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Metallica: The Stories Behind the Biggest Songs
Metallica formed in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local L.A. newspaper. Their early recordings featured fast thrash tempos, instrumentals, and a raw aggression that made them metal gods almost instantly. Here are the stories behind such songs as “Ride the Lightning,” “The Thing that Should Not Be,” and “The God that Failed”—written about the death of lyricist James Hetfield’s mother.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 19, 2025
Detailed book looking at the stories behind the songs and music of Metallica. Felt this book was okay
May 18, 2010
Chris Ingham seems enthusiastic about Metallica, and heavy metal in general. So enthusiastic that he has peppered this book with so many exclamation points that I imagine an audiobook of this work would feature Ingham screaming the whole time, with chopping guitar chords as added emphasis in case we missed THE POINT he wanted to make. Harping on his hard rock punctuation and average writing might seem like a cheap shot - this is essentially a really large Fanzine after all - but it still bugged me. I do think even fan books, equipped with pictures upon pictures, can and should still feature good writing and substantial content. In the case of this Metallica book, it struggles on both counts.
Now, before all the haters start ripping into me, lemme say that I thought the first half of this book was quite good. The material was substantial enough that I could overlook the writing. (Most things have limitations and we can be charitable enough readers to work through those weaknesses and focus on the quality within the work.) The background info on the bands that influenced Metallica (mainly Lars) was interesting and good at showing where the band was coming from. The section on the Kill 'em All album was nice, because Ingham seemed to acknowledge the ridiculousness in much of the album's lyric, while still showing an affection for its youthful, bratty, metalhead fervor. This seems really nice to me. The lyrics on Metallica's first album are silly thrash fodder that are often simply secondary to the music, which is blazing along at hyperspeed. It's teenager doing what they do sometimes, and there's something kind of amusing and cool to some of that high school emotional intensity - my own high school creative writing classes and theater experiences remind me how great a whole lotta angst can sometimes be.
The book stays interesting through the Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets albums. Ingham does a decent job showing James' considerably improved lyrics and why these two albums really are important, excellent metal albums. But what's blaringly lacking is discussion of, in my mind (and I'm not alone on this one), Metallica's best instrumental, "Orion". He gives it about two sentences, then moves on, whereas the other instrumentals receive much deserved attention.
He also spends no small amount of praise on Cliff Burton, who seems to have reached mythic status in the Metallica/heavy metal universe. Sure, Burton was great, and his influence on Metallica is without question huge, but the band certainly didn't crumble into a group of benign saps after his death. Ingham tries to support Jason Newstead and acknowledge that filling Burton's spot would be impossible for anyone. Except Ingham seems to still want Newstead to do just that; he acknowledges how Newstead was never fully included and on the same level with Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett, and probably got a real raw deal (his few writing creds as one example). But Ingham never gives Newstead his due either. He glosses over his contributions as if to say, "yeah, yeah, Jason helped too, sometimes."
Fast-forwarding to where my biggest problem with this book is: the Load and Reload albums. These two discs have been the target of no small amount of controversy among "fans", be they "die-hards" or "posers". The ranting about Metallica selling out and becoming an alt-metal or pop-metal band has been huge. As to selling out, it seems a dumb argument. Metallica has been filling arenas almost their whole career. They've been the most popular metal band for a really long time. Have they really been outside the mainstream? Tons of people claiming not to be metalheads still like Metallica, and that's before the 90s. Ingham hardly tackles these issues, and instead, seems to avoid the controversy by writing as little as possible either in support of or in opposition to Load and Reload. He just kind of glosses over it with a shrug and some limp comments about how some fans felt about those albums. If all he's gonna do is say what a couple of fans said, what the crap is he writing a book for? He acknowledges (correctly) that "Where the Wild Things Are" contains some of Hetfield's best lyrics, but doesn't delve into it at all, like he's scared of being pounced on by some "die-hard" fan who is still screaming that Kill 'em All is the only Metallica album worth anything. Pretty spineless of Ingham, if you ask me.
Basically, Ingham praises what is safe to praise, and says nothing about the things where opinions are mixed. He can knock on the production of ...And Justice For All because everyone has already bagged on that. He can praise "Enter Sandman" and "The Unforgiven" because there's enough support behind those songs to smoother the dissenters. He can praise "Until it Sleeps" because it was also a hit; his comment that it's remarkable that such an angry song as "Until it Sleeps" was such a hit seems to forget about songs like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nine Inch Nails' "Closer", and (cringe) Limp Bizkit's butthole anthem "Break Stuff" that all received substantial radio play and all feature some pretty pissed off lyrics. But Ingham can't defend songs like "The House Jack Built" or "Where the Wild Things Are" because too many people would get upset at him. He's pandering to the blandest of Metallica fan, and it's obnoxious.
Perhaps I'm getting carried away and not being fair. Maybe the book deserves three stars. The first half certainly does, but the second half drops off so hard that I just got upset. But I guess I can hardly put all the blame on Ingham, afterall, even Metallica seems a touch wishy-washy when talking about Load and Reload. And maybe that's the biggest problem with those albums. Nobody was ever fully committed to what was happening there and so the albums stand no chance. That same lack of commitment exists in this book.
Now, before all the haters start ripping into me, lemme say that I thought the first half of this book was quite good. The material was substantial enough that I could overlook the writing. (Most things have limitations and we can be charitable enough readers to work through those weaknesses and focus on the quality within the work.) The background info on the bands that influenced Metallica (mainly Lars) was interesting and good at showing where the band was coming from. The section on the Kill 'em All album was nice, because Ingham seemed to acknowledge the ridiculousness in much of the album's lyric, while still showing an affection for its youthful, bratty, metalhead fervor. This seems really nice to me. The lyrics on Metallica's first album are silly thrash fodder that are often simply secondary to the music, which is blazing along at hyperspeed. It's teenager doing what they do sometimes, and there's something kind of amusing and cool to some of that high school emotional intensity - my own high school creative writing classes and theater experiences remind me how great a whole lotta angst can sometimes be.
The book stays interesting through the Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets albums. Ingham does a decent job showing James' considerably improved lyrics and why these two albums really are important, excellent metal albums. But what's blaringly lacking is discussion of, in my mind (and I'm not alone on this one), Metallica's best instrumental, "Orion". He gives it about two sentences, then moves on, whereas the other instrumentals receive much deserved attention.
He also spends no small amount of praise on Cliff Burton, who seems to have reached mythic status in the Metallica/heavy metal universe. Sure, Burton was great, and his influence on Metallica is without question huge, but the band certainly didn't crumble into a group of benign saps after his death. Ingham tries to support Jason Newstead and acknowledge that filling Burton's spot would be impossible for anyone. Except Ingham seems to still want Newstead to do just that; he acknowledges how Newstead was never fully included and on the same level with Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett, and probably got a real raw deal (his few writing creds as one example). But Ingham never gives Newstead his due either. He glosses over his contributions as if to say, "yeah, yeah, Jason helped too, sometimes."
Fast-forwarding to where my biggest problem with this book is: the Load and Reload albums. These two discs have been the target of no small amount of controversy among "fans", be they "die-hards" or "posers". The ranting about Metallica selling out and becoming an alt-metal or pop-metal band has been huge. As to selling out, it seems a dumb argument. Metallica has been filling arenas almost their whole career. They've been the most popular metal band for a really long time. Have they really been outside the mainstream? Tons of people claiming not to be metalheads still like Metallica, and that's before the 90s. Ingham hardly tackles these issues, and instead, seems to avoid the controversy by writing as little as possible either in support of or in opposition to Load and Reload. He just kind of glosses over it with a shrug and some limp comments about how some fans felt about those albums. If all he's gonna do is say what a couple of fans said, what the crap is he writing a book for? He acknowledges (correctly) that "Where the Wild Things Are" contains some of Hetfield's best lyrics, but doesn't delve into it at all, like he's scared of being pounced on by some "die-hard" fan who is still screaming that Kill 'em All is the only Metallica album worth anything. Pretty spineless of Ingham, if you ask me.
Basically, Ingham praises what is safe to praise, and says nothing about the things where opinions are mixed. He can knock on the production of ...And Justice For All because everyone has already bagged on that. He can praise "Enter Sandman" and "The Unforgiven" because there's enough support behind those songs to smoother the dissenters. He can praise "Until it Sleeps" because it was also a hit; his comment that it's remarkable that such an angry song as "Until it Sleeps" was such a hit seems to forget about songs like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nine Inch Nails' "Closer", and (cringe) Limp Bizkit's butthole anthem "Break Stuff" that all received substantial radio play and all feature some pretty pissed off lyrics. But Ingham can't defend songs like "The House Jack Built" or "Where the Wild Things Are" because too many people would get upset at him. He's pandering to the blandest of Metallica fan, and it's obnoxious.
Perhaps I'm getting carried away and not being fair. Maybe the book deserves three stars. The first half certainly does, but the second half drops off so hard that I just got upset. But I guess I can hardly put all the blame on Ingham, afterall, even Metallica seems a touch wishy-washy when talking about Load and Reload. And maybe that's the biggest problem with those albums. Nobody was ever fully committed to what was happening there and so the albums stand no chance. That same lack of commitment exists in this book.
January 7, 2022
Számomra csalódás volt a könyv. Nem annyira életrajzi kötet, mint inkább retrospektív albumelemzések sorozata. Csepegtet ugyan háttérinfomrációkat, de ez a kisebbik része a kiadványnak. Sajnos a tartalom messze nem ér fel a külsőhöz. Az pedig a hazai kiadó figyelmetlensége, hogy ennyi hiba maradt benne.
May 28, 2023
It was a very interesting read
May 25, 2025
Hell yeah
January 16, 2014
Chris Inghamin Metallica-kirja on mielenkiintoista luettavaa: ensin esitetään bändin esikuvia ja muita vaikuttajia, sitten yhtyeen muotoutuminen ja alkuvaikeudet. Pääosassa ovat yhdeksän levyä, ja jokaisen kappaleen sanoituksia on taustoitettu ja keskeisimpiä säkeitä ja viittauksia tekstin ulkopuolelle on valotettu.
Kirja tarjoaa vaihtoehtoisia tulkintoja ja uutta näkökulmaa biisien ystäville. Nothing else matters -hittiä verrataan osuvasti muiden aikalaisten pliisuihin viisuihin. mm. Gunnareiden November rain -tekeleisiin ja vastaaviin. Sandman on Gaimanin sarjakuvista, Unforgiven saa uusia ulottuvuuksia Death Magnetic -levyllä jne.
Lemmyt, Antraxit, Venomit ja heavypunk-vaikutteet tulevat hyvin esille, mutta Burtonin jälkeen tullutta Jason Newsteadia lyödään turhan lujaa. Robert Trujullon esittely unohtuu kokonaan.
Kuvitus on hyvää ja virittää hyvin tunnelmaan, mutta tekstin lukeminen ei onnistu kunnolla kuin lukulaseilla: fontti on pienempää kuin vakuutussopimuksissa. Sinkkubiiseistä annetaan perustiedot sekä listasijoitukset.
Kirja tarjoaa vaihtoehtoisia tulkintoja ja uutta näkökulmaa biisien ystäville. Nothing else matters -hittiä verrataan osuvasti muiden aikalaisten pliisuihin viisuihin. mm. Gunnareiden November rain -tekeleisiin ja vastaaviin. Sandman on Gaimanin sarjakuvista, Unforgiven saa uusia ulottuvuuksia Death Magnetic -levyllä jne.
Lemmyt, Antraxit, Venomit ja heavypunk-vaikutteet tulevat hyvin esille, mutta Burtonin jälkeen tullutta Jason Newsteadia lyödään turhan lujaa. Robert Trujullon esittely unohtuu kokonaan.
Kuvitus on hyvää ja virittää hyvin tunnelmaan, mutta tekstin lukeminen ei onnistu kunnolla kuin lukulaseilla: fontti on pienempää kuin vakuutussopimuksissa. Sinkkubiiseistä annetaan perustiedot sekä listasijoitukset.
June 12, 2020
Z tą historią to może się już tak nie zapędzajmy, w książce znajdziecie bardziej zbiór ciekawostek na temat poszczególnych utworów plus trochę wzmianek na temat wpływów działających na Metallikę, kilka zdań na temat samych płyt i dużo zdjęć. Ingham postarał się nawet, żeby było momentami zabawnie.
Najbardziej rozbawiły mnie niektóre komentarze do chyba najbardziej kontrowersyjnych Load/Reload, na przykład Chris Ingham pisze:
"Thorn Within - Kolejny kawałek najczarniejszej, ciężkiej Metalliki starej szkoły, napisany jakby po to, by udowodnić, że zespół wciąż potrafi tak grać. Gdyby cały album brzmiał tak, jak ta piosenka, trashowcy wpadliby w uniesienie".
Co na to trashowiec Joel McIver:
"Thorn Within" zaczyna się nudno, przechodzi w potwornie bezbarwny riff oparty na bezsensownym zlepku dźwięków i roztapia się w morzu szarości".
Panowie, zdecydujcie się.
6/10
Najbardziej rozbawiły mnie niektóre komentarze do chyba najbardziej kontrowersyjnych Load/Reload, na przykład Chris Ingham pisze:
"Thorn Within - Kolejny kawałek najczarniejszej, ciężkiej Metalliki starej szkoły, napisany jakby po to, by udowodnić, że zespół wciąż potrafi tak grać. Gdyby cały album brzmiał tak, jak ta piosenka, trashowcy wpadliby w uniesienie".
Co na to trashowiec Joel McIver:
"Thorn Within" zaczyna się nudno, przechodzi w potwornie bezbarwny riff oparty na bezsensownym zlepku dźwięków i roztapia się w morzu szarości".
Panowie, zdecydujcie się.
6/10
December 1, 2015
This isn't even something that needs to be said. I'm not only a huge Metallica fan, but I've been utterly fascinated by the lyrical writing of James Hetfield since first listening to 'The Four Horseman '. To be able to delve a bit deeper into the meaning and magic behind some of metal's most iconic songs was fantastic. The growth as a writer that James experienced, the influence of Cliff Burton, the inspiration in both music and lyrics from a varied and deep series of sources. It all combined to an excellent reading of musical creativity. Enjoyed this book a lot. Will continue to read for years to come.
December 17, 2016
Stories behind every song. It was a pretty interesting to read. Although, most of the songs were analyzing and best guesses from the author, not official word from MetallicA. A few of the songs had snips of interviews from the past that talked about how the songs were created or the meaning behind them, but most of the info came from the author translating what he thought the songs meant. Still very interesting to read and a must for any MetallicA fan. :)
June 11, 2013
Reads like a fanzine. Some info and a lot of assumptions and/or half-assed song interpretations. Here's an idea: why don't you actually do your job and just ask Hetfield what he wanted to say and let the readers decide for themselves...
December 25, 2012
Its METALLICA. Need I say anything more?
December 23, 2020
not too bad.
April 16, 2014
i was impressed by the outstanding discography analysis by the author. otoh, it would have to be pretty dreadful for me NOT to like a book about Metallica. \m/
March 26, 2024
This is the second time I have read this. I did enjoy it but some information is not correct as they have used unreliable sources such as Wikipedia.
June 27, 2016
Lots of interesting information about the interpretations of their songs
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews