Things I dug up: Justice-era Metallica mags!

So the other day I was rummaging through boxes of my old geek crap (Dungeons & Dragons, comics, old cassettes, etc.), and I came across a couple of old-school metal goodies.

First, I found my 1989 copy of Rip Magazine's photo special of Metallica. This came out just as the Damaged Justice tour was winding down. Since I had just seen them that past summer in Denver, Colorado, I was ALL ABOUT METALLICA. So, of course, I picked this mag up as soon as it hit the newsstands.

Here is the cool front cover, showing the twisted hills and valleys of moisture damage.

 

 Here is the inside cover spread, showcasing Metallica Zorlac skateboards! Nice!

  

A couple of cool photos from the mag. Hey, this pic is backwards! Sorry about that.

 

The back cover to the magazine featured an ad for the band SKELETON! At the time, the dudes in SKELETON were thinking, "Man, our album ad is on the back of a METALLICA magazine! This is just what we need to get noticed and make it to the big time! Hell-O Billboard top 10!"

Seriously, I need to look these guys up online to see if they were any good. Skeleton, huh? Hmmm.

 

Now, here's my dorky face, all full of smiles, holding my Damaged Justice Tour Program (or programme?). I found this in a different box that houses my Marvel Super Heroes tabletop rpg. I don't know why it was in there except that back in 1989, Metallica were super heroes to me.

 

 

Wow, I remember this concert as if were 23 years ago. Anyway, this program is stuffed with pics of the tour, including a lengthy write-up of the band, worthy of what Metallica had become at that time.

What was great about this tour was that thrash had hit the big time. I was from a small Kansas town, and NObody listened to thrash, man. I'm sure more than a few of you out there can relate.

I remember before the concert started, they were making announcements over the PA for upcoming shows. They mentioned that D.R.I. was coming to Denver and the crowd cheered. I was in heaven. I was in the middle of a sold-out thrash concert that cheered when an underground crossover band was mentioned. I don't know if that sounds like a big deal to most of you, but back then we were witnessing thrash metal clawing its way up, and to be in the presence of so many metal brothers and sisters who loved and understood that same thing was completely bad-ass.