Metallica (album) - Recording and Production

Recording and Production

Metallica's songwriting at that time was done mainly by singer-guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, with Hetfield being the lyricist. The duo frequently joined forces at Ulrich's house in Berkeley, California to compose. Several song ideas and concepts were conceived by other members of the band, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Jason Newsted. For instance, Newsted wrote the main riff of "My Friend of Misery", which was originally intended to be the instrumental that had occurred at every previous Metallica album. The songs were written in two months in the summer of 1990, with the ideas for a few dating back to the Damaged Justice Tour.

The band decided to hire Bob Rock for producing after they were impressed with his work producing Mötley Crüe's Dr. Feelgood. Initially, the band was not interested in having Rock producing the album as well, but changed their minds as Ulrich stated, "We felt that we still had our best record in us and Bob Rock could help us make it."

Demos of the album were recorded on September 13, 1990, with its lead single "Enter Sandman" being the first song written – and the last to receive lyrics. In October 1990, Metallica entered One on One Recording Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to record the then-forthcoming album. The band also recorded the album at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, but only for about one week.

"What we really wanted was a live feel. In the past, Lars and I constructed the rhythm parts without Kirk and Jason. This time I wanted to try playing as a band unit in the studio. It lightens things up and you get more of a vibe."

Since it was his first stint at producing a Metallica album, Rock had the band make the album in different ways, where they would record songs collaboratively rather than let the band members do so in separate locations. Other suggestions included recording tracks live and more harmonic vocals for Hetfield. Rock was expecting the production to be "easy" but had trouble with the group which often led to engaged arguments with the band members over aspects of working on the album and wanting Hetfield to write better lyrics, as well as finding his experience recording with Metallica disappointing. Since the band was perfectionist, Rock insisted on as many takes as needed to get the sound they wanted. The album was remixed three times, and cost US$1 million. The troubled production led to Ulrich, Hammett and Newsted entering divorces, something Hammett said influenced their playing as they were "trying to take those feeling of guilt and failure and channel them into the music, to get something positive out of it."

Rock altered the band's working schedule and routine so much that they swore never to work with him again. The animosity and tension between Metallica and Rock was documented in the documentaries A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica and Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica. Both explore and document the intense recording process that resulted in Metallica. Years following the production, a petition signed by 1,500 fans was posted online, and was an attempt to encourage the band to prohibit Rock from producing Metallica albums, claiming he had too much influence on the band's sound and musical direction. Rock indicated that the petition hurt his kids' feelings, saying, "sometimes, even with a great coach, a team keeps losing. You have to get new blood in there." Despite the controversies between the band and Rock, he continued to work with the band through the 2003 album St. Anger.