When Metal Members Go Missing
Today's post is from our friend HIM.
As fans of metal, we know it is filled with lots of sleaze, and not just the good kind!
Seriously, though, there are instances when bands move on and leave their past behind. So, I ask you: what constitutes a good omission in the life of a legendary band? Framed differently: how much are bands and artists allowed to excise from their past if, in fact, the parts they remove were integral to their legacy? I will start with a softball of a question.
Where was Bill Ward? Article:
This is an easy one in retrospect. Ward requested that Sabbath remove his image because of the morass that their “reunion” had become. While I still side with Ward on the overall situation, I don’t begrudge Sabbath for following a request with legal implications. So let me step it up a wee bit.
Where is Michael Anthony? Article:
Well, he is there now. But we all know that Van Halen are a secretive, and spiteful, bunch. One brother, or both, seem comfortable with revising the band’s history so as to settle scores old, real, and imagined. Anthony, on the other hand shrugs and smiles. Let me end with a more troubling question.
Where is Dave Holland? Image:
He wasn’t the first drummer in Priest. Nor should he be blamed or praised for the change in direction that was Turbo. But Holland was an integral part of their several-stage transition toward stadium-metal glory. He was their Phil Rudd. There is a problem though. He is also a convicted sex offender. You see the point? I see Priest’s point.
But I wonder: was a 30th anniversary release of Turbo made better by offering it alongside a poster that, for fans, actually draws attention to what is missing—also an issue in the previous instances—even as it celebrates what was created? Were there no other promo shots available? Was the revised cover artwork not enough to stand alone, or perhaps a glossy version of the original cover to go with the release?
I often wonder about a lot of things. I wonder about the real world struggle and strife, the ugly and horrendous things that go into the songs we love by the bands we idolize. I wonder about all of that still, even after I know a lot more than I want to about those bands and those songs. I also wonder about the choices these bands make, time and again, as artists and as brands, to project their images out to all of their fans. And so I end with a question that is a request. What bands and artists that you love have issues that, try as they might to obscure them, come uncomfortably spilling out?
