Rumour: Metallica were nearly called Thunderfuck.
“We’d have been plastered all over the radio with that name,” Hetfield says, laughing.
Other questionable contenders included Nixon, Hellraiser and Blitzer.  Lars and James
got the name 'Metallica' from a book called Encyclopaedia Metallica; other names Grinder,
Blitzer, Red Vette.  Ulrich “borrowed” the name Metallica from a friend’s list of possible
titles for a new magazine.

Lars tried out for drummer in James band 'Leather Charm' James didn't think much of his drumming skills, said "we'll call you".  Even though James and Lars didn't hit it first time, Lars saw something in James that he wanted, so he kept on bothering him, Lars would call on James to help form a band later...

Motorhead and Venom were the two bands that inspired metallica to be aggressive.

James Hetfield wanted to be a singer just like Steve Tyler, he wanted to be like him, he had posters on his wall of Steve Tyler.

'Hit the Lights' originally a 'Leather Charm' number

James Hetfield said that he wrote Seek and Destroy in a truck on his lunch break. He wrote the main riff there and then he and Lars went to the meditation room and wrote the arrangement for the song.

According to James, Ron was kicked out, according to Ron he quit!

Jef Warner (guitar) had a brief tenure with the band.

James Hetfield and Kerry King from Slayer went to highschool together in Downey.

Mustaine at the time of his recruitment, Lars and James had already mixed the other tracks, his job was merely to play a lead break.

Mustaine sold drugs to get money for food.

Mustaines' "The Mechanix" is Metallica's "The Four Horsemen"

James, Lars, Kirk and Cliff billed as The Four Horsemen in 1985

Ulrich says the band's entire career has been a surprising outcome from his initial reasons to start Metallica when he was a teenager. "I called up James Hetfield because I wanted to be in a band so I could basically play along to all my favorite new wave and British heavy metal songs on record," he says. "At that time, we never even considered writing songs, making records, performing, touring or even having a tape of any of this stuff. That's all the added bonus stuff to playing along to my favorite records."

'Motorbreath' a song mustaine later called 'Metallica's national anthem'

'The Call of Ktulu' originally titled 'When Hell Freezes Over'

Creeping Death's chorus Die by my hand is from one of Exodus's songs.

The worst situation between Hetfield and Mustaine, occurred when their two pitbull pups leapt onto McGovney's Pontiac during a band get-together.  According to Marrs, Hetfield gently brushed the dogs off the vehicle with a flippant remark such as, "get off the car, you stupid dogs"  Mustaine, ran out and punched him in the mouth.  McGovney emerged, jumped on Dave's back, the scrap was soon broken up.  Dave was kicked out of the band for a week.

Mustaine was the talker;  his stream-of-consciousness banter could by turns be inclusive, intelligent, authoritive, or insulting.  Live, it was Dave who supplied most of the between-song raps, and best understood the arrogance it took to convey a lasting image.  Once in an uncharacteristic moment that is almost touching, Mustaine summed up his love for, and total devotion to, Metallica: "To be in this band, you have to be committed.  I'd live and die for our music".

1983 one night, Mustaine driving U-haul while everyone asleep in back.  He was drunk, nearly killed everyone 10 or 15 times.  While He was passed out in the back, they all talked about Mustaine must go.  Mustaines tendency to drive while under the influence was one but many of the reasons for his departure.

Monsters of Rock show at the L.A. Coliseum started AlcoholicA

Metallica's first performance was at Radio City in Anaheim on March 14, 1982.  Mustaine broke a guitar string halfway through 'Hit the Lights' after which the embarassed band retreated backstage to restring the instrument before starting the opening song all over again.

Brad Parker was recruited to bef up their line-up as second guitar for their fourth show at The Concert Factory in Costa Mesa April 23, 1982.  Their only appearance as a 5 piece band.  Also known as Damian Phillips left metallica for Odin.   He wore spandex and mascara, played a Charrel Star Body guitar.  Born in America, had/has red hair.

Lloyd Grant - jamaican guitarist Lars knew.  On the way to Hollywood's Byou Studio, where slagel was already finishing mixing the other Metal Massacre tracks, the band screeched into Grants' driveway, lugged the four-track into his front room, and watched him churn a second lead break.  The 'Hit the Lights' recipe was complete.   (they wanted a second lead break).     "I remember we had this four-track recorder" explains Hetfield, "it had tracks for drums, bass, guitar and vocals.  Because there were no vocals in certain parts of the song, we could punch a lead in on the vocal track.  I remember we wanted to get another solo on, so we stopped by Lloyd's house and hooked up some little fuckin' amp and just ripped through a solo.  It was the first take.  We went into the studio, and that solo ended up on the record.  It's a fuckin' great solo, man!"

At the time of the original recording of 'Hit the Lights' James had a throat infection, which resulted in croaky vocals, just one of the flaws for this song.

During the final stretch of 'Hit the Lights' a monster riff lurks beneath Grants' closing lead.

'Metal Massacre' hit shelves June 14, 1982 with Metallicas'  'Hit the Lights' as last track as 'Mettallica'.  Ron McGovney, new and improved version was made for future pressings with Mustaine playing leads.

James only acted as a singer in early Metallica live situations, Mustaine served as guitarist. 

Kirk and His friends would listen to 'No Life Till Leather' demo quite a bit.  It was what
everyone in the San Francisco underground metal scene was listening to in 1982.  Kirk was
already familiar with the songs, only taking him a week to learn them by the time he was a
member of metallica.  Exodus played on the same bills as Metallica.  The first time Kirk
met Lars at one of these shows, Kirk was talking to Lars mentioning that he could hear the
new wave sound in their music, Lars started taking his clothes off, before Kirk new it Lars
was completely naked. 

'Live Metal Up Your Ass' a live demo tape released November 1982

“Hi, do you have Metal Up Your Ass by Thunderfuck?”
Metallica’s thrash-metal debut, Kill ’Em All, was supposed to be called Metal Up Your Ass —
until Zazula explained that most distributors wouldn’t touch anything with that title. A
substitute emerged when Burton, pissed off at industry prudishness, came up with the title. 
As Metallica were walking to the photographers studio to shoot the back cover, thinking out
loud other names.  Cliff said "Y'know what fuck those fuckers, man, those fucking record
outlet people.  We should just kill ’em all.”  James, Lars or Kirk said "That's it!"

Brian Slagel first encountered Cliff Burton in October 1982 after hearing about McGovney not really fitting in with Metallica, suggested to Lars to check out 'Trauma' the band Burton was with.  Lars and James tried to woo Burton to Metallica, to no avail, it was only a question of time.

Cliff wanted a bloody hammer on the cover of Kill 'em all.  He carried a hammer with him
everywhere.  Would occasionally start destroying things like dressing rooms in shady night clubs.

Cliff reinvented rock bass playing with his incredible technique, volcanic groove and unusual note choice (unusual for the time, but quite common now) - adding a completely new dimension to the metal song and providing to be a vital element in the distinctive Metallica sound that would ultimately push the band far over the top.

At the end of Metal Militia you hear this marching sound - that was Lars wearing heavy boots
and marching up and down on wooden floor, and then miking it and multitracking it.

The engineer and producer for Kill 'em all decided they wanted to mix it themselves, pretty much
locked Metallica out of the studio.  Adding all thse weird delays and reverb, things Metallica
would have done.  That's why there's a drastic sonic difference between Kill 'em all and Ride
the Lightning.  ---Kirk, Guitar World---

Only 15,000 copies of Kill 'em all were made when the album was first released.

Inspirations when first learning guitar (on an acoustic guitar first) was Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Sabbath and AC/DC (especially Malcolm Young), The Scorpions, UFO (the Michael Schenker period), The Ramones' inspired savage riff writing and rhythm work.   James Hetfield.

Kirk recorded one solo on 'The Four Horsemen' thought He could do better, recorded another solo,
didn't like that one either.  The engineer hadn't deleted the first one, played both solos at
the same time.  It was agreed how cool it sounded, fantastic.  Kirk thought, "it was pretty cool,
because I was going in and out of harmony with myself"

MetallicA toured with 'Raven' in a Winnebago during  Kill 'em all on the 'Kill 'em all for One' tour September 1983

Living in a New York rehearsal space called the Music Building without money, heat or hot water in 1983, Metallica would rely on handouts from their friends Anthrax or on sympathetic admirers bringing pizza. “There was a lot of nourishment in all the alcohol we were drinking,” Ulrich shrugs.

James is heralded as one of the main men responsible for the creation of the dreaded Hi-gain "scooped" sound that became the tonal trademark of the so-called "Thrash Metal" movement of the late '80s.

Metallica liked the idea of a second guitarist, to make this possible, James assumed rhythm guitarist in addition to his vocalists' duties, a dual-assignment that he continues to this day.  His first rhythm-guitar-and-vocals live performance was delivered on May 25, 1982 at Lars's school, Backbay High, in Costa Mesa.  They played on a theatre stage on which a kitchen backdrop had been erected, a house setup, with different rooms.  Some would get changed in the kitchen, one might tune guitars in the living room.

It wasn’t just Mötley Crüe with “Girls, Girls, Girls.”
As their fame grew, so did the number of their groupies. One ritual involved coming offstage
to meet 10 naked girls waiting in the showers. “I was definitely digging it,” Ulrich says.
“When you’re 22 years old, it’s part of the allure.”

'Sucking My Love'  bootleg released by Totonka, recorded in 1982 with Mustaine and Mcgovney.

James' Dad turned him onto Waylon Jennings.

James started playing guitar at 15 years old on a $15 flea market special re-painted at least 10 times.

Metallica is playing darts on the tape 'A Year and A Half...' part one, and they are throwing darts at the head of a man, who is this man?  unscramble IPIKRENWIG - 80's rock buttons, optional bassist/barker

Their booze-warrior alter egos, Alcoholica, started taking over.
The name came from a fan’s T-shirt, and they ran with it — Metallica turned emptying bottles
into an Olympic sport. “We lost Cliff, and the only way we knew how to deal was to drink it away,”
Ulrich says. Adds Hammett: “Our rider resembled a stock order from a liquor store. When we
auditioned bass players, half the time I was so drunk I could barely stand up.”

James Hetfield has smoked pot

They treated new boy Jason Newsted like crap.
They welcomed Burton’s replacement by insulting him, storming his room in the middle of the night,
spreading rumors he was gay and smothering him in meat pies. Stoically, he took it all.
“In retrospect,” Hammett says, “I regret all that, and I want to tell Jason that once and for all.
We’ve been trying to meet with him, but for some reason he keeps canceling.”

They treated everyone else like crap, too!
“We used to abuse ourselves and everyone around us,” Hammett confesses. “We’d victimize people.
And women, we’d treat women like crap. Assholes? Totally!”

Jason Newstead is always happy to sign autographs, anywhere, always the last one to leave the buidling, will not leave the building till the last autograph is sighned.

On their next album, Newsted could barely hear himself.
On 1988’s…And Justice for All, Hetfield and Ulrich conspired to make an album of fancy structures,
showy solos and barely audible bass. “That was just Lars and me getting away with as much as we
could,” Hetfield says. “The drums, vocals and guitars are loud — there’s no bass!”

6 December, 1988  video 'One'  filmed in LA

10 January, 1989  'One'  released as a single

During recording Re-Load, rooms were set-up for each of the members of metallica - James had his drag-racing banners, pictures of '55 Chevy's, his guitar equipment, and cabinets set-up in three different rooms just to get the metal sound, the sound of metallica.    Jason had Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix posters, a life-size Elvis in the corner over-seeing everything, some lamps, black lights, incense burning, the bass real loud with a sub-woofer system so that He could put his feet up on to feel the notes as He played them, like He does at a live show.   Didn't have to use headphones to record ReLoad, which was a first.  "I was able to jam really fucking loud and feel everything through my feet.  So these performances are the best I've ever put down because I've made the place my own.  Nobody was coming in to change my amps around and stuff.  Therefore, as you can imagine, it really opened up my mind and connections.    I was able to play all sorts of different tunings, setting on the virtual guitar system with the violin and cello, just throwing stuff on tape.      I don't know if half of it will show up on the record but it doesn't matter because the thing is no-ones' turned around and said    "you aint got time to do that"                                 Jason talking to Seffan Chirazi 1997

Lars' Drumkit gets smaller and smaller?  "To make a long story shorter ... I was up in Seattle hanging with my friend Jerry from Alice in you know what, and we were jamming at their rehearsal space, one night.  I ended up playing their drummers' kit which was a scaled down version of mine, and I loved the smaller sizes and the feel of it.  I went back to San Francisco and adjusted accordingly to Shawns' Drums."   Lars So What! 3.2 

1997 When Kirk records Lars is there with him all the time, throwing ideas and so on.   When Jason is recording James is there with him, throwing ideas out.

"I have sat in the same room as Kirk when He's been recording His guitar solos since the first day in Rochester in May of 1983 when He put the first solo on Kill 'em All.  I have just always sat with him.  James might've been hung over or sick or writing lyrics or something like that, and I was there from the beginning offering a creative opinion, and that has stuck ever-since.    James is much more qualified to give advice on getting the bass back with the drums more instead of being with the guitars, and helped Jason to play more with the track, between the '...Justice and Black' album in the earlier days"   Lars talking to Seffan Chirazi   So What!  1997

To find inspiration during Load and ReLoad Kirk listened/watched Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule, Robert Gripp, Adrian Belew, especially when he was with Bowie, Freddy King an old Blues guy, Buddy Guy and of course Scorpions and UFO Albums.

NHL commercial was a promo for the Stanley Cup 1997.   'Get Cup Crazy' with 'Nothing Else Matters'

VH1 My Music Awards Los Angeles, CA - perform 'Fade to Black' 30 November, 2000 Jason's last
performance with Metallica.

Hetfield was a regular in the EMERGENCY ROOM.
Among the thrill-seeker’s many accidents: In 1987, he broke his arm skateboarding; in 1992,
he was severely burned by onstage pyrotechnics; in 2000, he damaged his back while Jet Skiing.
“I was out there to hurt myself to feel alive most of the time,” he reasons. “I didn’t know
how far to take things.”

Dig stuffed animals? Hammett’s your man.
The taxidermy enthusiast’s home is packed full of stuffed badgers, foxes and assorted other fauna.
He recently bought a fossilized skeleton of a cave bear that’s one million years old. Thirteen
feet tall, it stands in his stairwell. “I have a sheep with two heads — it’s antique, from the turn
of the century. It’s old and decrepit-looking,” he says.

Hammett is the band’s “lukewarm-water” peacemaker.
Like Derek Smalls did for Spinal Tap, Hammett often literally came between Hetfield and Ulrich’s fire-and-ice act: “My role was — and I emphasize was — acting as referee between James and Lars when things were bad. I’d often step between them when they were slowly inching toward each other, zeroing in on the kill.” - Kirk Hammett

In band bust-ups, tough guy Hetfield would throw his considerable weight around. His intimidation tactics didn’t wash with Ulrich. “I could see through his bullshit,” the drummer says. “That’s why he and I had the most volatile relationship — I was the only one who didn’t get intimidated. And I knew how to push his buttons.”

Ulrich collects modern art.
He especially likes physical, art brut–style painters such as Asger Jorn, Jean Dubuffet and the
CoBrA group. Trivia question: What are the three cities represented in the CoBrA name? “Copenhagen,
Brussels and Amsterdam,” he answers breezily. “Everyone knows that — come on!”

The Black Album’s cover was a homage to AC/DC’s Back in Black. Not Spinal Tap’s Smell the Glove!
Their 12 million–selling, self-titled mainstream breakthrough from 1991 was packaged in a
none-more-black sleeve. They wanted to focus on the music by ditching the Dungeons & Dragons imagery
and thank-you lists stretching to infinity. “At that time in heavy metal, everybody was seeing who
could have the longest ‘thanks’ list,” Ulrich says with a laugh. “How many times can you thank God
on one record?”

Kirk basically came up with the riff to 'Enter Sandman'

Beginning of  'Don't Tread On Me' contains a sample from the song  'America' from the movie 'West Side Story'

1995 Lars could only listen to the Black Album because He loves the way it sounds.

Sarasota, Fla., February 1993,  James Hetfield and that oil pic 

Photographed by Mark Seliger

I said to James, 'just look as demonic as you possibly can, 'cause we gotta get this bat-mitzvah party going!' " remembers Mark Seliger, who was working against the clock when he shot this February 1993 portrait of the Metallica frontman. The previous day he'd photographed Hetfield outdoors, on a plain -- in what he describes as "a toxic-waste dump" -- for a Rolling Stone cover. This photo, which ran inside the magazine, was taken the next morning in a banquet hall of a Sarasota, Florida, hotel that was indeed booked for a local girl's bat mitzvah later that afternoon.
It would be the second time in less than eighteen months that Hetfield's face would grace the cover of Rolling Stone. After the immediate success of Metallica (better known as the Black Album), released in August 1991, Hetfield joined his bandmates on their first cover. But by the spring of 1993, Metallica had arguably become the biggest band in the world -- the Black Album had moved more than 6 million copies, and the group was selling out arenas and stadiums worldwide -- and this time the cover was Hetfield's alone. "It was the first photo session on my own, away from the band," says Hetfield. "Being on the cover was a major deal." In the accompanying interview, in which Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke described Hetfield's look as "a cattle-baron version of Erik the Viking," the enigmatic singer-guitarist discussed for the first time in great detail the death of former bassist Cliff Burton, his anger over his Christian Science upbringing and the truth behind his hard-partying band's latest nickname: Alcohollica. "It's been a while since we had a real band drinking session," Hetfield told Fricke, adding without a hint of sarcasm, "You just missed it. It was two or three days ago."

"We set up some lights and a little kiddie tub in this banquet hall," says Seliger. "Good heavy-metal guys will always play along, and he was very generous with his scowl." Because he was short-handed, and to butter up his subject, Seliger recruited "a cute eighteen-year-old Metallica fan" who worked at the hotel's pool to dump the water on Hetfield's head. "He [Seliger] said, 'I've got some ideas about pouring water on you,' " Hetfield recalls. "And then the water didn't look cool enough, so they had to use some kind of oil. Then I looked satanic!" Hetfield kept a Polaroid from the session on his refrigerator for seven years, until it disintegrated. "Thank God for photos, because my memory is horrible," he says. "We've probably had a few hundred different hairstyles over the years, so it's kind of easy to remember when it was. And that photo reminds me of a great time in our lives."

After blowing his voice during recording of the Black Album James decided to do vocal exercises.

James Hetfield can't spell.

Lars used to tape his fingers up to play cuz of the green gauze tape he used to wrap his sticks in was very rough and gave him blisters, he now uses Easton Sticks.

"When I go in a Heavy Metal magazine and say we're not heavy metal, it really is to try and stir up some shit.  I think people should understand how silly all this is, in terms of these categories and interpretations of somebody's music.  When I say we're not a heavy metal band, it really is to just poke it a little bit, get people to talk about and realize that things may not be as cut and dried as they appear to be or as they should be."   Lars talking to Steffan Chirazi  So What!  1997

Hammett found out he had suffered liver damage— luckily, it wasn’t irreversible.
Years of excessive drinking had left their mark, so Alcoholica went on hold. Hammett cut out cocaine,
too. “I’d become useless,” he says. “I’d become depressed; my relationships suffered. So I made a
few decisions — and I took up surfing!”

In 1993 Lars and Jason were asked  "Will you do two live TV Shows upon arrival in Melbourne?  The first is 'Hey Hey It's Saturday' airs 6:30pm-9:30pm.  The second is 'Tonight Live' airs 10:30pm - late (kind of an Aussie Letterman) You may remember we did both of these on our press tour last time...for your information FYI we arrive in Melbourne at 6:20pm.

Metallica were spotted playing street hockey outside of a certain recording studios, complete with nets and gloves, apparently a certain bass player was one hell of goalie!  Bay Area 1995

Kill 'em All first re-release due to ownership in 1995, all first 4 albums were re-released that year in the US.

1982 The Netherlands became the first country where Metallica (a band that didn't even have an album on the market) became very popular.

No Life 'Til Leather demo released in July 1982.

The Aardschok magazine, released in December 1982 spent a full page on that demo.

John Zazula started his own record label because He couldn't secure a record deal for Metallica; Megaforce.  Kill 'em All the album was recorded in July 1983.

A 12 inch record of  'Jump In The Fire' with versions of  'Seek and Destroy' and  'Phantom Lord' on the B-side was released to back up the 'seven gates of hell' tour that Metallica were the support-act of 5 for.

Ride The Lightning was recorded in Lars' homebase, Copenhagen, Denmark, from  February to April of 1984.

Q Prime in 1984, took alot of the work load off Lars, management things became more organized.  The band got a steady crew.

Metallica changed to Elektra Records in 1984.

The 12 inch single to back their first full European Tour November 18 - December 20  'Creeping Death'  sold over 100,000 copies.  Metallica were handed their first golden 'framed' record at the last gig of the tour in London's Lyceum.

Met Ross Halfin in October 1981 in El Cerrito, CA where Metallica lived at the time, initial pics ended up on the back cover of  'Creeping Death' EP.  The pics of metallica in the kitchen playing/posing with chinese food were taken at a second session later that day.

Load is full of Kirk Hammett riff's

Carpe Diem Baby with flames tattoo relating to the Montreal bbq

"The song 'Fixxxer' was pretty sparse and some particularly evil tones in it.  The word 'voodo' kept on coming up in my head, so I started looking up voodo shit a little more.  Doing research doesn't necessarily help though, in the end you're gunna write whatever words come out and sound cool.  It's not like all of a sudden you say "well I'm knowledgeable on the subject and I'm gunna let you know about it"  People don't give a fuck, they don't wanna be educated by it, they wanna hear some cool words that fit together.  So voodoo dolls and pins started to figure into it, y'know, people get jabbed by something everyday.  When things are going right fuck, there's another pin in ya and nothing goes your way all the time.  And that's just life my friend."   James talking to Steffan Charazi  So What! 1997

'King Nothing' was still being worked on right to the day before recording.  James just couldn't get anything, he was still writing it.

John Marshall played guitar for James (broken wrist) July 27, 29, 30,  August 1,2,3,  September 10,11,12,14,15,17,18,19.20,21,24,25 in 1986

John Marshall has filled in for James on guitar 1986 and 1992

Metallica write a new song "whiplash" for a friend of theirs who kept injuring himself in the mosh pit.  The infamous quote 'Bang the head that doesn't Bang' on the back of the 'Kill 'Em All' album sleeve came from a fan, Rich Burch, that would do bodily harm to himself at every concert, one of Lars' best friends.  Rich Burch author of 'Bang the head that doesn't bang' died of AIDS.   

It was time for a checkup from the neck up.
Hetfield isn’t the most obvious candidate to catch the therapy bug. But in 2001 he entered drug and
alcohol rehab, starting a process that soon engulfed the whole band. “When we started talking after
Jason left, we started turning our eyes inward,” he says. “That’s when the mud got stirred up, and
I couldn’t ignore all this stuff from the past. There was a lot of grief and depression that hadn’t
been worked through. We were all addressing our inner selves.”

Famed hunter Hetfield has even stopped killing things!
After years spent blasting anything that moved, Hetfield has hung up his hunting rifle. After rehab,
he realized his family and band came first. “You’re more important than killing small, furry animals,
Kirk!” Hetfield offers, generously. “Wow, that’s great,” his guitarist replies.

James created 'Scary Guy' for a cover of a cassette, manufactured for the opening of
'Metallistore' 21/1/1993

Metallica first toured Australia in 1989 at Festival Hall on May 4, brought to us by Triple R.    Then were back in Australia in 1993, March 27 - April 8 playing at various Entertainment Centres, and playing at Melbourne's then National Tennis Centre.  Then toured in April 1998 'Poor R-touring Me '98' with nine shows,  playing at various Entertainment Centres once again, playing at Flinders Park in Melbourne.  Then in 2004 for 'The Big Day Out Festival' January 16 - February 1, at different venues around Australia.

Lars and Jason were asked if they would appear live in two
Melbourne TV Shows, the first was 'Hey Hey It's Saturday'
the second was 'Tonight Live'

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown paid tribute to His City's heaviest Sons by naming
April 7 'Metallica Day'

Feud between Metallica and Mustaine officially over in 1993?

'Metallica Unbound' first biography by KJ Doughton

Metallica use a keyboard in     Fade to Black
                                               Phantom Lord
                                               Sad But True
                                               Unforgiven
                                               Bleeding Me

'LOAD' - Longest CD ever, with 14 tracks clocking in at 79mins

For their next two albums — Load (1996) and Reload (1997), Metallica’s new alt-rock image,cutting their hair, angered metal diehards.

1996 Metallica embrace Internet technology before other bands with metclub; perform a webcast gig;
June 11 show, which too place at Slim's Club in San Francisco; was distributed live online, one of
the first to be broadcast.

On the Lollapalooza tour Jason Newsted travelled seperately from the rest of the Band.

In October 1997 Metallica announced that they would be promoting the release of a new album,
Part 2 of previous album LOAD with a free show, somewhere in the States on Veteran's Day, Nov 11 -
but that the fans could suggest which venue would be the best.  Giving the fans a toll-free 800
phone number and an email address for suggestions, Metallica sat back and waited for a response. 
Over 120,000 fans called.  The parking lot Philadelphia's Core States Arena.  Many local
governments officials were opposed to the idea of Metallica playing in a parking lot
(Philadelphia Eagles)

Tuesday's Gone recorded at the Studios of KSJO fm in San Jose December 1997 with Alice in chains
drummer and guitarist Sean Kinney and Jerry Cantrell, Harmonica player John Popper (Blues Traveller),
bassist extraordinaire Les Claypod of Primus on Banjo, plus guitarists Pepper Keenan
(Corrosion of conformity), Jim Martin (ex-Faith No More) and Gary Rossington
(an original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd)

1st pressing of Metal Massacre with 'Hit the Lights' listed Metallica as Mettallica with
Lloyd Grant on guitar.  Metal Blade 2002 Box Set has original/first pressing. 
Does not appear anywhere else.

James Hetfield told Guitar World in 1992 "Lars was always nervous on stage, so he'd play
faster and faster.  Nobody wanted to wimp out and tell him that he was playing too fast. 
We just figured, hell, we'll just play faster too.

September 5, 1998 Jason Newsted sustanined minor head injuries when an unidentified member
of the audience threw a glass bottle at the stage.  James commented acidly, "I hope they
find the fucker who did it"

Metallica played at Hugh Hefner’s softcore palace in 1998. But it was a trying time. “To be honest, I felt uncomfortable there,” Hammett admits. “I was a married guy! I was scared shitless. I thought something might go down and somehow I might be implicated in it!”

Video clip for 'Memory Remains' cost more than $400,000 shot at Van Nuys airport LA. 
Marianne Faithfull former lover of Mick Jagger, arguably first ever Rock Chick.

In 2004 Metallica were in Australia for the Big Day Out

Jason rides a bike to warm up before shows

Jason picked up a stretching routine from James, watching him (Francesca know all the proper shit)

Lars was the one that basically chose Jason for metallica, fought for him

Jason wanted Metallica to jam more, you play how you practice  -Jason Newsted 1996

The main riff in Chicago's '25 or 6 to 4' and loads of Gene Simmons string slides were the first thing Jason learned to play on guitar

Triple M Australia had a contest, two winners would fly to the US and spend a few days hanging out with Metallica on tour.  December 1996.  One Show in Los Angeles, Utah, watched the making of King Nothing Video.  The contest winners were Brad Oats and Kelly Walker  (I want to hear from you!)  So What! 4.2

There are Bongos in 'Bleeding Me'  The same percussionist friend of Bob Rocks', who made a brief appearance on the studio segments from the 'A Year And A Half...' video, is playing them.   The cocking of a gun can be heard faintly in the background.     So What! 4.2

"A lot of tunes - like 'Enter Sandman' and 'The God That Failed' - deal with childhood.  The words are more personal this time.   -James Hetfield  So What! 3.2

METALLICA Guitarist Says His Pet Dog Was Penetrated By Next-Door Neighbor - July 12, 2007 
 
As a child of 11, guitarist Kirk Hammett watched in horror as his pet dog Tippy was penetrated by the guy next door. That's just one of many jaw-dropping facts we learn about ultimate rock monsters METALLICA in the new issue of British magazine Q.

Hammett explains: "I went to my neighbor's. The guy took down his pants and started having sex with the dog! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. When he got up, I just took the dog and left. She was still wagging her tail."

Other key revelations include frontman James Hetfield's jealousy over Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich's massive consumption of cocaine. "I did not like being around them when they were on that stuff," says the singer. "I resented the closeness they had through their drug use."

What Hetfield and Ulrich did share, though, was their love of groupies.

"Those guys really went for it," recalls bassist Jason Newsted. "Lars would probably be the king as far as that crazy promiscuity goes. Blowjobs under the stage during the bass solo, that kind of stuff."

Kirk Hammett told Guitar World in 2008 "Part of the reason we would play so fast is because we
were just nervous on Kill 'em all"

9th Studio album  >Death Magnetic<  to be released in September 12, 2008

The Game Magnetic (Death for Guitar Hero)  
 "Death Magnetic," the entire album, available for Guitar Hero too!

It's a first in both music and gaming . . . the same day that "Death Magnetic" hits the streets, you'll be able to download every song from the album for "Guitar Hero III!" We are so psyched that we'll be the first out of the gate with this simultaneous release . . . who knows, maybe a few years from now this will be the norm when your favorite band's new record comes out.

And for those of you who are anxiously awaiting the next Guitar Hero, "World Tour," we're ready for that too . . . you will be able to experience "Death Magnetic" for drums, vocals, and guitar when that game emerges this Fall.

The three albums recorded with Burton — Kill ’Em All (1983), Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986) — revolutionized metal. Purists still consider this Metallica’s most Metallica period. “I understand why people like those albums best,” Ulrich says. “But to me it would be like asking, ‘Which of your five kids do you prefer?’ ”

Robert Trujillo's nickname is Auggie

In 2002 on March 14 Metallica show tribute to Aerosmith.  This was the first public appearance of Metallica since James Hetfield's exit from rehab.

What Metallica members bang their heads to
James Hetfield (singer) - "Motorhead. Lemmy is rock 'n' roll."

Lars Ulrich (drummer) - "Deep Purple. You say Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, you also have to say Deep Purple."

Kirk Hammett (guitarist) - "Rush. They're a great band that took rock to a different level in terms of songwriting and technical proficiency."

Robert Trujillo (bassist) - "Jethro Tull (the band that famously beat out Metallica for the first best hard rock/metal performance in 1989). Just kidding. I love UFO. I know Kirk's a huge fan of them, too. A band like that should be recognized."

 

September 22,  2008

Metallica `Death Magnetic` has walloped in the number one album on the Australian chart this week with sales of 55,877 units in the past 7 days.

If we include one-day sales from the first day of release last week, `Death Magnetic` has sold 60,726 units.

Metallica has achieved sales with this album akin to the glory days of music retail.

In Australia `Death Magnetic` is now the fastest selling album on the year.

`Death Magnetic` was over the finish line before the rest of the chart left the gate. The album sold 11 times more units than number two, `Breakout` by Miley Cyrus.

`Death Magnetic` also sold more units that the combination of all titles between number 2 and number 17.

On New South Wales sales alone `Death Magnetic` would still have been the number one album.

On Victoria sales alone `Death Magnetic` would still have been the number one album.

On Queensland sales alone `Death Magnetic` would still have been the number one album.

On Western Australia sales alone `Death Magnetic` would still have been the number one album.

`Death Magnetic` also came in at number one in the UK and will be the number one album this week in the USA.

 

What is the common thread between the songs on Death Magnetic? I would have to say the common thread, be it negative or positive, is actually death. It depends on who you talk to. Of course everyone's got his own opinion, and it's always open to interpretation, as Metallica lyrics always are. This is an album that's dangerous. It's riding on the edge. I would give the metaphor of riding a 100-foot wave. Death Magnetic is about riding the fine line between glory and destruction. The music and the message are exactly that. It explores a lot of people who are fallen heroes—whether they're from rock n' roll or other things. Layne Staley, for instance, was on that ride that is rock n' roll. He fell off to the other side with his addictions and everything. There are certain aspects of that in what we said lyrically. James points that out in a lot of things. There are different themes to the whole spectrum of music. It's all encompassing. It's not about one song and the message of one song. It's about all of the songs.    Artist Direct - Rick Florino

All four members live in the exquisitely temperate countryside outside San Francisco.

Kirk Hammett is into Buddhism

James Hetfield and Jason Newsted are Christian Catholic

Kirk Hammett used a black Gibson flying V on the first 4 albums

'Creeping Death' was metallica's first real big chanting, gang-vocal thing

3 songs from 'Ride The Lightning' were demoed in the studio before recording the Album, so there's actually a demo out there somewhere of those three songs with different lyrics

James grew to love the Gibson Explorer better than the V during 'Ride The Lightning'

'Fade to Black' their first ballad, James learned how frustrating acoustic guitar can be, cause you can hear every squeak - James wrote the song at a friends place, depressed about gear being stolen, and thrown out of their managers house for breaking stuff and drinking their liquor cabinet dry.

The idea for 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium) came from the movie 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'

'Master of Puppets' metallica wanted another song like 'Creeping Death' people love to scream "Master!" a coupe of times.

The $5.95 E.P. Garage Days Re-Visited 1987 was done for the fans, just for fun, and Elektra love it and released it, recorded in 6 days with little concern for mistakes, bad notes or feedback.

'One' the idea for the opening came from a Venom song called 'Buried Alive'.  The kick drum machine-gun part near the end wasn't written with the war lyrics in mind, it just came out that way.

Kirk Hammett is/was inspired/influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Ulrich Roth, Michael Schenker (aren't they all?), George Lynch, Gary Moore and Steve Vai.  Referred to Joe Satriani through a friend, took 20 lessons from him in 5 years.  Kirk rang Joe.

'Enter Sandman' Hammett reveals that He purloined the guitar lick before the breakdown from the song "Magic Man' by Heart.  "But I didn't get it (directly) from Hearts' version, I got it from a cut off Ice-T's Power album.  I was listening to 'Power' a lot while we were recording 'Metallica' (TBA), so I kept on hearing the lick.  I thought, I have to snake this!  I did change it around a little bit, though"

Kirk used the 'Mummy' guitar on 'No Leaf Clover'.   His KH-1 guitar, with the skulls on the fingerboard, is from 1988

'One' inspired by Dalton Trumbo's classic antiwar story, 'Johnny Got His Gun'

'The Shortest Straw' is about the anti-Communist investigations led by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 50's, which led to the blacklisting of many writers and entertainers.

'Battery' an oblique tribute to their old stomping ground, the Old Waldorf Club on San Francisco's Battery Street.

'Metallica' (TBA) became Metallica's first Number One record, selling 600,00 copies within the first week of its release in August 1991.  Since then it has gone on to sell more than 22 million and win 3 Grammy's for the band.

When you listen to the solo (MOP), there's this weird sound right after the mellow part where it sounds like Hammett is hitting a super high note in the midst of phrasing, this was an accident, Kirk accidentally pulled down on the string, it fretted out on the side of the fretboard, after hearing it back, Kirk thought it was brilliant, He's never been able to reproduce it.

Garage Days Revisited is a little tribute to Metallica's beginnings in Ron McGovney's garage.

'The Thing That Should Not Be' inspired by the Gothic horror tales of H.P.Lovecraft.  "Not deadwhich eternal lie/Stranger eons death may lie"  is a paraphrased quote from Lovecraft that had also graced the cover of Iron Maiden's live double album, Live After Death.

Master of Puppets deals pretty much with drugs, how things get switched around.  Instead of you controlling what you're taking and doing, it's drugs controlling you - Het

Leper Messiah - hypocrispy of the TV evangelists that had became such an American phenomenon in the early 80's.  The title, taken from the lyric to David Bowie's 1972 track "Ziggy Stardust", also served as James and Lars put down of the Los Angeles production-line glam metal scene they had rejected in the band's earliest days, as exemplified by the line: "join the endless chain/Taken by his glamour..."

Cliff played the intro to Damage Inc on the Ride The Lightning Tour it's based on the J.S.Bach chorale prelude 'Come Sweet Death'

'Damage Inc' the firm farewell to Metallica's thrash origins.

'Damage Inc' spells out Metallica's credo in the lines  'Following our instinct not a trend/Go against the grain until the end'

The Ozzy/Metallica U.S. tour was the second-biggest ticket-selling draw on the American circuit that Summer (Aerosmith/Ted Nugent was first) 1986?

When first released 'Master of Puppets' didn't do so well until Metallica toured the Album, all of a sudden they became known internationally,  MOP goes gold.  By the time the U.S. Tour ended at the Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia on August 3, MOP had sold more than 500,00 copies in the U.S. alone, giving them their first Gold record.  Hammett had thought "maybe people just didn't understand us, maybe we're doing something that's going over peoples heads"   On telling the guys that they'd be able to put down-payments on houses once MOP went Gold, Cliff Burton replied, "I want a house where I can shoot my gun that shoots knives"

Prior to Master of Puppets the media thought Metallica were repulsive

Master of Puppets has a very dry and tight sound

Master of Puppets sold 45,000 copies in Sweden upon its first release and was soon to go Gold by Swedish Standards.  To Celebrate, Alpha Records (where the band's European record company Music for Nations was based) threw a party for the group on the day of the Solna Show.

Cliff Burton's ashes were spread over Maxwell Ranch, one of his favourite places.

Cliff Burton went to Marshall Elementary

Cliff Burton had a severed tendon which prevented him from bending his right-hand pinkie.

Master of Puppets has become above all Cliffs album imbued with his uniquely individual personality, unshakable character, sheer courage, wry humour and deeply held musical beliefs.

Ed King guitarist Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of Cliff Burton's favourite guitar players; He was listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Eagles, the Velvet Underground, Kate Bush, alot of Bach prior to his death.  Hammett beleives Metallica's next album with Cliff would have been 'extremely melodic'  Cliff also listened to Mercyful Fate, Motorhead, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Anthrax.  Favourite band Black Sabbath.  Favourite bassist Geezer Butler.  Cliff turned Metallica onto R.E.M.  Cliff also liked Peter Gabriel, Roxy Music, Thin Lizzy, Blue Oyster Cult, Rush and of course The Misfits.

On 'Justice' Jason doubled James rhythm guitar parts, so it was hard to tell where James started and Jason bass left.  James and Jason were always battling for the same space in a mix.

On TBA Jason approached his parts differently, He played more with Lars kick drum, so his bass lines are very distinct from James' guitar lines; they're not getting in each others way.

Kirk worked at Burger King till he had enough money to buy a V.  $400  it took 3 months then he quit.

The $5.95 EP: Garage Days Re-revisited, with its price upfront so retailers couldn't fuck the kids for an extra buck - was partly conceived as a promo tool.  In November 1986 Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett picked themselves up out of mourning and found a new bassist Jason Newsted.  For Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett The $5.95 EP was therapy through noise, a chance to work through their loss via songs that were part of their years with Cliff.  For Newsted it was an opportunity to prove himself as a player and bandmate without the immediate burden of a new studio record.

For the EP Metallica replaced the "Ooooh baby" part with massed drunken bellowing.  When Metallica covered Budgies 'Breadfan' during the ...And Justice For All sessions, they simply chopped the mellow-daisies bit.

The snatch of bent-note wailing in the fadeout of Last Caress/Green Hell, was not from the Misfits catalog but a nutty bow to Iron Maiden, an out-of-tune taste of  "Run to the hills"   "Lars has learned this drum bit,"  Hetfield explains,  "He kept playing itover and over, and we just kind of goofed on it at the end of the track.  It was nothing against Maiden.  It was just a way to take the piss out of metal.  And, a way to take the piss out of ourselves".

Cliff owned a tape cassette, cover was black all over with nothing on it except a piece of white tape with the word 'Mezzfits' written on it.  The only thing he listened to during Metallica's summer of 1985.  Cliff would pound this Misfits stuff, drum on the dashboard and make everybody fucking nuts - Lars

Garage Inc - Founding Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington specially invited guest on Tuesdays Gone.    Turn the Page, a brutally honest, white-soul ballad about the oppressive grind and stupefying ennui of touring, the stuff that fans never see.    "That song has James Hetfield written all over it" - Lars Ulrich    "It was the lyrics. We should have written that" James

'The Outlaw Torn' had to be shortened by 1min to fit on the album.  The full version was released on a single for "The Memory Remains' as  "The Outlaw Torn (Unencumbered by Manufacturing Restrictions Version) with a running time of 10:48.

The Australian CD release of Load includes a bonus interview CD which is unavailable elsewhere.

'Turn the Page' video - with former porn star Ginger Lynn's portrayal of a pole dancer/singer mother dancing her life away under an unforgiving spotlight adding new dimensions to Seger's original storyline.

'Whiskey in the Jar' - set in a lesbian frat house.

Live Shit: Binge and Purge came with commemorative pass to the 'Snake Pit'

 

 

 

 

Ron McGovney (born November 2, 1962) was Metallica's first bass player when they formed in 1981.

Here, for the first time in print, original bassist RON McGOVNEY sets the record straight! Was it at Downey Elementary where you first met James Hetfield? "The first time I met James was at East Middle School, I believe it was in music class. James was the only guy in the class who could play guitar."

How did you become friends? Was it the common interest in music? "When we first started high school, which was September of '77, everybody had their little clique - there was the cheerleaders, the jocks, the marching band people.... and you end up with the laggers hanging around without any real social group, and that included James and I. We actually got stuck at the same lockers, and we just started hanging out. At that time I wasn't really into heavy metal or hard rock, I was an Elvis freak... I was devastated when he died. I was into bands like the Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top, The Eagles...things like that. And James' favorite band at the time was Aerosmith - he was a total Steven Tyler freak. And our friend Dave
Marrs was a total Kiss freak. Dave Marrs, Jim Keshil, James and I started hanging out and they would make fun of the music I listened to, so in return, I would tell them Kiss sucks and Aerosmith sucks and it went back and forth -we did this in class all the time."

During Junior High did James have ideas of being in a band? "I knew James in junior high but didn't really start hanging out with him till our freshman year in high school. I remember having James in my driver's ed class, James had drawn a big picture of Steven Tyler on his Pee-chee and I wrote 'Fag' across his face, just to piss James off, and he had a fit in class. But then they started getting me into hard-rock, I had been into Foreigner and Boston... bands like that, but then they got me into bands like UFO. I started taking acoustic guitar lessons when I was a fourteen, a freshman in high school." You had no idea that you were gonna play bass at that time? "No, I knew nothing about bass or any instrument for that matter. I just wanted to learn how to play Dust In The Wind and Stairway To Heaven - that was my goal at the point."

What year was it that James had the idea to form his first band?

"That probably was 10th grade, we were sophomores. He got in this band called OBSESSION, which consisted of James on guitar and vocals, Jim Arnold on guitar and vocals, Ron Valoz on bass and vocals, and his brother Rich Valoz played drums. They did all rock/metal cover songs... Never Say Die (Black Sabbath), Rock'n'Roll & Communication Breakdown (Zeppelin), Rock Bottom & Lights Out (UFO), and Highway Star (Deep Purple) which was one of their favorites."

Did James attempt to sing the Zeppelin songs?

"Jim Arnold sang the Zeppelin songs. James sang Doctor, Doctor and I think the other UFO songs. Ron Valoz sang on Purple Haze - they would switch off on vocals. I remember when Heaven & Hell (Sabbath) had just come out, they started doing that too as well as Scorpions... They played primarily backyard parties, this was like '79 or '80, we were like 16."

Weren't you a roadie for Obsession?

"Yeah. We would go to their practices on Friday and Saturday nights at the Valoz's house on Eastbrook in Downey. The Valoz brothers were like electrical geniuses, they wired up lights all over the place and they built this loft in their garage, Dave Marrs and I would sit up there and work the control panel doing the lights, strobes and stuff... it was like this whole show in a tiny garage."

How long did Obsession stay together?

"About a year and a half or so... they broke away from the Valoz brothers, and then James and Jim Arnold and his brother Chris Arnold formed a band called Syrinx, all they played was Rush covers, and that didn't last long."

So this was about the time when James' mom had passed away....

"James' mom had died when we were in 11th grade, 1980, and James had to move to his brother's house in Brea, which was about 20 minutes away from us. He would come down on the weekends for practice."

Did he ever mention that his mom was real sick?

"No. We had no idea. He was gone for like 10 days and we had thought he went on vacation. When he told us that his mom had just died, we were stunned. And as he's cleaning out his locker he's telling us that he's got to move in with his brother in Brea."

So you guys got together on weekends...

"At the time, James didn't have a band - he had left Syrinx -he would come over to my house and we would jam together with our friend Dave Marrs who tried to play drums - we sounded terrible."

During his senior year at Brea High School didn't James form a new band called "Phantom Lord"?

"Let's see... he had hooked up with this guy named Hugh Tanner at Brea Olinda High School and they formed Phantom Lord , but it wasn't really a band, they just got together and jammed but they never did any shows. They didn't have a bass player, and James suggested that I play bass, and I told him 'I don't know how to play bass, I don't even have a bass guitar'. James said 'I'll show you how to play'. So we rented a bass and an amp at Downey music center and James showed me the basics, how to follow him on guitar. So we started jamming in my bedroom - at the time my parents homes were being taken away by the State in order to construct the new (105) freeway. My parents had three rental houses and one of them was empty and they told me I could live in it since it's going to soon be torn down. After we graduated from high school James and I moved into that house and we fixed up the garage into a rehearsal studio. We insulated it and put up dry wall and James painted the rafters black, the ceiling silver, the walls white, and red carpet!"

So this was about June of 1981; is this when Leather Charm was being formed?

"Yeah. We jammed with Hugh Tanner for a little while, he was actually a pretty good guitar player, but he decided he wanted to be into music management, so it was back to just me and James. Then we hooked up with a drummer named Jim Mulligan, who James went to school with. We put out an add for a guitar player and a guy named Troy James answered the ad and he joined our band, which was called LEATHER CHARM. We were doing kind of a glam thing, like Motley Crue, Sweet , and this British band called Girl (which featured Phil Lewis and Phil Colin), we did that song Hollywood Tease . We did a bunch of covers as well like Pictured Life from Scorpions, Wrathchild and Remember Tomorrow from Iron Maiden, and Slick Black Cadillac from Quiet Riot (the Randy Rhoads era)."

Was James singing and playing guitar at this time?

"No. He wanted to be the singer/frontman so it was just Troy on guitar. We started working on three original tunes, one ended up to be Hit The Lights , which became a Metallica song, another song called Handsome Ransom , and a song called Let's Go Rock'n'Roll . The combined riffs from Handsome Ransom and Let's Go Rock'n'Roll became the Metallica song No Remorse . We never really played any gigs, Mulligan decided he wanted to play more progressive 'Rush' type of music, he was a real good drummer, very technical, and I guess he thought we were a little too heavy or too glam for him at the time."

So this is around mid 1981... is this when James met Lars for the first time?

"Yeah. Lars and James hooked up I believe through Hugh Tanner, Hugh brought Lars to our house and I think Troy had already quit the band so James had to go back to playing guitar. When he and Lars first jammed, I thought Lars was the worst drummer I had ever heard in my life! He couldn't keep a beat, and compared to Mulligan, he just couldn't play. So I told James, 'This guy sucks, dude'. And I told them to do whatever they wanted to do and I was just gonna stick to photography, at the time I was taking pictures for bands like Motley Crue. Anyway, Lars would come over and I would watch him and James jam together, and it got better and better but I still didn't feel like getting back into it."

Were you guys working jobs at the time?

"I think James was working at a place called Steven Label Corporation in Santa Fe Springs making stickers. He used to bring home all these stickers like 'Danger: Explosives' and High Voltage' which we stuck all over our rehearsal studio. I was working for my parents truck repair shop at the time. Lars was still in high school, he was a year behind us. He lived down in Newport Beach so he had to commute from Newport to Norwalk to rehearse with James."

At what time did Lars tell James of the opportunity to be on a record if they formed a band together?

"James had told me that they had a guitarist coming over for an audition. I remember opening up the front door and seeing this black dude with a Jamaican accent. He came in and they started jamming to Hit the Lights - the old Leather Charm song. They had this bass player at the time for about 2 or 3 weeks, I believe his name was Glen - he had long black hair - he couldn't really play too good at the time so they kicked him out. Lars had borrowed a 4-track TEAC machine to record a demo. So it was James playing the rhythm guitar riffs and singing, Lars on drums, Lloyd playing the leads, and I played bass."

So Dave Mustaine did not play on the first version of "Hit The Lights" which ended up on the Metal Massacre compilation album?

"O.K... I believe on the very first pressing of Metal Massacre, they kept Lloyd's lead tracks, Lloyd actually only came over twice, and then they ended up recruiting Dave Mustaine on guitar - they had kept the ad running in the Recycler, they only planned on using Lloyd as a fill-in. As I remember, Dave played the two leads on Hit The Lights but they kept the second lead which Lloyd played because they liked it better. Now on the second pressing of the Metal Massacre, it was all Dave's leads."

So we progress to the beginning of 1982... Metallica is a four man band, with you playing bass, you're practicing in your garage... what would a typical day be like?

"We would all get together after work. James wasn't working at the time and Lars was working a graveyard shift at a 24 hour gas station, and Dave was... self employed. At the time it was just Dave playing guitar and James was just singing. It got to the point where James had said that he didn't think he was too good of a singer and he only wanted to play rhythm guitar. So we found this singer named Sammy Dijon who was in a local band called Ruthless - he rehearsed with us for about three weeks but we never played a show with him. They told Sammy it wasn't working out and James went back to singing again."

So we're at around March of 1982, how did Metallica get the opening slot for the infamous Saxon gig at the Whisky?

"On the 4-track TEAC we recorded a demo of three songs: Hit the Lights , Killing Time (from the Irish band SWEET SAVAGE), and Let It Loose (from the British band SAVAGE). We had heard that Saxon was gonna be playing the Whisky in Hollywood. So I went over to the club with our demo, and as I was walking up, I run into Tommy Lee and Vince Neil from Motley Crue (who I was taking pictures for at the time.) They said 'Hey Ron, what's up?'. I told them that Saxon was doing a gig at the Whisky and I wanted to try to get my band to open up for them. They said, 'Yeah, we were gonna open up for them but we're getting too big to open. Come on in and I'll introduce you to the chick that does the booking'. So I dropped off the tape and she called me back the very next day, I remember her telling me, 'You guys are pretty good... you remind me of this local band called Black'n'Blue. Anyway, she said 'Saxon is scheduled to play two nights; we're gonna have RATT open for them the first night and your band can open the second night'. So we actually have Motley Crue to thank for getting us that gig, which was a major break for us back then. It was Metallica's third show. We actually played two shows that night opening for Saxon."

After that show you recorded a new 4-track demo in April of '82, which later was known as the "Power Metal" demo...

"We recorded that demo in my garage on a 4-track. The four songs were Hit The Lights , The Mechanix , Jump In The Fire , and Motorbreath - which were all originals. Those songs were later re-recorded on the demo called No Life Til Leather . James sang differently on it, like on Jump In The Fire he would hold the note on the chorus. He was trying to be like the singer Sean Harris from DIAMOND HEAD, but he later figured that he didn't sound like Sean Harris so he decided to sing gruffer. It's funny how that demo was labeled the Power Metal demo. The story is, I went to make Metallica business cards to send to the club promoters along with our demo. The card was supposed to just have the 'Metallica' logo and a contact number. But I thought it looked too plain and decided it should say something under the logo. I didn't want to put 'hard rock' or 'heavy metal', so I coined the term Power Metal, I thought it had a nice ring to it. No band had used that term before as far as I knew. I remember bringing the business cards to the band and Lars got so pissed off at me. He said, 'What did you do! What the hell is Power Metal ?! I can't believe you did such a stupid thing! We can't use these cards with the words Power Metal on it!'. So, that's how that tape became known
as the Power Metal demo."

Shortly after, Metallica recruited a new guitarist and did a gig....

"Yeah, we took on this guy named Brad Parker, a.k.a. Damian C. Phillips, which was his stage name. We did one show at the Concert Factory in Costa Mesa, and while James, Lars, and myself are getting dressed to go on stage, we hear this guitar solo so we look over the railing of the dressing room and we see Brad on stage just blazing away on his guitar. So that was Metallica's first and last gig with Damian C. Phillips. Later I think he went on to join Odin." Is that when James decided to sing and play guitar full-time? "Yeah. He decided to do what he does best, that is play guitar and sing. And it's not easy to play the type of riffs he plays and sing at the same time - it's really difficult." So that brings us to the summer of 1982... Can you tell us the story of the infamous "No Life Till Leather" demo? "Lars hooked up with this guy named Kenny Kane who was a real snake in the grass. He had this punk label called High Velocity which was a division of Rocshire Records, an Orange County record company. He said he would put up the money to have us do an EP. So we went in the studio and recorded the songs Hit The Lights , Mechanix , Phantom Lord , Jump In The Fire , Motorbreath , Seek And Destroy and Metal Militia , which were done in an 8-track studio in Tustin called Chateau East. After hearing the tapes Kenny realized we weren't a punk band so he ended up not being interested. So we took the tapes which eventually became the 'No Life Till Leather' demo."

Who was in charge of getting this demo distributed?

"Lars and his friend Pat Scott. They would record tapes and send them out, they had connections all over the world."

Whose idea was it to take out a full page ad in BAM magazine?

That was a big investment in those days for a young band. "It cost us $600 which was a lot of money back in 1982. It was probably Lars and James' idea. They laid the ad out and showed it to me and said it will cost $600. I said 'OK, Lars...James - where's your money?' and they said 'We don't have any money'. I was the only one that had any money, so I wrote out a check for $600 to BAM, til this day I never got that money back."

So during this time you never heard any complaints or anything from the other band members that they thought you were inferior as a bass player?

"I don't think at the time it had anything to do with my musicianship because I was basically playing what they asked me to play. James showed me what to play and I played it. I understood the camraderie between James and Lars as far as writing goes and I didn't want to infiltrate that. I think the reason that they kept some of Dave's (Mustaine) songs was because they thought he was a good guitar player and they did it to keep him happy. Like the song Mechanix , some of the lyrics in that were ridiculous, so they ended up changing the lyrics later when Dave was out of the band (and re-titled it The Four Horsemen )."

So what's the story about Dave Mustaine and his dogs?

"I think it was the summer of '82. Dave had come over to my house on a Sunday afternoon and he brought his two pit bull puppies. I think I was in the shower at the time; anyway, Dave let the dogs loose and they were jumping all over my car scratching the shit out of it, I had a rebuilt '72 Pontiac LeMans. And James came out and said 'Hey Dave, get those f**kin' dogs off of Ron's car!'. And Dave said, 'What the f**k did you say? Don't you talk that way about my dogs!'. Then they started fighting and it spilled into the house, and when I came out of the shower I see Dave punch James right across the mouth and he flies across the room, so I jumped on Dave's back and he flipped me over onto the coffee table. And then James gets up and yells to Dave, 'You're out of the f**kin' band! Get the f**k out of here!'. So Dave loaded all his shit up and left all pissed off. The next day he comes back crying, pleading 'Please let me back in the band'."

So how did Metallica come in contact with Cliff Burton, did you guys see him when his band TRAUMA was in town?

"I think we just showed up at a TRAUMA show at the Whisky for some reason. We were sitting there watching the band and all the sudden the bass player goes into a solo as the guitar players were playing rhythm and he's just thrashing his head all over the place. And James and Lars were just bowing to him. We didn't talk to Cliff that night but they might have approached him the next night at the Troubadour. I don't know how they actually hooked up."

How did your first San Francisco gig come about?

"I think that was a Metal Massacre Night with BITCH, CIRUTH UNGOL, and I believe LAAZ ROCKET. And Ciruth Ungol had canceled so Brian Slagel called us last minute to fill in. It was at the old Stone. I rented a trailer and we loaded our drum riser and all our gear and pulled it with my Dad's '69 Ford Ranger, we all drove up in that one truck. I had never been to San Francisco before, I remember driving around Chinatown with this trailer and I was getting so pissed off trying to find this club. All the other band members are back there in the camper shell drinking and partying and I'm just pissed as shit."

But the show went over really well...

"Yeah. We had no idea that our No Life Till Leather demo had gotten up there, they knew all the lyrics to our songs and everything. People asking us for our autographs, it was a trip, we couldn't believe it. When we played in L.A. with bands like RATT, people would just stand there with their arms crossed."

How did the second San Francisco show in October '82 go over ?

"That was at the Old Waldorf on a Monday night. The people went nuts at that gig. In fact I think Cliff Burton came to that show."

So, you knew nothing of any negotiations between the other band members and Cliff?

"Things started happening back at the house... my things would be missing. The worst thing was when we played with my friend Jim's band KAOS, and ROXX REGIME (who later became STRYPER). Apparently one of Dave's (Mustaine) buddies stole my back-up Ibanez bass guitar...My leather jacket was missing...I was really getting sick of the situation. And I didn't know why this was happening because I did what I could and what they asked me to do. Lars and I butted heads a lot, I hate when people show up late and use you all the time and that's just what Lars did. I would have to drive all the way down to Newport Beach to pick him up, so I told him 'If you can't make it, it's not my problem'. Everytime we did a gig up in San Francisco I had to borrow my Dad's truck, pay for the gas, I had to rent the trailer out of my pocket, I paid for the hotel rooms on my Visa card... and San Francisco is expensive even for a cheap room. I paid for all of this and they couldn't understand why I was mad, they said 'Well, you're getting the check after the gig', and we were only getting paid a $100 per gig at the most, which didn't even cover the hotel room. Plus we drank a couple hundred dollars worth of alcohol. I always said to them, 'If I'm a part of this band, why is it up to me to pay for everything while you guys get the free ride?'. I had suggested we get a manager or somebody that could back us because I was really getting tired of this. And they just laughed about it and said 'have a sense of humor'. They just didn't understand, so they interpreted it as me having a bad attitude."

So you were just fed up with their antics and you probably didn't think that they would become successful...

"Right. I knew the way they were... Dave, at the time, was an asshole, and Lars only cared about himself. But what really hurt me was James, because he was my friend and he was siding with them and I suddenly became the outcast in the band."

At the end of November '82, when you went up to S.F. for the third time, did you have any idea that they were planning on replacing you with Cliff?

"After I heard them talk about Cliff, I had some idea. I remember after that show it was raining like a motherfucker and I saw Cliff, all in denim, just standing there in the rain. And I said to him, 'Hey dude, do you want a ride home', I kind of felt sorry for the guy. I kind of saw the writing on the wall...We played at the Mabuhay Gardens the next day, it was a little hole in the wall. That was the last gig I did with Metallica."

Driving back home to L.A., did you think to yourself that you were about to be replaced? "First off, let me clear something...I'm talking a long time ago, this was so long ago it doesn't even matter today. I'm just telling you what I was feeling then. I want to make it clear that it doesn't bother me now, this was 14 years ago, it's just memories. I get along with all the guys now. So, this is what happened.. On the way home we stopped at the liquor store, I was driving, and they got a whole gallon of whisky. James , Lars, and Dave were completely smashed out of their minds. They would constantly bang on the window for me to pull over so they could take a piss, and all the sudden I look over and see Lars lying in the middle of Interstate 5 on the double yellow line. It was just unbelievable! And I just said 'fuck this shit!'. Then one of my friends told me that they witnessed Dave pour a beer right into the pickups of my Washburn bass as he said 'I fuckin' hate Ron'. The next day my bass didn't work. My girlfriend at the time also told me that she overheard that they wanted to bring Cliff in the band."

Do you think their intention was to harass you until you would quit the band?

"I don't know. If you listen to their version, they claim they kicked me out. But I never, ever heard them tell me 'You're out of the band'. What happened was, after Dave f**ked my bass up, I confronted the band when they came over for practice and said 'Get the f**k out of my house!' I turned to James and said, 'I'm sorry, James, but you have to go too'. And they were gone within the next couple of days. They packed all their gear and moved to San Francisco."

So this all happened around the first week of December '82.

"Yeah. It was right after we had returned from that trip to S.F. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I sold all my equipment: my amps, my cases, I even sold my Les Paul which would now be worth about $1,200. I was just so pissed with the whole thing. Then in 1986, my friend Katon DePenna, who was a singer, told me that I should get back into it. I had some cash in the bank at the time so I went and bought a Fender P bass and a Marshall half stack bass amp. So Katon and I started jamming and we formed a band called Phantasm. It was more like progressive punk, it's hard to describe; the lyrics were punk but the music had tons of different changes in it. Our first two shows with Phantasm were on the same two nights as Jason's first shows with Metallica, when they played the Country Club & Jezebel's. I think November 7th and 8th. We played Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach with about ten other punk bands. We also played Fenders opening for the Plasmatics in front of 1,500 people - it was totally cool, that was actually the biggest crowd I ever played in front of. The reason Phantasm broke up is because I just kept getting bombarded with the Metallica thing and the band got sick of it. A lot of kids came to our gigs just because I had been in Metallica. When we went to play Phoenix all the guys from Flotsam and Jetsam were jumping off the stage and after the show everyone bombarded me for autographs. So it just faded away after that and I haven't been in a band since."

What was the most memorable moment when you were in Metallica?

"Probably the first time we ever played the song Whiplash , I think that was at Billy Barty's (Roller Rink in Fullerton). That was the most ultimate headbanging song. Everytime we played that song it totally kicked ass."

And the lowest moment?

"Probably at the end, when I found out I was double crossed. I would have been better off as a paid road manager rather than the bass player, I probably would have been more respected. But like I said, that's all history..."

"The truth of the matter was that things just didn't click. I was a different person back then. I was a brash person that was always drunk and having fun and James and Lars were withdrawn little boys. James hardly ever talked to people, we did that Saxon gig a while back and he was singing but it was I who talked in between songs. The whole thing was that I had too much to drink. But I fuck up one time and it costs me the band and they fuck up 100 times...there's been times when I had to carry both James and Lars because they were so drunk."

- Dave Mustaine talking about his departure from Metallica (taken from an interview conducted by Bob Nalbandian back in January of 1984, in what became Megadeth's first ever feature interview)

"I'm just wondering what Metallica are gonna do when they run out of my riffs."
Dave Mustaine from January 1984 interview

"I already smashed James in the mouth one time, and Lars is scared of his own shadow."
Dave Mustaine, January 1984

"When I joined that band they only had one song - "Hit the Lights" - James did not write that song, a guy by the name of Hugh Tanner wrote it. Then we did "Jump Into The Fire", "The Mechanix", and the song "Motorbreath" - which is another Hugh Tanner wrote, and I wrote the intro to that, which Lars didn't know how to drum. I wrote the most songs on that whole f**kin' album! I wrote four of them, James wrote three, and Hugh Tanner wrote two!"
Dave Mustaine, January 1984

"Kirk is a 'Yes' man...."Yes, Lars, I'll do Dave's leads"; "Yes, James, I'll play this" ..James played all the rhythm on that album and Cliff wrote all Kirk's leads - so it shows you they're having a lot of trouble with this "New Guitar God!"
Dave Mustaine, January 1984

"I thought I'd have a helluva lot harder time coming up with something better, but this is three times faster, more advanced and a helluva lot heavier!"
Dave Mustaine, January 1984 (talking about Megadeth)

"I answered an ad in the Recycler that read 'Heavy Metal Guitarist Wanted for music much heavier than the L.A. scene'."
Lloyd Grant from an interview on January 15, 1997 (describing his first encounter with Metallica)

"Hit The Lights" was composed by James and one of his friends. I remember the day I went over to Lars' house , he said, "Check out this song" and he played me "Hit The Lights". We were both into that heavy kind of shit. He wanted me to play some guitar leads on it but I couldn't make it over to Ron McGovney's house to do the recording so James and Lars brought the 4-track over to my apartment and I did the solo on a little Montgomery Ward amp."
Lloyd Grant, January '97 (regarding the first ever Metallica recording session)

"I had several disappointments with previous bands I was in, I guess that's my reason for not pursuing Metallica. There were a lot of flaky musicians; however, this was not the case with Lars, he was 100% intense with the music."
Lloyd Grant, January '97 (explaining his departure with Metallica)

"Lars was very easy to get along with, although he had very strong ideas and opinions. I was not around James a lot; the times I was around him he was very quiet."
Lloyd Grant, January '97

 

In this exclusive SHOCKWAVES interview, original METALLICA bassist Ron McGovney tells the true-life stories about the early days of one of the biggest rock'n'roll bands in the world
By Pounding Pat O' Connor

Lani Hammett

Facts: Married Kirk Hammett at 2pm January 31, 1998 in Hawaii. In VH1's Fanclub: Metallica, Kirk talks about a fan who's an undertaker. The fan got him into the morgue to watch an autopsy. Kirk says it was one of his first dates with his wife, and that because of it, he knew she was the woman for him.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, she used to be a bartender and "scenester," and Kirk pursued her for quite a while before they ever got together. According to the metallica.com message boards, Kirk and Lani met in a gay bar. Someone on the Groupie Central message boards also said that Lani is an artist, but she couldn't remember what  medium. Some time between The Black Album and Load, Kirk broke up with his girlfriend, and then got back together with her. Lani may or may not be that girlfriend. The most pervasive Kirk and Lani rumor is that they go to sex clubs together with a third party who plays the slave. Supposedly Kirk once told this to a European magazine in an interview, but because no one can cite the source precisely, even though there is an interview in which Kirk talked about sex clubs, I'm putting it under rumors.

Julie

Facts: None.

Rumors: She may be the girlfriend described as a "psycho." She and Kirk supposedly dated after he and Sara broke up but before he met Lani. General consensus is that they dated sometime in 1995 or 1996.

Sara(h)

Facts: Dated Kirk.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, Sara(h) was a law student who lived with Kirk during one set of fires in California, possibly in 1994, that caused them to evacuate the house with the cats. They also say Sara and Kirk were together for about four years.

Rebecca Hammett

Facts: Kirk Hammett's ex-wife. They got married on December 3. 1987 and got divorced sometime before the end of the recording of The Black Album. Rebecca was once married to Eric Peterson of Testament.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, Rebecca was arrested in Petaluma, California for "bad checks and possession" sometime in late June, 2001. The ensuing discussion said that Kirk and Rebecca's divorce was not finalized until late 1990 and Rebecca got a sports car and a sizable settlement in the divorce. According to that same discussion, Rebecca is "drugged out" and has two kids.

Francesca Hetfield

Facts: Married James Hetfield August 17, 1997. Gave birth to Cali Tee Hetfield on June 13, 1998 and Castor Virgil Hetfield at 3:23pm on May 18, 2000. In an interview with Ralph magazine, James tells us that Francesca worked security in Denver, but she wanted to travel, so she went on the road with Metallica as one of their wardrobe people (trust me when I say that the interview is worth reading).

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, she's from Argentina. According to the metallica.com message boards, she's about 30 or 31.

Rachel

Facts: Dating Jason Newsted.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards (sensing a pattern yet?), they're deeply in love, and may even be planning to get married. They also say, however, that he cheated on her during the Summer Sanitarium tour. They say Rachel is a Brazilian model and something of a bitch. The most recent rumors flying around everywhere say that Rachel and Jason have moved to a ranch in Montana, and she's sporting a rather large diamond. There's also a lot of speculation, but nobody claims to actually know, that Rachel had something to do with Jason leaving Metallica.

Elizabeth

Facts: One of Jason's ex-girlfriends.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, Elizabeth is much younger than Jason, and he was not entirely faithful. However, they also say that she wasn't entirely faithful to him either.

Judy Newsted

Facts: Was once married to Jason Newsted. They were divorced sometime before the end of the recording sessions for The Black Album.

Rumors: According to the Groupie Central message boards, they got married in Illinois, and they both realize it was a mistake, and she was older than Jason. One site says she and Jason got married about a year after Kirk and Rebecca. According to the metallica.com message boards, Jason and Judy got married sometime in 1988.

 

Debbie Ulrich

Facts: Was once married to Lars Ulrich. They were divorced sometime before the end of the recording sessions for The Black Album.

Rumors: No one seems to know anything about Debbie.

Skylar Ulrich

Facts: Married Lars Ulrich on January 26, 1997. The next day, at the American Music Awards, Lars said, "I would like to thank this man, James Hetfield, for putting on his best suit and being my best man at my wedding last night." Skylar is a doctor. Her maiden name is Satenstein. She once dated Matt Damon, and is the inspiration for the character of Skylar in Good Will Hunting. Although there was once animosity between Matt and Lars--Matt once said he lost the love of his life, Skylar, to "a fucking rock star who's got $80 million and his own jet... a bad rock star too," and he once said he'd trade in Ben Affleck for Skylar--they now have only good, or at least polite, things to say about each other. Skylar also seems to be on good terms with Matt as she had good things to say about his family in a Time Europe article. According to an interview Lars gave, he and Skylar met in a bar in New York, and she didn't know who he was.

Rumors: A recent issue of SO WHAT! says that Skylar has become a doctor and moved to Marin, leading to speculations (on the message boards at the official site, no less) about the state of the Ulrichs' marriage, although many people interpret that to mean that they were once a bicoastal, commuter couple, but now reside full-time in Marin, which is, as someone there pointed out, a county. She did not seem particularly pleased with him at the VH1 My Music Awards, although some wonder if that may have something to do with Lars' attachment to Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson.