Metallica - Garage Bands Rule!

Metallica - Garage Bands Rule!

Before all the fame and fortune, before all the million selling albums and sold out world tours, Metallica was just another band, playing cover tunes in bars out in California. In fact, at their very first live performance in Anaheim, back on March 14, 1982, they played just three originals and seven cover songs. One of the songs, "Am I Evil," is still used by the band as an encore and was first released by the heavy metal band Diamond Head in 1980. When Metallica got their start back in 1981, they learned songs from the massive record collection of drummer Lars Ulrich. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lars was the son of Danish tennis pro Torben Ulrich. He was attending concerts since the age of five, seeing the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple before he turned nine. He met James Hetfield in high school and they decided to start a band. Soon they were joined by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist Ron McGovney. They released a demo cassette in 1982 titled "No Life 'Til Leather" that quickly became a smash hit among tape traders across America. The tape sparked interest by several major labels and the band signed with Elektra in early 1983 and released their awesome debut, "Kill'em All."

Internal tension caused Mustaine and McGovney to leave the group. Their replacements were Cliff Burton on bass and Kirk Hammett on guitar. It was time to record another album, but the band just wasn't ready for the strain. Instead, they opted to just record some of their favorite cover tunes. They picked "Am I Evil" by their favorite band, Diamond Head and "Blitzkrieg" which was by the English band of the same name. A tour of England was planned to promote their new album "Ride The Lightning." They issued the single "Creeping Death" to foreign audiences to promote the tour and put these two cover songs on the "B" side as a gift to their fans abroad. While on the overseas tour, Cliff Burton was killed when their bus overturned in Sweden.

Back home, they hired bassist Jason Newsted to replace Cliff, and hit the road to fulfill some tour dates that had been previously booked. During this time the band was invited to perform at the huge Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington in England. Elektra Records suggested they record a few new songs to help promote the prestigious gig. They went in the studio but were only able to write one new song. While skateboarding, singerJames Hetfield fell and broke his arm. Time was running out. There was no time to write and record new songs. The answer was simple, record some cover tunes and give the record company something to promote the upcoming tour. They recorded five of their favorite cover tunes and released the famous "The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited" collection. It contained their versions of "Helpless", originally recorded by Diamond Head, "The Small Hours" by Holocaust, "The Wait" by Killing Joke, "Crash Course In Brain Surgery" originally done by Budgie and "Last Caress / Green Hell" by The Misfits. They released the collection in August of 1987. The EP was so successful, the band decided to record a few more cover songs during the next few years. In September of 1988, they recorded two tunes to use as "B" sides for the single "Harvester Of Sorrow." Again they picked songs byBudgie (Breadfan) and Diamond Head (The Prince), two of their favorite bands.

During the studio sessions in 1991 that produced the "Metallica" (Black Album), the had two cover tunes on tape. The first was "Killing Time" by Sweet Savage and the second was "So What" by Anti-Nowhere League. When the band released the single "Unforgiven" in November of 1991, these two tunes were used as "B" sides. They recorded a version of the Queen hit, "Stone Cold Crazy" especially for Elektra Records compilation called "Rubaiyat." Queen guitarist Brian May was a huge influence on Metallica during their early years. It was a chance for them to pay tribute to the band.

During studio sessions for the "Load" album in December of 1995, they were invited to an all-star jam at the Whiskey in L.A. honoring bassist Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. Metallica declined the jam session but offered to open for Motorhead, unannounced, as a tribute band. In preparation, they began rehearsing some Motorhead tunes. With a DAT tape running, they recorded four songs that would appear as "B" sides to the "Hero For A Day" single. The classic Motorhead tunes captured on tape were "Overkill," "Damage Case," "Stone Dead Forever" and "Too Late, Too Late." Metallica recorded a massive amount of material during the September 1996 to October 1998 period. They released an amazing two albums during this period, "Load" and "Re-Load." In addition, they recorded over 15 cover tunes during the process. It had become a tradition with the band to always break in a new studio by warming up on some old favorites before getting down to basics. As always, they keep the tape running in the studio. This time, rather than just play a few tunes, they recorded over a dozen classic versions. Once they listened to the tapes, they realized they were to good to just sit on a studio shelf. Thus the decision was made to release an album of all cover tunes. Due to massive fan requests, they decided to issue a 2 CD set. Disc one would include eleven of the cover songs they had just recorded. Disc two would be a special collection for the loyal fans. It would contain all the other rare cover songs they had recorded during their career, collected all on one disc.

Released at the end of last year, "Garage, Inc." shows Metallica at their brutal best. Unrehearsed, unedited and raw. The way it was in the old days, playing for beer at all the grungy clubs on the west coast. Each song on disc one was carefully selected by the band and represents certain phases of their career. Covering such time honored war-horses as "Turn The Page" by Bob Seger, "Tuesday's Gone" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "It's Electric" by Diamond Head, "Sabbra Cadabra" by Black Sabbath, "Astronomy" by Blue Oyster Cult, "Whiskey In The Jar" by Thin Lizzy and "The More I See" by Discharge. As drummer Lars Ulrich states, "Our songs are dissected bit by bit by our fans, so it's cool to just blast through some cover songs. It's a fun thing for us to do. As long as there is a Metallica, we will do cover songs."

This year looks busy for the band, they plan to tour later in the spring. They have a handful of original songs ready for the next album. Their website is doing fantastic on the Internet. The band is healthy and happy, both on and off stage. There are even rumors of joining Detroit rocker Ted Nugent when he brings back his "Whiplash Bash" New Years Eveconcert at the end of this year. Life is good, crank it up.