'The Roar of L'Amour'

METALLICA - The night I premiered 'And Justice for All'

One summer night in 1988, I was spinning in the booth (spinning outside the booth would be weird) and a bouncer yells "Chuckie" (that was how he got my attention to see if I would allow whomever up to the booth).

I look and see Michael Alago (Elektra Records) with an album in his hand and wave him up ...

I say "what's up?" and he asked "want to premiere the new Metallica?"

Lemme think ... FUCKIN YES I DO.

He hands my the double album called 'And Justice For All' and he tells me to play 'Harvester of Sorrow' off side three (I love double albums).

I cued it up without listening ... its Fn Metallica after all and start looking at the album and see 9 songs on a double album ... did Metallica turn into ELP or Yes?

I announce to the crowd I am about to world premiere the new Metallica and the place goes insane.

I release the song from my index finger and noticed the crowd was "weird". Not in a bad way, but there was hardly any movement at first. No moshing, no headbanging, no flirting up the chick next to you ... just LISTENING.

I never thought the combo of Metallica and Chuck Kaye would silence a L'Amour crowd, but it did, then little by little the headbanging started and by Kirk's solo at about 3:30 into the song, the head banging was in unison.

It was great to see because after the tragic passing off Cliff Burton, this album was highly anticipated because the curiosity of a Metallica record without Cliff was daunting.

This was a HUGE deal for me. I took over Brooklyn in October 1984, and Metallica only played the legendary weekend in early 85, so it was three years since I had a club connection to them. Slayer, Megadeth both started playing he club during my era and Anthrax and Overkill both became headliners during my time, but while I loved Metallica and blasted 'Master' every chance I could, there was a professional disconnect ... NOT ANYMORE!

I quit 3 months later, so the timing was perfect. I got my Metallica moment at L'Amour.

The album was a huge success (about 9 million sold as of this post) and I can't thank Michael enough for trusting me and giving me the honor of debuting the most anticipated album of the 80's and sharing it with the incredible patrons of L'Amour.

Chuck Kaye

Ah Yes Indeed

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