It's a debate that rages on inside my head on practically a daily basis. Since discovering the Wildhearts six years ago, I have always considered them my second favourite band, second only to Metallica, who had been reigning as #1 for 3 years before that.
Sometimes I go through these Wildhearts kicks, where I will listen to everything Wildies-related that I have in the matter of 3 days (I have the luxury of listening at work) - during these times of complete musical ecstasy, I think to myself, "self, how can there be a better band in the world than this? How have The Wildhearts not earned 'favourite band' status with you yet?"
Wouldn't it be nice to be having music conversations with record store guys and people I meet at parties and say "yeah, my favourite band is this excellent british band called the Wildhearts... no one over here is privileged enough to have heard them though..." - damn right it would be, as opposed to saying my favourite band is Metallica - whooptee doo, me and 10 million other people! The thought of the Wildhearts being my favourite band lingers only about as long as the intros to Blackened or Battery by Metallica, though. Try as I might, I just can't put anyone ahead of these guys.
I mean, what I have most recently determined is that what appeals to me more than any other single factor (and there are many) about the Wildhearts, is the riffing. Everlone, L.T.D., O.C.D, Rooting For the Bad Guy, Lake Of Piss, Caprice, Inglorious, Sky Babies, Naivety Play, Shame On Me, Do the Channel Bop, And the Bullshit Goes On, Return To Zero, Destroy All Monsters, News Of the World, Schitzophonic, Girlfriend Clothes, Cheers, and so on. Nobody does it better. If there was just one thing that makes this band special, it's the riffs.
Did I just say nobody does it better? Sorry, I mean only one band does it better. There is superior riffing in droves on "And Justice For All" and "Master Of Puppets" - just listen to a Metallica album and imagine for a minute that it is the Wildhearts playing it. It isn't hard to do! They are so frickin' similar and yet, you listen to my new favourite song of all time, "And Justice For All", and though it sounds like something Ginger would dream up, it isn't. Ginger, for all his talents, just isn't THAT good that he can come up with a song structure and riff pile that that song contains, among others of course.
What I am trying to say at 4 in the morning is, the reason Metallica still is, and always will be, my #1 band, is because they are the only band who can out-riff the Wildhearts. It's no easy task, and they deserve my admiration for it.
Remember when Ginger said on Grievous Acoustic Behaviour that Metallica was shite nowadays because they don't play "the riff"? I recall when that came out I didn't even really get what he meant - I do now. I still spin the new stuff, and I get something different out of it, but nothing beats their late-80's heyday.
God, do I ever love life, and music, and I feel fortunate just to have such a difficult choice to make.
) And Justice For All starts with an acoustic riff, that they begin to play heavier, and that is when the pounding bass drum comes in. To see what I am talking about, listen specifically to the section 0:27 to 0:34 of AJFA and then from 0:52 to 1:00 in CPT.