WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.520 We are looking at a beast today. I mean, really, 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.120 a cultural institution. If you were an alien 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.280 landing on Earth and you just, you know, looked 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.619 at the sheer volume of stats around this group, 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:12.060 you wouldn't think musicians. No, you'd think 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:14.900 multinational corporation. Or a small country, 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:18.239 maybe. Exactly. We're talking over 163 million 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:21.829 albums sold worldwide. We're talking about, and 00:00:21.829 --> 00:00:23.609 this is the one that always gets me, the third 00:00:23.609 --> 00:00:26.809 best -selling music artist of the entire SoundScan 00:00:26.809 --> 00:00:29.210 era. Which is a massive distinction. I mean, 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:30.510 you have to understand what that means. Since 00:00:30.510 --> 00:00:33.609 1991, when they started actually scanning barcodes, 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.530 only two artists have sold more albums. Garth 00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:38.929 Brooks and the Beatles. Right. So that puts them 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:41.770 in some pretty rarefied air. It's not just about 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:44.109 being a big metal band. It's about being one 00:00:44.109 --> 00:00:46.549 of the biggest recording acts of all time. Period. 00:00:46.710 --> 00:00:49.810 And they are the first and I believe still the 00:00:49.810 --> 00:00:51.770 only band to have played on all seven continents. 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:55.609 Yep. They hauled their amps to Antarctica for 00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:58.250 a show called Freeze Them All. Just to check 00:00:58.250 --> 00:01:00.310 that final box. It's that level of dedication 00:01:00.310 --> 00:01:02.909 or maybe obsession. But here's the thing that 00:01:02.909 --> 00:01:05.569 makes this specific deep dive so interesting 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:08.890 to me. We aren't talking about a safe, radio 00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:12.549 -friendly pop act. We are not talking about, 00:01:12.569 --> 00:01:15.840 you know, a Taylor Swift or a U2. No. Not even 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.239 close. We are talking about Metallica. A band 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:22.439 that built an entire empire on aggression. on 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:25.359 songs about insanity and nightmares and drug 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:28.260 addiction and war. They play fast, they look 00:01:28.260 --> 00:01:30.780 scary, or at least they used to, and yet somehow 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.680 they became these mainstream superstars. That's 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.159 the central question, isn't it? It is. The mission 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.780 for this deep dive is to figure out how that 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:41.180 happened. How did a tennis -playing drummer from 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:43.920 Denmark and a painfully shy guitarist from a 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.140 Christian science family in Los Angeles, how 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:48.519 did they survive tragedy, addiction, and the 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:50.879 internet to become this massive titan of... the 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.200 big four. It's a story of paradoxes. I think 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:54.640 that's the only way you can really view it. Yeah. 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:57.120 You have a band that's defined by speed, by thrash 00:01:57.120 --> 00:01:59.000 metal, that achieved its greatest commercial 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.599 success by slowing down. You have a band that 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:05.739 preaches this intense, almost cult -like brotherhood 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.580 and loyalty to the fans, the Metallica family. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:12.319 Yet they have a history of some of the most bitter 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.539 internal and external feuds in all of rock history. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.020 and of course the big one they're the band that 00:02:18.020 --> 00:02:20.180 tried to destroy the very technology that eventually 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:23.639 you could argue saved the music industry oh the 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.300 napster war yeah we will definitely get deep 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:28.460 into that lawsuit because it didn't just change 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.699 the band's image it changed the internet forever 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:33.539 So we've got a massive stack of sources today. 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.280 We've pulled the historical timelines, the discography 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.060 deep dives, all the feud histories, and the critical 00:02:39.060 --> 00:02:42.000 reception records from the archives. But I think 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.960 we have to start where all good stories start. 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:45.819 The awkward beginning. The awkward beginning. 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.419 Because before they were selling out stadiums 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:50.219 and playing in Antarctica, there were just two 00:02:50.219 --> 00:02:52.639 lonely kids in Los Angeles who, frankly, couldn't 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:56.120 find anyone to play with. It's late 1981. And 00:02:56.120 --> 00:02:58.259 you really have to understand the context of 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:01.009 Los Angeles at this specific moment. If you're 00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:04.849 a guitarist in L .A. in 81, what are you trying 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:06.650 to look like? What are you trying to sound like? 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:09.550 Oh, it's Muttley Crue. It's Rat. It's the birth 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:12.490 of glam. You've got spandex. You've got hairspray. 00:03:12.490 --> 00:03:14.889 You've got makeup. The music is all about partying, 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:17.009 girls, and, you know, having a good time on the 00:03:17.009 --> 00:03:19.210 Sunset Strip. Precisely. And then you have this 00:03:19.210 --> 00:03:22.560 Danish teenager, Lars Ulrich. He'd moved to Newport 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:25.020 Beach from Copenhagen because his dad, Torben 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:27.340 Ulrich, was a professional tennis player. Right. 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.479 The plan was for Lars to be a tennis pro, too. 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.340 That was the family business. But Lars had this 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:35.180 secret obsession. He wasn't listening to Van 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:37.759 Halen or the bands on the radio. He was completely 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.479 consumed by something called the new wave of 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:44.139 British heavy metal. The NWOBHM. Yeah. Bands 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:46.620 like Diamondhead, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Tigers 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:50.560 of Pantang. This was gritty, unpolished, working 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.860 class metal from the UK. It was the absolute 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:55.219 opposite of the Sunset Strip vibe. Yeah. Not 00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:58.099 even close. So Lars is this total outsider. He's 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:00.080 short. He's got the Danish accent. He's not the 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:02.400 tennis star his dad wants him to be. And he wants 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.819 to play this obscure British music that nobody 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:07.139 in California has even heard of. So he does what 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.020 you did in 1981. He takes out a classified ad 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:12.280 in a local news. newspaper is a paper called 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:14.979 The Recycler. I love the specificity of this 00:04:14.979 --> 00:04:17.660 ad. It didn't just say drummer looking for band. 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.480 It was so targeted. It said drummer looking for 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.920 other metal musicians to jam with Tigers of Pantang, 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.459 Diamondhead and Iron Maiden. He was filtering 00:04:26.459 --> 00:04:29.360 out the glam rockers immediately. He was curating 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.579 his circle before he even had one. He was essentially 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:33.680 saying, if you don't know who these bands are, 00:04:33.779 --> 00:04:35.819 don't even bother calling me. And that ad was 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:38.879 answered by James Hetfield. Now, James was in 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:41.459 many ways the opposite of Lars. He was this quiet, 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.660 angry kid from a very strict Christian science 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:47.399 family down in Downey, California. Oil and water. 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:51.120 James was already a phenomenal rhythm guitarist, 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.569 but socially. He was introverted, maybe a little 00:04:54.569 --> 00:04:57.310 insecure. Lars was. Well, Lars was Lars. All 00:04:57.310 --> 00:04:59.769 hustle. The first jam session was, by all accounts, 00:04:59.930 --> 00:05:02.689 terrible. A disaster. Yeah. Lars apparently couldn't 00:05:02.689 --> 00:05:04.709 really keep time. His cymbals kept falling over. 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:06.709 James just thought he was this weird, spazzy 00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:09.490 European kid. But here is the Lars Ulrich hustle 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:11.850 that really defines the band's entire career. 00:05:12.129 --> 00:05:13.810 He might not have been the best drummer in the 00:05:13.810 --> 00:05:16.129 world at that point, but he was absolutely the 00:05:16.129 --> 00:05:18.610 best networker. He had befriended a guy named 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:21.050 Brian Slagle, who was just starting a little 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:22.829 indie label called Mess. Metal Blade Records. 00:05:23.149 --> 00:05:25.870 Right. So Lars goes to Slagle and asks him, hey, 00:05:25.970 --> 00:05:28.389 if I put a band together, can I get a song on 00:05:28.389 --> 00:05:31.089 your new compilation album, Metal Massacre? And 00:05:31.089 --> 00:05:33.790 Slagle said yes. Slagle said yes. So Lars had 00:05:33.790 --> 00:05:35.829 the record deal or at least the promise of a 00:05:35.829 --> 00:05:38.810 slot on a record before he even had a functioning 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:40.990 band. Yeah. That's incredible. It's the ultimate 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:43.529 leverage. He called Hetfield back and basically 00:05:43.529 --> 00:05:46.329 said, hey, remember me, the terrible drummer? 00:05:46.449 --> 00:05:48.089 Well, I'm going to be on a record. Do you want 00:05:48.089 --> 00:05:50.860 to play guitar on it? In 1981. That's the golden 00:05:50.860 --> 00:05:53.660 ticket. A slot on vinyl, that's everything. So 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:56.420 they officially formed Metallica on October 28, 00:05:56.680 --> 00:05:59.300 1981. That's about five months after they first 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:02.459 met. But we have to talk about the name, Metallica. 00:06:02.740 --> 00:06:05.100 It sounds so established now, you know, like 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:07.939 Coca -Cola or Ford, but they almost lost it to 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.879 a fanzine. This is another perfect example of 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:15.060 Lars being, well, cutthroat. His friend, a guy 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:17.980 named Ron Quintana, was starting a metal fanzine. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.480 and he had a list of potential names. He asks 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:24.220 Lars for his opinion. The two top choices were 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:27.220 Metal Mania and Metallica. And Lars, you can 00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:29.500 just picture the gears turning in his head, realizes 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:32.259 Metallica is the coolest name he's ever heard. 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:33.980 Oh, absolutely. So he immediately tells Ron, 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:35.899 you know what, you should definitely call your 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.079 magazine Metal Mania. That's a way better name. 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:40.160 laughs just to get it out of the way so he could 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.959 take the other one exactly he just swiped it 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:44.439 i'll take that thank you very much classic so 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:46.240 they have the name they have the drummer and 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.899 they have the rhythm guitarist and singer but 00:06:48.899 --> 00:06:54.579 that early lineup was let's say volatile we need 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:57.060 to talk about the lead guitar spot because before 00:06:57.060 --> 00:06:59.420 there was kirk hammett there was dave mustaine 00:06:59.930 --> 00:07:02.129 Dave Mustaine is such a pivotal, almost tragic 00:07:02.129 --> 00:07:04.290 figure in this story. He was the original lead 00:07:04.290 --> 00:07:06.550 guitarist, and by all accounts, a phenomenal 00:07:06.550 --> 00:07:08.889 player. They recruited him partly because he 00:07:08.889 --> 00:07:10.810 had really expensive equipment and he could get 00:07:10.810 --> 00:07:15.110 them good gigs. But Mustaine was intense. That 00:07:15.110 --> 00:07:17.250 seems to be the word everyone uses. To put it 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:20.389 mildly, he was a brilliant player. Very fast, 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:23.870 very technical, very aggressive. But he had a 00:07:23.870 --> 00:07:28.410 serious problem with alcohol and violence. He 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:30.750 was completely unpredictable. The stories from 00:07:30.750 --> 00:07:34.389 that era are just wild. He'd get drunk and start 00:07:34.389 --> 00:07:36.490 fights with the crowd or with the other bands 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:39.889 or with James and Lars. He famously poured an 00:07:39.889 --> 00:07:42.410 entire can of beer into the pickups of a rival 00:07:42.410 --> 00:07:44.629 band's bass guitar right before they went on 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:47.550 stage. He was a loose cannon. And it got to the 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:49.810 point where Hetfield and Ulrich, who were no 00:07:49.810 --> 00:07:52.370 angels themselves, they started to feel unsafe 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:55.029 around him. So this all comes to a head in April 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:57.750 1983. The band has traveled all the way from 00:07:57.750 --> 00:07:59.810 California to New York to record their debut 00:07:59.810 --> 00:08:02.370 album. Right. And one morning, they just wake 00:08:02.370 --> 00:08:04.029 Mustaine up while he's sleeping it off. They 00:08:04.029 --> 00:08:06.209 hand him a bus ticket back to Los Angeles and 00:08:06.209 --> 00:08:07.910 literally kick him out the door. His gear was 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:10.009 already packed. No warning. No, let's sit down 00:08:10.009 --> 00:08:11.589 and talk about this. Nope. It was just, you're 00:08:11.589 --> 00:08:13.490 out. The bus leaves in an hour. And that's a 00:08:13.490 --> 00:08:16.410 four -day bus ride home. Can you imagine? He 00:08:16.410 --> 00:08:18.670 had nothing to do for four days but sit on that 00:08:18.670 --> 00:08:21.850 bus and just stew in his anger and his resentment. 00:08:22.069 --> 00:08:24.649 And that anger is so important because Mustaine 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:28.110 didn't quit music. He formed his own band Megadeth 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.089 for the specific purpose of being faster, heavier, 00:08:31.189 --> 00:08:34.039 and more technical than Metallica. So that one 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:36.279 firing created the single greatest rivalry in 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:38.700 thrash metal history. It gave us two of the big 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:41.120 four bands right there. And what's even crazier 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.820 is that literally the same afternoon they fired 00:08:43.820 --> 00:08:45.919 Mustaine in New York, they were already on the 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:47.960 phone with his replacement. They flew in Kirk 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.799 Hammett from a Bay Area band called Exodus. Kirk 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.539 was the perfect counterbalance, wasn't he? He 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:54.559 was calm. He was a little bit of a hippie. He 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:56.659 was a student of Jose Triani. He could shred, 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:59.399 but he didn't have that same... violent edge. 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:02.200 Not at all. He basically learned the entire set 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:04.340 list on the flight over from San Francisco to 00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:06.600 New York. But we are still missing the final 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.200 and maybe most important piece of that classic 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.779 lineup, the secret weapon, the bassist, Cliff 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:16.179 Burton. Ah, Cliff. Cliff was different. He was 00:09:16.179 --> 00:09:19.179 on another level entirely. Hetfield and Ulrich 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:22.220 saw him playing a show at The Whiskey, a go -go 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:25.820 in LA, with his band at the time, a group called 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:28.690 Trauma. And they hear this sound, right? This 00:09:28.690 --> 00:09:31.889 insane, distorted solo. Yeah, this crazy wah 00:09:31.889 --> 00:09:34.690 -wah distortion solo. And they look at the stage, 00:09:34.730 --> 00:09:36.889 expecting to see some amazing lead guitarist. 00:09:36.929 --> 00:09:39.409 But instead, they see this guy in bell -bottoms, 00:09:39.409 --> 00:09:42.250 just head -banging like a maniac with a Rickenbacker 00:09:42.250 --> 00:09:45.210 bass. He was playing the solo on his bass using 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:47.929 a wah -wah pedal, which is, that's technically 00:09:47.929 --> 00:09:49.649 bizarre, isn't it? The bass is supposed to be 00:09:49.649 --> 00:09:52.049 the anchor, the low end. The wah is for the crying, 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:55.070 screaming lead guitar solos. Exactly. Cliff played 00:09:55.070 --> 00:09:57.210 the bass like a lead instrument. He had classical 00:09:57.210 --> 00:09:59.649 training. He understood harmony and melody in 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:02.029 a way that James and Lars, who were more about 00:10:02.029 --> 00:10:04.590 brute force, just didn't yet. They were completely 00:10:04.590 --> 00:10:06.809 blown away. So they begged him to join the band. 00:10:06.970 --> 00:10:09.149 They did. But Cliff was a Northern California 00:10:09.149 --> 00:10:11.230 guy through and through, a real Bay Area dude. 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:14.049 He hated L .A. He hated the whole glam scene. 00:10:14.190 --> 00:10:16.429 So he told them, look, I'll join your band, but 00:10:16.429 --> 00:10:18.820 only on one condition. You have to move. You 00:10:18.820 --> 00:10:21.919 have to move your entire operation from LA up 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:24.419 to the San Francisco Bay Area. That is such a 00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:27.659 power move. Move your entire lives and the band's 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:30.480 headquarters 400 miles north or I'm not interested. 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.720 And they did it. They packed up their stuff and 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:36.460 moved to a house in El Cerrito. And that geographical 00:10:36.460 --> 00:10:39.759 shift is so crucial to their story. Because in 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.299 the Bay Area, they found their tribe. The Bay 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:44.779 Area thrash scene was just starting to form. 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:47.240 This is where you get bands like Exodus, Testament, 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:50.460 Death Angel. Right. And it wasn't about hairspray 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:52.679 and makeup. It was about denim jackets, leather, 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.980 high -top sneakers, and just playing as fast 00:10:54.980 --> 00:10:58.179 and as aggressively as humanly possible. They 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:01.000 were home. So the lineup is finally locked. You 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.840 have Hetfield on vocals and rhythm guitar, Ulrich 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.200 on drums, Burton on bass, and Hammett on lead 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:08.639 guitar. This is the classic lineup. And they 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:10.519 drop what becomes known as the Thrash Trilogy. 00:11:10.620 --> 00:11:12.440 Let's run through these because this is the foundation 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:15.639 of the entire legend. First up, 1983, Kill Em 00:11:15.639 --> 00:11:18.240 All. Which they originally wanted to call Metal 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:20.480 Like Your Ass. Laughs right. With the proposed 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.100 cover art of a hand holding a bloody dagger coming 00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:26.159 out of a toilet bowl. Very subtle. The distributors, 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:29.539 needless to say, refused to stock it. So Cliff 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:32.159 Burton, in his infinite wisdom, apparently just 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.419 said, you know what, man, just kill them all. 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:37.779 Meaning kill the record company executives. And 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:40.200 the name stuck. And the album itself is just, 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.759 it's pure, raw energy. It's basically punk rock 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.000 played with heavy metal precision and speed. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:49.100 You've got songs like Whiplash and Seek and Destroy 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:51.519 that are still live staples today. It really 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.639 established the template for thrash. Absolutely. 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:56.419 And then just a year later, 1984, they released 00:11:56.419 --> 00:11:58.559 Ride the Lightning. This is where I think you 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:00.919 really start to hear the Cliff Burton influence 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.879 in a major way. Oh, so? Well, their songwriting 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:06.259 becomes much more sophisticated. They start using 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:08.259 acoustic guitars. They write a power ballad, 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:10.100 the first of its kind, really called Fade to 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:12.200 Black. Which was incredibly controversial at 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:14.360 the time. Metalheads in 1984 were like, what 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:16.419 are you doing? Acoustic guitar is a slow song. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:18.659 You're selling out. They got so much hate mail 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:22.559 for it. But Fade to Black. which is about suicide, 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.519 proved they could write emotionally heavy songs, 00:12:25.659 --> 00:12:27.759 not just physically heavy ones. It showed they 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:30.360 were becoming real composers, not just bangers. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.799 It expanded the entire genre. And then the big 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:37.580 one, 1986, Master of Puppets. The masterpiece. 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:40.080 There's no other word for it. They recorded it 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:42.100 in Denmark with producer Flemming Rasmussen. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.740 It is, without exaggeration, widely considered 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:47.960 one of the greatest and most influential metal 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:50.919 albums ever made. It's perfect from start to 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:53.320 finish. It really is. The title track, Master 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:55.919 of Puppets, is this eight and a half minute epic 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:58.159 with multiple time changes, complex harmonies, 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.179 and incredible instrumental section. And the 00:13:00.179 --> 00:13:02.700 themes are so mature. It's all about drugs controlling 00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:04.620 you, the government controlling you, insanity 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:06.659 controlling you. It was their first album to 00:13:06.659 --> 00:13:09.059 be certified gold. They were on a massive tour 00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:11.600 opening for Ozzy Osbourne. They were, for all 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.700 intents and purposes, on top of the world. They 00:13:13.700 --> 00:13:15.940 had finally... And that, of course, brings us 00:13:15.940 --> 00:13:18.480 to the tragedy. Because right at this absolute 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.720 peak, everything changes. September 27, 1986. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:24.759 It's the great what if that just haunts the entire 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.419 genre. They were in Sweden on the European leg 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:30.870 of the Damage Inc. tour. They were traveling 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:33.549 overnight on a tour bus between Stockholm and 00:13:33.549 --> 00:13:36.049 Copenhagen. And the conditions on the bus were 00:13:36.049 --> 00:13:38.669 not great. No, they were terrible. The sleeping 00:13:38.669 --> 00:13:41.610 bunks were small and uncomfortable. So to make 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:44.409 it fair, the band members would draw cards to 00:13:44.409 --> 00:13:46.509 see who got first pick of the bunks for the night. 00:13:46.649 --> 00:13:50.210 It was literally a game of chance. A card game 00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:54.049 decided their fates. It did. On that night, Cliff 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:56.789 Burton drew the ace of spades. He looked over 00:13:56.789 --> 00:14:00.179 at Kirk Hammett and said, I want your bunk. Kirk 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:02.399 had one of those slightly better spots. Kirk 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:04.320 said, fine, take it. I'll sleep up in the front 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.059 of the bus. So Cliff took the bunk in the back. 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:08.779 And then sometime near dawn, the driver lost 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:11.419 control of the bus. The bus skidded off the road. 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.419 It rolled over onto the grass. Everyone inside 00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:16.519 was just tumbled around like laundry in a dryer. 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:20.039 James, Lars, and Kirk managed to climb out through 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:22.600 the emergency hatch. They were bruised, in shock, 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.740 standing in the freezing Swedish morning in their 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:27.259 underwear. But they couldn't find Cliff. The 00:14:27.259 --> 00:14:30.080 bus had landed on top of him. He had been thrown 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.960 through the window as the bus rolled, and then 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.200 the full weight of the chassis came down and 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.919 crushed him. He died instantly. He was only 24 00:14:38.919 --> 00:14:41.779 years old. The reaction of the band. I mean, 00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:44.779 you think of James Hetfield as this stoic, tough 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:48.299 guy, the I am the table guy. But the reports 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:50.500 from the scene are just heartbreaking. He was 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.259 completely distraught. He was running up and 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:54.440 down the road in his socks, screaming for the 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:56.879 driver, threatening to kill him. He was convinced 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.600 the driver was drunk or had fallen asleep. The 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:01.740 driver claimed he hit a patch of black ice. And 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:04.120 James didn't believe him. No. James apparently 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:06.759 walked for miles down that road in the freezing 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:09.220 cold looking for the ice. And he found nothing. 00:15:09.299 --> 00:15:11.679 It was just a senseless, tragic accident. Losing 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.399 a band member is hard enough, but losing Cliff... 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:17.139 He wasn't just the bassist. He was the musical 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:19.840 soul of the band. He was the one who taught them 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.700 about music theory and harmony. I mean, how do 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:25.279 you even begin to replace that? You can't. And 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.000 I think they knew that. They seriously debated 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.799 breaking up. But Cliff's family, his parents, 00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:31.899 they told the band, Cliff would want you to carry 00:15:31.899 --> 00:15:34.200 on. You have to. So they did. But I think they 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:37.100 processed their grief in a really... a really 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:39.059 unhealthy way. They didn't go to therapy. They 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:41.740 just got angry. And they took all of that anger 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:44.500 and grief and directed it at the new guy. Jason 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:47.159 Neustad. Poor Jason Neustad. Yeah, poor Jason. 00:15:47.259 --> 00:15:49.879 He was a huge Metallica fan. He played in a thrash 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:52.559 band called Flotsam and Jetsam. He absolutely 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:54.940 nailed the audition. He knew all the songs. But 00:15:54.940 --> 00:15:57.919 from the very moment he joined, he was the designated 00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:00.799 punching bag. The hazing stories are just legendary 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.960 and honestly pretty cruel. It was relentless 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:06.779 psychological warfare. They would run up huge 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:09.299 bar tabs on his hotel room service without telling 00:16:09.299 --> 00:16:11.159 him. They would tell interviewers he was gay. 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:13.580 They famously tricked him into eating a giant 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:15.899 ball of wasabi by telling him it was guacamole. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.360 And musically, they shut him out. Completely. 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:20.899 They never let him have a real say in the music. 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:24.559 For 13 years, he was the new kid. And that hostility 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.620 actually and audibly impacted the sound of their 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:32.679 very next album, 1988's Injustice for All. This 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:35.259 is the album famous for the missing bass. Right. 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:38.370 Audio engineers and fans still debate this to 00:16:38.370 --> 00:16:41.470 this day. If you listen to Justice, the production 00:16:41.470 --> 00:16:44.730 is incredibly strange. It sounds dry. It's clinical. 00:16:44.909 --> 00:16:48.909 It's thin. There is almost zero low end. The 00:16:48.909 --> 00:16:51.230 drums sound like typewriters, just this click, 00:16:51.230 --> 00:16:54.289 click, click sound. And Jason's bass lines, which 00:16:54.289 --> 00:16:56.269 were apparently very complex and well -written, 00:16:56.429 --> 00:16:59.350 are virtually inaudible in the final mix. So 00:16:59.350 --> 00:17:01.289 was that deliberate? Was it part of the hazing? 00:17:02.009 --> 00:17:05.109 The consensus is yes. The story goes that Lars 00:17:05.109 --> 00:17:06.970 and James went into the mixing room with the 00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:09.630 engineers and basically said, turn the bass faders 00:17:09.630 --> 00:17:12.190 down until you can barely hear them. And when 00:17:12.190 --> 00:17:14.349 the engineer did that, they said, okay, now turn 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:16.799 them down another five decibels. Wow. So they 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.599 were sonically erasing him from the record. It 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:20.519 was a sonic manifestation of their grief and 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:22.440 their anger. They were hazing him on the actual 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:24.519 vinyl. Which is a real shame because the songs 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:26.859 on that album are incredible. They're so complex 00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:29.079 and progressive. You've got Blackened, Harvester 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.559 of Sorrow, and of course the big one, One. One 00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:34.059 changed everything for them. Up to this point, 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:36.259 Metallica had stubbornly refused to make music 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:39.619 videos. They thought MTV was for posers. They 00:17:39.619 --> 00:17:42.269 thought it was selling out. But for one, they 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:45.670 finally caved. They bought the rights to a 1971 00:17:45.670 --> 00:17:49.390 anti -war film called Johnny Got His Gun. Which 00:17:49.390 --> 00:17:51.250 is a terrifying movie. If you've never seen it, 00:17:51.309 --> 00:17:53.289 it's about a soldier in World War I who gets 00:17:53.289 --> 00:17:55.450 hit by an artillery shell and loses his arms, 00:17:55.509 --> 00:17:57.390 his legs, his eyes, his ears, and his mouth. 00:17:57.470 --> 00:18:00.289 But his mind is still perfectly awake. He's just 00:18:00.289 --> 00:18:03.710 a prisoner in his own body. Chilling. So they 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.029 intercut scenes from that movie with shots of 00:18:06.029 --> 00:18:08.430 the band playing in this stark, empty warehouse. 00:18:08.829 --> 00:18:11.210 It was dark, it was gritty, and it was deeply 00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:13.950 disturbing. And MTV put it on heavy rotation. 00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:16.730 It broke them out of the metal underground and 00:18:16.730 --> 00:18:18.670 put them into living rooms all across America. 00:18:18.670 --> 00:18:22.390 It did. And it led to the infamous 1989 Grammy 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:24.789 Awards. This was the first time the Grammys ever 00:18:24.789 --> 00:18:26.809 had a category for hard rock metal performance. 00:18:27.150 --> 00:18:29.470 Metallica was nominated for rules, and Justice 00:18:29.470 --> 00:18:31.569 for All, they were the heavy favorites. They 00:18:31.569 --> 00:18:33.769 were the only logical choice. I mean, they performed 00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:37.410 one on the broadcast that night. Everyone, including 00:18:37.410 --> 00:18:39.750 the other nominees, just assumed Metallica would 00:18:39.750 --> 00:18:41.670 win. And then Alice Cooper opens the envelope 00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:45.769 and he announces the winner is Jethro Tull. Laps 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:49.789 for the album Crest of a Knave. Jethro Tull, 00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.740 the band with the flute. The flu -heavy folk 00:18:52.740 --> 00:18:56.180 rock band Jethro Tull won the first ever award 00:18:56.180 --> 00:18:59.000 for best hard rock metal performance. The audience 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:01.440 just gasped. It was so embarrassing for the Grammys. 00:19:01.460 --> 00:19:03.579 It just proved how completely out of touch the 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:05.980 Academy was with modern music. Metallica took 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:08.240 it in stride, though. They put a sticker on the 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:10.160 next pressing of the album that said Grammy Award 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:13.140 Losers. They did. But I think that loss and that 00:19:13.140 --> 00:19:15.539 chip on their shoulder, it pushed them toward 00:19:15.539 --> 00:19:17.640 the biggest, most important pivot in their entire 00:19:17.640 --> 00:19:20.400 career. It pushed them towards the 1990s and 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.440 towards the blockbuster. This is where the story 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:26.339 shifts from big metal band success to global 00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:29.259 domination. Absolutely. So after the tour for 00:19:29.259 --> 00:19:32.160 Justice, they decide they're sick of the complex 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:34.539 10 -minute songs of the dry production. They 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:37.680 wanted something that sounded huge. So they hired 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.819 a producer named Bob Rock. And Bob Rock was known 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:43.259 for working with bands like Metley Crue and Bon 00:19:43.259 --> 00:19:47.069 Jovi. The sworn enemies. The bands Metallica 00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:49.369 had spent their entire career railing against. 00:19:49.650 --> 00:19:52.190 So why hire the enemy? Because those albums sounded 00:19:52.190 --> 00:19:55.130 enormous. They sounded expensive. They had this 00:19:55.130 --> 00:19:58.329 punch and this low end that Metallica's albums, 00:19:58.390 --> 00:20:01.380 for all their complexity, just didn't have. They 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:03.660 wanted that sonic weight. But Bob Rock had a 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:06.359 condition for working with them. He did. He basically 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.339 told them, look, I don't want to just engineer 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:10.740 your songs. I want to produce them. Meaning he 00:20:10.740 --> 00:20:13.059 wanted to be involved in the arrangements, in 00:20:13.059 --> 00:20:14.779 the songwriting. He wanted to simplify everything. 00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:16.519 He listened to their demos and he told them, 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:18.900 you guys play too fast. You have way too many 00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:21.980 riffs in one song. I want you to slow down. I 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:24.359 want you to find a groove. Think of a song like 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.319 Sad But True. That's the Bob Rock influence right 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:30.279 there. And I imagine James and Lars, who are 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:32.519 notorious control freaks, just loved hearing 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.559 that. Oh, they hated it. The recording of what 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:38.779 became the Black Album was a complete war. It 00:20:38.779 --> 00:20:41.319 took nine months to make. It cost over a million 00:20:41.319 --> 00:20:44.480 dollars, which was a fortune back then. Three 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:46.599 of the four band members got divorced during 00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:49.019 the recording process. Three of them, wow. Yeah, 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.930 including Lars and Kirk. They argued with Bob 00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:55.470 Rock over every single drum hit, every vocal 00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:58.589 inflection. Bob challenged Hetfield to actually 00:20:58.589 --> 00:21:01.029 sing, you know, not just bark and yell. That's 00:21:01.029 --> 00:21:03.029 how we got songs like The Unforgiven and The 00:21:03.029 --> 00:21:05.450 Big One, Nothing Else Matters. But when that 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:08.670 album finally dropped in August of 1991, Bob 00:21:08.670 --> 00:21:11.619 Rock was proven right. He was 100 % right. It 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:13.700 debuted at number one in 10 different countries. 00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.779 It went on to sell 16 million copies in the United 00:21:16.779 --> 00:21:18.680 States alone. It's one of the best selling albums 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.259 of all time. And Enter Sandman became like the 00:21:21.259 --> 00:21:24.299 national anthem of stadium rock music. It did. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.420 And this is where that SoundScan data becomes 00:21:26.420 --> 00:21:28.740 so important. Ray, explain SoundScan for anyone 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:31.640 who might not know. Before 1991, the Billboard 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:34.220 charts were based on a pretty archaic system. 00:21:34.619 --> 00:21:36.119 They would basically just call up record store 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:38.000 clerks around the country and ask, hey, what's 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.099 selling well this week? It was easily manipulated. 00:21:40.819 --> 00:21:42.700 SoundScan introduced barcode scanning at the 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:45.039 point of purchase. It counted every single actual 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:47.980 sale. And when SoundScan turned on, the music 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:50.839 industry was shocked. They were floored. They 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:53.359 realized that country music, hip -hop, and heavy 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.960 metal were selling way, way more than they thought. 00:21:56.140 --> 00:21:58.680 Metallica wasn't just big for a metal band. They 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:00.240 were one of the biggest bands in the country, 00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:03.000 period. The numbers finally proved it. But with 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:05.180 that level of fame comes that sort of spinal 00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:08.460 tap level of disaster. The tours were just massive. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.640 They had the snake pit stage in the middle of 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.500 the arena. And they had the pyro. We have to 00:22:13.500 --> 00:22:17.519 talk about Montreal. 1992. The infamous Guns 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.099 N' Roses Metallica Stadium Tour. It was the biggest 00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:22.500 ticket on the planet that summer. Just two juggernauts. 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:25.079 But in Montreal, during the song Fade to Black, 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.299 there was a pyrotechnic miscommunication. The 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:31.990 pyro guy got the cue wrong. Yeah. James Hetfield 00:22:31.990 --> 00:22:34.490 stepped onto a spot on the stage where a 12 -foot 00:22:34.490 --> 00:22:37.210 pillar of magnesium flame was scheduled to erupt 00:22:37.210 --> 00:22:40.710 a few seconds later. But it went off early. And 00:22:40.710 --> 00:22:44.049 it just engulfed him. It did. It completely engulfed 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:46.930 him. It melted his guitar. He suffered second 00:22:46.930 --> 00:22:49.009 and third degree burns all down his entire left 00:22:49.009 --> 00:22:52.450 side. Jason Neustadt described seeing James' 00:22:52.549 --> 00:22:55.509 skin literally bubbling. It was horrific. And 00:22:55.509 --> 00:22:58.359 yet, they finished the tour. James was back on 00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:01.099 stage just 17 days later. He was all bandaged 00:23:01.099 --> 00:23:03.380 up. He couldn't play guitar. But he was up there 00:23:03.380 --> 00:23:05.680 singing while his guitar tech played his parts 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.140 from the side of the stage. It just cemented 00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:11.279 his reputation as this indestructible, iron -willed 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:13.619 frontman. But you have to imagine, underneath 00:23:13.619 --> 00:23:16.200 all that, the cracks were starting to form. Let's 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:19.500 jump forward a few years. The mid -90s. The alternative 00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:21.859 rock era. Grunge has come and killed off the 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:24.319 hair metal scene, but Metallica decides to change 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:26.259 again. This is the load and reload era. This 00:23:26.259 --> 00:23:27.859 is what a lot of people call the identity crisis 00:23:27.859 --> 00:23:30.299 era. And the first thing they did, they cut their 00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:33.259 hair. It sounds so silly now, but in 1996 for 00:23:33.259 --> 00:23:35.559 a metal band, that was a huge deal. It was a 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:38.640 massive betrayal to the purists. Seeing Metallica 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:41.099 with short hair, wearing eyeliner and, you know, 00:23:41.099 --> 00:23:43.740 designer shirts. It was like the world was ending 00:23:43.740 --> 00:23:46.480 for some fans. And the music changed, too. It 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:48.700 was much more bluesy. You have songs like Until 00:23:48.700 --> 00:23:50.799 It Sleeps and Hero of the Day. It definitely 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.339 wasn't thrash metal. No, it was alternative hard 00:23:53.339 --> 00:23:55.720 rock. Yeah. It was them trying to fit into the 00:23:55.720 --> 00:24:00.220 Lollapalooza generation. And the art. Let's not 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:03.339 forget the album art. The cover of Load is a 00:24:03.339 --> 00:24:06.420 piece by the artist Andre Serrano called Blood 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:08.880 and Semen the Third. And it is literally what 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.099 the title says it is. It is literally a photograph. 00:24:11.789 --> 00:24:14.569 of a mixture of bovine blood and the artist's 00:24:14.569 --> 00:24:16.930 own semen pressed between two sheets of plexiglass. 00:24:17.130 --> 00:24:19.309 I just wonder how many millions of kids bought 00:24:19.309 --> 00:24:21.410 that album at Walmart having absolutely no idea 00:24:21.410 --> 00:24:23.589 what they were looking at. A lot of them. But 00:24:23.589 --> 00:24:25.490 while the fans were all arguing about haircuts 00:24:25.490 --> 00:24:28.670 and controversial art, a much, much bigger storm 00:24:28.670 --> 00:24:31.589 was brewing on the horizon. A storm called Napster. 00:24:31.730 --> 00:24:33.650 This is the part of the story that, I mean, they 00:24:33.650 --> 00:24:35.450 make business school case studies about this. 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:39.079 The year is 2000. Okay, here's the setup. Metallica 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:42.220 records a new song called I Disappear for the 00:24:42.220 --> 00:24:46.740 Mission. Impossible 2 movie soundtrack. The song 00:24:46.740 --> 00:24:49.960 hasn't been released yet, but one day they hear 00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:51.779 it playing on the radio. And they're completely 00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:53.440 confused. They're thinking, wait a minute, we 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.579 have the master tape. The studio has a copy. 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:58.339 How is this on the radio already? So their team 00:24:58.339 --> 00:25:00.539 does some digging and they trace the leak back 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:03.579 to this new file sharing service called Napster. 00:25:03.930 --> 00:25:05.950 It was a peer -to -peer network. People were 00:25:05.950 --> 00:25:07.869 uploading their MP3s from their own computers 00:25:07.869 --> 00:25:10.150 and letting other people all over the world download 00:25:10.150 --> 00:25:12.690 them for free. And they didn't just find I Disappear 00:25:12.690 --> 00:25:15.130 on there. No, they found their entire back catalog, 00:25:15.369 --> 00:25:17.990 every album, every song available for instant 00:25:17.990 --> 00:25:20.869 free download. Now, let's be clear. Legally, 00:25:20.869 --> 00:25:23.569 Metallica was 100 % in the right. This was copyright 00:25:23.569 --> 00:25:26.210 infringement. It was theft on a massive scale. 00:25:26.549 --> 00:25:29.619 Legally, yes. But optically, from a public relations 00:25:29.619 --> 00:25:32.140 standpoint, it was an absolute disaster. Lars 00:25:32.140 --> 00:25:34.799 Ulrich became the face of the lawsuit. And he 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:37.059 didn't just sue Napster as a company. He went 00:25:37.059 --> 00:25:40.480 after the fans. He did. He had a team track down 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:44.119 the IP addresses of over 300 ,000 users who had 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:46.960 downloaded Metallica songs. and he physically 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.460 delivered a printout of that list of names to 00:25:49.460 --> 00:25:51.839 Napster's office, demanding that they all be 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:54.619 banned from the service. That image. That image 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:57.440 of Lars, the millionaire rock star, handing over 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:00.339 a box full of names of, like, teenagers in their 00:26:00.339 --> 00:26:02.160 dorm rooms to get them kicked off the internet. 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:06.079 It was PR suicide. It completely destroyed their 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:08.380 man -of -the -people, us -against -the -world 00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:11.700 image that they had cultivated for so long. There 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:14.240 was that famous skit at the MTV Video Music Awards 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.509 where Marlon... Alan Wayans is playing a college 00:26:16.509 --> 00:26:18.470 kid listening to Metallica on his computer. And 00:26:18.470 --> 00:26:20.529 Lars storms into his dorm room. Yeah, and starts 00:26:20.529 --> 00:26:22.349 stealing all his stuff. He grabs his beer and 00:26:22.349 --> 00:26:24.710 says, that's mine. He takes his posters off the 00:26:24.710 --> 00:26:27.630 wall. Barwing is sharing. Lars was booed on stage 00:26:27.630 --> 00:26:29.769 at that award show. For years after that, they 00:26:29.769 --> 00:26:32.650 were branded as the greedy band. Which is ironic 00:26:32.650 --> 00:26:35.089 because in hindsight, they were the canary in 00:26:35.089 --> 00:26:37.170 the coal mine. They were the first ones to really 00:26:37.170 --> 00:26:40.089 sound the alarm that digital streaming, if left 00:26:40.089 --> 00:26:43.230 unchecked, would completely devalue music. But 00:26:43.230 --> 00:26:45.410 at the time, they just looked like rich rock 00:26:45.410 --> 00:26:48.930 stars bullying college kids. And while they were 00:26:48.930 --> 00:26:50.750 fighting this war with the Internet, they were 00:26:50.750 --> 00:26:53.650 completely falling apart internally. This leads 00:26:53.650 --> 00:26:57.140 us to the St. Anger era. This is the absolute 00:26:57.140 --> 00:27:00.859 bottom. 2001 to 2003 is just one disaster after 00:27:00.859 --> 00:27:03.759 another. First, Jason Newsted finally snaps. 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:07.099 After 14 years of being the new guy, he had started 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:09.859 a side project called Echo Brain. And James Hetfield 00:27:09.859 --> 00:27:12.220 completely vetoed it. He told him he wasn't allowed 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:14.759 to do it. He told him, you can't do that. When 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:16.420 you're in Metallica, you're married to Metallica. 00:27:16.440 --> 00:27:18.319 A side project is like cheating on your wife. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:21.059 Which is just incredibly controlling. It was. 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:23.599 It was the final straw for Jason. So he quit. 00:27:23.779 --> 00:27:26.920 He just walked away. And that shock, combined 00:27:26.920 --> 00:27:29.519 with all the other pressures, it sent James into 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:33.640 a complete spiral. In July of 2001, James entered 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:36.839 rehab for alcoholism and other undisclosed addictions. 00:27:36.980 --> 00:27:39.720 He was gone for months. The band effectively 00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:42.019 ceased to exist. They didn't know if he was ever 00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:44.799 coming back. And the craziest part of all of 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:47.839 this is that they had hired a film crew to document 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:50.039 the making of their next album, and they ended 00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:52.039 up documenting the near total collapse of the 00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:55.339 band instead. The documentary... Some kind of 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:56.799 monster. If you haven't seen this film, you have 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.359 to watch it. It's one of the most painfully honest 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:01.880 rock documentaries ever made. It shows them hiring 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:04.720 a performance enhancement coach, basically a 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.099 therapist named Phil Towel, at a cost of $40 00:28:07.099 --> 00:28:09.240 ,000 a month to help them just talk to each other. 00:28:09.339 --> 00:28:11.180 It's excruciating to watch. You see these metal 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:13.400 gods sitting in a room talking about their feelings, 00:28:13.460 --> 00:28:16.259 using therapy speak. It's surreal. And the album 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:18.079 that came out of all this turmoil and all this 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.920 therapy was Saint Anger. Probably the most hated 00:28:21.920 --> 00:28:24.119 and ridiculed album in their entire discography. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:28.039 It is raw. It is messy. Sonically, it's just 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:30.940 abrasive. They made a rule that there would be 00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:33.240 no guitar solos. Kirk Hammett wasn't allowed 00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:35.480 to play any solos because they decided it wasn't 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:37.900 honest enough for the raw emotion of the album. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:41.500 And the drums. We have to talk about the trash 00:28:41.500 --> 00:28:44.420 can snare drum. Oh, the snare drum. Lars decided 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:46.579 to turn the snares off on his drum, so instead 00:28:46.579 --> 00:28:49.720 of a crack, it just rang out with his high -pitched 00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:53.519 King ink on every beat. It literally sounds like 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:56.559 he's hitting a metal trash can lid or an oil 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.940 drum. Fans absolutely hated it. Critics were 00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:01.299 just confused. But, you know, looking back, it's 00:29:01.299 --> 00:29:04.009 a perfect sonic representation. of where the 00:29:04.009 --> 00:29:06.210 band was at. It sounds like a band having a nervous 00:29:06.210 --> 00:29:08.589 breakdown on tape. It's ugly because the situation 00:29:08.589 --> 00:29:10.849 was ugly. But they survived it. James got out 00:29:10.849 --> 00:29:13.710 of rehab. They hired a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, 00:29:13.849 --> 00:29:16.210 from Suicidal Tendencies, who is an absolute 00:29:16.210 --> 00:29:18.710 beast of a player. And they paid him a $1 million 00:29:18.710 --> 00:29:22.049 advance just to join the band, which tells you 00:29:22.049 --> 00:29:23.990 something about the scale of Metallica Inc., 00:29:23.990 --> 00:29:26.490 even at their lowest point. So how do you redeem 00:29:26.490 --> 00:29:28.930 yourself after St. Anger? How do you win the 00:29:28.930 --> 00:29:32.670 fans back? You go back to basics. 2008, the album 00:29:32.670 --> 00:29:35.670 Death Magnetic. They fired Bob Rock and they 00:29:35.670 --> 00:29:38.130 hired Rick Rubin. And Rick Rubin is like the 00:29:38.130 --> 00:29:40.690 anti -Bob Rock. He doesn't hold your hand. His 00:29:40.690 --> 00:29:42.910 production style is very hands -off. He basically 00:29:42.910 --> 00:29:44.990 told them, I want you to go back and listen to 00:29:44.990 --> 00:29:46.630 Master of Puppets and remember who you were. 00:29:46.809 --> 00:29:49.750 Pretend it's 1985 again. So he forced them to 00:29:49.750 --> 00:29:52.069 go back to their roots. Completely. He made them 00:29:52.069 --> 00:29:54.650 return to standard tuning, write long, complex 00:29:54.650 --> 00:29:57.450 songs, and most importantly, he told them to 00:29:57.450 --> 00:29:59.849 let Kirk Hammett shred again. The guitar solos 00:29:59.849 --> 00:30:01.849 were back. And it worked. The album was seen 00:30:01.849 --> 00:30:04.589 as a massive return to form. It was. It debuted 00:30:04.589 --> 00:30:06.930 at number one on the Billboard 200, which made 00:30:06.930 --> 00:30:09.329 them the first band ever to have five consecutive 00:30:09.329 --> 00:30:12.569 studio albums debut at the top spot. It proved 00:30:12.569 --> 00:30:14.789 they could still be Metallica. And this era also 00:30:14.789 --> 00:30:17.349 brought about a lot of healing, didn't it? Specifically, 00:30:17.569 --> 00:30:21.130 the Big Four tour in 2010. This was huge. For 00:30:21.130 --> 00:30:24.150 the first time ever, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, 00:30:24.150 --> 00:30:26.529 and Anthrax, the four pillars of American thrash 00:30:26.529 --> 00:30:29.240 metal, shared the stage together. And the visual 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.119 of James Hetfield hugging Dave Mustaine on stage. 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:35.460 It was closure. It was the end of a nearly 30 00:30:35.460 --> 00:30:38.079 -year feud. It was a really powerful moment for 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:40.140 the entire metal community. But because it's 00:30:40.140 --> 00:30:42.079 Metallica, they couldn't just stay safe and play 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:46.640 the hits. In 2011, they did. Lulu. Oh, God. The 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.319 infamous collaboration with Lou Reed from the 00:30:49.319 --> 00:30:51.740 Velvet Underground. It's an art rock concept 00:30:51.740 --> 00:30:55.519 album based on a set of... German expressionist 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:57.779 plays from the early 20th century. It's basically 00:30:57.779 --> 00:31:01.039 Lou Reed doing spoken word poetry over these 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.420 sludgy, repetitive Metallica riffs. It is virtually 00:31:04.420 --> 00:31:07.210 unlistenable to most fans. It's one of the most 00:31:07.210 --> 00:31:09.630 critically reviled albums ever released by a 00:31:09.630 --> 00:31:12.569 major artist. Lou Reed actually challenged Lars 00:31:12.569 --> 00:31:14.430 Ulrich to a street fight during the recording 00:31:14.430 --> 00:31:16.690 sessions. But you have to give them credit. For 00:31:16.690 --> 00:31:18.910 what? It showed that even in their 50s, even 00:31:18.910 --> 00:31:21.390 as billionaires, they were still willing to take 00:31:21.390 --> 00:31:24.529 massive, insane, career -damaging risks. They 00:31:24.529 --> 00:31:27.210 followed their artistic muse even when it led 00:31:27.210 --> 00:31:29.180 them off a cliff. Let's talk about the business 00:31:29.180 --> 00:31:31.240 side again for a second, because in 2012, they 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:33.299 did something incredibly smart. They launched 00:31:33.299 --> 00:31:35.559 their own record label, Blackened Recordings. 00:31:35.619 --> 00:31:37.839 This is the key to their modern wealth and power. 00:31:38.180 --> 00:31:40.299 After their contract with their longtime label 00:31:40.299 --> 00:31:42.759 was up, they negotiated the rights to all of 00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:45.660 their master recordings back. They own everything. 00:31:45.960 --> 00:31:50.099 So every stream, every vinyl reissue, every time 00:31:50.099 --> 00:31:52.799 a song is used in a movie or a video game. That 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:54.809 money goes straight to them. They cut out the 00:31:54.809 --> 00:31:57.390 middleman. They're a fully independent, self 00:31:57.390 --> 00:31:59.910 -contained corporation. And they are using that 00:31:59.910 --> 00:32:02.670 independence to stay incredibly relevant. They 00:32:02.670 --> 00:32:04.869 aren't just a nostalgia act playing their old 00:32:04.869 --> 00:32:06.869 hits. Not at all. Look at what happened with 00:32:06.869 --> 00:32:09.289 the show Stranger Things. In 2022, they used 00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:12.609 Master of Puppets in a key scene. Right. The 00:32:12.609 --> 00:32:14.869 Eddie Munson scene in the Upside Down. Exactly. 00:32:14.930 --> 00:32:17.970 And the song, which was 36 years old at that 00:32:17.970 --> 00:32:20.710 point, just exploded. It shot up the charts all 00:32:20.710 --> 00:32:22.630 over the world. A whole new generation of kids 00:32:22.630 --> 00:32:25.349 discovered it. And instead of being old and gatekeeping 00:32:25.349 --> 00:32:28.809 about it, Metallica embraced the new fans. They 00:32:28.809 --> 00:32:31.170 posted videos on TikTok duetting with the scene. 00:32:31.309 --> 00:32:34.190 And then just this year, in 2024, they did a 00:32:34.190 --> 00:32:36.569 massive integration into the video game Fortnite. 00:32:37.029 --> 00:32:43.750 A fuel, fire, fury, in -game concert event. They 00:32:43.750 --> 00:32:45.869 understand that to survive in the 21st century, 00:32:46.049 --> 00:32:48.650 you have to capture the 14 -year -olds, not just 00:32:48.650 --> 00:32:50.470 the 50 -year -olds who grew up with them. They're 00:32:50.470 --> 00:32:52.720 constantly looking forward. I want to zoom out 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:54.779 for a second and look at the so what here. We've 00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:56.539 tracked them from the garage in L .A. to the 00:32:56.539 --> 00:32:58.579 corporate boardroom, from the alcoholic days 00:32:58.579 --> 00:33:00.880 of destroying hotel rooms to the All Within My 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:03.000 Hands Foundation. Which is their charity, and 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:05.079 it does some amazing work. It donates millions 00:33:05.079 --> 00:33:07.940 of dollars to community colleges for workforce 00:33:07.940 --> 00:33:10.880 education, to food banks, to disaster relief 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:13.779 efforts like Maui wildfires or supporting Ukraine. 00:33:14.019 --> 00:33:17.079 They've really matured. But the music, even on 00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:19.640 their latest album, 72 Seasons, is still incredibly 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:21.680 heavy. It is. And I think a lot of that comes 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.079 down to one specific technical thing. We've talked 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:25.960 about them being fast, but we haven't really 00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:27.880 talked about the Hetfield right hand. The down 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:29.720 picket. That is the engine of the entire band. 00:33:30.140 --> 00:33:32.940 James Hetfield almost exclusively uses down picking 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:35.799 on his right hand. Most guitarists use an alternating 00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:39.079 up -down motion to play fast passages. James 00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:41.859 just goes down, down, down, down. Which is physically 00:33:41.859 --> 00:33:44.579 exhausting. It's like a jackhammer. It requires 00:33:44.579 --> 00:33:47.559 incredible stamina and precision, but it creates 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:51.220 this percussive, machine gun -like attack that 00:33:51.220 --> 00:33:53.519 is just tighter and more aggressive than anything 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:56.880 else. That physical discipline is the absolute 00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:59.859 core of their sound. And that discipline, that 00:33:59.859 --> 00:34:02.779 refusal to quit, has allowed them to outlast 00:34:02.779 --> 00:34:05.740 everyone and everything. Think about it. They 00:34:05.740 --> 00:34:07.910 outlived the cassette tape. They outlived the 00:34:07.910 --> 00:34:11.530 CD. They outlived the MP3. They literally outlived 00:34:11.530 --> 00:34:13.829 Napster, the very service they tried to destroy. 00:34:14.070 --> 00:34:16.769 They are currently outliving the concept of an 00:34:16.769 --> 00:34:19.269 album itself. They are the cockroach of rock 00:34:19.269 --> 00:34:21.010 and roll. You just cannot kill them. And they 00:34:21.010 --> 00:34:23.650 are still filling stadiums. Their current M72 00:34:23.650 --> 00:34:26.269 world tour is this massive production where they 00:34:26.269 --> 00:34:28.449 sell out two nights in every single city with 00:34:28.449 --> 00:34:30.809 a completely different set list each night. It's 00:34:30.809 --> 00:34:32.570 remarkable for a band that's been doing this 00:34:32.570 --> 00:34:36.000 for over 40 years. So here's my final provocative 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:39.320 thought for you to chew on. In a genre like heavy 00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:42.079 metal, which is so often obsessed with youth 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:45.320 and aggression and rebellion, Metallica has somehow 00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:48.760 become the classic rock of our generation. They 00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:51.500 are to us what the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin 00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:54.000 were to our parents. That's a very fair comparison. 00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:57.699 They are the institutions now. The elder statesmen. 00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.539 But it raises a really interesting question. 00:35:00.179 --> 00:35:03.179 Metallica is still, by a huge margin, the biggest 00:35:03.179 --> 00:35:04.940 metal band in the world. They have been for over 00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:08.300 30 years. Who's next? Is there anyone even on 00:35:08.300 --> 00:35:11.000 the horizon? Or did Metallica climb the ladder 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:12.500 to the top of the mountain and then just pull 00:35:12.500 --> 00:35:14.719 it up behind them? That is the worrying part, 00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:17.320 I think. There are great modern heavy bands. 00:35:17.579 --> 00:35:20.039 You've got Slipknot, Gojira's Ghosts, but none 00:35:20.039 --> 00:35:21.860 of them are Metallica big. None of them sell 00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:24.539 16 million albums in the U .S. big. None of them 00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:26.659 are playing Antarctica big. The industry has 00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:29.840 just fragmented too much. It has. The monoculture 00:35:29.840 --> 00:35:31.659 that allowed a band like Metallica to get that 00:35:31.659 --> 00:35:34.000 huge just doesn't exist anymore. We may never 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:36.599 see a rock band or really a band of any genre 00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:39.400 achieve that level of global saturation ever 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:42.219 again. So Metallica might just be the last of 00:35:42.219 --> 00:35:44.119 the Titans. A lightning strike that happened 00:35:44.119 --> 00:35:47.159 because a Danish tennis player put a weird ad 00:35:47.159 --> 00:35:49.619 in a newspaper and a shy kid from Downey decided 00:35:49.619 --> 00:35:51.940 to answer it. And thank God he did. Absolutely. 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.699 Thanks for unpacking this absolute monster of 00:35:54.699 --> 00:35:56.679 a topic with us. We'll see you on the next Deep 00:35:56.679 --> 00:35:56.940 Dive.