Smith 1 Casey Smith ENG 200 4/23/14 Prof.

Olding Riding the Lightning of Metallica Metallica is best known for being one of, if not the most, successful Hard-Rock band in history. Kicking off in the 80s the band made slow progress towards fame at first. After a rough start and a mix of band members the boys soon kicked off the start to a truly incredible career. Metallica changed the tone of rock music of the time, kicking out the hair bands and bringing back shear skill and wonderfully written and meaningful lyrics. At their peak Metallica was filling arenas at every stop of every tour. They stretched the bounds of their genre multiple times. One of the most notable was when the band performed with The San Francisco Orchestra. Metallica is also noted with being one of the key sponsors in the take down of Napster. Being notoriously known for their use of drugs and alcohol, these shenanigans soon caught up with the band causing animosity between members of the band. Between these two factors the band took a big hit in their fan base causing the band to struggle mostly internally. The band rebounded after a lengthy disappearance and came back strong and as dominant as ever. After 15 years of roller coaster head-banging success the band finally earned their right to do whatever they wanted (Christie 59,309). Metallica successfully influenced many aspects of the music industry as well as changing many social norms. Metallica took the world by storm by, not only influencing their own genre, but the music industry as a whole. Metallica started when a young Danish boy named Lars Ulrich came across a once in a life time opportunity to hold down the last few seconds of an LP called Metal Massacre. Lars had been jamming with a local guitarist James Hetfield and the two of them set-out to find another member to record for the LP. Lars was raised a free-willed child with little parental restriction. His parents had substantial

Smith 2 money from his dads professional tennis career and they allowed Lars to do whatever he wanted as long as it didnt affect them. James on the other hand was raised by extremely strict parents who were Christian Scientists. These two made for an odd combination that at first had both doubting each other. Lars had many connections within the business and quickly found a guitarist by the name of Lloyd Grant, a Jamaican guitarist with skills that at the time were better than James. Together the three produced the song Hit the Lights and Metallica, in a subtle way, was born (Christie 59-60). The next step to stardom for Metallica was performing live. Directly after recording Hit the Lights guitarist Lloyd Grant left. The next few months the band did rag-tag events picking up Guitarist Dave Mustaine and Bassist Rob McGovney. These two including the two original members James and Lars would form the band for the beginning years. The band recorded their first demo album No life Til Leather and with it left Los Angeles and headed for a concert in San Francisco (Christie 63-64). The band had a huge following in the foreign city and was sure to show great success in the future. To grow to even further heights Metallica decided to drop their current bassist in order to pick up Cliff Burton, an extremely talented bassist that had been part of another band on the LP Metallica first appeared on. The new group of four officially took their gear and moved north from L.A. to San Fran. Looking to produce their first album Metallica found a sponsor in The Big Apple. Mid-way through recording their first album Dave Mustaine was kicked due to excess drinking and violent behavior and was quickly replaced by Kirk Hammett. Together the two starting members and their new hippie guitarist successfully put together Kill Em All in 1983 (Christe 87-88). The first album pulled many hits including Ride the Lightning, Four Horsemen, and Seek and Destroy among a few others. Most notably Four Horsemen had an interesting influence using bible verses to create lyrics that describe the band wiping clean the earth of all things not pure metal. Most of the songs on the album were written by Mustaine before he was given the boot. Four horseman however, was written purely by the

Smith 3 new members primarily James who used his knowledge growing up under and extremely religious roof to pull together this song in a way many other metal bands would never be able to do. Before Metallica was able to record or produce a second full length album a break in society occurred. Metal music had reached a point where it started to interfere with the common view of society. Kids began to dress like these rockers and inherently caused panic within the political world. Soon an organization called PMRC (Parents music resource center) found ways to slow down the takeover that metal music was causing. In the end the PMRC accomplished very little, but by 1990 further government action caused all records with suggestive material to be tagged with a parental guidance sticker. In 1984 Metallica released their second full length album Ride the Lightning (Nykolayko). This album showed the band in a much more mature state of mind. With the PMRC breathing down metals throat, Metallica took a different stance with their lyrics in this album. Many songs were politically centered, one of which Fight Fire with Fire seems to be a cry against the nuclear threat that was the Cold-War and Russia. Other songs dug back to James Christian background and pulled more versus from exodus. All together this album showed how far Metallica could reach for inspiration and that they were only getting started. The new album led to a tour in Europe (where the album was actually recorded). Metallica backed Twisted Sister on the tour and together they put together an electrifying show. After this tour the young and upcoming band split from their current record label and signed with Elektra Records. The band had finally reached some aspect of big time success. They reached mostly college campuses with little real radio play, but the metal world had taken them and ran. Metallica, under their new label released a different kind of album. This album was a collection of hits the boys covered from other bands. The album Garage Inc. sold 40,000 copies and allowed fans of the band to enjoy songs that the

Smith 4 band enjoyed, but by Metallica (Christe 129,130). This didnt task the bands creativity or time because most of the songs were simply pulled from jam sessions. During this time the band, still growing, had some flashback moments where former band members and former bands began attempts to strike back at what Metallica had grown. Unsuccessful to say the least, these bands did manage to create a new form of metal called thrash metal. This new sub-genre simply took Metallicas power metal sound and sped it up. Little success was found in this sub-genre even by bands made up of ex-Metallica members. After touring on Ride the Lightning had concluded, the band launched their first album under their new record label and in February of 1986 the Master of Puppets Era had begun (Christe 144). Master of Puppets followed suit with Ride the Lightning in how the album was structured almost to a tee. This said Puppets made sure to sound more refined and it brought success along with it. The first album by Metallica to go gold the band had finally made it. To add to that success the band had secured a spot with Ozzy Osborne on a tour all over America. Ozzy was known for having opening acts that were poised to be the next big thing and Metallica was just that. Reaching out to fans everywhere Metallica kept to its roots, supported the people that got them to their level of fame, and it paid off. Even with all of the hype surrounding the band and their success, Metallica kept their view of fame down to earth. One thing Metallica was not ready for was the MTV music video world. One quote from Lars Ulrich regarding the music video trend stated that The way were gonna be big, hopefully in four to five years, is gonna be a quite different way than any other band has done it, except maybe Iron Maiden. Its gonna be a sort of thing where you dont have to follow trends or get airplay, you dont need to make videos, you just sort of do it through a really good street buzz. Keeping a down-to-earth thing going with kids, doing what you wanna do. The juggernaut that is Metallica did just as this quote says. They didnt stray from what they loved and they forced their way into mainstream media.

Smith 5 Then on September 27, 1986 Metallicas tour bus flipped on black ice and killed their bass guitarist Cliff Burton. To say the least, this was a huge blow to not only Metallica, but metal music as an entire genre. Metallica started looking for a replacement bassist long before any of the members were truly ready to reconcile with the loss of Burton. This caused endless amounts of rehearsals and tryouts. Eventually and somewhat reluctantly Ulrich hired Jason Newstead. Newstead was looked down upon in the band and was often hazed. Metallica then went on to release a video that purely focused of Cliffs skills as a player, but the band was surprised to see how many negative letters they received that frowned upon seeing Cliff smoking weed on the video. This is the first time it became clear to Metallica that they had a younger audience looking up to them now (Christe 194). Metallica has matured now and over time grown to massive heights and with the fame comes new responsibilities. Moving past the loss of a key member of their band, Metallica went back to the studio and finished their fourth album, but it was delayed due to a tour with big names like Van Halen. This tour signifies Metallicas take over and inherently they entered a world of success that no one else could ever say they reached. Sources from the tour claim that Metallica made more income on that tour than the other five bands they were on tour with combined (Christe 195). Finally after the tour wrapped up the band launched their next album And Justice for All. The album launched with incredible unrealistic embrace from the public, but in reality the album suffered in creativity. With the loss of Cliff a lot that the band was known for fell apart. Lars drums became more apparent and clashy while the twin guitars are almost nonexistent. With a new level of fame established, Metallica put out their first music video, One. One depicts the devastation of war, and in particular the devastation of bombs of the time. One has scenes of the band in black in white with scenes of a movie depicting the thoughts on war at the time. The lyrics are dark and very descriptive. The video tells the story of a young war veteran who has had his limbs

Smith 6 blown off. The boy doesnt think he can live with it and the band portrays this by quickening their pace half way through the song. Bringing up dark topics like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Towards the end the boy decides he would rather die than live without appendages. The total darkness of this video matches perfectly with the brashness of Metallicas musical style. The video brought harsh review being as politically centered as it was. The anti-war topic was a common re-occurrence for Metallica and One was just another notch in that ideology (One). The next few years Metallica did what any mainstream multi-million dollar band would do. They made their performances bigger brighter and more laden with fancy effects. Along with that the band continued to pour out music videos and other things to keep the fan-base happy. At the core, Metallica kept to their course and didnt do anything to extravagant to change who they were. Their foundation stayed true and so did their fan base. Another big moment for Metallica and Metal as a whole was when Metallica performed at the 1989 Grammy Awards. The award show was shooing in a new award just for metal music. Sadly society wasnt quite ready to except metal still and Metallica did not win the award it so rightfully deserved. The same year Guns-N-Roses beat out Metallica for best video prize. These two examples were minor losses compared to the massiveness that Metallica had established (Christe 213). Finally, In 1990 Metallica took home their first Grammy. With society finally on their side Metallica returned to the studio to build the album that would make them house hold names for years to come. The Black Album launched with an entire new mind set. Metallica had to build an album that would perform well to massive audiences. Writing most of the songs, Lars and James came back to the studio ready to do just that. The album sold 50 million copies worldwide and firmly established Metallica into every aspect of modern society. This new sound brought metal to the brim of pop music and with it spawned alternative metal. A kind of punk metal or just a slower more melodic version of thrash metal that died with Metallicas

Smith 7 Justice album. This genre spawned acts such as Rage Against the Machine who found success under the Black album of Metallica (Christe 222). Metallica continued through the 90s selling out shows and continuing their growth. Opening acts such as the famous Lollapalooza in 96 and doing other large shows that mostly all sold-out the band was still on top of the world by all means. The biggest thing to come up over this time frame is the Hair-cuts. Metallica members had started to mature and become men and with that they had to portray that look. For the first time in their careers the boys rocked out on stage in outfits that actually showed just how successful they had become. Still holding true to the rock world the band managed to wear designer clothes that still portrayed the rock world that they had created. Surprisingly this phase molded well and most of the world accepted the new look. Moving into the 21st Century Metallica started to have some serious internal problems. Jason Newsted was kicked out of the band because James didnt feel he was focused enough, with the loss of a bassist the band tried to find success in a new album only to find out their old way of making music didnt work. The band had to bring in a therapist to help the members talk to each other. With this James decided he needed help and entered himself into rehab causing the band to spiral into a long and dangerous hiatus. The once all powerful Metallica had fallen, and it seemed that they may not make it back to the stardom they had once mastered (Monster). After a four year hiatus the band returned, but with a different modernized tone. This album, St. Anger, was a modernized Metallica with songs back to their roots, but a new sound all together. This album allowed all members of the band to equially contribute to the album. Though the production was tough, James successfully made it out of his rehab and re-established himself back into the band slowly. For the most part St. Anger was a success and the band made their hiatus just a hiccup in the road.

Smith 8 The next big roadblock for Metallica was Napster. Napster was a site where mostly young kids in college went to illegally download their music. Lars found out Napster and immediately decided to file suit against the company. Lars took as his personal vendetta to take this company down. He felt that his hard work should not be stolen and that the countless hours put into album writing was so smothered in the fact that people could get his music for free without his or anyones permission. He not only sued the company but four large collegiate institutions for allowing their students to access the site. The whole mess caused an outrage amongst Metallica fans everywhere many fans recounted the days when Metallica only grew through illegal underground album trading. The whole suit got pretty messy but ended with Metallica winning but only slightly, and with little retribution towards Napster. The big victory came when, because of the lawsuit, but not directly, Napster had to file for bankruptcy (Menn). This lawsuit caused many laws to be passed and inherently affected how music would be purchased to this day. Another strange, but awesome, branch Metallica took later in their careers though not before Newsteds leave was their performance with the San Francisco Symphony. The band was friends with the Maestro of the symphony who had offered the band the opportunity, and strangely enough the graciously accepted the offer. The performance in the end was quite impressive, but the most interesting part was the audience. Half of the audience was there to see the orchestra while the other half was pure Metallica fans. James commented that he was surprised to see so many elderly people in the crowd, and that he thought that by the end of the show, anyone that could stand and enjoy the energy was doing so in awesome Metallica fashion. This was just another way for Metallica to show just how diverse they could be and expand to do things other rock bands could never do. Towards the end of Metallicas seemingly endless career they were initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and slowed down to make time for family. The band still successfully tours and sells

Smith 9 out shows wherever they choose to tour. Metallica is a band forever imbedded in American Music history that along the way successfully created endless sub-genres and influenced countless other successful bands. They influenced the way society viewed American culture and imprinted head bangers into every corner of society. Their incredible massiveness is impossible to ignore, and with the title comes some great artists that have touched endless lives.

Smith 10 Works cited Christe, Ian. Sound of the Beast The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. New York: HarperCollins Publshers, 2004. Print. Menn, Joseph. All the rave: the rise and fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster. New York: Crown Business, 2003. Print. Nykolayko, Dan. "History: Part One." Metallica. Metallica, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. <https://www.metallica.com/band/band-history-part-one.asp>. One. Elektra Entertainment, 1989. Web. Some Kind of Monster. Dir. Joe Berlinger. Paramount Pictures, 2004. DVD. S&M. Dir. Bob Rock. Perf. Metallica. Vertigo Records, 1999. DVD.