K.J. Doughton - Metallica Unbound

Copyright 1993

by MCP, Inc.

All rights reserved.

An MCP, Inc. production for Warner Books, Inc.

Design

Lorinda Sullivan

Photography

Unless otherwise indicated, photographs are Ross Halfin.

Illustration

Brian Schroder

Warner Books, Inc.

Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

First eBook Edition: August 1993

If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as unsold or destroyed to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

IM The Metallica name and logo arc trademarks of Metallica.

Use of the Metallica logo is not an indication of the endorsement by Metallica of this book.

Grateful acknowledgment is given for the use of portions of the following songs: Fade to Black by James Hetficld, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett 1984 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP). One by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich 1988 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP). Dyers Eve by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett Creeping Death Music (ASCAP). Dyers Eve by James Hetfield. Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)

Photo Credits

Photos on pages p. 48 (bottom) Richard Bracket; p. 96 Jaye Clarke; p. 21 Colleen Copeland; p. 49 Kathleen Cuevas; p. 88 K.J. Doughton; pp. 57, 58. 63 Eric De Haas; pp. 30, 35, 37,41, 42, 46, 47, 48 (top), 120. 123, 124, 125, 132, 138 Brian Lew; p. 44, 126, 146 Brian Markham; p. 19 David Marrs; p. 153 Mike Meals; pp. 38. 45, 53, 54, 62, 66. 67, 69, 70. 74, 75, 77, 90, 122, 141, 144, 145, 147, 151 Harald Oimeon; pp. 11, 143, 152 Ron Quintana: pp. 23, 28 Patrick Scott; p. 135 Wayne Vanderkuil; pp. 169. 170, 171 Mike Wasco.

Cover design by Diane Luger

Cover hand lettering by Carl Dellacroce

Cover photo by Ross Halfin

Cover illustration by Brian Schroder

ISBN: 978-0-446-55458-9

The Warner Books name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

This book is the end result of a heavy metal camaraderie that has existed over the past 10 years between several particularly active tape traders, fanzine writers, photographers, roadies, musicians, bootleggers, record label executives, managers, and promoters, all of whom played some part in Metallica's exciting, decade-long climb to spectacular heights. Metallica Unbound would not have been possible without these generous resources.

Extra special thanks to Bill Stephen and MCP, Inc., and Anne Douglas Milburn at Warner Books for making all of this happen. Eternal gratitude to Brian (Umlaut) Lew, Ron (Spon Q.) Quintana, and Harald (O) Oimoen for their invaluable editorial assistance, stories, photos, and memorabilia. Special thanks to interviewees James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted, John Marshall, Brian Slagel, Patrick Scott, Dave Marrs, Sheila Marrs, Dave Mustaine, Bob Nalbandian, John Bush, Joey Vera, and Duke Erickson for their time, insight, and information. Hats off to Cliff Burnstein, Peter Mensch, Linda Walker, Ian Jeffrey, Metallica's tour manager, and the entire Q-Prime management team for providing access to the band and offering their support and friendship.

Much appreciation to Ross Halfin for allowing me to peruse his incredible collection of photographs and to use a few of them in the following pages. Thanks also to Jacqui Lugo for her photo-selecting assistance. Many thanks to Lorinda Sullivan for her hours of layout and design work, Brad Tolinski and Guitar World for setting things into motion, and Pushead for his twisted, one-of-a-kind artwork.

Additional thanks to Mark DeVito, Mike Barnett, Greg Kerr, Eric DeHaas, Andre Verhuysen, Mike Wasco, Mike Meals, Jan Burton, and Ian Kallen.

Family apologies department: To my wife Patricia, for tolerating my many selfish days and nights of obsessive word-processing, going for The Guinness Book of Records Highest Monthly Phone Bill record by means of rambling long-distance conversations to New York and Holland, spending our last red cent on unnecessary import CDs, trivial music items, and other such forms of senseless neglect. To my parents, for their unflinching support of my off-kilter, unusual, financially suicidal hobbies and obsessions.

Extreme contrasts department; This book is dedicated to Metallica for 10 years of relentless, uncompromising music-making, to the underground fans who made the Eighties a vital and exciting time for music, and to Corinne Doughton, my beloved new daughter (welcome to the world, little one).

MY ASSOCIATION WITH Metallica began when a friend received the group's first four-song demo tape in 1982. Lantz Shapiro, the other headbanger trapped in the dilapidated Oregon mill town of Roseburg, scored the tape in a trade with drummer Lars Ulrich's right-hand demo distributor, Patrick Scott. Like myself, Shapiro was a detached, shy high school student whose idea of fun was cuddling up at home with his Stratocaster and playing air-guitar to the heaviest metal the musical spirits could dish out.

Opposite: Metalica, 1991

Contemptuous of the pass Ted Nugent and Styx selections that filled the record bins of southern Oregon, Lantz and I took weekend drives to Eugene and Portland with money earned from after-school dishwashing stints at the local Denny's restaurant, and blew it on metal-filled scriptures like England's Kerrang! magazine and European import albums like Venom's Welcome to Hell and Accept's Restless and Wild.

We hiked up the phone bill at Roseburg High School by making long-distance calls to Northwest bands like Crysys and the Wild Dogs, and to such renowned authorities as Mike Varney and Johnny Zazula, two independent metal record label owners who cast high-profile shadows over the underground scene. Our school's journalism department, confronted with a $400 phone bill one month, caught on and forced us to reimburse them for the costly correspondence.

We didn't care. Such antics were prompted by the same unexplainable allegiance to metal music that had seen Lars Ulrich, an alienated Danish kid in Los Angeles, work so relentlessly to carve out his own unlikely niche. The dark energy of metal music appeared as a seductive outroad from that island of discontent on which most teens in the early Eighties felt stranded-where one's hometown seemed like a stifling armpit of civilization. We hated Roseburg's woodsy confines as much as Lars hated Los Angeles.

Then the Metallica demo package arrived. We were devastated by the music's distinctly un-American combination of frantic riffing with a blazing pace. This was like nothing we'd ever heard. As noise addicts pioneering new audio frontiers, we felt we were onto something different with Metallica; it was time to track the group down and learn more.