There are only two great groups around today that are to me legend ........metallica......... and iron maiden.......there is no led left .......just tributes but the two great are amazing always ,........i have seen metallica .......... i will see iron maiden before i croak hopefully ........i have seen danzhig ....okay ........... but not the metallica .....lemmy is gone .......keep going guys ......
James Hetfield Shares How He is Writing Heaviest Riffs for Metallica
Metallica‘s frontman and lead guitarist James Hetfield shares his process for writing the heaviest riffs ever. He lived this life and recorded lots of albums too. Hetfield tells this process through the guitar riffs, lyrics, and recording timeline.
Metallica‘s backstory is nothing short of incredible. The band’s modest beginnings found them developing their art in a dirty garage in the early 1980s in Los Angeles, motivated by their uncompromising goal to make music that crosses boundaries. James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton laid the groundwork for one of the most influential heavy metal bands ever.
One of Hetfield’s most challenging problems was acknowledging he had a problem. He, like many addicts, initially disputed that his substance usage was a problem, maintaining that he had everything under control. However, as his conduct got more unpredictable and his health deteriorated, he knew he needed assistance.
James Hetfield’s recovery path was not easy, but he was determined to beat his addiction and get his life back on track. He enrolled in a treatment program emphasizing cognitive-behavioral therapy and group counseling, which assisted him in identifying the fundamental reasons for his addiction and developing new coping mechanisms.
Hetfield is also happy to release the latest Metallica album called 72 Seasons too. Metallica’s latest album ‘72 Seasons‘ was released in April 2023.
During the interview with Metal Hammer in 2009, Metallica‘s frontman James Hetfield talked about the guitar riffs writing process, collaborating with Lars Ulrich, and what Cliff Burton would have thought of the band’s approach in the 1990s, among other topics for Metallica.
Question: When you and Lars first got together, was it as teenage buddies or was it specifically about playing in a band together?
Answer: “It was definitely about music. I had never seen him or heard of him before that. I had been in this band, Obsession, I had brought an original song to play and none of them liked it so that’s when I basically kind of said goodbye to them. When I met Lars I was jamming with this other guy in high school, forming this band, Phantom Lord.
Some of the bands we had gotten turned on to at the time – Saxon, Judas Priest, things like the Scorpions. Some of the more popular metal bands that had made it over into the States.”
Question: So, basically, it was about music. Yet the two of you have maintained an incredible partnership. A lot of marriages don’t last as long as the relationship you’ve had with Lars. Is it still primarily about music or is there a friendship there too now?
Answer: “We are pretty much the opposite at everything – except when we play music together. You know, whenever we take a break, we’ll go away for six months from each other and come back together and start talking about where our lives have taken us, and it’s, ‘Oh, I’ve been listening to this and discovered this.’ ‘Wow, me too!’ So it’s kind of… parallels, in one way and then complete opposites in the other. That is the beauty of it. That has helped us battle through a lot of things together but given the extreme differences there’s lots of different viewpoints you can learn and take from.”
Question: When Cliff came into the band he was obviously a very big influence, not just musically, but as a human being…
Answer: “Absolutely correct. Besides introducing us to more music theory, he was the most schooled of any of us, he had gone to junior college to learn some things about music, and taught us quite a few things. When Lars and I had seen him play with Trauma, our jaws fell onto the floor, and we said, ‘We’ve got to get this guy.’ He and I aligned a lot closer as friends, as far as our activities, music styles that we liked, bands that we liked, politically, views on the world, we were pretty parallel on that wavelength.
But, yeah, he had such a character to himself, and it was a very strong personality, he did creep into all of us eventually. And he’s missed greatly by this guy sitting here now.”
Question: What would Cliff have made of some of the directions the band went in the 1990s? Beginning with The Black Album in 1991 up to the time of St. Anger in 2003?
Answer: “Well, I certainly would have thought there would have been some resistance, for sure. I think The Black Album was a great album and I appreciate the fact that we did have the balls to do that and have Bob Rock to work with us. It had to be, it really did. You know, when I go back and I listen to …And Justice For All, it couldn’t have stayed on that path.
We needed to bring in another set of trusted ears. I think Cliff would have probably interjected some different stuff, getting his bass heard and some more musically challenging things, probably. I would certainly think that the Load and Re-Load, I would have had an ally that was very against it all – the reinvention or the U2 version of Metallica.”
Question: How much of Death Magnetic was to do with the fact that Rick Rubin was the producer, and how much was to do with the fact that Bob Rock (overseer of every Metallica album since and including The Black Album) wasn’t the producer that time?
Answer: “I think it’s a combination of all that. I think Bob… we had gotten too comfortable with each other, especially going through all of the emotional draining of St Anger. It was good to move on. Rick Rubin is the exact opposite of Bob Rock. And the fact that we were able to sit down and write ourselves, do things for ourselves without Rick Rubin babysitting, that was where we were able to try our wings out again and fly as a band.
So it was the right thing at the right time. Not to talk bad about Bob whatsoever, because he’s taken us places that we never would have gone before. We’ve learned so much from him.”
Question: You were very open in the Some Kind Of Monster movie about coming to terms with your anger issues. Is it necessary, though, to retain a certain anger in order to feed your creativity as a songwriter?
Answer: “Ha ha ha! Well, that’s a great question. I think every person that goes through something like what I’ve gone through very much worries about that. But the creativity, it will come from where it has to come from. Anything can be digested and be spit out Metallica-like.
I’m not gonna start writing about picking flowers now. When I’m happy, I’m writing the heaviest riff possible. Being happy is not overrated. But also, there will always be anger issues with me, no matter what. There always seems to be another cool piece of the puzzle revealed.”
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