Useless/Interesting Facts

Disclaimer: Most of these "facts" were placed here years ago based on various sources. Little fact checking went into any of this and I am aware that much of it is wrong. If you know something is wrong, submit the correction and I may correct it if I have the time.

• "Metal up your Ass" is the name of a live demo recorded at The Waldorf on November 29, 1982. That was the first time they ever played Whiplash. It is also the name of a video that you can buy (I think it has Metallica guitar lessons).
• The cover of Load is not fire (or whatever you think it is) - it is blood and semen, hence the title.
• In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", the bell rings 15 times in the begining (26 times in the entire song). Also the most predominant of the opening riffs is played by a bass guitar (well I found this surprising).
• Load was originally going to a double album, however, they ran out of time to record the last 13 songs. These 13 songs make up Reload. Also, "No Leaf Clover" was written during the Load/Reload sessions but was not recorded until Metallica performed with the San Fransisco Symphony.
• Ever ask yourself: "What the hell is up with The Unforgiven Video?" Well, right out of Live Shit: Binge & Purge, here is the storyline for The Unforgiven Video.
• At the very end of Breadfan, you can hear a kid say "Mommy, Where's Fluffy?" This has nothing to do with Breadfan. It is actually the begining of The Prince, a song about a girl who kills her parents because they lose her doll. It is at the end of Breadfan because of a mistake when they originally mixed the songs (they were recorded at the same time).
• Similar to the "Fluffy" mix-up, the very begining of King Nothing can be heard at the end of Until it Sleeps
• One is based (in part) on the 1971 movie "Johnny Got His Gun" written and directed by Dalton Trumbo. The Music Video has clips from the movie.
• The snake on The Black Album cover is from an American flag during the Revolutionary War. The slogan on the flag was "Don't Tread on Me."
• James Hetfield's mother and Cliff Burton died on the same day, September 27th, only in different years. The band has performed songs dealing with both tragedies: "To Live is to Die" is in memory of Cliff and "Until it Sleeps" and "The God that Failed" are about Hetfield's mother's (or is it his father's?) fight against cancer .
• "Nothing Else Matters" was written after James' grandfather died. The words "So close, no matter how far/Couldn't be much more from the heart/Forever trusting who we are/And nothing else matters" are James' grandfather's last words.
• "The Mechanix" is a song which you can find on old Metallica demos/bootlegs. It is an early version of "The Four Horseman" with different lyrics. It later made it onto a Megadeth album (Mustaine wrote a lot of the song).
• I've had a couple of people tell me this: Lars' wife, Skylar, was once Matt Damon's girlfriend (supposedly, she was the character played by Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting).
• The begining of "Blackend" is a guitar riff that was recorded and then played backwards on the tape.
• Metallica played their first live gig on March 16, 1982.
• During a Metallica concert in Russia, 11 people were beat to death by the military police.
• James has sung backing vocals on 2 Danzig songs: "Twist of Cain" and "Am I Demon?" Prior to his solo career, Danzig was the lead singer for the Misfits, the band that originally played "Die, Die My Darling."
• Metallica played "Orion" at Cliff Burton's funeral.
• Not only is "Phantom Lord" the name of a Metallica song off of Kill 'Em All, it is also the name of a band that James was in prior to being in Metallica.
• The chord progressions for "Unforgiven II" and "Unforgiven" are very similar which is why they sound alike.
• Metallica has made appearance on cartoons before such as Space Ghost: Coast to Coast in which they were interviewed by Space Ghost.
• It has been rumored that Metallica plays a song in South Park : Bigger, Longer and Uncut when Kenny dies and goes to hell, but it's probably just Trey Parker sounding like them.
• In Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass" the music is obviously Metallica's "Sad But True" along with songs from other bands (I think I recognized "Sweet Home Alabama" when he performed on SNL). Of course, it's just the riff from "Sad But True" - Kid Rock insists on ruining the song by rapping.
• Once, when Motorhead was touring in California, Lars followed thier tour bus to almost every show. Eventually, they got tired of seeing him in their rear-view mirror, so they invited him on the bus.