[翻譯] 美國鞭金史（四）

看板RockMetal作者coolfly (早安，黑色星期五)時間14年前 (2010/03/01 00:12)推噓24(24推 0噓 0→)

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Part IV: And Major-Label Deals for All 其四：大廠合約，人人有份 Cliff Burton’s tragic death seemed to leave a gaping void not only in his own band but also in thrash metal in general. During the bassist’s tenure in Metallica, his gritty, no-bullshit attitude set the tone for the entire movement; after his untimely demise, most thrash bands began to veer toward a slicker, more technically proficient aesthetic. Even Metallica, after breaking in new bassist Jason Newsted—formerly of Arizona thrashers Flotsam and Jetsam—on 1987’s rough-and-ready $5.98 EP, Garage Days Re-Revisited, would stretch their epic arrangements to the breaking point with 1988’s double-length …And Justice for All. Anthrax, on the other hand, went against the grain with their rap-influenced, platinum-selling 1987 single, “I’m the Man.” Ditto for Slayer, who released the doomy South of Heaven the following year. Ironically, the period immediately following Burton’s passing would also see thrash metal reach its pinnacle of critical acclaim and commercial success. From 1987 to 1991, thrash was big business, attracting the attention of MTV’s Headbangers Ball and sending countless major-label reps on the futile search for “the next Metallica.” Cliff Burton的悲劇驟逝似乎不只對他自己的團，也對於整個鞭笞金屬留下了難以彌補的空缺。當這位貝斯手在Metallica的時候，他那剛強、直率的態度，為整場運動奠定了基調；在他英年早逝之後，大多數的鞭金樂團開始朝向一種更世故圓滑、更技巧熟練的美學發展。即使是Metallica，在新貝斯手Jason Newsted──來自亞利桑那的鞭金樂團 Flotsam and Jetsam──於1987年生猛粗獷的5.98元EP《Garage Days Re-Revisited》加入後，將會在1988年的《…And Justice for All》上，將他們的史詩式編曲延伸至轉戾點。另一方面，Anthrax獨樹一格地推出了他們受到饒舌音樂影響的1987年白金單曲〈I’ m the Man〉。同樣地，Slaye在隔年推出了他們陰慘晦暗的《South of Heaven》。諷刺的是，在Burton死後接踵而來的這段歲月，也是鞭金最為大受好評，市場上最為成功的巔峰期。從1987年到1991年，鞭笞金屬是門大生意，吸引了MTV的Headbangers Ball（按： MTV上一個專門播出金屬樂MV的節目）注意，也令無數的大廠星探汲汲營營於找尋「下個 Metallica」。 HAMMETT Things did kind of change after Cliff’s death. Even our sound changed. On …And Justice for All, we kind of fell prey to that whole virtuosic, late-Eighties thing that was happening, that first wave of shredder guitar players, like Yngwie [Malmsteen], Tony McAlpine, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani. All of a sudden, everyone wanted to be progressive and show off their abilities. Somehow, just playing fast and heavy took a back seat to that. Cliff逝世後，所有的事似乎都發生了改變。甚至連我們的音樂也都變了。在《…And Justice for All》，我們被那批技巧派搞得很窘，在80年代末，那些第一波的速彈吉他手像是Yngwie (Malmsteen)、Tony McAlpine、Steve Vai和Joe Satriani紛紛出現。突然之間，大家都想玩些很前衛的東西，大秀他們的吉他功力，單純彈得又快又重只能閃邊站。 ERNST Anthrax certainly were far ahead of their time, in terms of bringing elements of rap into their music. Whether it was “I’m the Man” or “Bring tha Noise” [the band’s 1991 collaboration with Public Enemy], they were the first band to really do that. 就將饒舌樂元素加進他們音樂這方面來說，Anthrax確實大大超前他們的時代。不管是〈I'm the Man〉或〈Bring tha Noise〉（樂團在1991年與Public Enemy的協同作），他們都是第一個真正這麼做的團。 IAN For every time we would go outside the box, I’m sure there were probably as many people who got pissed off by it as loved it. As big as “I’m the Man ” was, we kind of alienated a whole portion of our audience that was into the more extreme stuff like Slayer, Celtic Frost, and Possessed. They were like, Among the Living’s really cool, but fuck them—why are they doing a rap song? 每次我們跳脫原有的框架，我確定討厭它的人大概就跟喜歡它的人一樣多。雖然〈I’m the Man〉很紅，不過在那些我們聽眾中，比較喜歡更極端的音樂像是Slayer、Celtic Frost和Possessed的人看來，大概有點異類。他們的反應像是，「《Among the Living》真的很酷，但幹他娘的──他們幹嘛搞個饒舌歌？」 KING South of Heaven was the only one where we went in with a predetermined notion of what we wanted to do. We didn’t want to play fast—not because we were burned out on it but because we needed something to put into the live set to make it more of a rollercoaster ride than a facial bludgeoning. We also did it because we knew no one would ever expect it. 《South of Heaven》是唯一一張我們先計畫好要怎麼做才去做的專輯，我們不想彈得很快──不是因為我們對它沒興趣了，只是因為我們需要有些東西加入Live歌單，好讓它感覺像是坐雲霄飛車而不是被迎面痛毆。一方面也是因為我們想出人意表。 IAN From ’83 to the end of ’87, things were just moving and happening so unbelievably fast. We started the Among the Living tour in May of ’87, playing clubs. But in December ’87, we came back to the States for a three-week run with Exodus and Celtic Frost. We were playing 3,000- to 5,000-seat halls, and I remember standing onstage at the Aragon in Chicago, which was sold out—5,500 people—watching Celtic Frost open the show and going, Holy fuck! Just six months ago, we were playing to 800 kids, and three years ago, we couldn’t even get a gig! It was the first realization of, Wow, people fucking love this music! This scene really is happening, and it is important, and the bands are great, and people care! 從1983年到1987年，事情發生和進展都快得不可思議。我們在87年5月開始《Among the Living》的巡迴，在俱樂部裡表演。但到了同年12月，我們回到美國，和Exodus與 Celtic Frost做場為期三週的演出，已經是在可以容納3000人到5000人的場地了。我記得站在芝加哥Aragon的舞台上，票全都賣光了──5500人──看著Celtic Frost暖場，我說，「夭壽！」六個月前，我們不過在800人面前演出，而再早三年，我們根本不可能辦表演。那是我第一次明白，哇，大家喜歡這種音樂耶！這股風潮真的成功了，而且它舉足輕重，樂團棒極了，而且人們在乎這種音樂！ HOLT By this time, there was a whole second wave of bands coming out of the Bay Area thrash scene, like Testament, Death Angel, Forbidden, and VIO-LENCE. They all started out as kids watching our shows, but they put their own stamp on it. 在那時候，出現了第二波的灣區鞭團，像是Testament、Death Angel、Forbidden和 VIO-LENCE。他們最初都是看我們表演的小子，但他們在鞭金上留下了自己的印記。 LONN FRIEND You could see that the world was ready to embrace this music on a bigger scale when …And Justice for All came out. And then, when they made the “One” video [which featured scenes from the 1971 anti-war movie Johnny Got His Gun, about a WWI soldier who has his arms, legs, and most of his face blown off by a mortar shell]… Metallica’s always been conscious of not doing things the way other people do them. So if they are going to make their debut rock video, they’ve gotta come from off the fringe. It’s not gonna be like a Poison video with girls and whipped cream! 當《…And Justice for All》推出，你可以看見世界準備好更大幅度地去擁抱這種音樂。當他們做〈One〉的MV時（影片中採用了1971年，以一個手、腿、臉都遭迫擊彈炸傷的士兵為主角的反戰電影〈Johnny Got His Gun〉的畫面）……Metallica一向有自覺不要按別人做過的方式來做事。所以，假如他們要做自己的第一支搖滾樂MV，他們必須從反方向切入。可不能像Poison的MV那樣出現一堆娘兒們和鮮奶油！ HAMMETT I knew we were onto a good thing when I saw the “One” video come on MTV at, like, 11:30 in the evening; I watched it, and afterwards, the VJ—I think it was Adam Curry—came on and said, “Wow, that’s a real bowl of rainbows!” 當我看到〈One〉的MV在MTV上播出，我就知道我們會鴻圖大展。差不多是在晚上11:30 吧，我看它播出，然後VJ──我想是Adam Curry吧──出現，說，「哇，那可真是五花八門。」 IAN The original Headbangers Ball grew along with the bands, at least during the glory years of, like, ’87 to ’89. We headlined the Headbangers Ball tour in ’89: It was Anthrax, Exodus, and Helloween, and it was an arena tour. 原始的Headbangers Ball可以說是跟樂團一起成長，至少在87到89年那段黃金時期是這樣的。我們在89年的Headbangers Ball巡迴中擔任主秀：Anthrax、Exodus和Helloween一起，那是個體育場的巡迴。 HOLT When [Exodus’ 1987 album] Pleasures of the Flesh came out, we were playing big venues, selling out shows. And then when “Toxic Waltz” came out in ’89 with the whole Headbangers Ball tour, that’s when it blew up for us. That was one of the most fun tours I’ve ever done. We played Anthrax in softball and kicked the shit out of them! I will never let Scott live that down. The score was 21–12, same as the Rush album! 當（Exodus 的1987年專輯）《Pleasures of the Flesh》推出後，我們開始在大型場地演出，票賣得非常好。然後當89年推出《Toxic Waltz》，還有那整場Headbangers Ball 巡迴，真的讓我們整個爆紅。那是我參加過最有趣的巡迴之一了，我們在壘球比賽中彈 Anthrax的歌，然後電爆他們。我才不會讓Scott忘記這件事咧！最後得分是21-12，就和 Rush那張專輯的名稱一樣。 ERNST Testament were like a second-generation band. But their third album, [1989’s] Practice What You Preach, was huge. They looked like they were about to bust out and be the next Metallica, and then the whole scene just fell apart. They put out [1990’s] Souls of Black after Practice What You Preach, and that’s one of the examples I’d use of thrash running its course: They were amazing, they were cool, but then they put out an album that was not as good as their previous stuff. Testament比較像是第二代的樂團。但他們的第三張專輯，（1989年的）《Practice What You Preach》很紅。當時看起來他們似乎會大紅大紫，成為下一個Metallica，但之後整個鞭金風潮崩壞。在《Practice What You Preach》之後，他們推出（1990年的）《 Souls of Black》，這是我常用來說明鞭金發展的例子之一：他們很棒，他們很酷，然後他們推出一張水準與之前作品無法相比的專輯。 BILLY With Souls of Black, we were offered the Clash of the Titans tour in Europe with Slayer and Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies, but the record company said, “We’re not gonna give you tour support unless you guys have a new record out.” So we literally wrote and recorded the record in 10 weeks, start to finish, just kind of whipping out songs fast as we could. I think if we had took a little more time with it, it might have been a little better, but for the time we spent on it, I thought there was some good stuff there. But it was either write a record, or miss that great tour! 因為《Souls of Black》，我們得以參加Clash of the Titans，和Slayer、Megadeth與 Suicidal Tendencies在歐洲巡迴。不過當時唱片公司說，「除非你們推出新專輯，否則我們不會給你們巡迴的資金。」所以我們從開始到結束真的只花了十星期，去寫好、錄好那張專輯，盡可能地把歌給趕出來。我想假如我們有多一點的時間去做這張專輯，它大概能更好一些。不過以我們花在上面的時間來看，我想這張專輯真的有些很不錯的東西。不過你要不是寫出一張專輯來，要不是就錯過那場偉大的巡迴。 KING The year before the Clash, we’d headlined the L.A. Sports Arena with only Testament supporting, and we came within 100 of selling it out. That was cool! I took more pride in that than the Clash, because that had three giant bands—and a fourth band that turned out to be bigger than any of us, Alice in Chains. 在Clash of the Titans的前一年，我們在洛杉磯體育場演唱，同場的只有Testament一團而已，而我們的票徹底完售。超酷的！這比Clash of the Titan還更令我感到驕傲，因為那場巡迴中有三個大團──還有第四個後來變得比我們大家都還紅的團，Alice in Chains。 ERNST When you look back to 1991’s U.S. Clash of the Titans tour, that was probably the height of thrash, but it was also the end of thrash because you had Alice in Chains opening up. As much as I liked Alice in Chains, I remember sitting at Madison Square Garden thinking, Okay, this is cool, but why isn’t Overkill or Death Angel on this bill? And then, before I could even finish my thought, Nirvana and grunge come along, and it’s all over for most of the bands! 當你回顧1991年美國的Clash of the Titans巡迴，那大概是鞭金的高峰，但它也是鞭金風潮的結束，因為暖場團居然是Alice in Chains。雖然我很喜歡Alice in Chains，但我記得自己坐在麥迪遜花園廣場，心想，「OK，這很酷，但為什麼不是Overkill或Death Angel在演出名單上？」然後，就在我能想出個所以然之前，Nirvana和油漬搖滾出現了，幾乎讓大多數的樂團玩完！（待續） -- I had nothing but the embittered sun... 我一無所有，除卻那怨毒的太陽…… -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 114.41.112.70

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