6. Metallica's Vision Of Their Fanbase
Now this entry is on here not in a particularly face-ripping sense, but more in a way that will either make you love what they're trying to say, or despise it. Metallica are nothing if not divisive (a full album of inane ramblings with an ageing Lou Reed proved that), and here the opening shot of the film zooms all the way down through the glamour of the high-rises, past the street-lamps and drainage emissions to a fat middle-aged man, belly-a'floppin' out his ill-fitting shirt, screaming "Metallicaaa!!!" at the top of his lungs. Now the 'Slayer fan' archetype has long-existed inside the metal commune, and you only need pop across to any of the major festivals to hear the word "Slayyerrr!" bellowed across the fields whenever the caffeine kicks in. However Metallica fans are such a diverse bunch, somewhat mimicking the severe tonal changes throughout their career, there's some that are fully onboard with them trying new things, and a whole load more who are still waiting for a 'proper sequel' to 1988's ...And Justice For All. It's this fan that Metallica, and I'd bet drummer/Executive Producer Lars in particular, is poking fun at here. The ever-devoted basement-dweller, refusing to move past the 80's 'back when metal was good', yet they are the ones who stagger to every gig because they know Metallica is in their blood. It's these fans that are the band's bread and butter, and the reason they can do projects as eccentric as this in the first place, but at the same time it's a pretty obvious reference to the mindset towards something like their symphony orchestra-backed album of 1999, or the aforementioned Lou Reed disaster of 2011.