Original subtitles

[BELL CHIMING]

LARS ULRICH: I was searching to be in a group, or collective,

or gang.

JAMES HETFIELD: It was that family

I never had or always wanted that I found in a band.

LARS ULRICH: When James and I met,

James and I realized that we were

kindred spirits, and like-minded in our passions for music,

and that we enjoyed the same elements of music,

and the energy, and the collective spirit.

JAMES HETFIELD: We wanted to do this, and we loved it.

It just lived in us.

KIRK HAMMETT: We've gone on to become one of the biggest

bands in the world.

The bond that we have, it's so strong,

that brought us together is music and the possibilities

of more creative greatness.

I mean, I think that what we're doing at the moment

is quite a bit different from what people have heard before.

REPORTER 1: The American heavy metal

band, described as the angriest band in the world--

REPORTER 2: Eight wins, 17 nominations at the Grammys,

110 million albums sold worldwide.

Their current album has been on the charts for 75 weeks.

The winner tonight--

MAN: Artist the year goes to Metallica.

[CHEERING]

We've grown up together.

We all know each other, and we continue, after 40 years,

to learn more about each other.

LARS ULRICH: Every single time James Hetfield

puts a guitar on, something brilliant comes out.

It's unbelievable still 40 years later.

JAMES HETFIELD: Rob is that calming spirit.

LARS ULRICH: Plus he's a motherfucker of a bass player.

ROBERT TRUJILLO: Kirk, when he plays those guitar solos,

those leads, and those melodic moments,

it almost is like tears are coming out of his eyes

because he loves his instrument so much.

KIRK HAMMETT: If there is an energy center, the spark that

gets the engine going, that would have to be Lars.

JAMES HETFIELD: He is the guy that

will want to sign 100 autographs, go do a show,

and then do it again.

It's not all rainbows and unicorns.

That's for sure.

You face yourself through the other guys.

There's a lot of darkness and a lot of struggle.

All sorts of crazy things have happened.

We've been snowed in.

We've been snowed out.

We've had situations where shots are being fired at the stage,

and we've had to evacuate.

It's taken a huge toll emotionally,

physically, and spiritually on us.

There's been times when it's been fractured,

and it looks like we're on the verge of breaking up.

Metallica really experienced some internal issues.

It was in the wake of Jason Newsted leaving the band.

A performance coach came in.

We started talking to each other.

It was a very transformative few years,

and it was basically the first time where we ever really

talked to each other about how we were doing,

how we were feeling, and how being in Metallica

was affecting us individually.

The Metallica that has now been going for the last 15 to 18

years is a result of that.

Are you ready to make history?

KIRK HAMMETT: When you're in a band,

the commitment is to music, but after a while,

you realize it's a real commitment to each other.

We need each other to create great things.

This class is for anybody who wants

to make music, who wants to work in a group, in a band,

in a collective.

One thing that's very important for our students

to understand is what kills creative flow, what

kills creativity.

How to navigate life with other people,

how to get the best out of everyone without dominating,

without taking things personally.

We're going to get a chance to talk about and deconstruct

how we write songs, some of our biggest hits

like "Master of Puppets," "Enter Sandman," "One."

You're going to be able to watch us do a performance

at the end of this class.

I am so excited to share with you everything

that I learned all these years that I've

been playing this instrument.

This is beyond 101 stuff of how to play a guitar.

This is why do you play guitar?

Where's my guitar going to take me?

We are fortunate to be musicians.

We possess a gift that moves people, makes them happy.

Whenever I'm filling out some form and it says occupation,

I am so proud to write musician.

I am so proud.

If there's anything in what we're

about to share that in any way, shape, or form inspires

you, influences you, make you want

to jump into any creative endeavor, particularly music,

then we've done our job.

I'm James Hetfield.

I'm Robert Trujillo.

I'm Kirk Hammett.

I'm Lars Ulrich.

We are Metallica, and this is MasterClass.

[ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYING]

Songwriting is, in my mind, like a big puzzle

of just pieces that have to fit together.

In Metallica, we start with what we call a main riff.

That main riff feeds the song--

[PLAYING GUITAR]

--often sets the tempo, sets the key, and then

the verses, the bridges, the choruses, the middle parts,

the intros.

All of that are usually derived out

of the feel of those main riffs.

[PLAYING GUITAR]

Whether they're from our own mind

sitting at home or on tour, playing in rehearsal rooms

or whatnot, or warm up rooms before a show,

riffs get collected.

Back in the day, it used to be that whenever

we were going to make a record, everybody would have

their ideas, their riff tapes.

And it's like, OK, we're going to start

writing a bunch of songs.

[MUSIC - "ONE"]

When there's a main riff, everything else

just works off that.

How does a song start?

We like to write intros that are a little bit

of a journey in itself.

Imagine you're going like on a waterslide or something.

And you're going through all these twists and turns.

And then when you get spit out at the bottom,

you land on the main riff.

You want to create drama.

And, you know, a perfect example I would say

would be "Enter Sandman."

It starts off with a picking part.

[MUSIC - "ENTER SANDMAN"]

And then that whole bang comes with chords.

And you would expect the band to come in with the main riff.

But no, we come in with chords.

And there's a drum part, you know, toms.

And the guitar part and the bass parts,

like a low chug on the E. It's all just

like just fairly routine stuff that really doesn't really

sound like much.

But what we're doing is we're setting

the stage for what's coming.

The main part of it comes.

And when it does come, it's so much more impactful.

Because we're building drama.

We're building tension, you know, musically, harmonically,

through tempos.

And basically, you know, we're setting the scene

for like the big reveal.

You can have a really, really great riff.

But if it's not presented and executed properly,

it can fall flat on its face.

Or you can just like--

you can take a riff and then play it

so much that it loses its meaning.

When we write a riff, the main riff is almost sacred.

You don't want to play it too much.

You want the listener to feel like they're always

on the edge of hearing it.

And when it does come, they're like, yeah.

Then you want to pull it back.

So that they're like, uh, uh, uh.

And you know, it's that push and pull

and the fact that, you know, the listener might not

expect what's coming next.

But when it comes next, it's exactly what they want to hear.

They don't know it yet.

But it's exactly what they want to hear.

That's that riff.

Just F sharp and then F--

OK.

--ever other time.

You've got a great riff.

What do you do after that?

We'll go out, and we'll just jam on it.

How does it feel?

Try a few different feels with that riff.

How does it feel in half time?

How does it feel in double time?

How does it feel simplified?

You could take that riff and simplify it.

It turns into an intro.

You can riff off of the riff, take little pieces.

Or you just go out and jam.

And whatever comes through you next

is supposed to happen, as simple as that.

Trusting that this--

I'm just a vessel of whatever's coming

through me at that moment.

And if I love the sound, I love the feel,

I love what we're doing, I can completely trust

what's going to happen next.

And a lot of times, I know at least when we're jamming,

Lars will just say, all right, you know,

just play what you're supposed to play next.

It's like, OK.

And I let it happen.

So overthinking it, you know, it's not a math problem.

Maybe it goes to the fast riff.

It goes up to the fast riff, two or something.

And then there's a bridge and a chorus part

that comes out of the modulation and the [SINGING EXAMPLE]..

Everyone gets their chance to put their idea out there.

And you never know where the golden nugget

is going to come from.

Lars is actually really pretty good at hearing a riff

and dissecting it.

Because me, as a guitar player, my fingers

normally go here and do this.

It's kind of nice to have someone

who's not a guitar player come in

and say, well, I like when you moved here.

Do more of that thing you did up there.

And it's that simplistic approach which I really like.

And I'm able to add on to that.

In these modern times, a lot of stuff

gets created on a computer.

And those jams are becoming more and more rare.

But with Metallica, we really pride ourselves

on building songs that way.

[MUSIC - "CONFUSION"]

(SINGING) - All sanity is now beyond me!

I recommend you play as much as possible.

And you play with different musicians.

You play different styles.

And you get out there.

And you physically do it, even if it's just

jamming with this great drummer who lives in your neighborhood

or whatever.

Play as much as possible.

Find that inner groove.

So when you get into any writing situation,

you can build songs through the experience of the jam.

[ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYING]

Just like anything else creative, painting, film,

all these things, I mean, it's--

I don't like to use the word work.

Because it's something you enjoy.

And so anything that you enjoy, I don't consider work.

But it's very much a practical process.

I think some people have this vision of, you know,

singer/songwriters are lying in bed.

And, you know, the heavens open up.

And then they wake up the next morning.

And there's this incredible sound.

You know, Paul Simon, "Sounds of Silence, " or Noel Gallagher,

just "Wonderwall," just he wakes up.

And there's "Wonderwall."

For us and certainly for a lot of other artists that I talk

to, you basically just gotta--

you've got to go down to the studio at 10:00 in the morning

and clock in and put your eight hours in.

Some day's inspirational stuff happens.

You know, other days you sit there

and struggle with this, just like anything else.

You got to be patient.

And you got to let time be a part of--

of the process and respect the time element of it.

When James and I used to write, it was just

the two of us in the garage.

I mean, it was still wake up, have breakfast.

And then, you know, we'd mosey on out to the studio

maybe around 11:00 or noon and put in a full day.

And that part of it really hasn't changed that much.

For us, it's very sort of labor intensive.

And we respect that.

And we give-- give the process the time that it deserves.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ENTER SANDMAN"]

LARS ULRICH: Any songwriter will tell you the hardest thing

is to write a simple song.

But we lucked out.

We were at my house in North Berkeley

there in the summer of '90.

And the first day, here's this riff.

And then the challenge was kind of,

write a song that's basically just the main riff.

And if you notice, pretty much every part-- the intro,

picking, the chords, the B part, the chorus--

the whole song is basically for all intents and purposes

derived out of the main riff.

And that was something that we had never done before.

And we wrote that song basically in an afternoon.

And I knew right there and then that was the opening

statement of the next phase of Metallica and the next record.

This is all your first, huh?

None-- none more--

LARS ULRICH: Pretty exciting, huh?

(SINGING) It's the beast under your bed, in your closet,

in your head.

LARS ULRICH: It's just, the simplicity

of that song, that is something that we still occasionally

chase.

[MUSIC - GUITAR RIFF TO "ENTER SANDMAN"]

That's the main riff.

The main notes in that riff are A sharp, A.

And so the picking part is derived from that riff.

You're basically playing the same--

the same notes in the riff.

You're just arpeggiating it like this.

[PLAYS NOTES]

Rather than-- so that's how that all comes about.

And then it goes up to--

Yeah.

Then it modulates.

[PLAYS NOTES]

Same-- yeah.

Same figure.

I remember when you said, can that riff go somewhere else?

You know, move it somewhere else?

Like, it's not easy.

But it ended up being OK.

Yeah.

Yeah, the B part, the chorus, is really just those things

in chord form.

Yeah.

(SINGING) Exit light.

Enter night.

Take my hand.

We're off to Never Neverland.

Ha, ha!

What's funny about that riff is

that that's actually not the riff

that Kirk sent over on his tape.

When-- when Kirk sent it over, it

had what I would call one of the front ones,

and then it would go A, B, A, B, rather than A, A, A, B.

And I suggested to Kirk, I said, just

try and go A, A, A, B and only play the tail

every fourth time instead of every other time.

So maybe try to play it in the original form.

Yeah.

So this is the original form.

[PLAYS ORIGINAL RIFF]

A and B. And so what Lars is suggesting, bunch

of As and then B.

[PLAYS RIFF]

And what that does is it actually gives the listener

more to grab onto.

And you're getting more of that--

that great combination of notes and that-- that feel

and that emotion and that heaviness.

So you're actually giving more of the rift to the listener

and then resolving it, which is always a better way

to approach it.

And the tail is usually, this is the riff cycle done.

You know, this is the end of the riff.

Then you go back to it.

So yeah, whenever you put the tail in-- sometimes the tail

is just a little something to get you back to it.

Other times, this is a pretty major part of the riff.

Yeah.

A lot of times the tail would just be to resolve it on a note

so that the beginning of the riff

starts on a more refreshing note and gives it

the sense that you're at the top again.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ENTER SANDMAN"]

It's really the ultimate song where

it has the heaviness that you would want,

and it has that groove, and as they said,

it has the tail that is really vital to this song.

But then it has the intro and the buildup at the top

where it just kind of starts with the drums, and just kind

of--

[PLAYS BASS]

You know what I mean?

And that whole dynamic is really important to Metallica songs.

And it's used perfectly in that particular song.

LARS ULRICH: You're teasing.

You're teasing the riff.

Right.

So.

[PLAYS VARIATION ON THE RIFF]

You know, you tease the riff.

And then you finally, when the downbeat happens and everyone's

playing together, da, da, da, da!

Here is the riff and its full glory with all four band

members at full volume.

When we first started playing that together,

that guitar solo wrote itself.

That guitar solo came out like, within the first or second time

we played it together as a band, 90% of it.

And you know, to me, that's just a testament of how great

the feel of that song is, the groove

of that song, the emotion and how accurate

it is in just accessing some--

something inside myself to just push that solo out just like,

instantly.

It's crazy.

["ENTER SANDMAN" GUITAR SOLO]

There is the studio version and then live.

Yeah, there are some bands that really

try to perfect the sonics, the song, the singing, the every ad

lib, this is exactly like the record live.

You know, we toured with some bands

that were very into reproducing it perfectly exactly live.

We're not that kind of band, you know.

When you go to see us live, it's kind of actually

been the opposite, you know.

Every producer we've worked with is

trying to capture the live thing on a record, you know.

(SINGING) Exit light.

Enter night.

JAMES HETFIELD: When we play it live,

there's just dynamics that happen.

And they happen because of the crowd.

And a lot of times, the crowd will

help us write a different version of it because hey,

you know, this part works really well live,

and they get into it, and there's a singing part.

So we'll extend a part.

This song, the intro, obviously, pyro helps on a downbeat.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ENTER SANDMAN"]

JAMES HETFIELD: End of the song, we've extended things,

you know.

Quite a few of the songs have little, hey, hey moments,

you know.

Hey!

Hey!

You know, we've added little things on the end, too.

Well, the crowd really gets into that.

And if this is a song that this song has turned into where this

is the last song of the set or the big da, da, da song,

you extend it a little bit.

You get the crowd going in there at certain parts.

[EXTENDED ENDING TO "ENTER SANDMAN"]

[CROWD CHANTS]

JAMES HETFIELD: So a lot of times,

live will help us rewrite a song just because that works.

And let's extend it, right.

[BIG LIVE FINISH TO "ENTER SANDMAN"]

[HEAVY METAL MUSIC]

JAMES HETFIELD: Time to party-- er, work.

Why do we write such long fucking songs?

JAMES HETFIELD: In the early days,

there was so much just [MAKES CRASHING NOISE]

MAN: Frankly, I don't give a fuck.

I'm tired of arguing.

RECORDING ENGINEER: I'm sorry I laughed.

The vocal line goes exactly with the guitar.

Just verse and one chorus, that's all I ask.

JAMES HETFIELD: You can't play the song without me, or what?

[GUITAR RIFF]

LARS ULRICH: Is that like--

[BANG]

Physical fights happened, yes.

Most-- most of it was psychic wars,

you know, things going on up here, how can I manipulate

him to do this and all of that.

You know, besides the--

I'm going to-- I call first shower in the hotel,

it was-- you know, because there's only two towels.

LARS ULRICH: (IRRITATED) What?

MAN: You got a phone call.

Get the fuck out of here.

There's the survival stuff.

And then there's the I want to dominate,

I want my vision to be seen.

And I have to squish your vision so mine can be.

There's no way these two visions can see each other, you know.

Did not have the knowledge of, you know,

if I light your candle with my candle, it's--

my candle's still burning.

And it's still good.

You know, we get two.

There was no clue about that.

So there were lots of fights around it,

who's running the show.

But at the end of the day, we did discover and find out

that we can--

we can live together, we can compromise, and still

have integrity.

LARS ULRICH: In the wake of Jason Newsted leaving the band,

a performance coach named Phil Towle came in.

We started talking to each other.

Subsequently there was a film crew that came in.

And the movie "Some Kind of Monster" came out of that.

[GUITAR RIFF]

It was basically the first time where we ever really

talked to each other about how we were doing,

how we were feeling, and-- and how being in Metallica

was affecting us individually.

The-- the thing about being in a group

is that four individuals then creates a fifth entity which

is the collective.

It just came to a point where the individual also

needed a voice.

And so through two or three years

of learning to communicate to each other, of learning

to stand up for our own needs, came a--

kind of a transitional period around the "St. Anger" record.

And subsequently, the Metallica that

has now been going for the last 15 to 18 years

is in much better shape, internally much healthier.

We, I think, enjoy what we're doing more.

[ELECTRIC GUITAR AND BASS GUITAR PLAYING]

ROBERT TRUJILLO: We all have our demons.

And that could definitely cause a problem

with the creative flow.

One of the things for me is ego.

When egos are flaring in your band, it's important for you

to understand what's actually happening.

Because this is very common in every band.

You're dealing with creative minds that are kind

of flying all over the place.

And sometimes it could be related to a song.

Somebody wants to take more credit than somebody else.

And there's this whole tug of war of who did what.

And I've been in that situation, from experience.

And quite often, it leads to resentment.

It can lead to even fighting.

Of course time heals all wounds.

And you get through it, you figure it out.

And what has helped Metallica is communication.

So in your band, you want to make sure

that communication is key.

If you have a problem regarding writership or somebody getting

on your nerves for whatever reason,

it's good to talk about it with a level head.

That has been one of the things that I've

noticed that is so incredible about Metallica,

about Lars, James, and Kirk.

When there's an issue with anything

or some sort of a-- a vibe even outside of the music,

we talk about it.

We check in.

And always we come back feeling a lot better.

You'll get through it.

That's one of the most important things.

Because that breaks up bands so often it's crazy.

A little bit of communication goes a long way.

[GUITAR RIFF]

However many personalities are in your band--

there can be eight, there can be two, I mean,

whatever it may be--

acknowledging and understanding those personalities.

Knowing each other's character is

so helpful in not taking things personally as well.

When you're in a group of people,

I understand that, you know, he wants

to say what he wants to say first

because he thinks that's important

that he won't get heard.

I understand that.

We've all got, like, that 18-year-old in us

that still run-- wanting to run the show at times.

Or I know, when he's sarcastic, he really

means a little bit of that, so I can take that

with a grain of salt, but then also get past that

and get down to understanding, OK, here's

what he's really saying.

So we all know each other.

And we continue, after 40 years, to learn more about each other.

[GUITAR RIFF]

You know, at the end of the day, you're family.

And that's very, very important.

So I highly recommend to our students

that you understand your family members within your band.

What makes them happy?

What pisses them off?

How do you keep the machine going in a positive way

and get the best results creatively?

But also, you know, just in terms

of the vibe and the energy, you know, of the group

in the best way possible.

[GUITAR RIFF]

A mantra for us is, whatever's best for the project.

That helps to quell the ego and know

that, at the end of the day, OK, I have a voice.

Everyone has a voice.

Everyone will get their chance to speak,

come up with the idea whatever it may be.

But at the end of the day, the right one will emerge.

You know, that cream will rise.

Whatever you want to--

you know, cliche you want to put to it,

that it is for the greater good of the song.

Yeah, I think my riff's way better than his,

but that fits better.

We'll find another place for that riff, possibly.

And often, we let the passion--

Kirk really feels that this is better

than the other, the two of us go, OK, cool.

You know, a lot of it's ruled by the how passionate somebody is,

not the days of, it's my way, I got to win the argument,

and all that's over.

Now it's just primarily, if James really

feels like that's not going to work,

OK, then we just walk away from it.

What is best for the project?

At the end of the day, we all want that.

That is the common goal.

That's the thread, the common denominator.

We all want what's best for the song.

And we're fortunate enough to have

four people that are creative enough to want that spot

and to-- and to join that think tank and to add to it.

[GUITAR RIFF FROM METALLICA'S "ONE"]

Choice of words are also really important.

Like sometimes we'll be working on a part,

and someone will play a part, and they'll go, so,

will this work?

And instead of saying, what I would usually say,

like, that sucks, or god, that's,

like, not very good, you want to be more constructive.

You want to be more supportive.

And you want to be participatory in it too.

So you know, I think that instead of saying something

like, you know, god damn, that sucks or something,

maybe something like putting down a challenge

is, you know, a good thing to do.

OK, this is my challenge to you.

How can we make this better?

And so what you're doing is you're bringing it

into the collective and you're taking responsibility,

you know, for the fact that we're all really concerned,

you know, and care about what we're doing here.

And how can we make this better?

And I know that between the two of us, the three of us,

the four of us, we can-- we can work this out.

You know, there is a solution to everything in music.

Being disparaging, you know, is just,

like, to me, it's all just a part

of old-school toxic masculinity.

And you know, in this day and age, we're moving forward,

you know, and we're communicating better, you know,

as peers and as band members.

So you want to be constructive, you want to be positive,

and you want to bring it into the collective

and throw it down as a challenge.

[GUITAR RIFF]

Giving constructive criticism is an art form.

And we have learned to navigate that better and better

as we grow.

It used to be intimidation.

You know, what, you can't play that fast?

Or you can't do that or that?

You know, it was all out of the machismo,

or you know, letting the team down.

That was that fear we all knew we had.

And that was a way to get that guy to do it better,

was to say, hey, you're letting the team down.

But now it's not that.

You're letting the team down if you criticize somebody,

you know?

You can gently disagree.

You can lean into what they're doing great, and then say,

you know--

you know, all this stuff is spectacular,

what do you think about this part?

You think we could do that better?

You know, bringing "we" into it, or you

know, pointing out the good stuff that they're doing.

And artists are such, you know, emotional and sensitive people,

you know?

[LAUGHS]

But I embrace.

That it's OK.

That's how I am, just as God made me.

And I would love to be tough as nails and--

on the outside, and have that soft heart on the inside.

But a lot of times it's the other way around.

I've got this hard-ass black heart,

and my outer skin is so sensitive, like, ahh.

But we all know that.

I-- I acknowledge it.

I accept that.

That's a part of me.

So sometimes when you say that, it's like, ow, that, hurt,

you know?

But I know they're coming out of love.

They're wanting the best for the project.

It used to be I would gather some allies, and we'll go in,

and we're going to have an intervention.

You know, well, here's what we think.

You know, that never works, man.

It never works.

Through criticism, through forcing, through negativity,

[BLOWS RASPBERRY] it--

you don't get the best out of a person that way.

As I'm sitting here listening to what James is saying,

thinking about how we work nowadays, a big part of it

is just there's no right or wrong.

If you start with the premise that there

was no right or wrong to begin with,

then it's easier to navigate.

Because then it's not you're playing it wrong,

you're playing it right.

I mean, it's a place we've kind of come to now

in the last 10 or 20 years, is they're our songs.

We can do with them what we want.

If we want to play him faster one night, slower

another night, if we want to have, all of a sudden, some guy

plays a riff in a different key for two bars,

they're our songs.

Forgets a whole middle section.

Forgets a middle section, forgets a lyric,

forgets a whatever, they're are songs.

We can do with them-- they're just variations.

So like James said, you know, 30 years ago, we, you know,

come offstage, and on with the body armor,

and now let's review the show, and in the third song,

you fucked that up, and in the fourth song, you fucked that up

and you fucked that up.

And then we'd go around the room for-- like that

for half an hour.

And then, nowadays, we come off stage and go ha ha ha,

remember, in song 4, when you fucked

that up, that was really funny.

That was a crazy variation.

At the end of the day, it's a fucking rock and roll song.

[LAUGHS]

Do you know what I mean?

[MUSIC - METALLICA - "NOTHING ELSE MATTERS" ]

METALLICA: (SINGING) Trust I seek and I find in you,

every day for us something new, open mind

for a different new, and nothing else matters.

I do most of the lyric writing.

And my background around that is really

didn't do well in English, did not

study literature whatsoever.

I was more of the read other people's lyrics

and learn like a Leonard Cohen or a Tom Waits or a Nick Cave.

As far as subject matter, I've evolved with it.

It's evolved with me.

I've changed over years and writing

about what is important to me.

That sweat.

In our younger days, it was about showing up, playing

music, getting crazy, destroying things, hanging out

with people.

That was important.

And as my life got a little wider and maybe a little more

complex, started understanding how

I thought about other things, really

impactful or scary things, being controlled,

you know, "Master of Puppets," a specific song about being

controlled and the manipulation of the world, the powers that

be, and addiction for sure, master of puppets,

that false sense of I'm being controlled.

[MUSIC - METALLICA - "MASTER OF PUPPETS" ]

(SINGING) Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings,

twisting your mind, smashing your dreams.

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing.

Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream.

That was a big theme for me, you know,

especially my teenage years is kind of held over.

You know, a lot of stuff is from my childhood,

you know, still sorting stuff out, you know.

They say the first 40 years of your life is you doing stuff,

and the-- the last 40 years is you figuring out why you did it

or how or how you can not do it or make up for it.

So there's a lot of that in my writing as well

but just being true to where I am.

I know that criticism is difficult for me at times.

But if I'm writing from my heart,

it really can't be wrong.

If you're an artist, and you're doing what you feel is right,

it's not wrong.

It's just not.

My way of writing, it's probably extremely unorthodox.

I will basically have spaces.

Here's the spaces where I need a consonant or a vowel

or whatever it is.

Here's where I need a vocal

(SINGING) Loss of interest, question, wonder.

And then I will search through some of my one-liners.

I have lots of stuff just throughout the day,

whether it's on a voice memo or notes

or actually writing them like off to never-never land,

something like that.

That will end up in a song at some point

possibly or maybe not.

So have lots of these one-liners, and then--

and then kind of go to them when I have the cadence like, oh,

rhythmically that fits.

So I'll plug that in, and then, okay,

there's a-- there's a pretty strong statement.

Start building around that.

There's a point where the song tells me

what it's supposed to be instead of me telling it

what it's supposed to be.

I'll start off with an idea of where I want to go.

I've got an expectation.

I'm going to write about this and end up here.

And I'll start it out.

And it just-- if I'm open to it, it will start morphing.

And all of a sudden, I've gone down

a completely different way.

And that's okay.

It's actually more than okay.

Because it's me joining the song and helping it,

you know, me just being that vessel

and directing it some way.

Because if I'm really hell-bent on it being a certain way,

then that's the only thing it's going to be.

So being open to it morphing or going off road, you know.

I have a destination, but hey, we took this path instead.

A lot of great things come out of lyric writing that way.

(SINGING) So close no matter how far.

I like writing in vagueness where other people can really

apply it into their lives, or they can plug something in,

you know.

Nothing else matters.

Okay.

The line nothing else matters, that you can apply that

to a lot of different things.

But in the lyrics, if you get more specific about it,

then it kind of-- it-- it closes,

I guess, the door that people are

able to walk into into that lyric.

The more open the door, the more they can apply that.

I love it when someone comes up and says, wow,

I love that song you wrote about cancer or whatever it is.

And okay, cool.

That's what it means to you.

I love people being able to apply their lives to our songs

and especially through the lyrics.

The other thing that I've really shied away from

is historical or telling a story about, you know, whatever,

the Civil War or, you know, an event.

I have touched on it a few times like the song "One,"

you know, World War I. Obviously,

"Johnny got his Gun," a specific book talking about one

of my biggest fears, you know, not

being able to communicate to people, this guy who's

got no arms, no legs.

He's deaf.

He's blind.

He can't speak.

But he's still alive in his brain.

And how do you communicate?

He can't tell if he's awake or asleep.

That was a story my brother told me

about this book he was reading.

And it freaked me out.

So writing a song about that, not so much about is it

pro-war, is it anti-war, you know,

taking a political stance, at least for me, I

don't want to get into that, you know.

I have an opinion, yes.

Just because I sing in a rock band, is it more important?

No.

Your opinion is just as valid as mine.

We might disagree, and that's okay.

But I'm not going to bring it into my--

my vocation, my work, my connection.

So the vagueness in lyrics is pretty important,

not getting too caught up in, you know,

this is what I need to say.

Put it out there.

This is an interesting subject, interesting subject--

subject matter.

And there's many viewpoints to it.

So just bringing that to the table as well.

So I'm the new shit.

I didn't think "Enter Sandman" was such a great song.

I think Lars and Bob Rock said, go back.

I challenge you to go back and work on it more and more.

And I did.

And that line that gets phrased, you know, off

to never-never land, came up, and then it became

a little bit, you know, okay.

It's less about crib death.

Maybe it's an older kid having nightmares, what happens

in your sleep, you know.

Why do we have these certain nightmares?

And it became so obvious that a lot of people

could identify with that everyone has nightmares.

And what do you do with them?

And why do they show up?

Do you learn something from them?

And so yeah, off to never-never land.

The Sandman comes down and makes you dream,

you know it's kind of creepy, kind of a creepy subject.

Wait.

I don't want some creepy old guy coming in my room

when I'm a little kid.

So the little-- little scarier side and then the prayer

in the middle.

MAN: Now I lay me down to sleep.

CHILD: Now I lay me down to sleep

MAN: Pray the Lord my soul to keep.

CHILD: Pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Was obviously a risk, I would say,

you know, putting a prayer into a song.

That could have easily been shut down, you know,

bringing a religion in in a way, but a lot of people

identified with that.

But it fit in with the song.

You're about to go to bed.

Please help me.

Please protect me.

And, again, you know, a lyric like that, you would never

think that I--

I was inspired by a Jethro Tull song

about a kid fighting off the monsters in his sleep.

And I was inspired by that song.

And that's a little bit of how that entered into,

I guess, the subject matter for me.

So songs can come from anywhere.

Oh yeah!

Oh yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Master!

Master!

Of!

Of!

Puppets!

[MUSIC- METALLICA, "MASTER OF PUPPETS"]

When you're talking to someone,

and you mention Metallica, almost the second thing

they say is "Master Of Puppets".

There is something intrinsically linked

between us and that song.

I don't use this word often when I talk about anything

Metallica, the word 'hit', but it's basically the number one

fan favorite, definitive Metallica song since that came

out in '86.

It's got everything in it.

It's got picking, it's got dual solo,

it's got a cool tom breakdown part.

And, you know, it's weird because ever

since the creation of that song, like 30 years after the fact,

whatever it is, it never really feels like we've ever really

fully conquered that song.

[LAUGHTER]

It's a wild pony sometimes.

It's a constant work in progress.

Yeah.

(SINGING) All I hear or see is laughter,

Laughter, laughter.

Laughing at my cries.

[INAUDIBLE]

[GUITAR SOLO]

Yeah.

And obviously, the older we get, the down picking,

which has been really a big part of our sound,

if we can down pick it, we will.

Any riff.

Because it somehow sounds better.

Yeah, more percussive.

Yeah, more percussive, and you know, instead of doing this,

duh-duh- duh- duh- duh, we're going bop- bop- bop- bop- bop,

and mmm.

There's something about stopping the string

and starting it again that gives it a real percussive sound.

(SINGING) --hear you scream, Master.

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, Master, Master.

The whole idea around it was, you

know, being a master of puppet, you're a slave to something,

specifically around drugs or something.

Where it goes to that picking part,

where you're in that drugged state, and then

it kind of builds back up again into franticness.

[GUITAR SOLO]

Go from craziness to phoo, you know,

just all of a sudden you come in, you know,

almost kind of Pink Floyd-y or something.

Where it feels like it's a whole nother song,

but it's attached to this feel.

Then you get back, you circle back

around to obviously the verses, and some other stuff like that.

[GUITAR SOLO]

Very into dynamics, and going from frantic

down to building back up again.

You balance the set out, where there's

little breaks here and there.

You're trying to have a dynamic flow to what music

you're putting out there.

What were the inspirations for those,

like a couple of songs where we would go melodic in the middle?

Was that something that Iron Maiden used to do?

Was it Mercyful Fate?

Maiden would do it, occasionally,

Judas Priest would do it, too.

But the band who did it probably most effectively was Zeppelin.

Yeah, with that dynamic.

This incredible riff is one of the fields that brings us out

of the melodic middle bit, the dream state.

To me, when I think Master Of Puppets,

I think the word that comes to mind is more relentless.

It has a relentlessness that just keeps going, and going,

and going.

And it sort of just doesn't let up.

The heaviest part of the song for me

is the tom bit in the middle.

[DRUM SOLO]

I always relate this stuff to boxing, because it's like,

you know, you're hitting the speed bag,

you know what I mean?

And all of a sudden, you're hitting the heavy bag,

where Lars starts getting on the toms and he's building.

And then we're getting into some backup vocals,

you know, "Master", all that kind of stuff.

(SINGING) Where's the dreams that I've been after?

Master--

That is really cool when it integrates itself

into a composition.

(SINGING) Master, All I hear or see is laughter--

And that's the true composition, in my mind.

And there's a lot of groove in this stuff, too.

That's probably one of the most important ingredients to all

this stuff, is the groove.

Heaviness.

[LAUGHTER]

Lots of weight.

Yes, what does that mean?

I mean, really at the end of the day,

I've got a bunch of gear, and I have like two sounds.

There's clean, and heavy.

That's kind of it.

Simple for me.

I've had the clean amp, the JC- 120 forever.

That's just kind of the, I guess, signature Metallica

clean sound.

And heavy is, yeah, you're going, he hits a button,

and it goes heavy.

That's what happens.

The ultimate sound is one to sound like a distorted drum,

you know.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

So that's heavy, you know, but I get to put notes in it.

So that's the heavy sound.

Also heavy is a guitar sound that's distorted,

that has a lot of impact, percussion.

When you hit a note, it should feel like being punched.

When you hit a chord, those notes

should sing together in distortion,

and feel like a riot.

Heaviness is also an attitude, too, though.

We can play heavy parts without like that guitar sound

that I just described.

It's also an attitude of really just

like, aggressive, dark, unrelenting, energetic, no

escape, here it is.

You know, all the knobs don't just go to 11, they go to 12.

It's a thing in this type of music

that we play, where you just put more weight into it.

You put more of your body into it.

More of, there's even a certain level of passion

that's aggressive that goes into that one note,

or that one groove, or whatever it is.

You sync with the drums, and get in there with the kick

and it's also an experience.

So all that weight, and all that energy,

turns into this kind of wild ride that you go on as a band.

When you get into that zone, you start head banging,

and the crowd's reacting to it.

It's a very powerful experience.

And sonically, that sound, if I have a good, heavy percussive

guitar sound, writing riffs just happens.

The sound moves you to play certain ways,

and then it's kind of easier to write songs.

You're not sitting down writing "Hardwired"

on an acoustic guitar.

You're just not doing that.

The sound helps you get where you want to go.

I got a question.

So in terms of influences on heavy?

Who are both of your influences on heavy?

Guitar players?

Come on.

It's always the same guys, you know?

So for me, it was like Jimi Hendrix

but then it was like Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page,

Jeff Beck, all those type of guitar players.

Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker,

those kind of guys.

Really impactful playing.

Yeah, for me, it was more like Scorpions, or Judas Priest,

or something like that where it's a riff where it's melodic,

but it's also got just a fat, heavy sound.

Tony Iommi for sure, the Riff Master of all.

But then also, even like Joey Ramone, or something--

Johnny.

-- where it was kind of relentless.

Johnny Ramone.

[GUITAR PLAYING]

You know, just down picking.

Yeah.

Down picking was kind of that, you know?

So a lot of punk rock in there as well.

And I also wanted to add that as a warm up, I

hear James sometimes playing that de da run de de de de de

de de de de de, so that's almost like kind of ends up

being the precursor to a lot of shows, and it kind of also

tests where he's at in terms of how loose he's at, you know?

Where his body or his fingers.

Basically there's a lot of challenging parts in that song,

and some of them actually are used to warm us up.

That is probably the part that if I can play that okay,

the gig is going to go better than I think.

KIRK HAMMETT: My concept of a solo

is a musical opportunity to make a statement.

[GUITAR SOLO]

It can be like an emotional statement.

It can be an exciting statement full of energy and bombast.

It can be a real morose statement.

A solo could be really anything.

A lot of times in the past I felt

like I had to compose all the guitar solos

and sometimes it felt like I was trying

to fit ideas that didn't necessarily work for the song

and I'd be frustrated and have to go somewhere else

and end up improvising in the studio.

[PLAYING NOTES]

And for me, it was really important to be

able to improvise because a lot of the people that I listened

to back in the late '70s were electric blues guitar players.

Basically they were playing hard rock.

People like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page,

Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.

And I was well aware of the fact that they

were able to play solos just, like, very spontaneously

and smoothly and off the cuff.

And that's what I wanted to do.

That was my goal was to become a lead guitar player who

was able to play rhythm guitar and lead guitar and be

able to just improvise on the spot

and have it sounding good and aesthetically pleasing.

[GUITAR SOLO]

And so the first scale that I ever learned

is a really common scale that everyone knows, everyone uses.

I use it to this day and it's--

you know, it's called the box pattern

or the blues minor pentatonic scale.

Really simple key of C.

[PLAYING NOTES]

And from those tones comes so much expression and so much

emotion and you can do so much with it.

Just that simple group of notes.

Some of the most basic lead guitar

stuff that was formulated in the '50s came from that scale,

like Chuck Berry stuff.

[PLAYING NOTES]

Stuff like that.

Once I learned that scale and knew

that that was a scale that a lot of my heroes

were using it was like unlocking a key,

and then all of a sudden I was able to like, you know,

just go--

plug in an amp and just play like really simple blues.

Just like, you know--

[PLAYING NOTES]

I'm going to play you a real basic blues

lick in A pentatonic scale.

[PLAYING NOTES]

So that can be used in so many ways, like--

[PLAYING NOTES]

And from there, you know, there's

so much you can do because you can

play that anywhere in the neck.

The rock version of that would be probably played

up high with a lot more distortion and a lot more

velocity and energy behind it.

Something like courtesy of, like, Jimmy Page

would be like--

[PLAYING NOTES]

Same licks, very appropriate for,

like, the harder, faster tempos of hard rock.

What I found is that when I hear a song for the very first time,

the first three or four guitar solos I play

are basically the best improvisation

I could do on those songs because it's just fresh

and it's new and I don't really have any real comfort

zones to go to because I'm not that familiar with the song,

so I just go for it.

[GUITAR SOLO]

A lot of times I prefer to improvise in the studio

because then I don't know what it's going to sound like,

and when I come up with a guitar solo

that we've put together through improvisation,

I'm just as surprised as everyone else

and it sounds live, it sounds spontaneous,

you know, and at the end of the day

it sounds real and authentic to me.

And, you know, I like that.

I like the fact that it's just in the moment

and we are capturing a moment.

And for me, you know, music is all about moments.

Capturing everyone hitting the right thing

at the right time, the right key, the right riff.

You know, magic happens.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

James and I would often sit and talk about the topic.

What's the topic of the song going to be?

We would talk about what would it

be like if you were in a situation

where you could not talk, you could not see,

you could not hear, you didn't have arms and legs,

and you basically couldn't communicate?

The cerebrum has suffered massive and irreparable damage.

You never know what has happened to him.

Had I not been sure of this, I would not

have permitted him to live.

Where am I?

Father?

The song is based on the movie "Johnny Got His Gun".

But aside from that, the song, the music, the arrangement,

it's very cinematic, I mean, you can close your eyes

and just very easily visualize what James is singing about,

what the lyrics are suggesting.

Every part of the song has a visual component to it, I find.

And it just keeps on adding visual components

through music, and builds and builds.

So when you get to the end, you know, you're hearing it.

But you're also kind of seeing it in your mind.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

And I was really into coming up

with these kind of drum patterns and sort of like drum riffs,

and then James would kind of just

play something super percussive along with the drum patterns.

And certainly bu-lu-lu-cat, bu-lu-lu-cat was not "oh,

machine gun," it was some pattern that was just kind

of in my head.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

Things happen for a reason, and then you come back

and you go, oh, that is machine gun fire, you know?

(SINGING) Darkness imprisoning me!

All that I see, absolute horror!

I cannot live, I cannot die, trapped in myself,

body my holding cell!

It's Morse code.

For what?

S-O-S. Help.

The song "One" represents one of our

called "ballad food groups."

These songs are, I guess, unique in the way

that they start melodic and mellow,

and then go through many different moods and dynamics,

and usually get mellow, heavier, heavier, heavier, crazier,

more relentless and completely out of control.

I know the end of the song, very different

than the beginning, obviously.

There's a couple of cycles of picking,

and more of a heavy open chord thing.

And then at the end of the song, it goes to the da-la-la-la-la,

da-la-la-la-la.

And then from there on out, it's OK,

you're in full physical mode.

And the picking part, you know.

(SINGING) I can't remember anything.

So going along with the melody, but also

putting in extra words, extra things here and there,

that are moving it along.

And then in the heavy part--

(SINGING) Landmine has taken my sight, taken my speech!

And you're right on with it, you know?

It's an instrument on its own that's

helping move certain parts along,

and then you get to join up with the stuff

where you just can't sing anything else there.

Everything is just going (VOCALIZING).

You know, you have to just join that,

or else you kind of get lost.

Or yeah, join the crowd.

That's another kind of a cool uniqueness to the song

"One", where it's not that traditional-- oh,

there's not really a B part in this.

You know, it just goes verse right into a short chorus,

and then it moves on.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

It just builds and builds and builds and builds and builds,

to the point where you look behind you,

you're like 300 feet up, you didn't even notice it,

you know?

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

This song obviously takes you on a journey.

So there's a variety of featured moments in that song.

It's not like one featured moment,

there's like 10 featured moments.

So as a bass player, you're like a boxer.

You're kind of dodging and weaving,

and you're trying to pick your places.

For instance, like on, say, the mellow part, with--

Whatever.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Now, all of a sudden, you're shifting gears

and you're getting into this kind of a thing.

You're going there.

So what is that?

That is very unique style of songwriting.

It's kind of like you're in a race car,

and you're shifting gears.

You're slowing down on the turns, you're speeding up,

you're kind of doing that whole thing.

So really, "One" is a prime example

of that, because there's a lot of different places

for the instrument, the bass to play a busier role,

but also to kind of sit back and support that--

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

[CHEERING]

JAMES HETFIELD: All right!

I see everyone liked that one.

We got everybody screaming on that one.

It's about time!

I was super shy as a kid.

You know, getting up, it was not pleasant to connect

with the crowd, or to talk to the crowd, or--

very first show, like, between songs,

you know, someone broke a guitar string, it was like,

uh, how do you like the show so far,

you know, like, two songs in.

And it's like, I don't like this part.

I don't-- it feels uncomfortable,

like I'm supposed to be filling in time, or you know,

uncomfortable silence, you know?

I have to fill that in.

And I don't.

It's okay.

Being more of just myself, not trying to be greater than,

not trying to be up on the pedestal, being one of many

works really well.

Being a part of the crowd, and embracing whatever mood

I'm in--

you know, there are times when I'm out on stage,

and I'm feeling a little whatever, tired, or grumpy,

or whatever it may be.

I'll just say that into the mic, just to get it out.

And then it's done, it's gone.

I've surrendered that, you know?

Sorry I'm not in the best of mood,

but you know, hopefully, you guys will get me out of that.

And that works.

It really does work.

Just being honest, talking to the crowd

like you're one of them, you know, they're one of you.

Talking to the crowd as it's a conversation.

It's like it's another person.

It's not like, you know, a mass of people,

or I have to do something special.

I mean, even just talk to an individual.

Like, hey, you look familiar, and blah, blah, blah.

You know, just make it a personal conversation

that draws the crowd right in.

Other times, when I'm just in not the best of moods,

I will pick someone out that I know is just so full of energy,

and so giving.

I will just go to them.

And I'll-- you know, I'll borrow some of that energy from them

that night.

And that'll give me, okay, there's a great reminder

that hey, what we're doing is--

is special, and this moment is special,

that person is enjoying this.

Why am I in a funk?

You know, I'll get out of that.

When you're touring a lot, not just changing the setlist,

but really feeding off-- off the fans and the--

the energy coming back can really

help you going when you're just doing--

slogging months and months of endless touring.

And so I always try to-- like, when I get up on stage,

after the first song or two, I go all the way out

to the end of the stage and get like,

right in the faces of the fans.

I'm not hiding behind the drums, or you know,

cowering, or whatever you say.

I'm-- just like, go into the energy.

Go into your fear.

Have eye contact, and-- and just really get in--

go into it, rather than hide away from it.

And when we're playing in the really big places,

definitely try to have as much eye contact

with as many people in the front row and the snake pit,

but also the old thousand-yard stare.

Don't forget about the people that

are 200 yards away, and sort of also

try to project to them in the back.

It's weird because like, if I look at my guitar too much,

you know, I forget about the audience.

If I look at the audience too much,

I get distracted from what I'm doing with my guitar.

So you know, I've learned to keep a balance.

And so walking out into an audience

and seeing all these faces, you know, different shapes, sizes,

looks, whatever, I'm a little overwhelmed by it all, really.

And I really have to like, bring myself back, and just

pay attention to my instrument, and just kind of put

that in the forefront.

But don't forget about, you know,

projecting, and paying attention to the audience

because that's such a huge part of it, too.

But I also feel the audience.

And I think we all do, you know?

You go out there, and you can feel the energy--

I mean, palpably.

I mean, you can really feel it.

It's how you carry yourself, how you project yourself,

your awareness, your perception of the situation.

It's really important.

And I've learned to like, walk out and like--

you know, see the lay of the land in like, 30 seconds,

and just know what it's like.

When I first joined the band, it was a challenge.

Because like James says, you really

have to get it ingrained in you.

That's the way you get the best result with these songs.

And Lars says, you know, when you get it in your head,

and it becomes too much--

something that's kind of in your brain,

you know, rather than feeling it, it's not the same thing.

So with all these songs, because there's so many

twists and turns, you want it to become a part of you

internally, and you want to feel it.

Our choice of communicating music

is not through the sheet music way.

And none of us can really read that, at least that well.

So it has to-- it has to start up here.

You have to learn it.

Then, you have to memorize it.

Then, you have to internalize it.

And then it has to sort of get out into your body

and become like, muscle memory, and become physical.

I mean, you know, ideally, what

you want to do is, you want the song to flow

through you without thinking, just like you walk or breathe.

I mean, literally, you want to know the song that well,

so you just-- you hear the title,

and you just go out there and do it,

just like you would just take a walk in the park.

And that takes a lot of rehearsal, a lot of repetition.

But it's worth it when you get to that part.

Because you'll be able to play that song

in any sort of situation.

Just see it on the list-- done, you know?

But the other thing--

No hesitation.

--the other thing that's super important is,

you're playing in front of people.

And that will also kind of create

some-- you know, some strange energy in you.

And that could be a very difficult thing, too,

when you're up there in front of a lot of people.

Or even sometimes, it could just be 10 people, or five people.

It doesn't matter.

Whenever there's somebody that is checking you out and judging

you, there's that pressure.

So you want to be prepared.

There's a real interesting thing that we work with a lot

when we're recording, which is the phrase, play it

like you own it.

What happens when you rehearse, and what

happens when you tour a lot is that these songs

start becoming-- they become more physical.

They become more muscle memory.

They've become embedded in you.

And that's when you start owning the songs.

And you don't sort of have to sit there--

okay, I'm playing this part, I'm playing this part,

and what's the next part?

Oh, shit, I just fucked up, and I've

forgotten the next part-- you know, that kind of thing?

Like, you get-- like, it's all up here.

But when you play, you rehearse it, you sit--

you know, you're on tour, you start owning the song.

And it just becomes like, a--

it becomes like, a physical thing.

When you're out there on stage and you get into your rhythm

and your flow and your groove and your conditioning,

you know, it's like you're doing a dance with the audience.

And they're part of that energy, too.

But it's also a lot of interaction and playfulness.

And we all know each other so well.

Certain parts of songs, we almost

know that we're going to come together at that moment

and we're going to rock out together and kind of find

that moment on stage, no matter how big or small.

We'll find each other and we'll find that moment, you know.

It's cool.

I mean, there is one thing that we do that,

like, 99% of, like, most performing musicians in bands

do.

It's that we look at each other and do the big nod, now.

Now, what?

We've got two songs we want to play, man.

I don't know which one.

LARS ULRICH: When we're up on stage,

there is definitely-- after almost four decades together--

there is an unspoken language.

We can tell the moods, the body language.

You know, it just goes with trusting each other

and depending on each other for just about 40 years.

I have a very special connection to everybody up here.

But I have a very special connection

to James, in that James is the primary tonal instrument

in my ears.

And so--

By primary, you mean only.

Only.

Only.

He's talking about his ear monitors.

Yeah, in my ears.

Not in his--

In my ears, on stage--

Not in his--

The only thing--

--brain.

The only thing I hear is James.

Yeah, we have in-ears, which--

you know, we play with the in-ears in.

So it's basically your own tiny headphones.

And you get to have whatever mix you want in there.

So like, you know, Lars says, James

is, you know, a football field away

at the very front of the snake pit.

And he's back there.

And I'm still-- it's like I'm right next to him,

because I got him in here.

And he's-- it's the same way.

You know, we're right there.

So we're hearing each other in real time,

even though we're far away.

LARS ULRICH: I've always--

since the first day we were playing

music in Metallica, James and I have just this connection.

So I play to the guitar riff.

And everything about these songs is basically

written between the drums and the guitar riff.

So James is my partner in any live experience.

I think communicating, sometimes,

like between Lars and I, I think he can tell if he's starting.

He has a tendency, I know, to get so excited about playing,

and then just end up going faster than he

thinks he's going faster.

I think he does that in his car as well.

You know, all of a sudden, I'm going a little fast here.

You know?

And I will try and drag it back a little bit,

because I know he's hearing me.

And then he'll--

Oh, okay.

And then he'll pull it back a little bit.

I guess that's one way that him and I communicate up on stage.

And I know also, we can tell from each other when

we're sitting there, like, in a bad mood, or shame,

or something around.

"I screwed this part up."

And I can tell when Lars is looking down at his snare.

And it's like, okay.

He needs a hug.

You know, we'll go out and hang around him a little bit.

And it's like, it's okay.

And I'll get in those moods, too, where you just know.

Like, there are parts of songs where we go,

we hang out together and I don't know.

When I'm in one of my moods, I don't go over and do that.

And it's like, okay, he's having his mood and okay.

But we're okay with that, but we can tell.

You can tell when something's amiss on the stage.

And that's when you go, all right, he's struggling.

I'm going to pick it up.

And I'm going to--

you know, I got his back and I'm going to carry this song,

as much as I can.

And I always know I can instantly, within 30 seconds,

when we get up on stage, James is in this kind of mood.

He's in that kind of mood.

He's in a great sharing mood.

He's sort of putting himself out there.

He's a little reserved today.

He needs a couple of minutes to get his game face on,

or whatever.

I'm really tethered to him, maybe even to a fault,

or too much.

And I can tell, you know.

But everything, he's sort of my connection to--

to everything that's going on in the arena and the stadium.

Whatever basically just goes through James.

And it's been like that for 40 years

in October, and hopefully for another 40 years, at least.

It's everything I hear.

And it's just everything that I sort of feel

with the music and all that, is just tethered, piggybacking,

and completely connected to James,

his guitar, and obviously his vocals, and also, sort of his--

I always know where he is.

I'm sitting.

I know he's over here.

I know he's over there.

I know he's out there.

I know where he's looking.

I know what he's feeling and what he's thinking.

What about right now?

I know exactly.

I know exactly what you're thinking.

And I know exactly--

Maybe you should get a restraining order, bro.

Well, I just have to say, you know,

when I walk out on that stage and we

do our thing, first song.

And I just look back and I see these three guys.

And I go, God damn.

I'm on stage with some of the best

musicians in the goddamn world.

And I'm playing with them.

And I look at these guys and I go,

I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be in a band with.

Even where we were playing "One" today,

there was this one part, you know, the melodic part.

He's playing a melodic line.

And Lars is doing the tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat

on the snare, and I just love it when he does that.

And I just love cozying up to him on the stage,

just to play that part with him, regardless that there

are 60,000 people right here.

You know?

I just want to get close to him and play that part,

because you know, that musical connection, you know?

It just-- it reaches into a really, really deep part of me.

And you know, when that happens, I just, like, I open up.

And it's just like, hear everyone playing.

And it's just a great feeling for me.

Sometimes, I just start going up to you and headbanging.

And it's like-- and I totally forget

that we're playing a show.

I'm just headbanging.

I can't even get near these two guys during that song, man.

Kirk's taking up the whole front of the-- you know,

front of the drum riser.

ROBERT TRUJILLO: When I joined Metallica,

it was really a bit of a surreal moment, let's say,

because everything about it was different than what I had ever

experienced in my life.

The workload was much more intense.

The press was much more intense.

REPORTER: You've been in the band for five minutes,

and already you're an icon.

It's such an honor, and you know, I'm stoked so.

I realized that this is the way it's

going to be at least for now, you know.

I'm going to be playing catch-up, you know.

They've got an extensive catalog that

has existed for so many years.

And nobody knows exactly what we're going to play.

So just be ready.

So I always sort of had some paper and a pen or pencil

with me to figure out and chart out music at the last minute

because I never knew what I was going to get.

And obviously, that made me a better player.

It made me a better person, you know.

My work ethic had to grow.

I could never phone it in.

And then I realized I got to be 10 steps ahead of these guys.

So I started learning songs like "Call of Ktulu" and "Orion"

and "Dyers Eve."

And these were songs that were nowhere on the radar.

They were not on the radar yet.

But I thought to myself, okay, these guys are gonna--

they're gonna throw this at me at some point in the next few

years.

And I better be ready because it's not gonna

be about waiting for Trujillo.

It's going to be about--

you know what I mean?

It's going to be about pulling it off.

So I started thinking ahead and working on stuff

before we actually played it, and then of course, eventually

we did play all these songs, which is great

because I love those songs.

They're classics, and I really wanted to play them anyway.

So thank God we got to play them.

Hopefully, we'll play them in the future.

So now I want to get into the role of the bass

and how it relates to Metallica.

Now, within this band, you can have many different sounds.

I always like to start from sort of the basic structure

of the instrument and--

and the power and the rawness of just a regular, passive,

you know, sound, passive electronics, I should say.

Bass, and that would be sort of your classic Fender P bass

model.

And that for me is always a great place

to start because it really sort of relies on--

again, I equate this instrument with space, power,

and finding the balance within a song.

Some of the songs require more kind of relentlessness

and a lot more technique.

These are great for that.

But at the same time, if you get something

that's active electronics, and the sound

would then cut in a different way,

but then also there's a certain amount of physicality involved.

So you're moving a lot more.

And there's a bit of precision in your technique

that's involved with that.

That's also important to Metallica

too a song like, for instance, "Master of Puppets," you know,

you've got--

That's a lot of movement, but it's necessary.

And you want to get that down in your sound.

This particular bass, which is a Warwick--

it's my four-string.

It's one of my go-tos.

It's got the power, but it's also got the presence.

So it sits really well within the instruments and Metallica.

There are a variety of sounds to choose from.

Already looking at the pedal board here, I see chorus.

It's almost like it's got a glassy tone to it.

Great for harmonics, you know.

It's a beautiful-- it's-- it's actually something like,

you know--

That is a little intro piece to one

of the songs on our "Hardwired" album.

But that actually is a beautiful, glassy tone

that lends itself to that chordal movement.

So we have that sound.

We've got the classic kind of--

here we go-- Leslie sound, which is--

You know, little details like that in sound are great.

So it's nice to have a pedal board with a lot of flexibility

and some variety.

I always love the delay.

Here's a short delay.

Ah, yeah.

And then when you add that to like a kind of a solo--

It's nice.

It's kind of a swimming sound.

It flies around.

That works real well, especially for solo--

solo moments within a show.

Occasionally, we do that.

It's always nice to have a little bit of that short delay

wetness on there.

So with the delay and a-- and a lot of edge and bite

in the sound, you can really do some cool stuff.

For a song like bells, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," you get that--

Okay.

There you go.

It's always important to do what's best for the song.

And sometimes, the best is, again, simplicity.

And sometimes, it's--

Or--

Whatever it is, find it and apply it as best as you can.

Of course, you find your role.

And you find your place with the bass and where it sits

and how it supports, whether it's

like mimicking the guitar part or just supplying

the bottom end, you know what I mean?

Guitar might be going [VOCALIZING]..

But that doesn't mean you need to go--

You don't always have to get busy.

You can just supply the pulse.

Sometimes, that's all you need.

Find the role of the bass and how it works best for the song.

And enjoy yourself.

I think that's the way to roll.

[CROWD ROARS]

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

Are you ready?

JAMES HETFIELD: We've played live more than probably a lot

of other bands to help create that connection going

into B and C and D markets where no one would play.

But that's where our fans were or our potential fans.

So going to those places, those misfits of the world

like we feel we are, those people

that don't feel like they fit in.

They don't fit into whatever's being played on the radio.

They feel terminally unique, but they're not.

They're not alone in that.

And we feel the same.

And so when we go play live, and I say, you know,

do you feel it?

Do you feel like I do?

And they say yes because they do.

And that makes me feel good.

It makes me feel so good.

It makes me feel a part of, makes

me feel like I'm doing the next right thing here.

So I love the fact that we have a fan base that

has continued to grow.

And-- you know, they've morphed with us.

We've morphed with what it means to have a certain fan base,

you know.

Obviously, when we were young, most of our fans

were young males like we were, pissed off

and hating the system.

And as we grow older and older, we understand that, you know,

there's no dress code.

There's no-- you know, you have to have this kind of job.

You have to look a certain way.

You have to feel a certain way.

No, you don't.

You get to come in and experience.

So another big part of what I think,

you know, the fifth member that is a Metallica fan.

When we're on stage doing what we're doing,

we're just the ones up there doing it.

We're like everybody else.

They could have been doing what we're doing,

but we're the ones that have gone through that journey.

So when I hear people that show up at the show,

and they say afterwards, you know, yeah,

the songs were awesome, but man, there

was a group of five people down in front

of me that were so into it.

They were going nuts.

And they were singing every single word and all of this.

They were more infatuated with the crowd than with us.

And that to me is the fifth member right there, you know.

You're moving another person with your music.

And you're influencing another person that's watching them.

So it's so multi-layered.

And when we play live, we've got as many lights

on the crowd as we have on us because they are a part of it.

They are the energy that drives us as well.

So without each other, it's not as fun.

LARS ULRICH: The snake pit started off, I guess,

in '91 where we played an evening with Metallica

for the first time and played 360, played to the whole venue,

and then had fans in the middle of the stage

and kind of had the stage built around that fan pit, that snake

pit.

We loved playing 360 so much that every indoor tour we've

ever done since then, and I think pretty

much every show we've ever played of our own

when we've played indoors, has been in 360.

It's how we're comfortable.

It brings everybody into it.

And it does away with that us and them

and these dividing lines.

There used to be this kind of separation between a band

and an audience, a barricade.

And band's here, the audience is here.

And so we started about 30 years ago,

wanted to try to challenge that and also felt that the more

that we could all be one together,

the more we would lift each other up collectively

and the more you can just do away

with-- with that separation and lose yourself in not just

each other as a band but in the audiences,

in the safety of the audience and the fans.

I think we'll always prefer to play that way if given

an opportunity.

The unpredictability, the element of surprise,

the throwing a left curve, throwing, you know,

doing the unexpected, we've always gotten joy

from that to show up, play, hop on a flatbed

and show up in the Oakland Raiders parking lot

and just play a gig, you know, and create a buzz.

That was so fun.

And then take off before the cops show up,

you know, that kind of thing.

There were a few different tours where, you know,

destruction kind of was the theme, things falling apart

on certain tours like Damage Justice.

We would build Lady Justice up during the show

to have her fall at the end.

Also, on the Reload tour, these-- the-- the towers

and things were being constructed as we're playing.

Then at the end, it all goes wrong.

Things fall and explode.

And one of the lighting rig guys would fall out of the lighting

rig and hurt himself.

And you know, there were explosions

where we're all hurting.

And you know, we would actually get letters or writings

from people saying that, how dare you do that?

It reminded me of the car crash I was in.

And ah, it brought back all of these things.

And it's like, wow, well, I'm sorry.

We did not mean that to happen.

But we wanted to surprise you.

We wanted to shock you and make a statement.

But at the end of the day, we know it's all about the music.

If you don't have good songs, you can shine that turd.

You can gold plate it.

You can polish it, make it as beautiful as you can,

but it's still a turd.

You have to have the music to back it up.

A big, flashy show, it's fun to watch.

But at the end of the day, they don't

go out and want to hear that music

while they're driving around.

They can't see that explosion in their car.

Maybe they could, but [LAUGHS] it's the songs.

It is the songs that drive it at the end of the day.

And where do the songs come from?

They come from your heart.

So make sure your heart is right and in the right place.

You write the song.

Then all the production stuff comes after.

Being true to yourself with your music, the fans will come.

Because if you try to please the fans,

you're going to shoot yourself in the foot.

You're going to get lost.

You're going to forget who you are, why you're doing that.

And you're out to please other people.

There's certainly a people pleaser part to me, especially

on stage.

I love the adulation.

I love the feeling of they like what I'm doing.

I'm okay, you know.

They're making me feel okay.

But at the end of the day, if I listen to the song, and I said,

man, we did an awesome job with that song,

then I feel okay as well.

So not trying to please others because you do.

You will lose yourself.

And as cliche as that sounds, you'll

end up chasing your audience instead

of your audience chasing you.

Every Metallica album is a microcosm

of what was really going on in our lives.

We're certainly not the band that

puts an album out every year.

We take our time, but we've lived them, I mean,

they're life for us.

Everything that goes into an album, it's just,

like, you give it your all.

These albums and these songs, they are--

they're a picture in time for me.

That was what came out of those collective, creative energies

and moments of that particular phase in my life and our lives.

This is the center of operations, commonly referred

to as HQ.

This room is very creative for us.

It's filled with lots of cool stuff that inspire us.

Backdrops from 1984, flags from all

around the world that have been inspirational

for us, that we've seen in the crowd, that have been thrown up

on stage and we get to hang them out in here,

things that inspire us.

I think it's really important to,

in your, I guess you call it a work area,

but it's a play area for us, that you

have things around that are inspirational to you.

Most of the time, when we've been writing albums,

it takes from six months to a year is the average time.

When we write a record, write a collection of songs, and album,

we sometimes have, say, 20 songs kind

of cooking at the same time.

And what will happen, is that sometimes

pieces from different songs end up in other songs.

Singer-songwriters, traditionally,

will maybe work more on one song at a time.

But in Metallica, which everything

that we've talked about so far is really

about the group element, the group entity, the collective,

and about how every band member and the audio team

brings something to that process.

One of the things that we really enjoy and have always

strived for, is to get albums that are really balanced,

these sort of musical experiences,

these musical journeys.

So you can obviously take, oh, whatever,

Master of puppets, it starts with a super fast song,

then it goes to what we call a kind of a mid-tempo,

then it goes to a third song, "The Thing That Should Not Be,"

is a really slow, heavy, kind of pounding, grinding song.

Then it goes to the ballad, "Sanitarium,"

and then it goes to "Disposable Heroes," which, in our world,

sits kind of in between the mid-tempo and the fast.

Then you've got "Leper Messiah," then

you've got "Orion," the instrumental, then you

get "Damaged, Inc," which, again, is the super fast,

thrashy.

So we have these kind of blueprints,

not unlike if you're writing a movie, sort

of, a first act, a second act, third act.

And so our records, we very much like our records

to be these sort of paths, these journeys,

where, obviously, you can take all the songs

and you can isolate them and hopefully

enjoy them on their own.

But also, there's this very dynamic journey,

dynamic experience, that unfolds with different moods,

different feels, different shading, as we call it,

and obviously, some of the songs have

that journey within the song.

And then, overall, within an album,

it's a lot about that journey.

So as far as the editing process itself,

I'll give you guys an example.

In this very room, so this is 2016,

we're about three quarters of the way

through the process of creating the album that subsequently

became Hardwired.

And we were down here and we had a bunch of songs,

somewhere, I think around 11, and as we got further

into the process, I thought to myself that we didn't really

have a definitive album opener.

So I brought up to James, and to Greg,

and to everybody, that maybe we should try to write,

specifically, a song to open the next album.

Maybe make it shorter and really make it

kind of a definitive statement on what

that whole record represented.

The mission statement is write an opening

song of this next record--

--Yes--

DRUMMER: --That's super thrashy and fast.

So over the course of the next couple of days,

we went through the whole riff piggy-bank,

and, on these computers here, tried three to five different

riffs, ended up on a riff that was called riffcharge.

That was its nickname.

Riffcharge is just, boom.

A little more punk rock.

That won over a couple of the other ones.

One was something with bats and something else,

they have silly titles.

Anyway, so we're going to write a very short song

and definitive.

And so James and I put that song together

over the next day or two, and we have a pretty clear

arrangement.

Well, what happened, which sometimes happens,

because again, there are no rules,

and so even though we had destined

that the middle bit was a riff straight into the guitar

solo, when James was doing the vocals,

he decided to single the middle bit.

[SINGING]

So he sang a super cool vocal over the middle bit,

which was way too cool to not have on the song.

Now what do we do?

We have a vocal where we thought there was

supposed to be a guitar solo.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "HARDWIRED"] Once upon a planet burning,

Once upon a flame.

Once upon a fear returning all in vain.

Do you feel that hope is fading, do you comprehend?

Do you feel it terminating in the end?

That's where the editing machines then come into play,

and we sat down and we said, we basically

had to rearrange the whole middle part

of the song in the Pro Tools, and figure out

how to keep the great vocal, that we call middle eight part,

that James had come up with completely impulsively

on the spot, and also make room for a guitar solo

that Kurt was going to subsequently play.

And if you have to do this, my advice

would be, first of all, to be patient.

Second of all, try to get everybody's input,

check the temperature of everybody in the room,

listen to your own instincts, follow your faith,

and trust in yourself.

And then, just be careful you don't get stuck,

and that you prevent the progress of the project

by getting stuck in these decisions.

You know, try to identify the decisions that really, really,

really will affect the outcome of your record.

Like, say, what key is the song going

to be in terms of what the vocals are going

to do rather whether the connector

piece between the third bridge and the third chorus

is two or four.

So try to sort of figure out what

the importance of these decisions.

But when you're editing, and when you're doing that,

trust your instinct.

And jump out into it and be careful not

to get stuck in decisions that may not ultimately

affect the bigger picture of your record.

Nice.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "HARDWIRED']

[INAUDIBLE]

Demo-itis is a real thing, maybe other artists have talked

about it.

But gosh, you just fall in love with something

because it was magical at that moment.

You heard it, you played it, you guys all recorded it.

You know, we record pretty much everything we play.

When some magic happens, it happens.

If we record something, we think it's

the best thing, that's what you refer to,

it's like, you go back to that.

You know, is it as good as the demo?

And also, another thing as a guitar player,

even, you've got this riff, you've

played it a billion times now, you're playing it different.

And the producer will go, by the way, we've got to go back.

Listen, you're playing it a little different than you were.

It's like, oh, thank you.

You get to refer to the demo, and if it's not as

good as the demo, use the demo.

And then you-- but you can always try to better the demo.

And then, okay, here's the new master, go back to that.

And yes, you can change your mind, you can choose again,

you can go back on what you thought

you just were going to-- you know,

it's a life and death situation.

It's not, you can go back and say, oh,

that's not as good as I thought it was going to be.

And a lot of that-- a lot of times that happens instantly,

you know?

And then sometimes it takes a week.

You hear it back and you go, wow, not as great as I thought.

That's okay, I'm going to eat some of that humble pie

right now, and actually, it tastes okay.

Cool.

Okay.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

[SINGING]

That will work.

When I'm doing vocals, it's usually,

I'll run through the song a few times, get warmed up with it.

And we'll do probably six takes of a song,

and we'll go back on certain parts of the song

that I'm kind of having an issue with.

[SINGING]

I don't think that's the right one yet.

JAMES HETFIELD: We'll record more tracks of that,

producer will go in and do a comp,

a compilation of all the best parts of that, make a comp.

And then, a week later, I'll come back--

or three or four days later, come back,

and try and beat that comp, try and make

it better than what it was.

Um, and sometimes I can, sometimes I can't, but most

of the time we can improve.

Whether it's even just, you know, pitch, it's annunciation,

it's impact, it's, like, the shortness,

you know, oh, you're drawing it out too much,

it needs to be more percussive.

There's so many things that go into the voice

as an instrument, and you can mess with them.

For me, having a character in your voice

is more important than having the range of, like, you know,

three octaves or something.

Having a character that is you and it's unique to you

is pretty important, I would say.

You know, you hear a you hear a singer and all of a sudden,

oh, I know who that is.

And it's not even the song that I know, but I

know it's that singer, because they have a character

and they're not afraid to show it in the song.

I think it's very important to remind yourself

you can get high on the process itself.

I'm in a room with my best friends creating these songs.

The producers, you know, in the other room

giving the thumbs up.

This is working, we've tried to crack this.

You get high on the process, and there's

nothing wrong with that.

You should get high on the process.

If not, then you're not human.

But you have to be able to then walk away from it

and come back to it with a clear mind set, with fresh ears.

Hear it in a different environment and go,

now is it any good and what can be better?

And I just think that the more you

can be self-critical and understand

those euphoric energies that come in the wake of when it's

really fucking working for you, and then giving yourself

the luxury of walking away from it and coming back to it.

I think that's a very, very important part of, at least,

our process.

Your song is written.

Your music is there.

How do you get it out to people?

In any way and every way possible.

On your home pages, on your Instagram, on your whatever.

You know, blasting it at a stoplight,

rolling your windows down.

Putting it on at parties.

If you're proud of your music, you're

going to want to get it out there,

and why would you not use any form possible?

Don't be afraid of all the new media forms that are out there.

There's plenty of opportunities, and if you limit yourself,

you might regret it.

Learn about what it is.

And if you need that knowledge-- and of course,

that is important, learn about where your music's going

and why--

but yeah, use all media forms you can to get your message out

there.

[ELECTRONIC TONES]

As far as Metallica is concerned

and the business side, we've always prided ourselves

and strive for to be as independent as possible.

In our career, early on in many people's careers,

there are some practical elements, resources.

Obviously studio time, pressure from outside sources of record

companies or managers.

"There's a tour that's been booked,

and we need to have new album or we

need to have new product," as they call it.

Draw some lines in the sand very early on,

but we've managed to keep most of the business stuff at bay.

Keep it away from the creative process.

And so there is obviously a whole world

with responsibilities and dates and resources

and all this stuff.

But if you can kind of put a barricade or dividing line

between that and the creative process

and really keep those from each other, then you're very lucky.

One day we got all our records back and started our own record

company.

Everything that we do, that we strive to be,

independent, autonomous, and not owe anybody anything.

Because that way they can't come to you and go,

"That song should have a different chorus,"

or "Maybe that song should have a different lyric

or a different vocal."

Nobody can tell us what to do or how

to do it because we don't owe anybody anything.

And it gives us the freedom.

We equate that with the freedom to kind of pick

our own projects and to sort of just chart our own course.

I've been in Metallica since the beginning,

the guy that would sort of take care of the practical things.

Started off by I would sit and copy the tapes

and write the song titles on the tape.

I would put them in envelopes and take it to the post office

and send seven people in seven different countries

a copy of our demo tape, send them a t-shirt.

I'll even go as far as to say that I enjoyed that part of it.

I like communicating, and I like talking to people,

and I like problem solving, and I like to figure shit out,

and I like to make shit happen.

And so I think there were times along Metallica's career

where--

it's not cool to talk about this stuff.

But listen, I've done this for almost 40 years,

and I would be lying to you if you

said that it's a part of being in Metallica

and being in a band that I don't enjoy.

And I think it's important to always have your motives clear

and be up front with yourself and your partners,

but I would like to suggest that having a record contract,

having an outlet for your music, selling your t-shirts,

making t-shirts available, making merchandise, patches,

gadgets, whatever, communicating with your audience,

making yourself transparent, social media nowadays,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, all of it's

part of a way to engage with your surroundings.

You're not selling out by doing that.

You're engaging your fans.

You're engaging your audience, and you're

communicating and having what I would call a conversation.

And so if you want to sell a t-shirt,

if you want to sell it at cost, sell it at cost.

If you want to make a couple of dollars to pay for food,

pay for guitar strings, to pay for drumsticks,

to pay for gear.

You know, it costs money.

Everything associated with being in a rock and roll band

ultimately costs money.

If you have a team around you, you've

got to pay them their wages.

Obviously at some point, if you want

to pay rent for a rehearsal place,

you got to book studio time, all of it costs money.

So you can't live in a world of pretending that none of that

exists.

So obviously over the last two decades,

there are certain movements and certain times

where it's not cool to think about the business.

It's not cool.

Oh, you're selling out.

Oh, you're corporate.

Oh, you know, all this stuff.

And there are many different ways to go about this,

but you could argue, if you're really

going to go down that path, that being in a band to begin with

is kind of selling out.

So I would encourage you to just end that conversation

and just figure out what works for you.

So when we first came out on the Kill 'em All Tour we found

a small t-shirt producer, and we made t-shirts ourselves.

So we had like two or three shirts.

They sold well.

You know Metallica, the young metal attack.

And then when we were able to sign to a major record label,

we signed also to a bigger merchandising company.

And that's when we learned that you

can use this merchandise advance to finance other things.

That was such a huge thing for us.

Back then a lot of times the only time

you could get merchandising for a certain band is

if you went to go see them and you went to the merchandising

table and there it was.

But it was amazing because it was a way

to generate some sort of income.

And when people wore the shirts out and about,

it was a great way for us to gain exposure

on the street level.

Nowadays, merchandising is like everywhere.

I mean you don't even have to just sell it uniquely on tour.

You can sell it online, you can sell it in stores, whatever.

You have access to an entire worldwide market

that you can sell your merchandise through,

and you have an entire industry that

does nothing but band merchandise, anything

from t-shirts to little figures to the coffins.

You know, it's amazing.

The world of merchandise is vast and wide.

You can underwrite a tour.

You can sustain a tour.

And there's a lot of bands out there these days who

will take a merchandise advance, and they'll take that advance

and they'll use that to finance their tour.

And so it can be a great revenue stream if you're wise about it

and you have something that's interesting to offer.

But it all starts with the music.

If you have great music, you can sell a lot of merchandise.

If you have crap music, guess what.

Not going to happen.

The significant piece of working in a group environment

is the word "trust."

Trusting the people around you, and knowing that, you know,

out of that collaborative energy will come something

greater than if it was an individual effort.

You have to-- you have to have that as the--

the M.O. at any time.

And that's why I respect, obviously,

lots of great artists started in collaborative environments

and then went off and did their own thing.

But we've chosen over 40 years to stay

in a collaborative environment.

Because it works for-- for us, and it works for, obviously,

for what we're doing and how it connects--

I think most importantly to each other and to the music,

but also to the people that want to come and be a part of it.

One of the things that I find so special about being

in this band with these musicians is, you know,

you're trying to find the magic in that song,

and it's always going to be somebody who says,

it's not good enough.

So your team is always trying to do the best that's

possible for the song, and to find the remedy, because you

will hit roadblocks.

You know, I always want to stress that to our students,

that you will be challenged in--

in your journey to find the right parts to a song,

or that magic sort of moment.

It takes time sometimes.

Sometimes it just comes naturally,

sometimes it doesn't, you know?

But always kind of have faith in yourself to keep trying,

and-- and pulling from different, you know--

whatever is going to influence you or give you

the energy and that spark to hopefully ignite

that next idea.

You just do the best you can, never phone it in.

And that's one of the great things about this band is,

we don't phone it in.

We really, really strive to make it the best that it can be.

If you put enough work into something,

you will get it back.

Music, it's not easy, you know?

It's not easy.

You have to want to do it, and you

have to have the passion to do it, and the will to do it.

And you have to just know that you will find the notes--

and it happens.

Be open to any sort of solution that comes down the road,

and you might discover something really,

really important in the pursuit of something else.

What is a risk?

Something that you're not comfortable with at first.

It's the, you know, allowance of other things to come at you

and see those gifts that show up in your life,

and do you embrace them, or do you-- are you afraid of them?

If you think your way into a-- try

to think your way into another place, it's not going to work.

It just doesn't happen.

You got to feel it.

Michael Kamen, who's a conductor, comes to us

and says, hey, I want to do a symphonic Metallica thing.

You know, at first it's like, what?

No way.

We can't do that.

And then you let it absorb, and then you think,

OK, let's lean into the uncomfortable here.

How do we make it Metallica?

How do we make it, you know--

how was-- how was this going to enhance our art?

Or, like Lou Reed coming to us and saying,

I want to work with you guys.

It's like, what?

That is so not on my list of things to do in life,

but it's been put there for a reason.

Let's at least entertain the thought

and see what it feels like for us.

(SINGING) --beside me, and I offer them,

I offer them to you, as servants of the gold that you must give

to me.

I grew up around all these different, very different kinds

of music.

James grew up around different music.

Rob grew up, Kirk-- everybody grew up--

we have very, very vast musical backgrounds.

We've been channeling that in various ways,

and were like, as James was saying,

always open to crazy things when they come.

Not necessarily that we're out hunting all the time-- who

can we collaborate with it now?

But when given a choice, to lift up the carpet and see what's

there, to open these doors and see what's behind door

one, two and three.

That's always fun to do.

It's always a real kind of, like, drive

to see what's just around the corner,

creatively for us musically.

What can we do?

What can we find that's just right there

that we can use and expand on for a different way

to express ourselves musically?

And you know, the more we do this,

the more we find out different ways to expand our sound--

still doing it to this day.

We all individually go and listen

to our own types of music, you know, that really,

like, you know, inspire us.

And it could be anything.

I mean, I listen to Bossa nova, and classical music,

and-- and you know, British blues from the early '60s.

But man, I get so inspired to write the heaviest riffs

when I listen to that stuff.

And it's flavored with, like, maybe Bossa nova, or whatever,

but only I know that.

I mean, these guys are like, whoa, it's totally different!

We love it!

Let's put it in a song.

I mean, it's-- it's always finding different avenues

to just, like, bust down the boundaries, you know?

Bust them down.

And you know, we're always, always forward looking,

you know?

What else can we do?

We like to chase that creative dragon.

And I hate to say it, man, but it's

the most exciting thing when you're a musician,

you know, and you're with three other guys

who think the same way.

It's a great journey, man.

It's a great, great journey.

We've put out albums and people have said--

but you know what, to me, still to this day, you know,

because it's the cul--

it's a culmination of-- of artistic ideas,

and it means so much to us.

And to be able to do that and see it through successfully

is a great gift.

[PLAYING NOTES]

All right, then, here we go!

And that's

A 4 count!

1, 2, 3, 4!

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "WHIPLASH"]

(SINGING) 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4!

Late at night, all system go, you've come to see the show.

We do our rest, you're the rest.

You make it real, you know.

There's a feeling deep inside, that drives you fucking mad.

A feeling of a hammerhead, you need it oh so bad.

Adrenaline starts to flow.

You're thrashing all around, acting like a maniac.

Whiplash!

Bang your head against the stage like you never did before.

Make it ring, and make it bleed, and make it really sore.

In a frenzied madness with your leathers and your spikes,

heads are bobbing all around, it's hot as hell tonight.

Adrenaline starts to flow.

You're thrashing all around, acting like a maniac.

Go.

[INAUDIBLE] Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Oh, here we go!

Uh, whiplash!

Hey!

The show is through, the metal's gone, it's time

to hit the road.

Another town, another gig, again, we do explode.

Hotel room and motorways, life out here is raw.

We never stop, we never quit, 'cause we're Metallica!

Adrenaline starts to flow.

You're thrashing all around, acting like a maniac.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Yeah!

Whiplash!

And a 1, 2, 3, 4!

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS"]

(SINGING) Make his fight for the hill in the early day,

constant chill deep inside.

Shouting gun, on they run into the endless gray.

On they fight for the right, yes, but who's to say?

For a hill, men will kill.

Why, they do not know.

Stiffened wounds test their pride.

Men of five still alive through the raging

glow, gone insane from the pain that they surely know.

For whom the bell tolls.

Time marches on.

For whom the bell tolls.

Take a look to the sky just before you die.

It's the last time you will.

Blackened roar, massive roar fills the crumbling sky.

Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry.

Stranger now are his eyes to this mystery.

Hears the silence so loud.

Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be.

Now they see what will be, blinded eyes do see.

For whom the bell tolls.

It tolls for thee.

For whom the bell tolls.

[CHEERING]

That's a 4 count.

1, 2, 3, 4.

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "MASTER OF PUPPETS"]

(SINGING) End of passion play, crumbling away.

I'm your source of self-destruction.

Veins that pump with fear, sucking

darkness clear, leading on your death's construction.

Taste me, you will see.

More is all you need.

Dedicated to how I'm killing you.

Come crawling faster.

Obey your master.

Your life burns faster.

Obey your master.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings.

Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams.

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing.

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, master.

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, master.

Oh!

Needlework the way, never you betray.

Life of death becoming clearer.

Pain monopoly, ritual misery.

Chop your breakfast on a mirror.

Taste me, you will see.

More is all you need.

Dedicated to how I'm killing you.

Come crawling faster.

Obey your master.

Your life burns faster.

Obey your master.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings.

Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams.

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing.

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, master!

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, master, master!

Master!

Master!

Where's the dreams that I've been after?

Master!

Master!

Promised only lies.

Master!

Master!

All I hear or see is laughter.

Master!

Master!

Laughing at my cries.

[INAUDIBLE] go.

Yeah!

[INAUDIBLE] Hell is worth all that, natural habitat.

Just a rhyme without a reason.

Never-ending maze, drift on numbered days.

Now, your life is out of season.

I will occupy.

I will help you die.

I will run through you.

Now I'll rule you too.

Come crawling faster.

Obey your master.

Your life burns faster.

Obey your master, master.

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings.

Ha-ha!

Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams.

Blinded by me, you can't see a thing.

Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream, master!

Master!

Just call my name, I'll hear you scream, master!

[EVIL LAUGH]

Master of puppets!

[AIR RAID SIREN]

[MACHINE GUN FIRE]

[HELICOPTERS PASSING]

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ONE"]

(SINGING) I can't remember anything.

Can't tell if this is true or dream.

Deep down inside, I feel the scream.

This terrible silence stops me.

Now that the war is through with me, I'm waking up,

I cannot see that there's not much left of me.

Nothing is real but pain now.

Hold my breath as I wish for death.

Oh please, God, wake me.

Back in the womb, it's much too real.

In pumps life that I must feel.

But can't look forward to reveal, look to the time

when I live.

Fed through the tube that sticks in me!

Just like a wartime novelty, tied

to machines that make me be.

Cut the chain off from me.

Hold my breath as I wish for death.

Oh please, God, wake me.

Please, God, wake me!

Now the world is gone.

I'm just one.

Oh God, help me.

Hold my breath as I wish for death.

Oh please, God, help me.

Help me!

Darkness imprisoning me.

All I see, absolute horror.

I cannot live, I cannot die.

Trapped in myself, body my holding cell.

Landmine has taken my sight, taken my speech,

taken my hearing, taken my arms, taken my legs, taken my soul,

left me with life in hell.

Oh, hell.

No!

No, no, no, no, no!

Oh please, God, help me!

That's right!

[CHEERING]

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "ENTER SANDMAN"]

(SINGING) Say your prayers, little one.

Don't forget, my son, to include everyone.

I tuck you in, warm within, keep you free from sin

till the Sandman, he comes.

Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight.

Exit light, enter night.

Take my hand.

Ooh, we're off to Never, Neverland.

Haha!

Something's wrong, shut the light.

Heavy thoughts tonight, and they aren't of Snow White.

Dreams of war, dreams of liars, dreams of dragon's fire,

and of things that will bite.

Yeah!

Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight.

Exit light, enter night.

Take my hand, ooh, off to Never, Neverland, Neverland.

Yeah!

Now, I lay me down to sleep.

Now, I lay me down to sleep.

Pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I die before I wake, if I die before I wake,

pray the Lord my soul to take.

(SINGING) Hush, little baby, don't say a word.

And never mind that noise you heard.

Ooh, it's just the beasts under your bed, in your closet,

in your head.

Exit light, enter night.

Grain of sand.

Oh, exit light, enter night.

Take my hand, ooh, off to Never, Neverland.

Ha, ha, ha!

Oh!

Oh!

Hey, hell yeah!

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Off to Never, Neverland.

Take my hand.

We're off to Never, Neverland.

Take my hand.

We're off to Never, Neverland.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

[MUSIC - METALLICA, "HARDWIRED"]

(SINGING) In the name of desperation,

in the name of wretched pain, in the name

of all creation, gone insane.

We're so fucked, shit outta luck.

Hardwired to self-destruct.

Oh!

On the way to paranoia, on the crooked borderline,

on the way to great destroyer, doom design.

We're so fucked, shit outta luck.

Hardwired to self-destruct.

Oh!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

[INAUDIBLE]

Once upon a planet burning, once upon a flame,

once upon a fear returning, all in vain.

Do you feel that hope is fading?

Do you comprehend?

Do you feel it terminating in the end?

We're so fucked, shit outta luck.

Hardwired to self-destruct.

Hardwired to self-destruct.

Self-destruct!

Self-destruct!

Self-destruct!

Self-destruction!

Self-destruct!

[CHEERING]