Dictionary

Alcoholica

A nickname for Metallica, given to them somewhere in Europe in 1985, because of their love of drinking. A fan was spotted wearing a T-shirt he had made of the cover of Kill 'Em All, only instead of a hammer and blood, the T-shirt showed a bottle spilling Vodka. The band members liked it so much, they adopted it for their own use.

Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica is a Finnish band that released their Metallica tribute album in May '96. They are a quartet that consists of four guys playing cellos. The songs on this album where chosen because they could be arranged for the cellos, so songs with fast guitar solos weren't selected. They even did a video for Enter Sandman!

Billboard

Kill 'Em All at #120 in February of 1988, 5 years after being released.

Ride The Lightning at #100 in the spring on 1985.

Master Of Puppets at #29 shortly after its release.

Garage Days Re-Revisited at #28 about a month after release.

...And Justice For All at #6, four weeks after release.

Metallica debuted at #1 and stayed there for 4 weeks.

Load debuted at #1.

Blitzer

When Lars and Jayms tried to find a suitable name for the band, all they could come up with at first was "Blitzer", "Grinder" and "Red Vette", but as you probably know, they ended up with "Metallica".

Blood and Semen III

The image on the cover of Load is a photograph called "Blood and Semen III" by Anrdes Serrano. It was done by mixing bovine blood and the artist's own semen between two sheets of plexiglass. Kirk discovered the photo while looking through a collection of the artist's work at a bookstore.

Devils Dance

A track meant to be on the Load album, that was pulled out in the last minute. The song was performed live a few times prior to that album. Devils Dance will probably appear on the 7th album.

Die Krupps

This is a German band that released a nine song tribute album. Their interpretation of the songs is considerably different than that of the originals. There is some guitar, but mostly keyboards, electronic drums and a strong accent from the vocalist.

Ecstasy of Gold

Metallica's intro tape on their shows. Ecstasy of Gold is composed by Ennio Morricone, and is from the Clint Eastwood flick "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly."

influences

- James Hetfield: Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Ted Nugent

- Lars Ulrich: Diamond Head, Motorhead, Deep Purple

- Kirk Hammett: Jimi Hendrix, UFO, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Joe Satriani

- Jason Newsted: Kiss, Rush, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent

Johnny Got His Gun

The movie clips on One are from the film "Johnny Got His Gun", which was adapted from the book by Dalton Trumbo, who also directed the movie.

Ktulu

From the song The Call Of Ktulu. Ktulu comes from the mind of author H.P. Lovecraft. He writes fascinatingly twisted and disturbed books and Metallica was influenced a bit by him after Cliff Burton had introduced his writings to the rest of the band. Ktulu is contained within a book that H.P. Lovecraft wrote. They are great books that explore the macabre to it's fullest.

The logo

James is responsible for it's design.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

Make-A-Wish Foundation is an organization that attempts to make the dreams of seriously ill youngsters come true. Metallica actively support and assist as often as possible.

Megaforce Records

The first record label who signed Metallica. Kill 'em all was first released on this label

Metal Massacre I

A compilation album including bands like Ratt, Bitch, Malice etc. The Metallica song Hit The Lights appeared on this album, which was the first vinyl release featuring the four M's.

Metal Militia

Metallicas first official fan club.

Mechanix

Dave Mustaine wrote a few tunes with Lars and Jayms while he was a member of the band. Mechanix is one of these, which later was changed a bit and given a new name, The Four Horsemen. The original version can be heard on some old demos, as well as on the first Megadeth album.

The Name

Lars stole the name Metallica from "Mr. Metal" of San Francisco, Ron Quintana. He was getting ready to launch a metal fanzine and had a few names. He asked his friend Lars for help, and after hearing the name "Metallica," Lars quickly suggested a different name and kept "Metallica" for himself!

Paradise Lost

"Paradise Lost," the movie - not the band. The film is about three kids from Tennessee (or some south-eastern state) who listened to Metallica and other metal. They ended up murdering somebody and the people blamed the music the kids listened to. The tracks Sanitarium, Orion and Ktulu are on it.

Q-Prime

The band's management company. Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch are two of the guys employed here, and they work with Metallica.

Recycler

Lars had placed an ad in a newspaper called The Recycler, saying he was looking for people to jam with. James answered the ad, but was unimpressed with Lars' playing, partly due to the fact that Lars' cymbals fell over every time he hit them! Shortly thereafter, Lars went to England to follow his favorite band, Diamond Head on tour, and after returning to the States, got a spot on Brian Slagel's "Metal Massacre" album. Using this as bait, he talked James into recording a song for the album, and the rest is history.

Scary guy

Jaymz came up with the Scary Guy logo, which first saw the light of day on the 3 track limited edition CD-single Live At Wembley. You will also find the skull design on the "Live, shit..." box, as well as on T-shirts and merchandise.

Scrap Metal

At the 1987 Aardshok Festival in Zwolle, Holland, a group of Metallica roadies under the name SCRAP METAL opened the nine hour festival, that Metallica headlined, playing a set of covers!

The Snake

The "Snake" that you can see on the cover of the Black Album is from the Culpepper Minutemen flag, from which the motto "Don't Tread On Me" also originates. The flag is actually from the Revolutionary War. There are a couple of different versions of it. There is a yellow one, a white one, and one with red and white stripes, which was the first American Flag! The white one reads at the top "The Culpepper Minutemen", and the yellow one just has the snake and "Don't Tread On Me" at the bottom.

Snake Pit

The Snake Pit was a large pit in the middle of Metallica's diamond-shaped "Wherever I May Roam" stage, set aside so a few lucky fans could stand right in the middle of the action on stage. It is also an online meeting place for Metallica fans on AOL.

'The Ten Commandments

The lyrics for Creeping Death are about the tale of the plagues bestowed upon the Egyptians, inspired by the second half of the movie "The Ten Commandments."

Pushead

The artist behind some Metallica covers like "One" and "Harvester of sorrow" as well as merchandise and t-shirts

Q-Prime

Metallica's management. Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch aren't just employees of Q-Prime, they are the founders and heads of Q-Prime. Q-Prime is one of the most successful management businesses in the world. It's clients include: Metallica, Def Leppard, Hole, Queensyrche, Vercua Salt and others.

Tommy's Joint

Tommy's Joint is a Hofbrau (meat, potatos and BEER!!!) located in San Francisco and was a hangout of Metallica's; it is also the place where Jason was asked to join the band!