Testament guitarist: Metallica/Lou Reed album 'should be seen as modern art'
People picking up Metallica Download Festival tickets today (November 18th) may be interested to hear why Alex Skolnick, guitarist in metal band Testament, believes the outfit's unpopular partnership with Lou Reed to create new album Lulu should be seen as modern art.
On his official blog, he noted other famous musicians have shocked fans by releasing records that represent a significant departure from their usual sound and many of these experiments did not get a good reception.
These include John Lennon's Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, which he made with Yoko Ono, John Cage's famous silent track 4:33 and Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music, which later went on to inspire a new generation of artists.
"Lulu is to be taken as a modern art project, not a Metallica album," Skolnick argued. "I confess to being fascinated by it."
Fans do not seem to have been put off by the group's experiment, showing great excitement when they were revealed to be a headliner at next year's Download Festival.
Metallica tickets to see them play at the three-day event went on sale this morning at 09:00 GMT.
Posted by Robert Long
