brien next week. They should be pushovers. |
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Post by ford71V8 on May 4, 2018 0:22:16 GMT
Whats with all the effort in your posting there Lee?
You're normally a lazy bastard posting images of women.
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Post by LeeClaire on May 4, 2018 0:26:39 GMT
Whats with all the effort in your posting there Lee? You're normally a lazy bastard posting images of women. Hang on. |
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Post by LeeClaire on May 4, 2018 0:32:16 GMT
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Post by BigBunny on May 4, 2018 1:31:25 GMT
Whats with all the effort in your posting there Lee? You're normally a lazy bastard posting images of women. that made me giggle. |
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Post by warhorsewarhead on May 4, 2018 17:43:25 GMT
If Metallica look at themselves & their fans as one big family, i.e. The Metallica Family, then I suspect they look at the Internet critics portion of that as the judgemental mother-in-law.
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