Signed Stuff - Metallica

Artist: Metallica
Album: Garage Days Re-Revisited (The $5.98 EP)
Signed by: Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Jason Newsted, James Hetfield


OK, now im just showing off.....

I got my hands on a CD copy of the EP back in 1996. The old Waterfront Records in York Street in Sydney put an add in their weekly column in the Drum Media. They mentioned something about them finding a box of stuff in the back of a cupboard in their storeroom. They listed a few things that I cant recall, and in small fine print mentioned they had two mint copies of Metallica's Garage Days Re-Revisited (The $5.98 EP) for $40 each! The Drum Media came out every Tuesday morning. I usually had a copy by lunchtime that day and I called that afternoon. They still had the two copies left so I hotfooted it to the store to pick up my copy. From what I can tell its not one of the European fake's that came out in the early 90's. Ive shown it to a few friends who also have the EP and it looks identical.

So on to the signings....

I was lucky enough to see 6 shows and one TV appearance on their Australian tour in 1998. I was also lucky enough to have 5 backstage passes. So the majority of my Metallica collection at that time is signed by at least Jason, Lars and Kirk. James didnt ever hang with us backstage. He just never showed up. I did see his woman standing in front of the stage in Melbourne so just assumed he was hanging with her. It wasn't until the 2004 Some Kind Of Monster documentary did I realise some of the stuff that was going on with the band and James' issues during that time that made me think back to the times when the band were a little coy towards each other and never knew where Het was at. The rest of the band were awesome though. Jason being the most "fan friendly" of the band. Lars was his usual jovial self. Kirk was always up for a quick chat. Some good times were had on that tour.

So I managed to get Jason, Las and Kirk to sign the CD, but not James. As we were leaving the Melbourne Tennis Centre after the second show (one of the best of the tour), we saw James' van had stopped at the artist entrance and he was signing some stuff. I managed to get him to sign my Master Of Puppets 12" picture disc, but didnt get the Garage Days Cd out in time. Bugger.

Fast forward to 2004 and again I was lucky enough to see 5 shows on the Australian tour. And two backstage passes. Actually it was three, but at one of the Big Day Out's I didnt get to hang with the band before the show. But I did manage to get James to sign some stuff I didnt get signed back in 1998 - and one of my priorities was the above CD.