33 Things You Should Know About Metallica They used to audition musicians while drunk, treat women like

crap and regularly try to kill one another. Now a post-rehab Metallica are back with a new lineup to reclaim their metal-overlord crowns and stuff badgers! By Steve Lowe Blender, June-July/2003 1. James Hetfield had an unusual upbringing. The Metallica singer-guitarists parents were strict Christian Scientists; the sects distrust of Western medicine meant Hetfield had to leave class during any healthrelated lessons in school. When his mother, an opera singer, died, the troubled teen cut loose. Just causing trouble, shoplifting, getting a little stash box, he says. He knew what he wanted, though: His high-school yearbook entry read: Aspirations: Be a rock star. 2. Kirk Hammett had an unusual upbringing. The lead guitarists father a merchant seaman with a drinking problem was often absent. Unsupervised on the streets of San Francisco, Hammett barely even glimpsed the straight-and-narrow. I was thrown in jail within a week of turning 18, he says. What for? Id rather not say. Ha ha! 3. Actually, so did Lars Ulrich. The Danish drummers father was a jazz-playing hippie and famous tennis player. Hoping to follow his lead, Ulrich became a ranked junior player. But the eight-hour-aday training regimen got tough. Some players, like John McEnroe, are born gifted and I didnt have that, he says. 4. Ulrich witnessed rock debauchery early on. Hanging out with metal bands in his late teens, he saw the potential for fun. Getting friendly with some British nobodies called the Starfighters really opened his eyes. When they came to L.A., their manager got them girls, drugs and alcohol, he recalls. Im going, These girls are fucking these guys because of what they are, not who they are! That was intriguing. 5. Metallica were nearly called Thunderfuck. Wed have been plastered all over the radio with that name, Hetfield says, laughing. Other questionable contenders included Nixon, Hellraiser and Blitzer. Ulrich borrowed the name Metallica from a friends list of possible titles for a new magazine. 6. Perfect houseguests They were not. Their first manager, Jon Zazula, offered them the run of his New Jersey home until his marriage started to suffer. We got kicked out of our managers house forbeing Metallica! Hetfield giggles. We drank every drop of booze in the house, including the champagne from their wedding. 7. A Simple choice: buy alcohol or buy food. Guess which won? 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. 8. Welcome to the hair-metal jungle.

Metallica were grimy outcasts in a world of spandex and hairspray. So when new bassist Cliff Burton refused to move to Los Angeles in 1983, they instead relocated to his hometown, San Francisco, where they remain based to this day. It was great walking around, giving the middle finger to everybody, says Ulrich of L.A. But in San Francisco there was a community that we could relate to. We could have conversations about Mercyful Fate instead of mascara or eyeliner. 9. Hi, do you have Metal Up Your Ass by Thunderfuck? Metallicas thrash-metal debut, Kill Em All, was supposed to be called Metal Up Your Ass until Zazula explained that most distributors wouldnt touch anything with that title. A substitute emerged when Burton, pissed off at industry prudishness, said, Fuck em; just kill em all. 10. Metallica made metal good again. 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 Metallicas 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? 11. It wasnt just Mtley Cre 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 youre 22 years old, its part of the allure. 12. Cliff Burton was killed in a tour-bus crash. Driving through Sweden in the early hours of September 27, 1986, the bands bus skidded on black ice. Burton was thrown from his bunk through a window and onto the road. The bus fell on him, killing him instantly. Recent auditions for new bassists stirred vivid memories. It brought us back to that hole, that void left by his demise, Hammett says. 13. Their booze-warrior alter egos, Alcoholica, started taking over. The name came from a fans 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. 14. They treated new boy Jason Newsted like crap. They welcomed Burtons 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. Weve been trying to meet with him, but for some reason he keeps canceling. 15. They treated everyone else like crap, too! We used to abuse ourselves and everyone around us, Hammett confesses. Wed victimize people. And women, wed treat women like crap. Assholes? Totally! 16. On their next album, Newsted could barely hear himself. On 1988sAnd 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 theres no bass! 17. Hetfield was a regular in the EMERGENCY ROOM. Among the thrill-seekers 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 didnt know how far to

take things. 18. Dig stuffed animals? Hammetts your man. The taxidermy enthusiasts home is packed full of stuffed badgers, foxes and assorted other fauna. He recently bought a fossilized skeleton of a cave bear thats one million years old. Thirteen feet tall, it stands in his stairwell. I have a sheep with two heads its antique, from the turn of the century. Its old and decrepit-looking, he says. 19. Ulrich collects modern art. He especially likes physical, art brutstyle 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! 20. The Black Albums cover was a homage to AC/DCs Back in Black. Not Spinal Taps Smell the Glove! Their 12 millionselling, self-titled mainstream breakthrough from 1991 was packaged in a nonemore-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? 21. OK, James, whatever you say. In band bust-ups, tough guy Hetfield would throw his considerable weight around. His intimidation tactics didnt wash with Ulrich. I could see through his bullshit, the drummer says. Thats why he and I had the most volatile relationship I was the only one who didnt get intimidated. And I knew how to push his buttons. 22. Hammett is the bands lukewarm-water peacemaker. Like Derek Smalls did for Spinal Tap, Hammett often literally came between Hetfield and Ulrichs fire-and-ice act: My role was and I emphasize was acting as referee between James and Lars when things were bad. Id often step between them when they were slowly inching toward each other, zeroing in on the kill. 23. Cutting your hair doesnt equal selling out. For their next two albums Load (1996) and Reload (1997), Metallicas new alt-rock image angered metal diehards. Ulrichs fuzzy mohair jacket came in for special criticism. It seemed like a good idea at the time, he counters. Im not saying that I dont look at some things and go, Urgh! But at least I had guts. 24. The Playboy Mansion is really a better place for bachelors. Metallica played at Hugh Hefners 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! 25. No one expected the Napster debate to turn into Metallica vs. the Kids. Rocks most zealous anti-Napster campaigner, Ulrich even testified against illegal downloading to the U.S. Senate in July 2000. Many fans felt betrayed. I was leading the cavalry forward, and I looked behind me and nobody was there, he ruefully recalls. Im proud of the stance we took, but it was a very difficult time. All the stuff people were throwing at us hurt more than we let on. It was a very lonely time. 26. By 2001, no one in the band liked one another much. After a long period of inactivity, with Hetfield increasingly angry about Newsteds side project, IR8, Metallica was in a bad spot. Says Ulrich: There was absolutely no communication. We were talking to each other through managers. That was our lowest point.

27. Finally, Newsted couldnt take it any more. After 14 years, they again needed a new bassist. The split was complicated and traumatic. Jason didnt ask to leave, Ulrich says, glaring. It was like, Wait a minute; you cant make a decision without being told what to do! 28. Hammett found out he had suffered liver damage luckily, it wasnt irreversible. Years of excessive drinking had left their mark, so Alcoholica went on hold. Hammett cut out cocaine, too. Id become useless, he says. Id become depressed; my relationships suffered. So I made a few decisions and I took up surfing! 29. It was time for a checkup from the neck up. Hetfield isnt 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. Thats when the mud got stirred up, and I couldnt ignore all this stuff from the past. There was a lot of grief and depression that hadnt been worked through. We were all addressing our inner selves. 30. 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. Youre more important than killing small, furry animals, Kirk! Hetfield offers, generously. Wow, thats great, his guitarist replies. 31. New guy Rob Trujillo is fitting in fine. After months of wild speculation about Newsteds replacement, the former bassist for both Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies finally beat out the competition. Robs been in our band a month, and Ive felt closer to him and feel more complete as a band than maybe I ever did with Jason, Ulrich says. That says something about those 14 years, and Ive only just started to realize that. 32. St. Anger sounds very, uh, angry. The new album is an all-out, intense, hardcore punk-metal assault surprising stuff from a bunch of old hands. We feel good about playing aggressively again, Hetfield explains. There are parts where its just an onslaught, all instruments as loud as they possibly can be. 33. Metallica still feel like underdogs. Some people [mistakenly thought] that because the mainstream came to Metallica, then Metallica suddenly belonged to the establishment, Ulrich says dismissively. Nobody should harbor such illusions. Says Hammett: Weve always been aliens, man!