If companies were to model themselves after successful bands, would they reconsider the way they think of themselves? Be more loyal to their customers? Love themselves more?

Months ago my husband Chad bought tickets to a Metallica concert. Two tickets, to be exact, meaning one for him and one for me.

He’s seen the band several times, and he was anxious for me to experience my first live show. I wasn’t as excited, but I agreed to go along. I don’t dislike Metallica, and even though I wouldn’t classify myself as a hardcore fan, I can always appreciate the craft of music–even if the genre isn’t totally my thing.

We settled into our seats next to another fan who could be classified as hardcore. He admitted that this was his 21st Metallica concert. Seriously? I’d guess he was in his early thirties, so I was surprised he could squeeze that many concerts into his relatively short lifetime. Then I marveled at his loyalty.

My thoughts were interrupted with a sound check that shook my pant legs. Impressive and frightening at the same time.

With the decibel level set to extreme, Metallica took the stage. They played lots of songs–a few that I recognized, many that I didn’t. Looking around the crowd, those of us who weren’t pumping our fists for the duration of the show were texting, updating Facebook status, or trying to capture the experience through photos or videos shot with our mobile phones. We were also outnumbered ten to one.

By this time I was over the initial shock of the volume, so I started thinking again. How do you generate so much loyalty that you can wrangle up 12,000 or so people into a single venue in any major city around the world and get them so energized that they’d stand in the same spot for two hours, pumping their fists to your music? I was impressed.

Michele turned off the audio in this clip for a couple reasons. First, she didn’t think her iPhone could properly process the volume. Second, the fans’ enthusiasm was more interesting than the music being played.

I guess I never really considered bands as brands until that moment. That’s probably a good thing for the many musicians out there. You might want to be noticed for your music first, right?

After the show, I talked with Chad about my musings and asked him what he admired most about Metallica. He went on to say that the band knows exactly who they are, that for years they rarely promoted themselves through the mainstream channels, but gained notoriety through their live shows. And they believed that if their fans were willing to pay to see them, then those fans deserved the band’s best effort every night. Their sound has evolved over the years, but Metallica’s core values are still the same: to rock louder, faster, and harder than everybody else.

Sounds like everything that a successful brand would do. Believe in the brand. Define a focused value proposition. Design for your customers and support them along the way. Reinvent yourself, while staying true to your original promise.

I started digging around to see if Metallica partnered with any design consultancies that we might know about. Several bands take pride in producing their own album covers or working with freelancers, so I wasn’t sure I’d find much. As it turns out, Metallica worked with the notable Turner Duckworth to revive their original logo and design their most recent album, Death Magnetic. More digging turned up a great interview with David Turner and Bruce Duckworth, in which the designers spoke about bands having a better understanding of branding than most companies–particularly Metallica, who has been successfully managing its brand over three decades. Reinventing themselves. Loving and believing in themselves. The whole bit. I felt validated.

I wonder if companies were to model themselves after successful bands, would they reconsider the way they think of themselves? Be more loyal to their customers? Love themselves more?