Thrash titans Metallica are to be honoured this Thursday (14 June) with the Polar Music Prize – Sweden’s highest music prize.
And to add to the sense of importance surrounding the event, they’ll receive their prize from no less a figure than the King of Sweden himself, Carl XVI Gustaf. It doesn’t really get any more metal than that, does it?
The Polar Music Prize was created in 1989 by ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson. Previous recipients of the award include Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney.
Speaking of receiving the award, drummer Lars Ulrich said earlier this year: “Receiving the Polar Music Prize is an incredible thing. It puts us in very distinguished company. It’s a great validation of everything that Metallica has done over the last 35 years. At the same time, we feel like we’re in our prime with a lot of good years ahead of us.”
Bandmate James Hetfield added: “I feel very honored to be in such great company with the others who have accepted the Polar Music Prize. As myself and as Metallica, I’m grateful to have this as part of our legacy, our history.”
Which is kind of understated for Metallica, right? Thankfully, the Polar Music Prize award committee are around to redress the balance and put things right.
“Not since Wagner’s emotional turmoil and Tchaikovsky’s cannons has anyone created music that is so physical and furious, and yet still so accessible,” they said.
“Through virtuoso ensemble playing and its use of extremely accelerated tempos, Metallica has taken rock music to places it had never been before. In Metallica’s world, both a teenage bedroom and a concert hall can be transformed into a Valhalla. The strength of the band’s uncompromising albums has helped millions of listeners to transform their sense of alienation into a superpower.”
And who, in all honesty, can disagree with that?
Photo Credit: IBL/REX/Shutterstock
