Have you ever thought to yourself “wow, I wonder who the anti-Motley Crue were?” Well, look no further. This week, Bethanne takes us down the wild and crazy history of the Kings of Thrash Metal—Metallica.
Show Notes and Images
Metallica was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and have gone on to have one of the most successful metal careers of all time. In this episode, we walk through their history at a lightning-fast pace, but that doesn’t mean we don’t cover the important details. From career beginnings, to tragedy, to their legacy, welcome to the drive by version of Metallica.
Episode Transcription
Like, what do you do with long outlines? I feel like I should do
some sit-ups before I start, like, just to kind of improve my lungs.
Like, you know, when we used to do vocal exercises, well, just a breathing exercise where you go and breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, and hold 2, 3, 4, and six.
That’s not our open, so, oh, I’m leaving in there.
It’s my opening. Now I had a question that I’ve been saved.
It’s still rolling. Find your outline. Here it is. Okay. I thought of this question. I going to
text to you and then I was like, no, no, no, this is too good of a question to be wasted on a text. Okay. So I just watched free guy. Not, Not, recently. It’s been like a month.
Yeah.
Uh, and each, so if you haven’t seen for a
guy. And takes place in a city like grand theft,
auto there’s variations of NPC. So you got like your bank teller,
NPC. You’re like girl on the street MPC. And they
each have taglines that they say like, you know, video game
characters. So if you were in a.
The video game
based on like Lynchburg.
Oh my God. What is your NPC role? And what is your phrase that you just walk around saying I’m
definitely the golf walking down, down street,
like town street on
downtown, downtown main street. Yeah. Um, and my catchphrase is.
Another fucking cup of coffee. That costs me $6.
That’s amazing. That’s my MPC. What’s yours. I’d probably be the runner on the street. That’s true. And I don’t know my catch phrase. I’d probably be like,
Probably I really have to pee.
You’re a character would stop though, to
pet dogs. Oh yeah. Like the like the main character just be walking. Like I imagine it like a side scroller in like 32
bit, and the main person would be walking.
You’d run by and then like the same person would be walking and then it’s you again? Petting the dog. And then it’s just me walking
by another fucking cup of coffee. That was
$6. I just, I wanna know. I want to be an NPC now, like that movie, this we’re not. a movie podcast, but free guys. Really good guys. Go watch it.
We were kind of dabbling a movie podcasts to get this point. We keep getting invited to movie podcasts because movies is my other
passion. I would say shout out to our movie, friends, movies, and TV. I
love good writing anyway. I’m Leah and this is, she will rock you.
I’m not, I’m just going to hit
wait, do we need to read a review?
No, because this episodes, when we were young, I will
say, um, if you probably see it in your feed, if you’re subscribed, we with, along with this
episode, we are releasing a bonus episode about
our, um, ventures back into live music. We had we each Beth and went to blue rock festival this week. I went to go see the streets for four days
in a row. Uh, we had very
different experiences and we knew we had a
lot to say we had like 47 minutes
of things to say, so, uh, it’s, it’s not
an episode with a whole bunch of
like substantial content, but if you want to hear our
thoughts pop on over to that bonus episode
and give it a listen.
Yeah. Um, but like I was saying in the.
I kind of had to hit the ground running. Cause I broke a
record in how many pages I wrote, which I was not expecting by the way. Cause I started this outline on Friday.
No Saturday, I started reading.
I
was researching throughout the week. Like I normally will. I know I’m going to cover an artist and I’ll get a headstart
on reading because that is the longest part of research because I’ll, you know, build our outline off Wikipedia
then I’ll, I personally will watch a documentary, read some articles to support it.
So I try to get that reading done.
Okay. I watched a
documentary on the way home from Charlottesville
on Saturday, and I wrote six pages alone, damn Sunday. And then I
wrote another five pages on Monday. It’s a quality
documentary. Yeah. Oh, it was a great documentary. My documentary I watched this time was not that substantial VH1 behind the scenes.
That’s what I was. Yeah. They usually, honestly they did a good job. I also watched another one on top of that.
Um, it was another VH1 special from the early two thousands, but it was just focusing on like Metallica, like not behind the scenes, like the whole scene of metal during the east of that had
different content. And then I built it
off different articles. Um, but anyway, so. Let’s just get into it.
Cause I also wrote two more pages yesterday. So like,
it is the longest thing I’ve written. I’m really
excited for this because I literally know nothing
about Metallica. Oh, this is, this is going to be a
fun one. There are some things in here, Leah.
I wrote it down and I was like, Leah is
just going to have the best. I’m so excited.
My wife, I’m going to start with a disclaimer to the Metallica fans, because I know how seriously you take this
band. And I want you to know upfront, this is the taco bell drive-through version of this story.
We’re getting.
We’re buying our spicy potato tacos and Baja blast year
sugar, and we’re getting out and we do this
because we like to keep our episodes to an hour. This one’s probably going to go over an hour because there’s just too much to
cover. And I’m actually going to
focus just on the eighties, into the little bit into the nineties as my timeframe.
Like I’m not really getting into the two thousands except for like the legacy part of it. So I’m going to ask you.
If you were looking for an episode that discusses Lars drum fill from a random Milwaukee show in
1987 or commentary on what key James is, era
is in. This is not the episode for you.
You have found the wrong podcast.
We are a greasy spicy. Taco. And you’re just looking for the prime rib taco from a fancy restaurant. I
understand, you know, I’m sure that podcast exists somewhere else and it’s not here. They actually
Metallica has her own podcast right now. You and I listened to some of that for this cool, actually. Yeah, it is cool.
It’s the 30th anniversary of the black album, which we’ll talk about. Um, but yeah, so you can
get a little more information there. So please chill. Please do not
come from me, please. Don’t
comment in our reviews on iTunes and say, these guys didn’t go deep enough in history. Yeah, we don’t have time. Sorry.
Yeah, we’re we don’t do this full time. We just spent 40 minutes talking about what a shit show blue Ridge rock was. Okay.
But anyway, so don’t come for me. Um, but anyway, so this is Metallica who are part of the big four of metal, like of the eighties
metal scene. Um, we’ll probably cover like
each of those artists at some point, because all of them are fascinating.
Um, but we got to start with the most well-known one and
I would argue the most successful act. I’m also doing something a
little different this presentation and that I’m not talking too much about the music. So normally I like, I’m still going to take you album by
album, but I’m not going to go, like, here are the hits off this album and this is why the music is different
because truly there’s just so much more history. And I want to cover a little bit more of the story and you can kind of fill in the gaps for
the songs because everyone
has heard of Metallica song at some point in their life. So let’s just go ahead and we’re going to start by talking about the members and I’m going to start by talking
about three of the members of the band right
now, because I think their story has a bigger
impact on like the
beginnings of Metallica.
So the first one is Lars
Ehrlich. He was born on
December 26th, 1963 in the.
To Denmark. He comes from like a really funny lineage. So his dad and his grandpa
were both tennis stars and Denmark, like his grandpa played in like the
1924 Olympics or something like that. I don’t know what the year was,
24 or 26, somewhere in the twenties.
Um, and he was planning on following in those footsteps, but an event happens. When he was nine, he got tickets. Well, his dad got
tickets to see deep purple and he didn’t know yet, but that event will
change his life. And after that show, he bought, um, their album fireball and just
developed an interest in drums. A few years later, his grandmother would buy him a drum.
And while he had music, though, you know, he’s still, you know, his main focus is tennis and he’s got a phone, the footsteps, and he was pretty
good. He was like top 10 for his age group in Denmark. So this resulted in him moving to Newport
beach, California, where he planned
to continue continuous tennis career.
However, he quickly realized that while
he is in the top 10 in Denmark, that would not be the case. In the
United States. So like every good metal kid, he said, fuck it. And starts a band,
but let’s pause
it. And let’s move to James Hetfield. James have field, uh, was
born on, uh, August 3rd, 1963 in Downey, California.
His mom was an opera singer at one point and his dad was a truck driver. He has an interesting upbringing to say the least, but before I get into that let’s talk a little bit about his
musical beginnings because he grew up playing piano. His mom. I saw that he would be coming musician because he would just go to the piano and like bang on it.
And she goes that kid’s going to be a musician. So she got him
lessons at age nine and then his brother let them plan a drum kit. He would bang on that. And
then at
14, he got a guitar, which is his main instrument. I’m assuming around his teenage years is when he started listening to Eric Smith, black Sabbath and queen.
And while in high school, he would play in a few bands that would cover these artists. But here’s where the interesting part comes in because he grew up in a strict Christian science home. Do you know anything about Christian
scientists? I actually don’t. Okay. So for those who don’t know, and I
went to Wikipedia.
To make sure, cause I didn’t want to
inaccurately represent them. Um, but
Christian scientists believe that the physical world is an illusion and the spiritual world is all there really is.
So therefore they strongly
disagree with using medicine, but rather use
prayer. However, because I believed, because I knew about them. But I was under the impression that they will never receive medical care. Like they just flat out refuse,
but that’s not the case. According to Wikipedia it’s that they strongly disagree with it unless they absolutely
have to. Interesting. So I bring this
up because Lars, his mom develops cancer and her beliefs led
her to try and treat it with pre.
Instead of medicine now she did unfortunately pass and that
would really shape James’s music. And you hear
that on certain songs that he plays he’s openly writes about like, being upset about that.
Um, but yeah, his mom passed when he was 16 and he went
to go live with his older. We’re going to pause and we’re going to move on to cliff Burton.
Cliff Burton was born
on February 10th, 1962 in Castro valley, California. His dad was integral in his musical journey, introducing him to classic music and having him take piano lessons. However, when he was a teenager, he discovered rock and
heavy. And then H 13, he picked up a bass. He did. So after the death of his brother and he told his parents, he was going to be the best bass player ever in honor of his brother.
Yeah. It’s really sweet. So he would like practice six hours a day and it showed like this dude is an absolutely insane bass player. Um,
So he had a few bands in high school. One was called easy street and other words called agents of misfortune. Uh, but his big break came with a band called trauma. So I’m going to pause his story there. And we’re going to find out how these batch of metal hooligans found each other. Well, a Loris knew a friend who was putting together a metal, uh, compilation of. And it was going to be called metal massacre and he asked his friend, can you save me a spot? And the friend said, yeah. And Laura’s then goes and forms a band.
And he
does so by putting a wanted ad in a newspaper that works and it the same,
like drummer seeking. Band members in a metal band and James Hetfield
responded to that ad. Well, the two start hanging out a bit. They get to know each other, and then they officially form a band in October of 1981. they grabbed James Hetfield’s roommate, Ron McGovney to play bass and they ask Dave Mustaine future front man of Megadeath.
Yeah. I was like, I recognize that name. Yeah. To play lead guitar. The band got their name when Lars is. Was
deciding on what to call his metal fanzine. And he
was stuck between metal, mania or Metallica. And Laura said, go with Beatlemania and catch Metallica. and
I don’t know
why the fuck I’m now discovering at
age 29.
Metallica has the word metal in it. I don’t know why. This is just occurring on me. Yes. I think you just hear Metallica, Metallica, Metallica, and it’s like, oh, metal That’s it. That’s the end of that. It’s just one of those things you’re used to hearing and you
just don’t put two and two. So I know some Metallica fan is just turned off this podcast by the fact I just said that, but whatever, sorry, guys, whatever. Um, but this brings me to a section I would like to call thrash versus glam.
Leah, close your ears for this part. Don’t shit on glam metal. Well, I’m not going to shit on
glamour. Because I am a innocence, unbiased, bystander observing history and interpreting it and reading it to you. The one genre of metal, I like
you see Metallica is a thrash metal
band, which is birthed out of a hate for glam. And there were a lot of slurs thrown
around about glam metal in LA.
I’m not going to talk about them. Uh, Dave, Mustaine who I’m going to tell you right now, personally, I do not like the dude and I will shit on him a little bit
in this outline for different reasons. I personally just do not like him. Um, but anyway, uh, but let’s just say the members of thrash in clean
Dave Mustaine were displeased that these bands were
wearing spandex and makeup. Did you sell their music along with that.
No, I would agree with that. There’s nothing wrong lab, but these dudes. Or just not like here for it. They’re just jealous. They couldn’t pull
off the spandex. I mean, makeup, I agree with you.
Pop belly motherfuckers, trying to,
I kind of regret saying, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Where’s the lie though.
Cruz just strung out on cocaine, not eating. So
anyway, so they also believed that they could play music
Carter. Faster better, better, Faster
So the phrase thrash metal, according to Wiki, came from a crane journalist who is talking about anthrax.
Um, they had a song. called metal thrashy mad. So that’s the origin of it. And the historian I was listening to also described it as a cross between British metal and punk. Like they often say thrash picked up where a lot of
British heavy metal bands left. And then the
influence of the eighties punk scene. That’s what kind of birthday? Because punk
is very fast too. Okay. I would like to point out that history
has hopefully humbled their views because let’s keep in mind how goofy, in my opinion, it is to have the word metal in
everything you do, Metallica metal
massacre, metal mania,
like for some reason it doesn’t age well, to me, and like the hard
scene, the hardcore scene also picked up this habit.
And as a.
Holding member of that scene. I feel like we are doomed to repeat history,
but anyway, I do have a wholesome story from this time, according to Lars, one day, him and James just hanging around
LA drinking and they see Molly. Oh, God,
the anti Metallica food Lars, like it’s basically like west side story jets versus the, with the sharks.
Yeah. Jets versus the sharks. That’s what this is.
Okay. So is being
the Thrasher. He is yells. Hey, Molly crew. Fuck you. And
Nikki Sixx starts chasing Lars.
And Lars said the only reason
he could not catch up was because Nikki
was wearing high platform shoes. Amazing.
Okay. He’s got one up on there. I guess
I found that story. I got tickled when I heard that’s where I
knew you’d love it. Anyway, picturing platforms, Nikki six, running through the streets of LA. I just imagine Lars running with
like tennis shoes and he used to play tennis. So like the duke around fast. And then it’s just Nikki
Sixx clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, just starting to get us amazing.
Uh, so anyway, um, this is the thread like of antique glam metal is just woven into these early
days. And speaking of those early days, like I mentioned, Dave Mustaine, in my opinion, is an asshole
both then and both now, but for context of the story, he and Ron
aren’t getting along and mainly Dave’s fault because he was
drunk and being a Dick, a violent Dick at that. and like Ron leaves the band. So they are in search of a
new basis and lucky for them.
Laura’s and James are going to a show at the whiskey, a
go-go in 1982, where trauma is playing and they are just blown away by cliff Burton. So they began talks to recruit
him for the band. And I think it was like after
six months, he finally
agreed, but his only condition was they had to move to the San Francisco area and they were Like, yeah, sure.
And so they all moved up. And, uh, there’s one
more band change it’s going to happen before they
really start getting their feet wet and
in albums. So while we’re still in 1982, the band released a demo tape called no life to leather. And it was distributed by
cassette tape and circulated around the metal scene
and a record store owner in New Jersey named John’s Azula or Johnny Z as he went by
heard this concept. Here’s what’s wild to
me, this thrash metal scene gained
traction just by fanzine and bootleg cassettes and like college pirate radio.
Like that’s pretty much it. And for this thing to travel from California to new Jersey is a pretty fucking big deal. I mean, it could have been super easy, but like, I’m kind of doing some between reading between the lines here.
Like that’s kind of nuts. Um, so Johnny’s, he hears them. He contacts
them. He offers to help broker deal with record companies in New York. So they all fly out to New York and stay with anthrax, um, where they shared, like they all shared an apartment together and they had these things. Scott, Ian from anthrax was saying they had these things called losers lunch where all they have.
Was like a slice of baloney on their hand because that’s all they eat.
Lunch is bologna on a hand, just eating the bologna.
Um, but the record label in New
York, like passed on them and Johnny Johnny’s, he’s like,
ah, fuck it. I’m going to go make my own label. So he makes his own label called
mega force records and just sign them right away.
So let’s go back to that apartment. They’re
sharing with him. Dave Mustaine
who ages like a fine jar of Mayo. It gets worse over time. It’s causing a lot of tension in the band.
He would get trunk, which the rest of the band would do. Cause they were actually had
this little name called alcoholic of other PBS, a call them, oh my God.
But his problem lied,
like were most of the band, you know?
Be fun, play pranks on each other. He would
just get violent and they would just start clashing. And it just was not a good match. So one morning, according to
Dave Mustaine, he wakes up and the band is just standing over him and they say you’re out
of the band.
And he says, when does my flight leave? And they put them on a Greyhound bus and send them home to
California. But like I said, He, his
story is going to pick up with mega mega death. He’s going to do just fine, but
you know, that’s him in and leaving the bam.
So after Dave left, they hired on the same day, Exodus guitarists, Kirk Hamot, who has stayed in the band to this day.
Now it’s not fair. We cover the other three. I just want to give
some quick points about Kirk. Cause I think he was like the
cutest kid growing up. Like I would have hung out with this
kid. So he was born on November 18th, 1962 in San Francisco, California. Loves horror films, like really cheesy Saifai horror films.
Interesting. And it all started when he was five, because he got into a fight with his sister and sprained his arm. So his parents were like, just go sit there in front of the TV and an old, cheesy horror film came on and he was just hooked. So he would
get milkman. And he would sell it for
horror comics. And then he got interested in
music from listening to artists like Jimmy Hendrix and UFO. So he then proceeded to
sell his horror comics for music records. And then at age 15, he got a guitar. And when he was in high school, this is pretty cool. Like he was friends with less club pool who would go
to form Primus, which is a cool band.
Um, he would actually like at some
point audition for Metallica Les Claypool. And if
you’ve heard Primus, you see why that
didn’t work. Cause Primus, some people categorize them as metal. I personally don’t think they’re. They’re more prog rock may prog metal in my book. Um, but yeah, they he’s also like the writer of the south park theme song is Primus.
So like you can see why it didn’t work. There’s a
clashing of worlds. But anyway, he does fine. And that’s all I have about Kirk. So let’s talk about their
first album. The band was given $15,000, which is pretty damn good
for recording the first album. Um, considering led Zepplin. What they did it on three.
In like a day, something like that. I feel like it’s still really low for the eighties,
but yeah, could be, but the accurate comparison is what was, what was Motley crew given
for the, uh, probably
like a hundred bazillion dollars in cocaine? Yeah. Well just the cocaine alone was a hundred bazillion
dollars and then they just had to show.
Like once in a while for, uh, Vincent . Yeah.
And then they just fill in the rest of the
session and guitars. Um, anyway, um,
I don’t have a ton of time,
like I said, to really talk about the music and this episode. Um, but I do have time to cover some hilarious facts about this album.
The band originally chose a name for this first time.
Metal up the ass.
I don’t like that.
Cover art, just wait, was depicting a hand, holding a dagger coming out of a toilet.
I’m sorry, what,
basically, Johnny Z pulls him aside and
said, listen, you can’t call it that because distributors will think it’s offensive and they’re not going to distribute it. So they call it, kill them all. Like how the fuck is anybody?
And the name was chosen because upon hearing the news that they couldn’t name it metal up the
ass cliff said those record company fuckers kill them all.
Oh my God.
That’s how the name was chosen. But anyway, the.
In shows because I watched a clip of this, you know, James have he’ll get up there and he was talking about the, I was like, yeah, we’re going to do a middle off the ass, but they want to let us, and he’s like, this is about, oh, you fucking glam metal people it’s like, kill them all.
I’m like, this is a violent shit, man. This is some Finnish
dude. Hold on to that point, because when we talk about the actual history of the rest of this.
That’s going to be become very ironic because it’s very true. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Um, anyway, the album came out
in July of 1983. They originally printed
15,000 copies, but they would go on to
sell 60,000 copies at the end of 1984.
That may not sound like a big deal, but here’s, what’s interesting mainstream radio.
Refuse to play Metallica for a long time. And what’s going to be just
incredible about this band is that they basically are just
like forcing their way into the public eye with no mainstream media
help at all. And they relied on fanzines and the metal underground fans to distribute them.
Like, it’s insane. How big they’re
about to get without any radio help. It’s just almost unheard of, like, I’ve never heard of a band doing this. The
band goes and tours that album and their
largest crowd was 7,000, which is pretty damn good for a first album. That is really good
Then in 1984, they leave Megaforce records.
They sign
an eight album deal with a
major label called. Eight. That’s a huge deal. I think they’re still on electro. I may be
wrong on that. Don’t quote me. So you could say things are getting good for the band though.
Yeah. And then they go back into the studio this time. They’re in Denmark
recording, which the record, a couple albums
there.
And the second album they record is called ride lightning. I can guarantee you’ve seen the cover art. Yeah.
You’ve seen the cover art. Um, one thing I did want to highlight about this album is it reached
number 110, the
billboard 200.
No radio
exposure does. That’s really good on heard
of, and they initially
pressed 75,000 in 1984
and sold half a million by 1987.
Yeah. And then when they went to tour this album, their biggest show,
which was with Bon Jovi, which is an interesting pairing. That is a very interesting pair. Very
interesting pairing That crowd size was 70,000. So
think about that. They went from playing across a 7,000 to
70,000, a tenfold increase. But with no radius exposure, just word of mouth and getting on the
right tours all within
a year or two, that will
never happen again.
No, Leah, if I can get 7,000. To listen to our podcasts. Listen to us. Talk happy. We’re doing great. We’re doing fantastic. So get the word of mouth out. Folks. We just want to hit 7,000. That’s it. And then we’ll quit. We’ll go retire somewhere
early from the hundred dollars. We must say retire earlier the $300 mad money.
Um,
anyway, um, so we’re going to move onto their third album.
Because you all have seen this cover.
I guarantee you on an FYE shirt, they must be
important. So that’s really the tier of success. Did your album land in an FYE shirt at some point that’s actually not a bad gauge of success. It’s not like who fucking cares about what rolling stone says or anyone else.
Where are you at FYE during the boom of the two thousands? That’s how you knew you were the real ones. Um, but after touring things, just start ramping up for the band as if they’re not
already. And they’re clearly on the cusp of something big. And for this one, the band really wanted to
like, make an impression on critics while staying true to their thrashy, fresh ways.
After all, like, they’re
just getting pushed around by major media anyway. Um, so they
head back to the studio and Denmark and
recorded master of puppets, master of puppets. And this was a
different album up to this 0.1. They had like a different writing process where James and Lars and they’re already kind of
like, we’re probably doing most of the writing.
They really
take the lead on crafting the songs. Um,
They went over on like time, cause they
wanted to perfect. It. They’re staying
sober while recording this album, which good for them. They’re also like working better together, musically. Cause they’ve been
jamming with each other. Like they’ve had that current group together for at least three or four years.
So they’re hitting a
good sweet spot. And then cliff is like bringing
a lot more music theory into the mix for his baseball. Which really adds a
nice element to it. And this all paid off because this was a massive hit for the band And went over when it was released in 1986, many critics cite this album as redefining heavy metal.
A lot of the bands we have today will likely site either this album or the black album, which we’ll talk
about later. As a reason, they got into music like Pantera, who we covered. This album was pinnacle to their sound. Um, and it was
later, um, this album was later inducted into the library of Congress’s preservation
program.
It’s so funny to me that it’s
hilarious. This one is, but the black album,
which is. The most monumental metal album that’s ever been
put out is not, I truly don’t
understand that. I truly don’t get it. Let’s revisit it
eventually. Yeah. Anyway, um, but commercially it was their biggest hit. Yeah. It peaked at number 29 on billboard 200
and stayed on the charts for 72 weeks.
It sold 300,000 copies in the first three weeks and went platinum by the end of 1986. So to promote this album, what do they do?
They go on a tour and this time with Ozzy Osborne, it very well paired. That is a good pairing. Very good pairing.
But this is the last time the band would ever be an opening act. Like they will never be an
opening act after this Dylan opening act like with that big.
Success. Well, they’re no longer opening acts. Yeah. Yeah. They will always be ahead. Yeah. By that point. Yeah. By that point.
Yeah. That’s like saying paramours and opening
act right now. Like that they’re beyond
that. Yeah, exactly.
I don’t know why that was the first example of my head. No, you are correct though. Okay. Maybe a better example.
Be Phoebe Bridgers being an opening act like. Yeah. She’s kind of exploring. And she’s beyond that. That’s like, oh, she’s going to open up for Taylor swift. And everyone’s like, nah, she can have her own.
Yeah, exactly. No, exactly. So unfortunately though,
there’s just a big tragedy that strikes the. So during the European leg of the damage Inc tour, the band is traveling through Sweden on their tour bus. And they’re having just like a friendly discussion on sleeping bunks and they all pull cards and cliff poles, the ACE of spades and Spacey says, Kirk, I’m taking.
And he agrees that night on September 27th, the bus driver claims I slipped on black ice and the bus goes tumbling off the road. And cliff dies in the accident. Bus actually landed on him because he felt out of the window and the bus landed on him. Oh wait. Yeah. And they try to get it off of him. And they couldn’t.
And like this literally like. Broke James, like when it was happening, because. When he realized what happened. Like he immediately just like started accusing the bus driver of like being drunk. The bus driver said, no, it was black ice. And he literally went in his underwear and walked for miles to look for black ice.
And he’s like, I don’t see any, where is it? Like he said in the documentary, I was watch he’s ready to kill this dude. Oh my God. Yeah. And, um, how did I not know that happened? I didn’t know it either and I’m not like a huge Metallica fan. I didn’t know. I feel like that’s something that should be common knowledge.
Like it probably isn’t really Metallica groups, but I feel like not a lot of the public knows about it. Um, but I think it was blamed on a mechanical. Is ultimately what happened, but I’m not entirely sure what it was. Um, but like people just try to find explanations in those tragedies. And sometimes there’s just nothing you can do.
So they canceled that part of the tour. They went home to recoup and they wrestled with whether to continue as a ban, but they felt like cliff would have wanted them to carry on. So they eventually just got back into it and went to go look for a new basis. So they auditions like 40 people and they finally landed on Jason Newson, newsstand, I’m sorry, from a band called flotsam jetsam.
It’s a good band name. It’s not to be confused with the Eagles from the little mermaid. Cause that’s what I thought, but it said it’s a reference to Lord of the rings. What’s also just like the shit that floats in the ocean is flotsam and jetsam. Is that okay? I was going to ask you, cause I had a feeling you would know where it actually is original roof.
I’m like 99% sure. That’s where it comes from. Okay. That makes sense. Um, so random ocean debris. Okay. That makes sense. So the ban begins to pick back up their career and they all move to like north of San Francisco to practice.
We’re going to take a brief intermission cause we’re already what about 40 minutes? And, um, we’re going to talk and tell two stories that have nowhere to fit in this outline, but they’re in here because one they’re hilarious and two, they just add so much character to them. So these are two characters studies.
Okay. Um, I believe this first one happened earlier in their career, but the dudes at one point rented a house together, which she knows is going to end poorly. You’re just asking for, for damage fan houses, usually don’t end up in sellable condition. Usually something’s gained lit on fire or someone in, um, demons in the case of Motley Crue.
That’s true. That’s true as well. Um, so they would basically take out all the furniture out of the house and like put it on the lawn and they would throw these thrash parties and anyone who showed up to the party, wearing the wrong band. That they didn’t like the band would go after them and take off their shirt.
That’s going to be my rule at my house. Now, if you show up with a band shirt, I don’t like, I’m going to take your shirt off. Um, the last story, um, but at this point in 1987, James had. He loves his skateboard. The dude loves skateboarding. It’s 19. It’s the eighties. Everyone likes he could have been, but he broke his wrist twice from skateboarding.
He may have broken it a couple more times and. You know, when you break your wrist and you’re a rhythm guitarist, you know, you got to bring the guitar tech in, you know, which is fine. But you know, it got to a point that in the documentary I watched, they said they had to put a clause in James’s contract to stop fucking skateboarding when they’re touring, because he kept breaking his wrist.
Yeah. Maybe you should just stop after the second time, but yeah, maybe, you know, you just gotta sit and be like, you know, I’m giving a lot of money. Maybe skateboarding is not. It’s not the career path for me. My brother broke his, uh, was it his wrist or. And he broke something, skateboarding. My mom built a little pipe, so he can do a little grind move on it and he proved flip broke.
Yep. Yeah. It’s way easier to do. I fractured a arm on some roller blades that way I told everyone in the class I was in second grade, I broke on a half pipe, you know, at the half pipe was the, uh, handicap accessible. Little ramp for people on sidewalks. I told her, I said, yeah, I was like, yeah, I was about a half pipe and I did a turn and P and I’m telling you the street credit.
I got like this kid who didn’t like me was all of a sudden, like, prepare the way for Beth and the most shredded, just like it was fantastic. And then as soon as he healed, everyone forgot about me. Anyway. Um, the band is working on their fourth album. At this point, um, called and justice for all with the new basis, Jason Newson, I’m not going to spend too much time on this album, of course, but we’re going to cover the quick facts about it.
It’s really a different album than they’ve done up to this point. And I feel like every band goes through this point where they’re like, we got to do same different and. Experiment, you know, you’re at a point you had a really successful album and usually that’s when they try to experiment, try some new.
So are they faster? Yes. Do they have even faster tempo changes? You got it. Like this album, like similar to master of puppets, they talk about political climates of that time. And I feel like that also sets them apart as well as a band because, and I could be wrong, but like metal wasn’t really talking about politics then, but rather like a fucked up version of say, limbo, how dark can you go?
Right. Like, um, so this was one of the things that just made them above the noise, but they also like were basically like, oh, we’re going to throw together all the. Tempo changes in time signatures and see if it works. Does it work? I don’t know. Let’s put it together. Like it was very like, mishmashed in a way, but it’s still worse.
Like people still love the album. There’s also a fun story that comes from loud wire about this album. And I’m going to read the quote. After hearing gun guns and roses, groundbreaking debut appetite for destruction. Ehrlich became fixated with Metallica’s next album, having as hard of a sound. It was venomous.
It was so fucking real. And so fucking angry. The drummer gush to classic rock. Thus when producer Fleming restaurant Musson told Metallica he would not be available to work with them. Ehrlich sought out Mike clink who had produced appetite on the other hand. Writer, Mick wall noted the axle rose gave Metallica’s ride the lightening as an example to clink prior to recording it.
That’s hilarious. That’s fantastic. Um, so how did the album do well, critics love it. One journalist from rolling stone said quote, a Marvel of precisely channeled aggression. That just rolls off the tongue. Commercially. It peaked at number six on the billboard 200. So like it’s pretty high, blew it out of the water.
I mean, master of puppets only got to 29, so that’s pretty crazy, but you don’t really see like injustice for ALS shirts a lot. Um, they also received its first Grammy nomination, which brings up one of my favorite stories while research. So one of the documentaries I watch, which was VH1 behind the music, um, they talk about being nominated for the hard rock and metal category of that year in 1990.
And they were like the favorite to win and they lose it to Jethro tall. And I kid you not in this documentary, the music was as if someone died, it was a sad two thousands guitar of do-do do-do and just this dude getting on there, like no one respects metal man, little do they know like fast forward a few years?
Either them or Slayer, it’s just going to always win that category forever for the rest of forever. So like, it’s fine. You did not win everyone. So respects metal, even when that documentary was made, they were still winning. So like you all can chill out. Okay. The dramatic editing on the VH1 dramatic every time something bad happens.
Also an interesting tidbit about this. This is pretty much the first time they fill a music video for their it’s for their song one. So like up to this point, once again, This is like, so it’s 1989 and the band’s been together since 1983, the first, almost 19 84, 5 years later. And they’re just getting around to filming their first music video.
And they’re huge. They’re huge by then. And considering they were coming up in the MTV generation, like. It’s weird that they weren’t filming videos earlier. Yeah, because MTV started in what? 19 85, 84 people were making music videos back in the late seventies. Yeah. That’s pretty wild. I’m trying to think.
Could we just covered who made. I don’t remember. That’s all right. Well, we’re on page eight of my outline. So we can finally start talking about the nineties, the era in which we exist. Yeah. Um, like I said, it’s just so much content with this band. Um, but we finally have arrived to the point. Where you all have been waiting for the black album or really just Metallica.
Cause it’s a self-titled album so dirty and the taurine of injustice for all the band noticed something well playing their insane, like nine minutes songs, because they were basically progressive rock songs. They noticed like a disassociated look on the audience’s faces like. They weren’t connecting with the music like the band was.
Um, so the band just really wanted to fix this. And part of that solution was cutting down their songs who would have thought, um, nine minutes is quite a long song. I mean, I’ve listened to some songs in that length and they’re great, but they’re definitely. They’re good for long car rides. I listened to a lot of Prague when I’m in a long car ride.
If I can just enjoy it, it’s a little bit hard when it’s a concert. Yeah, it’s a little, in my opinion, it’s a little bit harder. I mean, if you only have an hour and a half to play that. Two songs. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, another solution was finding a new producer to give them some new inspiration meat producer, Bob rock, not to be confused with his brother, bill.
Oh, my God. You know, you got to throw a dad joking, cause you’re talking about dad rock. So, you know, dad or someone out there is just turning off the show because you called Metallica. Some of them have just turned it up louder. This is a separate of the wheat from the chaff, like meat, the wheat of Canada, meat and wheat and wheat.
If you haven’t listened to the bonus episode, I found out this week that Kansas. VIP package for their tour is called the meat and wheat package. That might be the best fact I’ve learned this week. It’s incredible. And I’m going to try to win tickets to that show. Please do radio station gives them away.
I live off, I am the job of the hut, the growth on Leo tickets, because she has the energy to put in a bunch of, uh, submissions every single day. Yeah. And then she gets home and. I guess I would call sometimes I, sometimes I feel bad when I went multiple in a row. I don’t. And then I remember that I, heart radio owns all of our radio stations and I say, nah, fuck no.
And they’re gained to the podcast scene and stealing our friend’s podcast. So, you know, yeah. So I will take their concert tickets. But anyway, so Bob rock is not the likely candidate for the job, mainly because he works with bands that are more in the glam metal scene. They need Bob metal instead of Bob rock.
No, that’s the uncle. Okay. Tin metal is his name tin metal. But he is specifically known for working with a little band called Motley crew. I love this, how the tides have turned, but basically the band’s not interested in the artists he’s produced. They’re interested in. The N sound he’s getting in his albums.
So they hire him. And it’s not the perfect match professionally because him and James are just butting heads quite a bit. But sometimes you need that. Sometimes the most successful albums is when he got the producer pushing you creatively. Yeah. And I think he was definitely successful in that. Because while their last album was wild as fuck, you know, help them to edit, rethink some of these songs.
There’s also a humbling moment during this recording and an article for mental floss. And I’m just going to read the block quote here. Um, rock asked the band what the deal was with all their songs being in the key of E Metallica believed he was the lowest. They were unfamiliar with drop D tuning and rock informed them that on the Motley crew, Dr.
Feelgood, the band tuned down to D so Metallica then tuned down to D and that’s when the riff for, uh, the song sad, but true really became huge. It was this force that you just couldn’t stop no matter what, here’s why I love. Um, I love that they couldn’t be out done by Motley crew. And yet, why do I see Nikki six sitting in a swivel chair?
His legs crossed with his high platform shoes, laughing that he was lower and by law, more brutal than Metallica for once. Okay. How the fuck do you get this far in your career and not know drop D toning exit. This goes back to sometimes you shouldn’t shit on other genres of the same umbrella of metal
from each other. It’s a thought I can’t even really play a guitar. I know drive D two and again, Yeah. How the fuck do you know that they are huge at this point? Mind you? Yeah, they’ve been playing guitar for like 20 years. They just discover it. They never just like struck up a conversation with their friends who had guitar tech.
Well, you know, they were, they couldn’t ask Nikki six cause. I have two businesses saying, fuck you doing over there. Fuck a vinyl. I haven’t read their outline yet. I’ve read the research or Wiki page. I’ll let you know, are they 200 drop D probably. I don’t know. They just don’t talk to each other. This is the weirdest thing we’ve ever talked to.
Oh, offended on their behalf, but they didn’t know Leah with her pink fender guitars. I’m offended on their behalf. That just makes them look. I wouldn’t admit that to anybody. If I knew that, dude, it’s amazing. This. Like in a mental floss article, I would not admit that to anybody. That’s amazing. Um, but anyway, so the sand, the sand, the band also enter Sandman, enter Sandman.
The band also tried a new songwriting style. For example, the song, nothing else matters. Also, according to mental floss and shout out to their article 11 heavy facts about Metallica. Um, James Rowe, that song on the road during a personal moment. Um, he said the song was all about him trying to write a love song without saying the word love, which is a cute premise.
Uh, he then played it for Lars and Lars is. That’s cool, man. And then James is like, yeah, man. And it was just, you know, this kind of connecting moment, bro moment. And then he plays it for Kirk and Kirk said, quote, all I could think of at the time was James wrote a fucking love song to his girlfriend.
That’s just. Y cause they’re metal, Leah, their album was going to be called metal up the ass. They can’t write a love song. No, this is where Motley crew crew has. What the fuck are you talking about? Motions banged my head on the couch. It felt so passionately about that Motley crew has feelings. Oh, but never to fear.
Um, so like Metallica was worried like James specifically, when they put the song on there, he was like, dude, are the people not going to receive these songs? Well, they were pretty well received. And Ellen, John has some fabulous commentary about this song and basically the. So recently, Alan and Miley, who also has, like, I think Watts’s on it.
Robber, uh, and Chad Smith for run hot chili peppers. They just have this amazing cover of the song. Nothing else matters, um, for the blacklist album, which we’ll talk about in a second. And it’s also going on Ellen’s new album as well. I fucking can’t wait for them. That total sidebar. Stop listen, his podcasts like two seconds and just go look at the track list for Elton’s upcoming problem.
It’s fucking insane. Oh, it’s incredible. Um, but. Basically in this interview I was watching with, um, Ellyn and, uh, Molly was there in the band. Was there, I think it was Howard stern. Like Ellen basically says like, this is one of the best songs ever in and like makes James Hatfield cry. Like it’s such a sweet moment of musicians across spectrum.
Just having like a love, a general love and appreciation for each other’s music. Just send me that video so I can put it in the show notes. Yes. I’ll send it to you. It’s pretty great. Um, back to the actual producing of the album, it was remixed three times, which I love how Wiki words, this quote, the black album was remixed.
Three times cost us $1 million and ended three marriages. Oh, I think it was Kirk, Lars and James. They all suffer. I think, yeah. One of them was either single or still married. I don’t know. I don’t know what it was, but yeah, that’s about a couple of ever going through divorces, which we know from. The best Psalms are in the midst of a divorce folks.
I’m sorry. You want to write good music time to get those prenups ready? Like, yes. Let me tell you what, what the secret is to a banging music winning album. You got to make a sacrifice. I’m sorry. Um, so the songs were different and more personal cost, a shit ton of money. They tried out a new producer, but wasn’t worth.
You likely know the answer to this. And just in case you don’t, I’ll tell you this album is like the juggernauts of juggernauts. I can’t actually think of a bigger album in metal. Honestly, it has hits like enter Sandman, enter Sandman and enter Sandman, which if you’re from the blue Ridge, Virginia area, you know, as the sound that Virginia.
Players enter too. Yeah, very true. Start jumping, but also has nothing else matters and sad bird, but true. We’re also really big hits it debuted at number one in the billboard 200 is sold more than half a million in its first week and has sold according to a reason, our call I pulled from Krang. Just, I think it was at the beginning of this year, 30 million copies.
I don’t think I realized just this album. Yeah. I don’t think I realize this album alone. How big that album was. Like, I didn’t, I just assumed because my dad listened to it, that it was it’s a monster album, but I know it was number one. And it’s basically on a list, call on Wiki called lists of best selling albums.
Like I haven’t seen that list yet. Now I saw that list maybe, but anyway, in late 2018, they also hit an insane milestone of being on the billboard charts for 500 weeks. How many years is that? That’s the 10 years. It’s helpful. It’s 52 weeks in a year, 52 weeks. That’s crazy. Isn’t that insane? Um, critically it’s just praised up and down.
It’s ranked number 235 on rolling stones. 500 greatest albums of all time old list. I’m assuming we’re getting a new list. We just got the song one. Yeah, the greatest songs of all time estimating the album list is coming as well. The one they had was really good. Everything was solid. And the top 50, except for like daddy Yankee’s Gasolina was number 50 and I’m like, surely, surely it cannot be this song.
And number 50, I don’t know why. Like, I feel like there’s just other songs that could have taken that stuff. I guess the cultural impact. Oh, that makes sense. They seem to on this new, this is the songs list that makes a lot more sense. They seem to have weighted the cultural impact of a lot of songs.
Cause like Kanye is number 500, which personally I wouldn’t put a Kanye song in the top 500, but albums do have, or some of the songs have, and I was an agricultural impact God, a cultural impact. Um, and I can see gasoline. Yeah. I can understand that a little bit more when you put it that way. Yeah. I just think of middle school dance, you know, I think of grand theft auto where you weren’t allowed to grind on each other, like, but you wanted to, cause that song came on.
We didn’t play that at my school. Oh, that’s what you get when you go to New York school
years was better known don’t don’t don’t turn the lights down low. Where is the line? Um, anyway, uh, So it’s just one of those albums that in my opinion, both defined and changes, changed zone genre. If that makes sense, like it showed you what it is while introducing new progressive elements of where can go.
And for a while, it did guide a torch of thrash until the scene started dying around 1992 or 1993 ish. Punk rock MBA, who I referred to a lot, because whenever I do anything, metal or punk or hardcore, he has excellent videos. Um, He cites that pan terrace. Um, oh shit. It’s the vulgar. I can’t even think of the name of it.
So dude, game punched, um, that album, like is what started killing it because they went more into a groove metal direction. Like they took thrash. Retranslated it into groove, which grooves a lot slower. I’m just thinking of the tick-tock you sent me that was explaining different metal sub genres and star wars character.
Yes. Yes, that’s perfect. You can just pick that in your mind. Um, which just leads us to a quick summary of the rest of the nineties, because I can’t talk about it all. So I’m just going to give you a quick summary here. So the nineties were, was a pretty successful time for this band. And by that point, I mean, they’ve already sealed their legacy.
That’s how huge the black album was. However, so wild ass things happened. We got to talk about for one there’s this infamous show in Montreal that happened in 1992, where both guns and roses and Metallica were co headlining. It was a tour. And during that. The pyrotechnics team screwed up. And if the big ass grew up to the point where James was standing on stage and like the little fire blasts, like tornado thing went off.
And luckily he survived, but like he sustained second and third degree burns on his arms, legs and face. What saved him was his guitar because it’s shielded him from a big chunk of the blast. Oh my gosh. But thankfully he’s okay. Some of the scariest shit ever. Like they played a clip of it in the documentary and it was so scary to watch.
And like, this is kind of gross if you’re not a big gore person, like fast forward to smudge, but like his skin was boiling up bubbles from like how hot it was. Um, but because he’s a trooper, he came back like 17 days later, damn, or something like that. And luckily his guitar tech was well-prepared do the times he broke his arm during skateboarding.
So that worked out nice. Um, but wait, that same show gets worse because after that happened and they had to cut their set short and, you know, Metallica. As they’re getting older and I’m going to talk about this more. You can definitely see them maturing and they got on stage and like guys, James is going to the hospital.
I’m so sorry. We’re gonna have to cut this set short, but we are going to come back into town. We are going to play a full set. We make you this promise. Like they’re just really a class act. They’re really. Because you’re not much you can do in those situations. Right. Um, and then guns and roses takes the stage and Axl rose throws a fit because he’s a fucking asshole because he’s fucking asshole because his monitor sound is not that good.
And he just walks off stage and refuses to play. So the rest of the band goes off stage. And they don’t even play that whole night. And so there’s a riot in Montreal and it’s all Axel Rose’s fault. The Canadians, right. They made the Canadians riot. You heard that correctly. So after that insane event, the band tours, the black album for three years.
They play Woodstock 94, probably Lollapalooza and stuff like that. The band took a brief hiatus before starting their next album so that James could break his arm and let it heal in time. Um, and they called this album load in 1996. I’m not gonna talk about it. I also like don’t really care for the cover art.
Either, but it’s this artist dude who uses bodily fluids to make his art, all of them, all of them. And so I’m not a, I’m not a big fan of that type art scene personally. Nah, not really my scene, but if it’s for you, good for you. Good for you. The recurring theme of Metallica episodes. Yeah. Um, uh, so that album comes out.
During this album, because you know, they went on hiatus and then they made an album and then they show up for a show and the long hair gone on all of them. And it freaked out a lot of fans to the point where VH1 had to talk about it. Oh my God. They were all just so I would have the same reaction of the stress, all cut their hair.
So, yeah. Fair. Yeah. And then, um, in 1997 they release a double album called reload and then they put out a compilation album called garage Inc in 1998. So as far as for legacy, like I mentioned, I’m not going to have a ton of time to talk about the two thousands here. Only the notable highlight. Starting with probably the most notable, the two thousands Metallica sued Napster.
When they leaked to their song, I disappear. I forgot about NASA. Pretty much killed the software and Josh and I were talking like it didn’t age. Well, because while I understand it sees rich dudes sewing, just a tech company over music. You know, they’re probably gonna make their money back anyway. So, yeah, but anyway, um, and then after a decade with the band, Jason knew Stan left due to creative differences and they hire Robert.
True, true Hilo, I think is how it’s pronounced. I apologize if I butchered that who is still with the band in 2009, they were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. Uh, they have received 23. Nominations up to this point. So like I said, they’re fine. They’re also one of the most commercially successful bands of all time and have sold 125 million albums worldwide.
Like that’s just insane and that’s pretty damn good for a band. The radio would not play, but I want to spend this legacy section. On the story arc. I see for this band, why I look at their 40 years of history, which is disgusting. I have to say the 1980s was 40 years ago. I don’t think I realized it was 40 years.
That sixties feel 40 years ago. Yes. And it’s just not right. It’s just not right. But anyway, one thing I’m happy to see in Metallica is growth. The ban was smart over the years as they look to other bands. And saw what would not work for example, what Axl rose did by leaving the Sage and Montreal after having a temper tantrum life advice, or max James have feel sad.
Like I learned not how to act that day and by them choosing a producer, Bob rock, who. They didn’t like the bands he worked with, but they liked the sound. And even with that burning a technique from a glam metal bands that they did not like. And so while yes, The band started out as, and there’s just no way of saying this, but kind of children in the way they acted against other bands and just wanted to play thrash the band adapted and grew to become the legacy artist they are today.
This brings up something really important that happened very recently. As in this month, the band gave permission to, um, an album to celebrate the 30th. Anniversary of the black album called the metallic, the Metallica blacklist. And I said that cover of Miley is on there, but it also features artists across music, spectrum such as Weezer, Rena Salah, Yama, ghosts, Alicia, Cara, Corey Taylor, the who?
Chris Stapleton and Hebei Bridgers. I am I just named artists from heavy metal rock, pop and country. And that’s the point because some fans may look at this and be like, this is a sellout move, but the band is just merely showing the impact of metal or at least their music has had on so many artists in so many different genres.
It’s an act of preserving metal, making it something new. For a generation that already pulls influences from everywhere. And isn’t that like fucking great, like, I will keep repeating to like the day I die and at least tell you motherfuckers until you listen to me, like, we need to get a lead lead as a matter of rock.
Like it is killing the shirt. It’s true. We need to get it out. It’s it will ultimately lead to rock being outdated. Oh yeah. This up. And if you want metal to be preserved. You got it. Let it go. The directions artists want to take it without the will actually in a brutal voice. Like it’s not going to solve anything.
And I think Metallica understands this. It took them a bit to get to this point, mind you, but we can look at their growth artists and know it’s possible to go from a leadism to metal for every. Metal up the ass for everyone. Yes. We forgot to drink too. Can I put in a beer plug? I forgot to put in. Yeah.
I’m not drinking it right now, but there is a lady I was supposed to do it in September and I forgot. Well, it is September. I was supposed to do an August. There is a lady I met in Virginia Beach and I was in a wine store, killing time, looking at bottles of wine. There were $500 just for fun. Why not? And she was there giving samples of her.
Um, ginger beer and hard lemonade. And she had a peach mimosa and her story is so much fun. Like I love seeing people who are passionate about their craft, what they do and me and her, and we’re just having a conversation. And she was like, I told her like on Sundays during the summers, like to make different cocktails with different, fresh fruit and things like that.
And she just started giving me all these recipes for different drinks she makes and her family like own. A distillery or a brewery or something like that in the Turks and Caicos, like her family was originally like the first brewers there. And I think we’re like one of the first brewers in America in general.
So it’s called, Hey, Harriet’s legacy. Cause I promised I’d give her a shout out and it’s well worth it. Heard hard lemonade is very good because it’s not super sweet. And our ginger beer is super good. And it’s an original recipe from like the 1700. That’s super cool. Yeah. So anyway, Harriet’s legacy. Go check him out.
thanks for listening. You can leave us a review on apple podcasts or good pods. Download the good pods app and find lots of cool things over there. Special. Thanks to death of Fawn for intro Rick, you can visit our website, Shewillrockyou.com. There you’ll find links to our social medias, all the shownotes ways to contact us and a link to our merch store.
And remember, don’t do drugs. Don’t do drugs. .
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