Here’s the list of questions that we want to ask Metallica when such a chance occurs. Mostly songwriting stuff and myths to set the record straight. No politics or drama! Only riffs. And nothing else matters.
You can contribute your questions via the comments below (read our comment policy first). And if you came across some answers in Metallica interviews, please share!
Let’s complete our virtual Metallica encyclopedia together \m/
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- Did Cliff hear some riffs that would be on Justice?
- What’s the weirdest, craziest, least Metallica-ish thing you wanted to put in a song, but didn’t?
- Could some riffs from Lulu have been on Hardwired?
- What’s the mysterious clean guitar in Orion interlude?
- Why didn’t Jason contribute more ideas? He had few or those were just not fitting?
- Are there songs you wish you could rewrite? Was ‘All Within My Hands’ such a case?
- Are there Lars’ riffs and what’s his contribution to songwriting other than composition?
- How do Metallica songwriting credits work?
- Why does Robert has so many ideas on Death Magnetic, but only one on Hardwired, even though he had more time to compose and never lost an iPhone?
- Why do the ballads go under number 4?
- The ultimate list of riffs by Kirk (~30% known), Rob (~20%), Cliff (~80%), and Lars (~1%).
- Why is there everyone an co-writer on St Anger (even Bob Rock), Magnetic, and Lulu?
- Where are Cliff Burton’s riff tapes?
- Do James and Lars always alter / improve Kirk’s riffs?
- How did the “calm” version of AWMH came to be?
- What was the first harmony James wrote? Fight Fire with Fire?
- How did Lars come up with all these tricky accent shifts, like in Blackened and Orion?
- Is The Unforgiven a completed story?
- Where is the ride cymbal?
- How long does it take to relearn old songs, especially the ones that are hard to sing and play?
- What’s the riff(s) on To Live is To Die that belong to Cliff?
- Did you deliberately make Outlaw Torn and Fixxxer twin songs?
- Easter Eggs we don’t know.
- Who dropped an f-bomb in Bell Tolls?
- What’s the longest a riff stayed in the Riff Bank before making it into a song?
- Where was Metallica’s “Tone Police” on Load, Reload, and St Anger?
- How was Orion’s intro recorded? Synth or bass, both, synth on rough mix / bass on final mix?
- Why didn’t My Friend of Misery turn into an instrumental?
5 replies on “Questions to Metallica”
Are we ever gonna hear all the different takes that Cliff did of Anesthesia?
Why on the original Metallica logo featured on Kill ‘em all cover and later on there is that little bend on the M arrow which makes letters M and A non-symmetrical?
Was it designed by James on purpose or was it just inaccuracy?
The same question about the ninja star from Load, where the whole M is pretty crooked.
Why this video shoot was abandoned and what song was this video made for? (Hardwired song maybe, i think it was for Murder One)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I am still an extreme fan of old Metallica, but they have been creeping away from what made them unique and great.
I do not mind them making Music Videos. I just think they became more enthralled with Bob Rock and Billboard than Beer (non-alcoholic for James) and bon mots. I dunno. James’ lyrical style went from deep, philosophical and biting to radio-friendly dribble.
When, or at what concert, did the band realize Master of Puppets was a monster song?