Metallica At Glastonbury: A Victory For Music Or A Commercial Mess?

As the sun set over the muddy fields of Glastonbury, a large crowd gathered outside the Pyramid Stage, anxiously awaiting the festival’s most controversial band to date: Metallica.

Their journey here was not an easy one. Since the announcement of Metallica headlining Britain’s biggest music festival, the heavy metal group’s booking had faced controversy due to their sound not fitting the typical “hippy” vibe of the festival. Many festivalgoers argued that Metallica were not in the spirit of peace loving Glastonbury due to the violence and angry nature of metal music. There was also backlash from animal rights activists, who launched a campaign for the band to be removed from the line-up due to frontman James Hetfield’s involvement in bear hunts.  

But as all eyes fell on the American Metal Heavyweights, it seemed that nobody knew what to expect. Even before Metallica took to the stage, they premiered a film titled Glastallica, portraying four murderous bears killing English toffs on a fox hunt. It’s intention? To poke fun at those aggrieved by Hetfield’s former role in bear hunts. It seems that when you’re the world’s biggest metal band, it’s easy to laugh off the hate.

Then came the aforementioned metal. Holding their instruments like lethal weapons for the massed drums and slash guitar of “Creeping Death”, it was hard not to be impressed. Even if you weren’t a fan, you couldn’t deny the sheer heft of their sound. With the back of the stage packed with their own supporters and the 120,000,000 people who sung back their songs, it was clear that Metallica had taken Glastonbury by storm.

Metallica is the first metal band ever to headline at Glastonbury, so it was easy to see why it is considered one of the most notable events in festival history. Glastonbury Music Festival is well known for its hippy nucleus and its focus on saving the planet, with Greenpeace, Oxfam and Water Aid reportedly receiving some of the profits. It is a festival branded by critics as “the peace and love” festival where crowds of the young and old, the hard rock fans and the country music fans can come together as one under a good cause. However, while it claims to be inclusive of all genres of music, Glastonbury have a history of refusing metal bands, so it was an odd choice to have Metallica playing the Saturday evening slot. So why is metal music so scarce at mainstream music festivals? Is it really down to metal being marketed for a niche audience, or is it down to the prejudice of festival organizers and their fans.

Metallica were the first and by far the biggest of the ‘Big Four’ of Thrash Metal and have continued to play well into their fifties. Since the heavy metal genre first broke away from the original “loud blues” sound of Black Sabbath, few bands pushed the boundaries like Metallica. With Metallica being the first band to be considered “Thrash Metal,” they drew in thousands of fans dedicated to the anger, aggression and pure energy. Album sales skyrocketed while also spawning countless imitators and inspiring many to take thrash in entirely new directions. However, after the great success with some incredible albums, Metallica released what is arguably their worst album to date Reload: the album fans state was the band “selling out” and compromising their musical integrity. Since that album, creativity dropped and the band became a commercial mess, causing bassist Jason Newsted to eventually leave the band. The albums to follow did nothing to salvage their creative integrity. Instead, they edged Metallica closer towards mainstream music and further away from the thrash titans they once were.

While Metallica’s performance at Glastonbury was perhaps one of their best to date, one can’t help but feel that their attendance was typical of the festival. Historically, Glastonbury is a five-day music festival that takes place near Somerset, England. Founded in the 1970’s, the festival was heavily influenced by hippie ethics and the free festival movement, offering contemporary music, dance, theatre and circus events to name a few. Until the late 2000s, Glastonbury continued to have rock and indie bands headline the festival as well as the occasional pop artist.

However, the festival of peace and love soon moved away from its hippy routes towards more capitalistic ventures to become massively commercialized. VIP sections have since been installed as well as Yurts for celebrities who detest the idea of camping in order to cater to the rich and famous – transforming Glastonbury into nothing more than a bourgeois haven.

But despite the ever-changing music culture in society, we continue to expect the same conventions from Glastonbury. The days when Glastonbury was an alternative rock festival made it quite interesting. But with artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Beyoncé and Kanye West (who has recently been booked for Glastonbury 2015) continuing to headline, its no wonder the festival is losing its authenticity.

Is this a victory for heavy metal music? Probably not. Essentially Metallica should be at the new Glastonbury because they personify everything that is wrong with it today. The band has become very mainstream and commercialized in recent years, caring only about the money they receive rather than the music they produce. Instead of representing the triumph of the metal genre and the togetherness Glastonbury is supposed to represent, Metallica represents the commercialized mess the festival has become. They, like the festival, have become the ultimate symbol of selling out in order to gain more financial success.