Fifteen and Floored by METALLICA (Part 2)
I'll never forget it. It was May 1993, I believe.
For a week, staying up all night if I had to, I threw myself into learning "Smoke on the Water" note for note, until I could finally play the whole song, solo included.
Come to think of it, the first guitar I ever owned was a Mockingbird, bought secondhand from a classmate for 16,000 yen. The headstock was so heavy that whenever I stood up to play, the whole neck would droop — a genuinely awkward guitar.
Around that time, I decided my next step would be to head to a CD rental shop and pick out songs to practice based on nothing but the album covers.
Back then there was a shop called, I think, "YOU&I" in Honancho. Standing there with no idea what I was looking at, I somehow ended up picking up a CD by a band called METALLICA. The album was "...And Justice for All." The cover looked cool enough, so I figured I'd rent it.
The moment I got home, popped it into my boombox, and hit play — this 15-year-old kid was completely blown away.
I couldn't believe music this beautiful, this fierce, this heavy could even exist.
The intro to "Blackened" gave me chills, and that riff finished me off completely. I have to learn this — I still remember thinking it, as clearly as if it were yesterday.
To be continued.