Category:BiographiesPaper Title:MetallicaText:So its Wednesday night. Im lying in bed, trying to decide what to writemy research paper on, but mostly focusing on the television. VH1s Behind theMusic is on.
Tonight, the show spotlights my favorite band: Metallica. Suddenlyit hits me. I should do my paper on the most fascinating band in the world. Andso the story begins. Well start over in Copenhagen Denmark. A young boy named Lars Ulrich isgrowing up in a rich neighborhood.
He plays tennis, and has hopes of one daybeing one of the worlds best (Tolinski, 46). But that dream comes to an abrupthalt when Lars gets his first drum set for his twelfth birthday (Tolinski, 46). This was also around the same time when heavy metal was beginning to catch on inEurope. The rise of this type of music is referred to as the new wave of BritishHeavy Metal (NWOBHM).
Suddenly Lars life has a new focus. Forget abouttennis. Now this spoiled rich kid wants to be a drummer. In early 1979,Lars moved to Los Angeles California (VH1). He began to placeads in the cities local heavy metal magazine. For several months, he got noresponse.
In fact no one else even placed ads looking for other people to starta band, except for one guy. Desperate to start his musical career, Lars decidedto call this other guy to see if he would like to jam sometime. Jamyz Hetfield was ecstatic to receive that phone call. He had grown uplistening to the NWOBHM, and had taught himself how to play the guitar. When thetwo met for the first time, an instant brotherhood was born. Not because theyliked each other, but because no one else was willing to give this new type ofmusic a chance.
After a few jam sessions, Lars and Jamyz decided that they were ready to forma band. Lars knew a man named Brian Slagel that was putting together a metalcompilation album called Metal Massacre (Tolinski, 46). Brian assured Lars aspot on the record if he could throw together a band. With this in mind Lars andJamyz hit the Los Angeles club scene to try to discover possible band mates.
They found a lead guitarist named Lloyd Grant, and a bassist named Ron McGovney. The foursome hit the studios and recorded one track: Hit The Lights (Tolinski,47). So now its 1981. The foundation for the greatest heavy metal band of alltime has been formed, but they had no name, until another metal head named RonQuintana came into the scene. He was developing a magazine dedicated to heavymetal music.
The final nominees for the magazine title were Metallica and MetalMania. Lars assured Ron that Metal Mania was far catchier, and promptly stolethe other name for his band (VH1). It took a while, but Metal Massacre was finally released in the summer of1982 (Tolinski, 47). Needless to say, Metallicas debut didnt set the worldon fire. And to top it all off, the bands name was misspelled on the tracklisting.
But nothing could stop these guys from reaching the top. They weredestined for stardom. In late 1982, Dave Mustaine replaced Lloyd Grant as lead guitarist (VH1). Theband went back into the studios to rerecord their only song, and the new versionwas released on all subsequent pressings of Metal Massacre. With a now moresolid line-up, Hit The Lights went on to be the most popular track on therecord (VH1).
With the end of 1982 quickly approaching, the band decided to hit the studiosagain and record a seven-track demo album titled No Life Til Leather. InNovember of 1982 Metallica played their first show. It was a show dedicated tometal fans, and featured seven of the ten bands on the Metal Massacre album. Metallica quickly stole the show.
In fact several of the other bands were booedoff the stage by angry fans who were there just to see Metallica (Tolinski, 47). So now things were going okay for the guys. They had a steady undergroundfollowing. But they werent making any money. They knew they needed to step uptheir music, but how? This question was answered when Jamyz attended a show in aLA bar. On stage was a man named Cliff Burton(VH1).
Burton, a bass player, wasby far the most talented musician Hetfield had ever seen. He knew immediatelythat he must get him to join Metallica.
