He never officially left the band. He went on a hiatus so-to-speak so he could go into rehab for his alcohol addiction and focus on his family. It may sound like mincing words, but he was never not considered a member of the band. The official website never unlisted him as a member like they did with Jason when he left. There was never an official statement made by the band or its management stating that James is no longer a member of the band.
So, he never left Metallica. He just took time off from the daily Metallica operations to focus on himself and his family and then came back when he was ready. He didn’t ask to come back. He didn’t have to be voted back in. Lars and Kirk never went looking for another singer. Its just one day he came back and was an active member again.
Think of it like a member of a sports team out with an injury. They’re on the team but not on the active roster. That’s kinda like it was with James. He was out, but not off the team.
No. And at this stage the band wouldn’t survive either Lars or Kirk leaving.
Anyone but James Hetfield singing would be just wrong. Hetfield isn’t really a good singer but he is irreplaceable.
The key feature of the Metallica sound is Hetfield’s rythm guitar. Other bands have a lead guitarrist and a failed lead guitarrist. Hetfield has never been interested in soloing, instead concentrating on being the world’s best rythm giutarrist.
He’s made it clear many times he has no intention of rejoining. He and the rest of Metallica are on at least decent terms, and he makes enough royalties off the Black Album alone to ensure he is wealthy for the rest of his life, but that chapterin his career is done.
Original bassist Ron McGovney left because he wasn’t all in. Cliff Burton died in that tragic tour bus accident. Huge loss as he was the glue of the band.
Cliffs replacement was Jason Newsted. He left because of the chronic hazing, the Petty band dynamics, the fact that they literally buried his work in album mixes- especially on And Justice For All, you could barely hear any bass. He was also injured, his neck was messed up with all the headbanging, so he was in pain. When when he felt the need to express himself outside of Metallica with his Echobrain project, the manager initally was going to help him get a contract, until Hetfield stepped in and convinced the band and management otherwise. They gave him an ultimatum, either Metallica or Echobrain and he decided enough was enough and left Metallica.
Robert Trujillo of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy replaced Jason and is still there. But they gave him a million bucks signing bonus to join, which is crazy, but highlights what a shitshow things had become and what it would take to get a good bassist to potentially have to deal with that. That said, I don’t think Trujillo deals with any of the garbage Jason did.
Dave was older and as a result he’d been around more and was more experienced. Dave Mustaine also has a gift for talking in an entertaining way. You go with the best you have for any particular job.
I like James Hetfield a lot and I think he’s a great songwriter. I also think he’s got a better singing voice than Dave Mustaine has.
The bottom line is everyone has their own unique gifts and talking to the audience something Dave always excelled at doing.
I suspect that without James Hetfield, Metallica would end. Not only are you losing its main songwriter and singer, you are also losing its front man. If you lost Kirk or rob or maybe even Lars it would probably continue (maybe less likely if Lars) but without Jimbo – no Metallica. Period.
I am not sure what kind of question this is, but I assume you are waiting for someone to say “Dave Mustaine”. Of course that’s never going to happen, as he isn’t the answer for what would be a devastating loss if Hetfield passed. Vocally it wouldn’t be a match, personality wise, it would never work, even after the thaw in relations these past 20 years. I agree with the other answer, the band would probably be done, unless they went the “Ripper” route, which only increases the viability slightly if the clone is near perfect. Metallica could reasonably survive the loss of Trujillo, possibly losing Kirk, but not James. I question if they would go on without Lars either.
He has never and will never left the band i dont know why you’d think that! He is Metallica along with the drummer Lars those two fight an argue like brothers that are stuck in a small room. Often times they get to where they walk or storm off and sometimes it will shut down production of whatever album they are creating but that’s about the only time they have problems publicly anyway as so documented in the movie/documentary “Some Kind Of Monster”. As for James leaving Metallica that will never happen i can comfortably tell you this to be fact. Now he has done some stints in rehab centers for cocaine addiction like quite a lot actually but sorry he’s never left Metallica nor will he ever even consider it thats just a fact!
Lars and James were introduced by Hugh Tanner and formed Metallica together.
Long answer…
Lars actually came to jam with James Hetfield’s band Leather Charm, which also featured Ron McGovney and Hugh Tanner. Tanner was friends with Lars, so they set up, ran through some songs, and Lars was rubbish. At that point Ron told James “this guy sucks”. This was April 1981. Lars then went his summer trip to chase round the UK and Europe with Diamond Head.
When he got back, Brian Slagel was putting together the first Metal Massacre compilation and Lars asked him to hold a spot for ‘his band’. He then advertised for members, but the first thing he did was call James Hetfield. James came along to meet him with Ron McGovney and they jammed through Hit the Lights and No Remorse, which James had written when he was in Leather Charm.
The band pretty much formed there, and they roped in Lloyd Grant (who was James’ guitar teacher) to play the solos on the recorded version. Lars stole the name Metallica from a fanzine Ron Quintana was setting up (Ron asked Lars which he liked better, Metal Mania or Metallica, Lars said the former, keeping the latter for himself) and there you have it.
After years of hazing, it was only reasonable that eventually Jason would grow tired of the tension within the band. It’s been stated on more than one occassion that the Metallica members gave Jason a ridiculously hard time after the tragic passing of Cliff Burton. If the …Justice album wasn’t enough to show you how hard they were pushing him, maybe check out the Year and a Half in the Life DVD, or even the making of The Black Album DVD. There was no bass audible on the Justice album, just the lower end of the guitars.
As history shows, Jason went on to do new things with his own solo project after essentially swapping roles with Rob.
Who’s to say whether this was for better or worse – I’m a fan of both (incredibly) talented members.
As noted in the documentary some kind of monster it is (or was) alchohol. Being an alcoholic in recovery myself I suspect it still is.
He never wanted to leave, they kicked his ass out, with no warning either. Because Metallica in their late teens and early twenties back in the 80’s were obviously part of the Thrash Metal culture, which meant partying hard and lots of drinking, their nickname was literally Alcohollica. Dave Mustaine was the worst drunk of all out of the 4 of them. So much so they had to kick him out. Mustaine knew how to shred and play like a guitar god, but had lots of anger issues while drunk and was a shitty person to be around with back then, by the time they bought his bus ticket to NY, Kirk had already been called to join Metallica from his old band Anthrax. Luckily Mustaine changed, and even gave us Megadeth so that’s something to be grateful for, as well as burying the hatchet with Metallica.
They kicked him out because he was a terrible person while drinking. They all were of course but apparently he was worse. Why didn’t they resolve it you ask. Because they were young stupid kids and instead of tryin to understand him and help him and themselves they got rid of him. Which hurt him forever but lit the fire under him to start a new band and make great music.
Hetfield has been called “The King of Downpicking” for his right-hand picking speed by Annihilator guitarist Jeff Waters. He has explained he holds the pick with his thumb, index and middle fingers, rather than just the thumb and index, citing additional stability he gains by it.
No. Founding members James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are still in the band.
Kirk Hammett is not a founding member, but since he’s been in Metallica for over 40 years now, he might as well be.
Current bassist Rob Trujillo is the 4th person to hold that position. But with over 20 years of service at this stage, he has the longest tenure—basically half of the band’s career.
This is a really good question but one not so easily answered.. I know for sure that he downpicked his Rhythm Guitar parts for the song (James also recorded all the Rhythm Guitar tracks for every song on the album I shit you not) but as for his picking during the clean interlude, dual guitar harmonies and his solo.. I like to think he also did downpick during those parts.. But I could be wrong.. He may have done some alternative picking during those parts I mentioned.. Best way to know for sure is to watch Metallica perform Master of Puppets live on the Howard Stern Show.. You get a full view of the band for the whole performance.. That should help answer your question
He was being choked artistically. He wasn’t involved in the writing process, he was given material and told play that. And went he got involved with another project that would allow him to satisfy that need he got yelled and instructed to separate himself from it.
That need is a real thing to some artists, apparently it was reason enough to leave the biggest band in the world.
Not sure where you’re getting your info but you should dump those responsible for sharing. Keith has been with the Stones since 1962, had never left.
Well since James is also the guitarist it really doesn’t mean much does it? In bands where the singer is only a singer they would likely use the time to relax and rest the vocal chords….maybe socialize a little. Certainly try to gently come down from the performance high.
Yes. He worked very hard and went through a lot of abuse from the other three members for years, even extending into the Some Kind of Monster movie. It was a wise decision for him to leave when he realized they would never let him write or create on the same playing field as James and Lars. Rob Trujillo has in his 15+ years now in the band had no such ambitions.
