Dial the clocks back to 1998. The Spice Girls are the most powerful cultural force on the planet, Titanic has just broken every box office record in the history of cinema and Buffy The Vampire Slayer is appointment viewing every Tuesday night. It was a better, simpler time.
That spring, Metallica were gearing up to embark on their blockbuster Poor Re-Touring Me cycle, promoting their one-two punch of art rock records from the two prior years: Load and Reload. MTV, because they were still relevant at that point, used those preparations to get an exclusive from metal’s biggest band. The TV station stabled the Four Horsemen in a warehouse so that one of their rehearsals could be recorded in front of a very intimate audience.
Metallica played hits and deep cuts alike at this intimate gig in San Francisco on March 21. Among the highlights were acoustic covers of the Misfits and Diamond Head, not to mention a very rare airing of Devil’s Dance from Reload. For one superfan called Aaron, however, the apex of the evening would doubtlessly be when the band burst into Creeping Death – because he’d be the one assuming lead vocal duties.
The diehard ’Tallica acolyte is first seen when the TV airing returns from an ad break, being interviewed by host Matt Pinfield. “One of the highlights of every live set is Creeping Death – is that what you wanna hear?” Pinfield asks, in a clearly planned setup for what’s about to happen.
“That’s what I wanna hear, man!” Aaron enthusiastically concurs, before James Hetfield replies, “I don’t know the lyrics,” obviously lying through his teeth.
“I think, Aaron, you may have to go up and give him a hand,” says Pinfield. “What do you think?”
Obviously, Aaron leaps at the chance.
The band swiftly burst into the Ride The Lightning classic, stampeding through the staccato chords and whirlwind thrash metal groove – but, deep down, everyone watching is either curious about or absolutely dreading what Aaron’s pipes are like.
Turns out, the kid’s alright! He gets plenty of help from Hetfield and Jason Newsted on backing vocals, but still boasts his own snarl reminiscent of a younger Papa Het. The frontman certainly approves, grinning from ear to ear as the first verse starts.
As hard as we tried, we couldn’t find what happened to Aaron, but he could very convincingly have gone on to lead his own Metallica tribute band after this. If he did, based on how timelines played out, they’d be slap-bang in the middle of their St Anger era right about now. So best of luck to him.
