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Introduction
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From the moment they formed in 1981, Metallica have embodied all things metal ...
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The Early Days
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The band remembers its beginnings, when the object of the game was to seek and destroy ...
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The Bassists
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After Cliff Burton's death, Jason Newsted joins, only to be tortured for years and years before finally giving up ...
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Alcoholica
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The group speaks candidly about James Hetfield's life-changing stint in rehab ...
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The Music
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Metallica talk about the songwriting process, and share memories of recording Master of Puppets, the Black Album, St. Anger and more ...
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Photo Galleries
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Metallica: 20 Years Of Photos, Tickets, Posters
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Avril, Snoop, Sum 41, More On "mtvICON: Metallica" Black Carpet
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Metallica Icon Main
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Browse Bands by Name
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Or enter a band name below to search:
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 Bands Main
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Hetfield: We'd just bust into his room in the middle of the night drunk and just attack him, throw all his furniture out into the hallway and then just leave. That
was more of the fun stuff. Then excluding him from stuff was a little more
hurtful. I remember we'd do these in-store appearances [to sign autographs].
We'd sit in a line and we'd have him go first so he'd write his name and in
the beginning he'd write "Jason, bass face." That was his thing, and then as
it got down to me I'd scratch the "b" off so it would look like "ass face."
Newsted: I think that everybody in Metallica at different times had
certain feelings towards each other. We knew we had it going really good and
we loved each other and counted on each other and relied on each other so
deeply, that that stuff was unspoken. But the more surfacey things and the
everyday things, after a while rub you wrong. Everybody got rubbed wrong at
different times with different things, different people, different opinions.
Kirk Hammett: Before James went into rehab we always had problems
communicating, and that manifested itself a lot with the problems Jason had
with us. We always had problems communicating with Jason. Jason had problems
communicating with us. And I think that ultimately led to his leaving the
band. I'll assume full responsibility for that — we were not the best people
we could have been toward Jason. I really regret that, but what can you do,
what's happened has happened.
Prior to reconvening to write and record St. Anger, the band had a long period of relative musical inactivity.
Newsted: When Metallica came to a point that they're taking months and
months of time off from playing music, I have to still play music. I don't
have other things that I go to. I wanted to share this music [I was making on
my own] with people and those guys didn't see [how important that was to me
and] that that's what keeps me alive.
So basically my dedication was being questioned. Because of my Echobrain
[side project album] that I wanted to release. James spoke to me in a manner
that I do not allow anyone to speak to me. It could be the president of the
world. I would not allow them to speak to me that way. And when he
did then that was that. The person I respected the most disrespected me the
most. And it just hit me in the head like a brick, and in the heart, too. And
Metallica was everything to me, everything. Nothing came before it, ever. And
the reason I didn't have kids, the reason I didn't get married or do any of
those things a normal person would do was because of Metallica. Because I
wanted to be able to be committed to it at all f---ing times.
Hammett: The first time we had an inkling that Jason was seriously
unhappy with the band was when we played the "My VH1 Awards" and we were
playing "Fade to Black" outside for television broadcast. And the entire time
Jason was around he was just in his own little cocoon, very incommunicado.
Newsted: I knew that that was my last performance with Metallica. I
was crying at the end of the performance.
Hammett: So a couple of weeks later we reconvened for a meeting at a
very neutral place, at an old hotel room. And we all sat down and we could
kind of feel what was coming. Then Jason just dropped the bomb.
Newsted: The meeting at the hotel — it was a very emotional day. I
knew that it was going to be ugly and I'd be red-faced by the time I left
there. I had a proposition, that's how the meeting started. Lars had a new
baby, and I said, "Take some time to be with your family," and to James, "You
have a kid on the way, take some time with your kids. And let's just take one
year off, right now. And then on January 10, 2002 we'll get back together,
in this very room if you want. And let's make our plan to take Metallica out
and crash the world again. Don't you think that'd be cool? Everyone can have
their time and I can make my Echobrain record." And from what I remember I
don't think they even let it get into their thought processes at all before
just reacting to it and saying no. So I said, "OK then, I'm going to
have to step off."
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Photo: Elektra
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