LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: Musician James Hetfield of Metallica speaks at the opening of his custom automobile exhibit "Reclaimed Rust: The James Hetfeild Collection" at Petersen Automotive Museum on January 30, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
“There was a lot of thieving”: James Hetfield explains how Metallica had to turn to crime to survive when recording Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets
“We didn’t have anything, we didn’t have shit,” the frontman recalls.
What does it take to become the world’s biggest metal band? Hard work for sure, a fair amount of luck probably, and as Metallica’s James Hetfield reveals, lots of “thieving” to make it through tough times.
The frontman speaks on the latest episode of The Metallica Report podcast, where he reminisces the band’s early days in Copenhagen, the city in which they recorded their seminal albums Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets.
Hetfield says that “because of all those adventures in the early days,” he feels “a lot more at home” in Denmark now: “You know, the early days were tough because, as far as us and the business side, we had no clue. Lars [Ulrich] was kind of taking a shot at it,” he recalls.
Metallica had just finished their tour with British metal outfit Venom in the ’80s when they decided to stay in Europe to record what would be their second studio album.
As Hetfield explains, the band’s days at Sweet Silence Studios – the leading Danish recording studio for rock music at the time – were a mix of hardship and various shenanigans: “[We were] up in the attic, sleeping on the floor and stealing food from other bands that were coming through there, stealing bikes just to get around, stealing empty beer bottles to go turn them in for more beer.”
“There was a lot of thieving,” in short.
“We didn’t have anything, we didn’t have shit. So it wasn’t thieving, we were just borrowing it forever,” Hetfield adds with a laugh.
The studio also offered a trove of music the members could explore, having hosted sessions with artists like Chet Baker and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow rock band.
“Lars and I slept in the tape storage upstairs of Sweet Silence and looking through it was like whoa, Richie Blackmore’s stuff and all kinds of different bands that have gone through there doing stuff.”
