David
Even The Rolling Stones get a mention
from Lars [Ulrich]. But Kirk, as inspiration
for the riff of "Enter Sandman," was not
only listening to Deep Purple and Free
andAC/DC, but also Soundgarden, [specif
cally] the record Louder Than Love, which,
as you correctly point out, not many people knew that record because it was before
Soundgarden blew up. But it's a fantastic
hard rock record.
Metallica, 2015
10•2015
style from Metallica and The Black Album, I
think it's difficult to separate the success of
Metallica from the success of Nirvana,
from the success of Soundgarden, or from
the success of Alice In Chains. Because
business people are nothing if not observant, and they wanted to fill that appetite
for heavy and hard music, and then here
comes all these bands out of Seattle that,
although they have a slightly different
take on it, can do it.
IE: It's funny, you write in the book that
Hammett was listening to Soundgarden
when writing riffs to one of the songs.
Soundgarden, too, was years away for a
lot of us.
DM: "Enter Sandman." Yeah, that was a
very interesting detail because most of the
influences that Metallica injected into the
creative process of The Black Album were
from their youth, like Aerosmith, Deep
Purple, Motorhead, Misfits, Ramones.
IE: How do you think The Black Album
holds up?
DM: It's one of my favorite records, so I
think it holds up very well. Much of
Metallica's music has aged well, and
there's still controversy surrounding The
Black Album because many of the die-hard
heavy metal purists saw it as a betrayal of
Metallica's origins or a softening of their
sound. But Hammett used this phrase
over and over again in our discussion, and
it was a phrase that they kept using during
the making of The Black Album, and that is
"soul groove." And I think that some really
eclectic ingredients came together to create
this heavy metal/hard rock tonic and
elixir that's intoxicating. You have the
aggression and the primal energy and
intensity of Metallica, but you also have
this rock 'n' roll swagger. You have this
soul-groove quality because much of the
record was a process of improvisation.
12 illinoisentertainer.com october 2015
Almost all of Hammett's solos were
unplanned; he played them on the spot.
And Hetfield, by his own admission,
evolved from screamer to singer, so there's
so much nuance and melody in his voice.
And then finally, on the subject of Hetfield,
I would say that lyrically it's some of his
best work. He was always one of the best
lyricists in heavy metal, but with The Black
Album, he decided to get introspective and
personal. On songs like "Nothing Else
Matters," [inspiring] the story you just told
about your first girlfriend, or "The God
That Failed," about his mother's death, he's
beginning to write lyrics that are instantly
and intuitively relatable to the audience,
without compromising on the angry
aggression of the music. So all of those factors collude to create something that is
timeless and legendary, in not only heavy
metal and hard rock, but all of rock 'n' roll.
Metallica by David Masciotra is out now
on Bloomsbury.
Mike Meyer