For all the criticism leveled at Palas, however, one fact remains true – nobody else has published a magazine focusing on Nashville’s non-country music scene longer that Gus and The Metro, and many have tried in the years since. Even today, with the Nashville rock scene thriving as never before, with a highly-regarded national reputation, there is no publication like The Metro to champion the scene...and ‘tis more the shame. Left unsaid in this article was how it took mountains of cocaine and gallons of beer and booze to cobble together a new issue every two weeks. Still, we accomplished quite a bit on a shoestring budget and little or no institutional support in the early years...
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… (Naw, that won’t work…it’s been used before).
Once upon a time, in a magic kingdom lived a... (Though none the worse for the wear, it’s somehow inappropriate).
Let’s try this one more time...
Gus Palas had a dream…not just your garden-variety, earthshaking, wet-the-bed kinda dream, but a vision of great magnitude and magnificence. He was going to start publishing a music magazine…and not just any kind of music mag. GVPIII was going to create a rag that featured Nashville’s fledgling rock ‘n’ roll performers in its pages, the local scene mixed, editorially, with coverage of the growing indie/college radio performers and the ever-changing world of big-league pop music. Throw in a dash of soul, a soupcon of jazz, and a healthy dose of “new-kid-on-the-block” brashness, mix well and serve: The Metro.
When I first met Gus back in the summer of ‘85, he told me of his dream. I, for one, thought that he’d spun this fantasy after a late-night snack of spicy anchovy burritos…and you know what kind of dreams that will produce! But whereas I dream of Sybil Danning in a Jacuzzi filled with butterscotch pudding, Gus whipped up some ridiculous ideas about founding a publishing empire.
Go figure...
Shrugging away my misgivings, I got involved with The Metro in those long and hot early days before the first issue. After all, I’d been involved with speculative publishing projects before, from Thom King’s groundbreaking Take One magazine, Nashville’s first alternative rag, to The Nashville Gazette, to a host of other magazines, tabloids, and one-sheeters. It’s not often that one gets a chance to participate in another’s dream, and even if Gus was an odds-challenging loony-toon, well, I possess more than my own share of genetically-mutated mental illness myself.
The first issue of The Metro hit the stands on or around August 16th, 1985 and featured yet-to-become superstar Jon Bon Jovi and local talents In Pursuit on the cover. That first issue was mild, if not calculated. We tossed in the Music City’s longest-lived rockers, the White Animals, along with a handful of record reviews and some local news. Sixteen pages chock full o’ fun, and it only took us a couple of months of protracted labor after several months of pregnancy to give birth to the monster. On the seventh day, we looked at it, and it was good.
Then we all went out and got obscenely drunk...
Right enough, that second issue was a breeze. Sort of like trying to change a tire while utilizing a pair of toothpicks in place of the jack. Not unlike squeezing toothpaste back into the tube.
Not any easier...
After the proper two-week gestation period, the second issue of The Metro hit the streets, and what a King Hell mutant baby it was! The honeymoon was over, kiddies, we were here to kick your rears and open your ears. We began writing rock ‘n’ roll history in those pages, as we not only became the first publication in the known universe to slap the beautiful Screamin’ Sirens on our cover in an exclusive pre-tour interview (they played Nashville a couple of days after the issue appeared, creating a legion of ‘Music City Sirens Love Slaves’ with their charm and talent). The Metro was also the first rag to review John Cougar Mellencamp’s breakthrough album, Scarecrow. We threw in features on Nashville faves Jason and the Scorchers and Bill Lloyd’s phenomenal Sgt. Arms band and went home feeling good about the job we’d done.
With the third issue, we changed from the digest format that we’d used on the first two in favor of a larger, tabloid style that allowed us to offer you, the reader, more features, more reviews, and more news than any other rock rag in the Southeast. We set yet another pair of dual milestones with that one as we introduced you to both Webb Wilder and the Georgia Satellites in features by Bill Spicer and myself. Webb has become somewhat of a local legend, and is soon to be an international smash (could it be any other way?); and although we were the first magazine in the U.S.A. to discover the Satellites (after their historical reunion show at the sadly defunct Cantrell’s), the rest of the world now knows them after a Number Two single and a Top Ten, Gold-selling debut album. The Satellites’ success led to tours with Bob Seger and Tom Petty…and placed another feather in our caps.
From that time on, The Metro became a staple in Nashville. Sure, the issues were still hard to produce and, as some weeks proved to be longer than others, I was often accosted in public with cries of “Hey, Gordon ya scumbag, when’s the next Metro gonna be out, huh??” After taming these anxious readers with a large and pointy stick, I assured them that the next issue would be in their hot little hands soon enough. And it always was, give or take a week or two…
And, oh those record reviews…where else but in The Metro could one find the diversity of style and taste that would include coverage of such mainstream acts as Jon Butcher, Stevie Wonder, Rush, ZZ Top, and Elton John with such off-the-beaten path talent as Billy Bragg, Julian Cope, Mofungo, Kate Bush, Lou Miami, Mojo Nixon, Eugene Chadbourne, the Smithereens, etc, etc. We unearthed the Meatmen! We found Adolph Hitler living in Argentina! WE DISCOVERED THE BEATLES!! (Oops, sorry…I got a little carried away. I’m much better now.)
From that very first issue, The Metro has attempted to accurately reflect and support Nashville’s talented and every-growing local music scene. From those early days when a mere handful of bands were playing an equal number of clubs, we’ve seen the local scene evolve from an embryonic idea to a minor aggravation to those who would keep Nashville pure, country, and mediocre to a fully-bloomed, nationally-recognized hotbed of creative radicalism.
For every local talent scarfed up by the major labels, from Jason and the Scorchers to the Sluggers, as well as immigrants like John Hiatt, the Georgia Satellites, and Billy Chinnock, there are a dozen and one as-of-yet unsigned talents like Threk Michaels, the Questionnaires, and Raging Fire. We’ve tried to cover them all, from In Pursuit to Afrikan Dreamland, from Bill Lloyd to Webb Wilder, from the Royal Court of China to Walk The West and beyond. Above all, we’ve tried to be Nashville’s music magazine, and if that means turning you on to the talents of Dessau, Will Rambeaux, or John Jackson, so be it.
The Metro has never been afraid to take a bold editorial stand, however popular or unpopular it may prove to be. We’ve taken great pains to foster originality and creativity, not just publish press releases and ad copy opinion. When the Missus of Tennessee’s erstwhile Presidential candidate, Tipper (and her cohorts), attempted to castrate rock lyrics, we spoke loudly in opposition to any form of censorship. The Metro came out, in print, against the evil apartheid regime of the white-minority ruled South Africa, and stated its disdain, in no uncertain terms, towards racism in any way, shape or form, both within the music industry and beyond. We supported Bernie Walters in his attempts to have the rock ‘n’ roll museum located in Nashville…and provided valuable coverage to the Nashville Entertainment Association’s Music Extravaganzas and the annual Summer Lights festival.
As The Metro enters its third year, the magazine continues to grow in vision and importance. We’ve switched from bi-monthly, increased circulation and distribution, and are no longer the unproven kid in diapers. The Metro has passed the audition and has become one of the longest-lived and influential publications of its kind, with copies finding their way into hands across the United States and the world, receiving a fair amount of international acclaim and accolades from such far-strewn locals as Germany, Poland, and France. The Metro celebrates its second anniversary with this issue, even thought the odds are still against its survival…
…and your humble writer is still along for the ride. ‘Cause it’s not every day that you get to participate in someone else’s dream…and even if two years at the helm of a gang of assorted loonies, artistic thugs, and creative malcontents may have warped his sense of reality only slightly, I’m still betting that Gus can pull it off. And even if he doesn’t, it’ll be a hell of a ride!
Won’t you join us?
Keith A. Gordon
Somewhere on Lower Broad
August 1st, 1987
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