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Kirk Hammett’s entry at Metallica was not entirely smooth. When the guitarist decided in April 1983 to leave his original band Exodus, her singer Paul Baloff was not very amused. He said dryly, “I just can’t believe that you do something” – and emptied a beer glass over his head.
A “damn good” period of his guitar career
An incident with a long-term effect: Hammett was showering his metallica predecessor Dave Mustaine, who had to struggle with drug problems and later founded the band Magadeath frustrated. The Baloff, in turn, was fired by Exodus in 1985. He died in February 2002.
In an interview with the UK edition of the “Metal Hammer”, Kirk Hammett now tells all kinds of anecdotes from four decades at the legendary Thrash Metal Quartet. The question of his best all-time moments is also striped as a guitarist.
Instead of choosing the impetuous, technically demanding material from Metallica from the 1980s, he names the so-called “The Black Album” from 1991 (which originally had no title) as the crowning glory of his finger nimble performance.
Despite initial doubts, Hammett locates a “damn good” period of his guitar career. His solos on “The Black Album” almost wrote themselves. Everything would have worked out, with the first difficulties unleashing the magic of his game.
“The unforgives” as the highlight
“There were a few things that I was not prepared for, for example the solo for” My Friend of Misery “. Even with “The unforgives” it hooked up, which is pretty well documented. But at the end of “the unforgives” it came over me so spontaneously, so I wanted to do everything from then on. “
This solo would have been raw emotion. “I had no idea what to do. It all came to me while playing – real improvisation! After that, I was so happy, really excited and inspired. I knew that I had to do more. Since then I have been working on improvising and creating musical impulses that are also well audible. I wanted to design complete solos in a natural way.”
“Black Album” is the best-selling metal album ever
Producer Bob Rock had initially not accused him of not doing his homework. “No idea what he was talking about. I came to the studio with all these ideas, but they just didn’t work! I stood there with a naked torso and didn’t know what to do. Bob wanted to optimize his sound for me: ‘Play just!’ And I thought: ‘Arrrgh!’ Maybe I had a minute to put myself in a real mood.
With the “The Black Album” Metallica published in August 1991, her thrash roots with heavy metal. For the hardcore fans of the early years, this change of style branded as a “sellout”. However, the hits like “Enter Sandman”, “Sad But True”, “The unforgives” or “Nothing Else Matters” counted forever. The record has sold more than 20 million units in the United States alone, around 30 million worldwide. This makes your fifth studio production the best-selling metal album ever.