It’s hard to imagine that one of the heaviest of heavy metal guitar gods as a baby, but 54 years ago today, that’s exactly how Metallica‘s James Hetfield entered the world. As a young boy, Hetfield was always delighted by the music that his opera singing mother filled the house with, and wanted to join in. Hetfield started out on the piano and switched to drums, before he finally picked up a guitar and found his path towards mega-stardom. Inspired by classic rockers like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and The Misfits, he developed into a versatile fretboard wizard, capable of picking lightning fast leads but also able to churn out pace-setting, dark power chords to back up his trademark throaty howl.
As Hetfield turned thirteen his parents divorced, and his father disappeared from his life completely. That emotional void would contribute to the darkening of James’ worldview and emotional stability, a topic he would speak on with great impact in the Dustin Hunt film Absent. This simmering anger, focused through his words and trademark low slung guitar, was fuel waiting for a spark that was soon to come in an unlikely way.
Hetfield answered an ad posted in the Los Angeles metro area newspaper The Recycler that read “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with, Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.” His odds were good at getting the gig, since his was one of only two responses. Luckily for him and us all, the encounter spawned a true friendship with Lars Ulrich that rests at the heart of the Metallica, the biggest hard rock band the world has ever seen. Quickly recruiting bass player Cliff Burton and original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine (Replaced early on by band mainstay Kirk Hammett), Metallica was born in crashing waves, thunderous drumbeats, and squealing guitars.
Quickly leaving the pretentious party scene of LA behind for a new home base of San Francisco, the band was developing worldwide appreciation for their fusion of naked aggression, musical intricacy, and lyrical brutal honesty. Sneering at the make-up wearing glam rockers dominating the charts and bigger venues, Hetfield and Metallica made it their mission to never compromise in their pursuit of perfection. That drive and perseverance honed and perfected a less a music style than a full-on battle cry. Songs like “Hit The Lights” and “Am I Evil” were a call to action among their fans that exploded into reality, in the form of head banging free-for-alls in the clubs and crowds wherever they played.
The first two Metallica albums, Metal Up Your Ass and Ride The Lightning saw incredible sales relative to the size of the genre’s audience, and paved the way for international tours that saw them leapfrog more established acts they had previously opened for, like Venom. A choice gig as the opener for Ozzy Osborne‘s 1986 Ultimate Sin Tour helped make their third album, the game-changing Master Of Puppets, a multi-platinum seller that brought their music to a more mainstream audience. Unfortunately, the tragic death of bassist and true brother-in-arms Cliff Burton days after their last show with Osborne would cause a chain reaction, nearly destroying the band and Hetfield himself.
Though the next fifteen years would see incredible success for the band, Hetfield’s sadness and frustration would find expression in angry outbursts and epic drinking binges. While his playing would always manage to stay sharp enough for shows, his inter-personal skills deteriorated quickly. Jason Newstead, who had been brought in to replace the late Burton, became a lightning rod for hazing that soon evolved into near constant abuse, often led by Hetfield. Finally, with his home life and band teetering on the brink, he entered an intensive rehabilitation program in a desperate effort to regain control of his life.
The whole process of returning from rehab and recording the newest album was the heart of the documentary Some Kind Of Monster that gave the world an unexpectedly frank look into the lives of the band. Hetfield was remarkably tame after his self correcting ordeal, and cameras caught it all. While some fans decried the taming of the metal maven, he at last found himself transitioning from the senseless anger of his youth into a healthy, focused, yet still fairly angry adulthood.
In managing to defy the conventional image of a rocker, Hetfield and his now clean and sober ways have served as a positive force among the fan base. His is an open example to the millions of Metallica fans that real life health and sanity is more important in the long run than any addiction, no matter how good or strong it feels. Making the fact that we all need to lean on others from time to time less of a stigma in so many minds has surely saved lives.
He always seems ready to help a good cause, such as his recent acoustic performance for Acoustic 4-A-Cure to help fight pediatric cancer. His support of any form of cancer research makes perfect sense, given the tragic loss of his mother, and he has made the performances a chance to be present in the lives of at least one of his children in a special way. Check out his acoustic duet with his daughter on the Adele tune “Crazy For You” from this year’s fundraiser below:
In their 35 years, Metallica changed the face of heavy metal, and James Hetfield has been a big part of that. From the raw power and wild abandon of their beginnings to the focused drive to reach new heights that followed, Hetfield helped make music and memories that changed lives. In managing to work through the difficulties any group of people would face over the course of a multi-decade partnership, they are a testament to the ability of music to unite. An entire generation of music fans know what metal should sound, look and most importantly feel like thanks to riffs that have come screaming out of his guitars and amplifiers.
In celebration of Hetfield’s birthday here are a pair of shows representing the past and the present of the band that headbanged their way into the record books with 100 million albums sold worldwide, nine Grammys and countless ticket sales. The first is a special look back at a classic moment in the band’s history when Cliff Burton still plucked the bass strings and the fans were in lockstep as they marched to the beat of the heaviest band in the land.
Here’s Metallica playing Germany’s Metal Hammer Fest in 1985:
And to close out this birthday retrospective, here’s Metallica’s completely unhinged show from earlier this year. A full-length hi-def homecoming at San Francisco’s AT&T Park in front of a rabid sold-out crowd of joyous fans. Enjoy!