Rockabye... Metallica?

It's a NRT first! A children's album...

Have you ever been sitting around listening to Metallica and wondered what it would be like if Mater of Puppets were performed with a glockenspiel? Maybe a mellotron? Well, wonder no more! This past Tuesday, Baby Rock Records released their latest masterpiece - Lullaby Renditions of Metallica. You'll hear such gems as One, Enter Sandman, and Nothing Else Matters performed in a series of plinks, plunks, and vibes. To be honest, it really is quite soothing (click the song titles for musical clips). Who ever would have guessed that a glockenspiel could be useful when playing in a minor key? These folks have other lullaby albums using the works of Radiohead and Coldplay, with albums utilizing the songs of Pink Floyd and Tool (yes, Tool - you read that correctly) due out next month. There are also many more albums due in the coming months showcasing music from bands such as The Cure and The Pixies. I think that I'm going to start collecting these for when my sister has kids - that way I can start warping them while they're young!

To recognize this fabulous, yet somewhat bizarre achievement, the ear candy this week consists of a Metallica performed song that you will find on the lullaby album. I chose this particular track not only because I adore the song (see my 'tag line' under my blog title), but because Cliff Burton, the original bass player who tragically died in a 1989 bus accident, was part of its creation. I chose this particular video for a few reasons. First, this bootleg, from a 1986 concert in the USSR, contains footage of Cliff doing what he did o so very very well. Also, this was about the time I was discovering Metallica. I was in the 7th grade and the sound pissed off my father so much that he would bang on the walls telling me to turn down my ape music (and I wonder why I work with monkeys?). Finally, if you look close enough, you'll see that James is wearing a Misfits t-shirt. Why is this important? Well, in the summer of 1994, I had an assembly line job at an exact-o knife factory in Vernon, NJ. I sat on a stool for most of the day placing pieces of exact-o knives into blister packaging. Some days the handles, some days the card backs, but I digress... I was eating lunch early in my first week and I heard this hard hitting sound coming from the rafters. I started to look around and noticed that none of people around me appeared phased by this. Finally, one older woman saw the look on my face and said 'Oh, we've forgotten you're new. Sorry about the racket, dear, but the boys like to have band practice during lunch sometimes. We've just all become quite used to it and you will too.' Suddenly, the sound turned more familiar as the opening chords to Die, Die My Darling started to echo down the stairs. Then it hit me - the f@#&%$ Misfits (sans mister Danzig, of course) were upstairs! They never sang a single word during those times, but they jammed about three times a week. Never on Fridays though. Each Friday at about 11:30am, they would come stomping down the stairs (this was the only time I ever laid eyes on them as they treated that upstairs machine shop like their sanctuary) and would head out the front door only to come back about an hour later smelling like a brewery. So, in honor of of all things metal, click the link, throw your devil horns in the air, and bang your head until your neck is sore! Then, when you're finished there, move on down to the primate of the week link for facts about one hell of a tough primate.