Locust Star

Again, it’s one of my favourite songs ever, and it blows my mind to think it was a single. In fact, I remember when I first heard it, and I wasn’t a fan at all. I was watching a Def Leppard Headbanger’s Ball special (they were just about to release the mediocre Slang), and this video just popped up halfway through.

Sadly, I saw that the video was some longhair sitting at a fire in the woods, and decided it was just some random Black Metal a la Ancient or Immortal (the latter are better than I gave them credit for all those years ago). Think that was the point I leaned on my good friend, the Fast Forward button. You had to do that a lot with that show; there would be the occasional gem (like ‘Holy Wars…’ or some Helmet), but the discerning viewer would always have to vigilant, lest Clawfinger found their way onto the screen.

Anyway, didn’t like them, and left it at that, til I actually bought the CD and loved it. Err, but that’s all here. This, instead of that understandably cheap clip, is an excellent live performance of the song, from Ozzfest 1996. God, that name reminds me of the time I got tickets for the UK Ozzfest show in 1998. Purely for Neurosis (in fact, Jon Clayden from Pitchshifter told me that was the only reason his band agreed to play, throughsilver says, namedropping. I stole beer off that dude back when I used to drink. He wouldn’t have cared; they had riders).

Then they announced they weren’t gonna bother playing, because they were in such an intense headspace while recording their new album that they couldn’t stop it just to play in the UK. Insult to injury was that the album (1999’s Times Of Grace) wasn’t that great. I mean, it was better than most bands out there – better than bloody Isis – but for them it was a tad too ‘normal’.

And the replacement? (hed)p.e. Great. I suppose the logic there was that each band had six members, because it sure was hell wasn’t a quality-for-quality trade. Still, there were great bands playing; you can’t really argue with Sabbath, Pantera (!),Slayer, Fear Factory, Entombed… and the odd sight of Life Of Agony playing with Whitfield Crane from early 90s slack-rockers Ugly Kid Joe! That was surprisingly good.

And nu-Metal bores Korn and Limp Bizkit dropped out, to be replaced by the far harder-rocking (especially on that day) Foo Fighters and Therapy? So it was all good. Granted, the utterly useless Coal Chamber played, but I was so knackered (I’d been to a club the night before and not slept) that I snoozed through them! sadly, said state meant I barely remember the one time I’ve seen the Foos, but as my lasting memories are Slayer, Sabbath and Pantera, I’ll live with that.