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So What!: The Good, The Mad, and The Ugly [Hardcover]

Metallica (Author), Steffan Chirazi (Editor)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


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Book Description

August 17, 2004
THE OFFICIAL METALLICA ILLUSTRATED CHRONICLE

From their early days in the 1980s as young, exciting, abrasive, and loud unknowns through their current multimillion-selling album, St. Anger (including the 2004 Grammy-winning title track), Metallica has earned its reputation as one of the most highly regarded and hard-rocking bands of all time. Based on material created for their official fan club’s magazine of the same name, So What!: The Good, the Mad, and the Ugly is a unique Metallica “scrapbook.” Including transcripts of exclusive round-table discussions, journal excerpts, and personal comments scribbled by band members throughout—plus festival reports, fan questions answered by the band, and approximately one thousand rare photos-- So What! celebrates many milestones and memories of the longest-running and most popular metal band ever. The book also gives the honest inside track on some of Metallica’s darker days: their search for a new bassist, insight into singer/guitarist James Hetfield’s rehab, and notes taken during their extended hiatus from 1999 to 2002. The only complete and fully authorized book of its kind, So What! offers Metallica’s legions of fans an all-access pass to the band, onstage, backstage, and beyond.

In the Fall of 1993, Metallica had just finished a 302-date world tour, and sold 15 million copies of the “Black” album worldwide. It was time, Metallica decided, to speak directly to fans through their own publication devoted entirely to an uncensored, inside look at the band. In early 1994 they launched So What! magazine, exclusively for fan clubs members. A decade later, it remains the only place in print to meet and mingle intimately with Metallica.

So What!: The Good, the Mad, and the Ugly, the first-ever official illustrated chronicle of Metallica, draws on the magazine's colossal resources to create the ultimate book for all Metallica fans.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This large and loud authorized book of Metallica memories and memorabilia presents a scrapbook of their history together, which began in Los Angeles during the early 1980s. According to Chirazi, who first met the band in 1984 as a 17-year-old journalist, Metallica is the "seventh biggest selling act in American history." His book documents many of the group’s famous concerts with collages of photos and narratives by the band about what it felt like to be on stage and on the road. Interviews include three talks with former bassist Jason Newsted—conducted by each of the remaining band members. The volume is packed with publicity and candid photos, as well as articles written by Chirazi and letters composed by the band. In the end, this bold, frenetically designed book is intimately in-your-face—just like the band. Their fans will love it.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This is a fan scrapbook for Metallica devotees, compiled and written by band members and proffered as "the official Metallica illustrated chronicle"--a mixture of Tiger Beat-style teen gush, heavy-metal ambience, and the obligatory sprinkling of naughty words one expects of such packages. Persistently underestimated musically (by nonfans), Metallica has been around forever, and its fans are legion and multigenerational. Headbangers of all ages want the inside poop about the band's personnel changes, its risky decision to stay its bombastic musical course while sporting short hair, its militant antidownloading stance, and the heavy-metal lifestyle in general. A book fairly bursting with candid pics, Q&A sessions, and band members' personal manifestos--especially Metallica lifers James Hetfield's and Lars Ulrich's--will give the fans hours of pleasure and help libraries meet the needs of the underserved metalhead demographic. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway; First Edition edition (August 17, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767918819
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767918817
  • Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have For Any True Metallica Fan, September 15, 2004
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This review is from: So What!: The Good, The Mad, and The Ugly (Hardcover)
I bought this book the first day it came out and it was well worth the $29.95 I paid for it. It starts you off by telling how the band formed, and actually takes you inside the minds and thoughts of one of the best metal bands ever. Included are some segments of Metallica's fan club magazine and full color photos from shoots and from concets. Each member of the band has a section all about them from birth - today including a whole section on the late Cliff Burton. If you are like me and love this band as much as I do, SO WHAT! is the perfect addition to your Metallica shrine.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars high quality book for a high quality band. . ., August 23, 2004
This review is from: So What!: The Good, The Mad, and The Ugly (Hardcover)
I bought the book today by default because the mighty Metallica has always been my favorite band. But to my suprise this book was truly an awesome glimpse into the last 15 years of the greatest rock band of our time. buy buy buy it now or else!
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Coffeetable Book, for Metallica Fans with a Coffeetable, December 11, 2004
This review is from: So What!: The Good, The Mad, and The Ugly (Hardcover)
This book really could have been called "Written Sh*t: Binge and Purge", as it's really the literary equivalent to Metallica's live music box set. Like the box set, it's a bloated, excessive and sometimes self-serving overload to the senses, and it's up to the individual's tolerance for the personalities in the band that will determine whether or not that this a good thing or not.

The book is beautifully put together. Tons of pictures on high-gloss paper make this a feast for the eyes. The articles are of varying quality. Peppered between the yearbook and scrapbook looking sections -- usually put together using notes, pictures and art created by the band - are some of the best interviews of the band in the last 10 years (particularly the round table discussions which, in light of Jason Newsted's departure, are quite revealing). There are even glimpses of James Hetfield's struggle with his demons before going into rehab, that in hindsight should have been pretty obvious to everyone. Weak are the Q&A sections (the band never seems to give straight answers), a lack of great detail in events in the pre-Load era (understandable as these items are pulled from the fanclub magazine started in the mid-'90s), and Lars Ulrich making love to his ego (haters like to say how much the band has changed, but Lars and his ego have remained pretty consistent over the years, if you ask me).

Complaints are relatively minor. Metallica fans that have been members of the Metclub since it's inception will pretty much have all the items in here already (from So What!, the fanclub magazine). The magazines don't look nearly as good as the book though, but it may not be reason enough to buy this for some. At times, the self-indulgence can get a mite irritating, but the honesty and candidness makes up for a lot. The band at times seems more relaxed and sincere in some of the interviews, more so than they have for industry magazines and the press, although any fan with an axe to grind will find plenty of fuel to feed their accusations that the band has sold out, only cares about money and have sucked since (fill in the blank). Those who don't will find quite a lot of revealing details on what makes their favourite band tick - even if one has to be read between the lines sometimes.

As we're not likely to see any autobiographies from the band anytime soon, So What! is the only source for words straight from the horse's mouth and something that fans won't be able to resist.

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
As we trundle through Paris at 12:35 a.m., precariously perched in the METALLICA tour bus, the forehead of bassist Cliff Burton suddenly makes a close but rhythmic acquaintance with the front dashboard. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
album tour
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bob Rock, James Hetfield, New York, Lars Ulrich, San Francisco, Kirk Hammett, Thin Lizzy, Diamond Head, Bay Area, Cliff Burton, Ann Powers, Peter Mensch, Phil Towle, Ride the Lightning, Tom Waits, Black Sabbath, Cliff Burnstein, Jim Martin, Los Angeles Times, Nick Cave, Steven Wiig, Summer Sanitarium, The Plant, The Ripper, Andres Serrano
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