“People say, ‘What does Metallica mean to you?’ It’s just a fuckin’ . . . it’s a state of mind.” A Profile of the legendary heavy-metal band in its 41st year.
In 1981, Ulrich, seeking musicians interested in starting a band, placed a classified ad in the back of. A friend of Hetfield’s answered the ad, and Hetfield tagged along. “He was painfully shy,” Ulrich said. “We instantly bonded over the fact that we were loners and outsiders, and open to a best-friend relationship. Neither of us had really found who we were yet.
Zazula and his wife, Marsha, founded Megaforce Records after shopping the Metallica demo around and failing to get an offer. When the Zazulas started Megaforce, Jonny Z. was serving a six-month sentence in a halfway house, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He spent his weekdays feeding quarters into a pay phone, attempting to book shows.
“Kill ’Em All” was released on July 25, 1983, on Zazula’s Megaforce Records. Hetfield describes the record’s themes as “headbanging, death, and blood.” “Ride the Lightning” followed a year later. From the start, Metallica refused to capitulate, stylistically or otherwise, to anything happening around it. “They have, more than any other major modern band, consistently ignored what other groups were trying to do,” the critic Chuck Klosterman told me.
But the Metallica experience was not designed to be friendly. Hetfield would sometimes antagonize the audience, growling, “Hey, any time this stuff gets too heavy for you . . . tough shit!” Offstage, the members of Metallica provoked one another, particularly Ulrich and Hetfield. Their complex, brotherly dynamic—Hetfield was possessive; Ulrich was demanding—sometimes threatened to overwhelm the band. “We would get drunk, and just start in,” Hammett said.
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