It took 20 years and an amazing 8-bit rendition of one of their signature songs, but I finally realize the true musical genius of Metallica. When I was younger, I listened to them unironically, loving every angry minute. I was a little metalhead and listened to a lot of really bad music, but Metallica was always one of my “top bands”. As I grew up, I grew out of metal, and as any young person will do when they find something new to like, started hating the old things I used to like, including metal. So I disdained Metallica and pushed them down in my mind as just “one of those awful late 80′s metal bands”. And they helped me hate them, putting out bad music with their little goatees in a sad attempt to stay relevant past their prime. They became a joke to me, especially since everything that came out after “And Justice for All” was a pale comparison to what came before it.

But as time passes we look kinder on our past, and a few years ago I started feeling wistful and re-acquired everything up to “Justice”. I listened, and it brought me back. But there was still a part of me that couldn’t take it completely seriously. I mean, it was still loud brash angry metal, not some timeless composition of truth and beauty. I had it kind of pigeonholed in my brain as a “genre” type of music. Something to be enjoyed sparingly when appropriate, and a proud part of my white trash past and heritage. But I didn’t respect it.

That changed when I heard an 8-bit conversion of “Master of Puppets”. It’s funny, but you can hear a song a thousand times and never really hear it. And it wasn’t until I heard it stripped down and laid out in simple 8-bit tones that I got a real appreciation for the composition and musicianship of this band. My God, some of the harmonies and runs are as complex and interesting as the best classical composers. And the overall structure of the composition with all its parts and movements is as sophisticated as it is pleasurable. The catch is, all this gets lost for me when I hear the original version, with its growls and heavily distorted guitars. I guess it’s all the emotion that clouds my perception, but when I hear the song as recorded, I feel the anger, the rage, the energy. When I hear the 8-bit version, I hear the composition. And that’s when the respect came. Lots of people dismiss Metallica, thinking they can’t be a great band because they’re metal, but that’s not fair. Anyone who could create a composition like this deserves the respect of people who are serious about music.

So if you don’t believe me, you can listen to the original here. And the 8-bit version here (At least listen through to the interlude in the middle of the song). Maybe you won’t see it. Or maybe you just can’t wrap your head around the idea that Metallica is good. But behind all the metal is really good music. For reals.