An upcoming weekend of rock

I'm getting old enough that I start to wonder what my future of listening to music is going to be like. In the 80s and early 90s I liked tons of stuff. There were plenty of mediocre to downright crappy bands that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it seems like all of that just stopped around 1992. Essentially, I blame Nirvana. So I'm stuck wondering if the songs that I listened to then are the only songs that I am really going to love for the rest of my music-appreciating life. Occasionally, there are new bands that demonstrate a flash of brilliance, but I sometimes wonder if I'm only perceiving certain songs that way compared to most of what is out there. I love The Donnas, but mainly because they often sound like they are trying to be an all-girl version of Ratt. The Killers and Fall Out Boy have each recorded songs that I think are really, really awesome but I have never bought an album from either of them. And don't even get me started on trying to listen to rock on FM radio. I mean honestly, rock radio has become a barren wasteland at this point. Hinder. Linkin Park. Buckcherry.

And Nickelback. Holy fucking shit, don't forget about Nickelback. Go to iTunes right now, and click on the top 100 rock songs, and here is what you'll see:

#1. I'd Come For You - Nickelback
#2. Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback
#3. Never Gonna Be Alone - Nickelback
#4. If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback

Wow. Really?

So, this makes me retroactively understand why some people downright loathed the music that I loved in the 80s. People who didn't dig hair bands looked at the charts or the MTV countdown and saw Warrant and Whitesnake and Winger and White Lion and felt just like I felt now. I get it.

Which brings me to this weekend. Most of the time, I'm left to wonder if I'll ever enjoy any new bands as much as I still love what are now, invariably, old bands. But this weekend is different. On Saturday night, I'm seeing Metallica live. Floor seats. General admission. Anarchy. Then the following morning, Guns 'N' Roses have a new album out.

Seriously. They do. And Chuck Klosterman really likes it.

This means that, for at least one weekend, two bands that I love more than almost any others in the history of music will matter more than anything else. And for a metalhead like me, that's pretty awesome.