Metallica is now older, wiser, and in it for the long run
(CBS News) "Enter Sandman" was one of the high-voltage hits that's put the rock band Metallica on the charts again and again. They talk about the good times -- and bad -- with Anthony Mason . . . For The Record:
As if the world's biggest heavy metal band wasn't big enough, in their film, "Metallica Through the Never," James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo are blown up to epic size, in Imax 3-D.
"What were you going for with that?" Mason asked.
"Poverty! We're going for poverty," laughed Hetfield. "Yeah, let's bankroll our own movie, 3-D and Imax."
"I get the sense this cost a lot of money."
"It did. Okay, you're getting the right sense," Hetfield said.
"We're putting our necks out there," said Ulrich.
Hetfield added that he looks "way better" in 3-D. But Hammett dissented: "I look much better in 1-D."
To view a clip from "Metallica Through the Never," of the song, "Master of Puppets," click on the video player below.
In the rock world, of course, Metallica is already epic -- the colossus of heavy metal, one of the most successful bands of all time, with eight Grammys, five straight-to-Number-1 albums, and 110 million records sold.
Hetfield, the lead singer and guitarist, has a motto tattooed on his fingers:
" 'Riff Life.' That's me. You know, the riff. It's all about where the song starts."
But when Ulrich and Hetfield formed the band in the L.A. suburbs in 1981, they were an unlikely pair:
the Danish-born Ulrich had hoped to be a tennis player, like his father.
"At one point the Davis Cup team of Denmark consisted of my dad and uncle, and my granddad as the captain," he told Mason. "Ulrich was very much a kind of tennis dynasty in Denmark. So, of course I was going to continue in that tradition."
When that didn't work out, he turned to music. That's how he found Hetfield, who picked up the guitar after his father, who owned a trucking company, left the family.
They met through an ad in The Recycler, available at the 7-11. "Free of charge, primarily automobiles," said Ulrich. "But in the back there were musicians seeking bands, and bands seeking musicians."
Mason asked Hetfield about his first impression of Ulrich: "I'd never met anyone from Denmark, let alone Europe. He talked funny. And he smelled funny. As simple as that."
"Well, we're so different from each other," said Ulrich. "You know, James is very, very shy, very introverted, barely able to sort of peek out of his shyness."
Hetfield described Lars is an extremely interesting person who, in his mind, "was a rock star already."
Their brainier brand of heavy metal built a following.
But in 1986, on tour in Sweden, their bus skidded off the road, killing bass player Cliff Burton.
"When your brother dies -- I mean, he was a brother to us," said Hetfield. "When someone is killed in your camp, you're never prepared. Never."
The band kept going. And in 1991, Metallica became truly massive.
Their "Black Album" would sell more than 16 million copies and help make Metallica the biggest-selling rock act of the '90s.
Headquarters for the group is an inconspicuous building in San Rafael, Calif. The business of Metallica is organized here by more than a dozen staff:
"They run our fan club, they run our websites, they run our merchandise," said Ulrich.
Among the items available: A Metallica onesie for babies.
Metallica has always liked to control its own destiny -- which is why, in 2000, the band filed suit against Napster, the website that allowed fans to download music for free.
It was a street fight, said Ulrich, which resulted in a significant backlash against him: "Yeah, it was a very difficult time, and I took a lot of hits. And I'm still, 15 years later, 'the guy that sued Napster.' "
But what really rattled the band was the departure the following year of bass player Jason Newsted.
"When Jason left, we were not equipped to fully comprehend why," said Ulrich. " 'Why would Jason leave the biggest band in the world?' Then the cameras were rolling and, all of a sudden, life as we know it melted down."
It was all captured in the documentary, "Some Kind of Monster." It got so ugly the band's management called in a therapist.
"You guys are part of probably the most famous therapy session in rock 'n' roll," said Mason.
"Cool . . . I guess," laughed Hetfield.
"What was going on with you guys at that time?"
"We were scared that we were so big at that point we didn't know what to do next," sighed Hetfield. "We were believing our own hype. We were swollen in the head and shrunken in the heart, I would say. We were lost."
Ulrich added, "Even though we had gotten through so much and achieved this insane success, we realized that we didn't really know each other."
Metallica re-grouped.
Hetfield took a hiatus to dry out from a drinking problem, and Robert Trujillo was brought in as the new bass player.
"My first gig was at San Quentin State Penitentiary," said Trujillo. "So that gives you an idea of -- it's like, 'Welcome to Metallica. You're gonna play a prison.' "
Two years ago, the band started its own Orion music festival, held this past summer in Detroit.
It draws hardcore fans from around the world. "Mexico loves you, Metallica!" shouted one fan.
Before taking stage, the band gets ready in their "Tuning and Attitude" trailer.
"This place is like our sanctuary," said Trujillo. "No one else comes in here."
For its four members, all parents, Metallica itself has become a kind of sanctuary.
And after 32 years together, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich -- who both turn 50 this year -- say this is a different band.
"In the '80s and '90s, Metallica was a kind of military precision machine that rolled across the land and took no prisoners," said Ulrich. "And somehow in the last 10 years, we all sort of woke up. And we looked in each other's eyes and realized how much we love each other and how much we love doing what we do.
"Nowadays, Metallica is just kind of a joyful thing."
WEB EXTRA: Metallica performs "The Unforgiven," at a concert in Mexico City in June 2009. Footage courtesy of Universal Music Group.
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For more info:
- metallica.com
- "Metallica Through the Never" (Official website)
- Orion Music + More festival