Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticA Record Store Day 15th anniversary program at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles this week was meant to be a celebration of vinyl and music retail first and foremost.
But if it turned into a Metallica lovefest as well, that was understandable. It wasn’t just because members of the crowd had started lining up outside in the a.m.
to get a closeup glimpse of panelists Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo — the band’s guitar and bass gods, respectively — but because Metallica really does have a history with Record Store Day that’s unparalleled among other artists.The association began with an in-store on the occasion of the first RSD in 2007, and continues on through a new solo release by Hammett, “Portals,” the vinyl version of which is one of several hundred RSD exclusives hitting stores Saturday morning, giving Metallica fans a reason to line up nationally.
The Variety-moderated panel also had RSD co-founder Michael Kurtz digging into the 15-year history of recorded music buffs’ primary national holiday, and Rand Foster, the proprietor of one of the greater L.A.
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