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THIS ISJAMESALANHETFIELDFront Man for

BiographyBorn: August 3rd 1963Place: Downey, California

James Alan Hetfield was born in Downey, California on August 3, 1963.3Early Musical Influences

As a youngster his musical choices were bands like Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, AC/DC, UFO, and Blue Oyster Cult. These bands were all part of the 1970s heavy metal genre.4Breakups Suck Or Do They?

James first bands Obsession and Leather Charm did not last.

During his school years he decided to take out some of his teenage angst in the form of developing his musical talents by way of learning to play the guitar. He eventually became interested in joining a band and joined at least two; Obsession and Leather Charm. Thank goodness these bands did not work out.5Enter Lars Ulrich

After the failure of these two garage bands, Hetfield found an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper. The ad was from Lars Ulrich looking for possible band mates wanting to make music in the style of New Age British heavy metal. This genre included groups like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Diamond Head, Venom, Saxon, and Angel Witch.6Add to the Mix: Kirk Hammet and Cliff Burton and you get

Kirk LarsJames CliffAfter meeting Lars, they decided to pair up and start working on a little band that would come to be known as Metallica.7Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll

The direction they wanted to take this band was a different direction. Most of the bands in LA at this time were part of the Hair Flare group known as the big hair bands. Their music was all about sex and drugs. They hid their faces behind make-up and aqua net fog. They were focused on the line light and not about the influence their music could be on the younger generations of the world. They were concentrated on making more money, doing more drugs and having more women than the other Hair Flare groups. Popularity was more important than the talent, message and artistic abilities they had.8

And they took the world by storm!!!James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich both saw this as a problem. They didnt think these artists should lose their values for popularity. James and Lars wanted to start this band with a purpose. They wanted to bring more important and controversial issues to the front of what they wrote about and performed. They moved to San Francisco to begin their journey.The original band consisted of front man and rhythm guitarist, James Hetfield, Drummer, Lars Ulrich, Bassist, Cliff Burton, and Lead Guitar, Dave Mustaine. Dave Mustaine was quickly replaced with Kirk Hammet. This would be the four that would lead Metallica into what would prove to be a stellar career. James Hetfield helped take the Metal World by storm with his new style of rhythm guitar. He would play hard punching rhythm and brought what is now known as palm muting to a norm in the rock and roll and heavy metal genre. Palm muting is done by resting the side of the palm of your hand on the lowest string to be played on the guitar. As the musician strikes the string it creates a deeper muffled note that reverbs the whole cabinet of the speakers creating hard rhythmic pulses used to create the hard, heavy beats associated with Heavy Metal. Metallica, Hetfield in particular, is also known for playing their rhythms in the down stroke. Rather than back picking, almost every note in their rhythm guitar scores is played with down picks. Hetfield did this to emphasis the lower notes in the Triads that became their signature. By picking in the down stroke the lower string was always hit first. This is in direct contrast to strumming which hit the lower strings first on the down pick and hits the high strings first on the up pick. Triads were another distinction of Hetfields style. Most guitar players play chords of 4-6 strings creating a full chord sound. Hetfields style was to usually play, at most, just three strings worth of a chord. These are now known as power chords and have opened the door to chords that we see in todays heavy metal. There are many bands now days that play just two strings to make their chords so they can play chord changes faster increasing the speed at which metal is played today. It allows for more complex sounds to be played. This combination of string strokes along with the bass notes give the illusion of a full triad chord being played. It is quite fun to listen to this new style that was paved by the musical style of James Hetfield and Metallica. While the biography portion of this paper is meant to focus on James Hetfield, there is another person that contributed heavily to the compositions of Metallica. The other person is the drummer, Lars Ulrich. These two composed all of the music that Metallica put out. There were a few songs that had some help from the bassist and the lead guitarist, but for the most part James and Lars were the main composers.

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2010To Be ContinuedJames Hetfield and Metallica changed hard rock and heavy metal forever. Before Metallica, hard rock and heavy metal, for the most part, were very simple. They followed the simple rules of popular music, simple melodies with homophonic accompaniment typically by a rhythm guitar. They would follow the tradition of introduction, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, on occasion a bridge, and a final chorus. Many band made a lot of money following these patterns and when Metallica put their first album out, Kill Them All, it seemed to follow the same pattern. But there was at least one song that seemed to break that mold. The song The Four Horsemen did not follow that pattern. This was the first song that had a part in it that was similar to an interlude. This was a foreshadowing of what was to come in future albums.The next album, Ride the Lightning, show cased at least two songs with this new style. The song Fade to Black featured a long introduction with a rhythm guitar picking the individual notes of chords in a single four/four pattern entering the lead guitar after the mood is set. The lead guitar has a long solo that immediately gives way to the first verse. The chorus is interesting only done by the guitars, a hard hitting rhythm set. Then the second verse followed by the chorus. After the chorus the rhythm guitar plays what could be considered a bridge. The interesting thing about this bridge is that it includes words. After the bridge there is a harmonizing rhythm guitar section that plays for about 16 measures. The lead guitar comes into to play a final solo that lasts for a minute and a half or so before it fades out. The song Call of Katulu features a full instrumental piece. The style of this piece was near symphonic. Multiple guitars played different pieces in a homophonic style. There are a number of different lead guitar solos. This type of composition was new to the industry. The next album would prove to be the step Metallica needed to shoot them to the top of the Heavy Metal World. Master of Puppets was without a doubt amazing. With most popular songs lasting a mere three to four minutes, Master of Puppets featured an eight song playlist with six of the eight songs lasting six minutes or more. But what was even more was the way these songs were written. As the foreshadowing of the previous album showed, these pieces would prove to be masterpieces. Every song in this album showcased the absolute talent that James and Lars had. It proved to the world that Heavy Metal did not have to be rapid rhythm guitar pieces with fast drums and screaming. Their songs were written in an almost symphony style. Each of these songs had a number of extra guitar pieces written as homophonic riffs that complimented the main number, or they were written with a counterpoint type style, or a harmonizing guitar riff. This type of composition was revolutionary for the time and proved to be a huge influence on the Heavy Metal and Rock and Roll genres for decades to come.One of the keystone moments for Metallica was when the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra agreed to help write pieces for Metallica music that would be performed at their now infamous S&M concert. S&M stood for Symphony and Metallica. This was a highlight of James career. He was proud of the fact that he and his band were able to return back to the city where they got their start and participate in a concert with the Orchestra of that City. It was a huge event. The tickets sold out in a matter of minutes; not a hard feat since there was only a fraction of the number of seat at a typical Metallica concert. The neat thing about putting that concert together was minimal effort needed to put into writing the music for the different sections of the orchestra because of the style of Metallicas music.Metallica got their start in 1983 and continue to perform for the band loving crowds to this day. They have about 12 albums in their core set. From Amazon.com the albums include:Kill Them All (1983)Ride the Lightning (1984)Master of Puppets (1986)And Justice for All (1988)Metallica (1991)Load (1996)Reload (1997)Garage Inc. (1998) A compilation of vintage songs and previously unreleased music.S&M (1999)Saint Anger (2003)Death Magnetic (2008)Fuel (2010)

Composition HistoryMaster of Puppets was written between 1984 and 1985. Many touring musicians tend to write their music on the road so it is hard to pinpoint exactly when this song was written. Also many touring musicians move from song to song and perfect the ones that are almost complete. This song was recorded at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. It took three months to record the album that this song was on, recorded from September to December in 1995. Master of Puppets is the title track, track two of this album. This is one of the rare songs that had the participation of all of the members of the band. Contributors to the song include James Hetfield (guitar), Lars Ulrich (drums), Cliff Burton (bass), and Kirk Hammet (lead guitar). It was performed by Metallica on their Master of Puppets Tour. It has been performed many times since for other tours. The record label that published this record was Elektra Records. The influences for this record and song were the many European Heavy Metal Groups of the 1970s and 1980s. The main idea behind this song was, 'Master of Puppets' deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you're taking and doing it's drugs controlling you. Like, I went to a party here in San Francisco, there were all these freaks shooting up and geezin' and this other girl was real sick(Pushead). Some of the lines in the song are direct references to drug use and the control over ones life drugs can have. Needlework the way, never you betray. Life of death becoming clearer. Pain monopoly, ritual misery. Chop your breakfast on a mirror.(Metallica)

One was written between 1986 and 1987. The album, And Justice for All was recorded at One to One Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It took 6 months to record this album. One is one of the most famous songs that Metallica has ever recorded. It was written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Metallica performed this song at the Grammy awards in 1989. The lyrics for this song were inspired by Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. The song is about a soldier that went to war and sustained more than life changing injuries. In the song it says, Land mine has taken my sight, taken my speech, taken my hearing, taken my arms, taken my legs, taken my soul, left me with life in hell. This song deals with the tough reality of war. It deals with the fact that many of our soldiers go and sacrifice. Sometimes they even sacrifice more painfully than just death. Those that do lose limbs and functions are truly trapped in a box of which they cannot get out. At times this is worse than being released from the pain.

10Master of Puppets Listening Guide0:00 0:23 Intro: Enter Rhythm Guitar, Bass Guitar and Drums very abruptly in unison with four hard power chords. The guitar then plays descending pattern of fast notes intro with the drums and guitar emphasizing the same four chords.0:23 0:33 Intro II: The drums do a drum roll at the end of the first section to enter into intro II. At this point the rhythm guitar plays an ascending set with the drums and bass hitting the last 9 chords. Repeated twice. 0:33 0:52 Intro II continued with all parts. Rhythm guitars, drums and Bass all play in unison the intro II.0:52 1:02 Bridge: Rhythm guitar pays two notes with similar beat to the intros taking us to the rhythm portion of what will be the homophonic background for the verses.1:02 1:19 Verse 1: The guitars for the verse continue the same rhythm over again with the same pattern. The bass still plays in unison with the rhythm guitars. The music is written in the major mode, but it still has a very disjunct feeling to it as so much Heavy Metal does. The voice is cracked with a raspy vocal melody. The drums are beating in a duple simple pattern but have fills added to it on the transitions to pickups. The drums seem to be mimicking a heartbeat which would make sense for the topic of the song which is drug use.1:19 1:28 Verse 1 with chord change. Has similar feel to last few stanzas but chord change and slightly different pattern gives the anticipation of a new verse or the start of the chorus in the near future.1:29 2:12 Enter transition to chorus and Chorus. Chorus continues with the same beat as before but with different chords. The accompaniment plays a stretch of music and then the vocals enter and the end. The music builds up the vocals and the vocals are accentuated with an echo effect creating the picture that the Master is calling out.2:12 2:23 Back to the intro to the Verse. Same pattern as the intro to verse 1 with the drums and rhythm guitar are playing in unison with the rapid beats. In this intro though there is no rhythm guitar that plays two notes on the same beat just before the verse starts.2:23 2:39 Verse 2. This is the same exact pattern as the first verse. It continues with the guitars and drums playing in the same hard timbre and mood as the original part of the song. 2:39 2:48 Chord change verse 2. Same as the chord change in verse 1 as an anticipatory change to the chorus.2:48 3:32 Chorus. This Chorus is written exactly the same as the first Chorus. There is more echo put on the vocals to give the feel that the Master calling out to the servants. The guitars give a rapid beat that draws your attention in to give a more dramatic effect to the voice.

3:32 3:54 Interlude 1. The voice fades off into the back ground echoing Master, over and over again decreasing in pitch as it fades. The beat is half of what it was previously. The rhythm guitar starts to play individual notes rather than chords. The mood of the song changes to a lighter fluid mood. The drums hit certain beats with symbols. The bass guitar is playing a simple complimentary bass line. Rather than keeping the homophonic mode to the music, it now changes to polyphony where the bass plays its line complimentary to the rhythm guitar.3:54 4:13 At this point in the interlude the bas and rhythm guitars continue to play their pieces while two guitars enter in playing harmonizing guitar parts. Some parts of the harmonization complimentary while other portions are counter point.4:13 4:31 The harmonizing guitars stop and at this point enters in the lead guitar. This point of the music turns from the light and fluid mood to a more confused mood. It is still in the major mode, but because of the range of the lead guitar it gives a more anxious timbre. The number of triplets that Kirk plays upsets the light airy fell of the previous portion of the interlude. It almost gives a tumbling feeling.4:31 4:50 Back to the original interlude portion. It is played exactly the same as the first interlude.4:50 5:08 Bridge from interlude 1 to interlude 2. The beat picks up. The drummer hits more symbols. Palm muting becomes more prevalent to set precedence for the incoming faster beats. The guitars now play in unison the same music that was played in the beginning of interlude 1 but with more distortion and palm muting. The other guitar is playing the power chords of the bass line.5:08 5:22 Now the drums and guitars all play in unison for a few measures as it continues to build to interlude 2.5:22 5:40 Vocals enter giving the picture of an addict begging to his master for more. Master is shouted by more than one vocalist. 5:40 6:12 Begins interlude 2. Interlude 2 is a solo. The rhythm guitar and bass guitar are playing the same music from verse 1 and 2 while the lead guitar is cranking out a rapid solo hitting high notes, low notes, and hitting ascending and descending scales all in a short period of time.6:12 6:21 At this point in the interlude all of the guitars play a rhythmic pattern all in unison.6:21 6:41 at this point the guitars continue play in unison a different rhythmic piece splitting at the end into a harmonizing guitar segment. This then leads perfectly into the guitar sections that were played for verse 1 and 2 immediately taking us into verse 3.6:41 7:17 Verse 3 is exactly the same as verse 1 and 2 with the same timbre and beats. Guitars are playing in unison and the vocals mood changing slightly putting a bit more emphasis on the words in this line. The words for this verse are about trapping more people in this snare.7:17 8:00 Transition to chorus and chorus once again.8:00 8:37 (end) Coda. Here the guitars play in unison in the same beat and music as in the verses. They play together until the end when they play in unison the last six chords. And at the last the music fades out while the vocalists laugh their way into the fade.

Listening Guide for One0:00 0:17 Non music intro has the sound of war in the background, machine guns, people shouting and bombs going off.0:17 0:35 Intro. This begins with a very simple four note piece played by the rhythm guitar. There are some simple variations with each succession but it is the same is style for all pieces of the intro.0:35 0:54 Enter Lead guitar playing a simple yet sad piece. The mood is very somber. You can almost hear the guitar crying as it plays the lead piece. The rhythm guitar is playing the same music as it was in the intro. As the music hits the last few notes, the bass drum comes in with unison beats to the rhythm guitar.0:54 1:13 The drums are played with the music now with a simple beat. There are no fills for the drums, it is a plain and simple beat and the rhythm guitar continues with the same pattern. The lead guitar continues to play a very somber tune reinforcing the feel that something is wrong. The bass plays a simple bass line emphasizing the key of the piece1:13 1:29 The rhythm guitar now plays what will be the accompaniment to the verses. The drums continue the same simple beat but this time with some fills between stanzas and the bass picks up with what will be its bass line through the verses. 1:29 1:43 Before we hit the verse though the guitars go into a lighter accompaniment with mimicking triplets before it dumps into the verses.1:43 2:10 verse 1. All of the instruments in this part are playing the same music that was performed in 1:13 1:29. The vocals are hard, but smooth; there is not typical hard voice crack that Metallica is known for, in the beginning of the verse. At the end of the verses, the lead singer cracks his voice for a harder sound.2:10 2:17 Chorus. The Guitars play chords in unison with the bass guitar. The Timbre is very loud and hard as it jumps into the chorus. The Vocalist holds a few words for longer beats to emphasis what he is saying. The vocals also mimic the beat of the guitars and drums. There is only one verse of chorus sung at this point. 2:17 2:32 At this point the lighter guitars pieces play as they transition back into the verse segment. The Voice fades into the background and the electric guitars fade as well leaving the lighter guitar pieces to play.2:32 2:59 Verse 2. Everything is played exactly as how verse 1 was played.2:59 3:06 Chorus. The chorus is exactly the same with just one verse being sung.3:06 3:34 The guitars go back to the intro to the verse playing a light guitar ensemble. The vocals and electric guitars fade. The lead guitar enters is playing a light guitar solo, while the rhythm guitar continues in the intro to the verse for a second and third time. 3:34 3:51 The chorus comes back with two versus this time leading into an interlude. 3:51 4:31 Interlude. In this interlude the lead and rhythm guitar play harmonizing pieces and the bass plays a complimentary bass line. This interlude consists of the drum changing its beat over to a beat that will be used in the lead guitar solo portion of the interlude. The music build and build to get much harder and faster to set up for Metallicas Kirk Hammets most famous solo ever. The drum beats that Lars plays are also famous with this solo segment.

4:31 4:35 The guitars fade off and all you hear are the bass drums being played. This almost gives you a picture of machine gun fire.4:35 4:52 at this point the guitars join the bass drum in playing the same pattern.4:52 5:01 Vocals entering in as they chant the first verse of a intermediate chorus in beat with the drums and guitars.5:01 5:09 The lead guitar at this points emphasizes some notes with the same beats as the drums and rhythm guitars. This gives a little variation to what is being played.5:09 5:18 2nd verse to the intermediate chorus. 5:18 5:44 This is the base music for the rest of the song as it goes into the solo and the end. The guitars will continue to play the rhythmic beat, but the drums will play a much different beat that allows for fills and almost solo style drumming within the music.5:44 6:21 by far one of the most famous lead guitar solos ever played in the history of music. Listen to it and wish you could play like that. 6:21 6:33 just a continuation of the rhythms played earlier before that amazing solo.6:33 6:53 harmonizing guitars set to ascending and then descending scales played with many triplets.6:53 7:24 (end) The last part of the song continues with the same rhythmic patterns with a few variations. The guitars all play in unison. The song ends on the same beat with all instruments hitting on chord or note.

Works CitedMetallica. Master of Puppets. Elektra Records, 1986. CDMetallica. One. Elektra Records, 1988. CDPushead. James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet. Interview Thrasher Magazine (1986), 2 Oct, 2011.

Orion [Instrumental]MetallicaMaster of Puppets, track 7, disc 11986Metal502375.9