Metallica

Perun said:
I've read conflicting reports about this over the years. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Mustaine had more input on Ride the Lightning than is apparent from the credits, but I don't remember where, when or in what context that was.
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Dave hasn't really argued for such a case in the RTL songs he wasn't credited for. He did argue that he wrote the intro to Battery and the riff in the middle of Leper Messiah and didn't get credit for them.

It's pretty easy to hear that he's probably correct on those, the style has Dave all over it. The non-Dave songs on RTL don't really feature anything that smell of Dave's writing style.
 
Ah, that will be it then. It's been about ten years since I last read any sort of Metallica/Megadave bio.
 
The Flash said:
Dave hasn't really argued for such a case in the RTL songs he wasn't credited for. He did argue that he wrote the intro to Battery and the riff in the middle of Leper Messiah and didn't get credit for them.

It's pretty easy to hear that he's probably correct on those, the style has Dave all over it. The non-Dave songs on RTL don't really feature anything that smell of Dave's writing style.
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I'm wondering if he wrote Motorbreath too, as there a real brazen rip off of it on one Megadeth album (can't think of the song)
 
The Flash said:
Dave hasn't really argued for such a case in the RTL songs he wasn't credited for. He did argue that he wrote the intro to Battery and the riff in the middle of Leper Messiah and didn't get credit for them.

It's pretty easy to hear that he's probably correct on those, the style has Dave all over it. The non-Dave songs on RTL don't really feature anything that smell of Dave's writing style.
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He actually sued over this in the 80s and lost, for what that's worth (or well, the "spider chord" thing in Leper Messiah specifically, I'm pretty sure nobody's ever claimed he wrote the Battery intro, idk where that came from). I know music lawsuits are basically the worst way of determining if somebody wasn't given due credit for a song, but I thought his claim was pretty flimsy to begin with since it had essentially a lot to do with how the riff is played, and less so with the riff itself.

Motorbreath is all James, he wrote it for one of the bands he played in before Metallica. It's the only Metallica song outside of Anesthesia that Lars didn't get credit for, in fact.

Re: Cliff, he contributed harmonies and riffs and various small bits, but the majority of the work on RTL and MOP (and every Metallica album after that) was done by James and Lars putting together songs piece-by-piece. Cliff taught them a fair amount of theory (like how to construct harmonies) but he wasn't a songwriter as such. Even Orion has various riffs originating from James in it.

e: As an addendum, I think the only really questionable credits are on Kill 'Em All, since scans of the original lyrics sheets exist and for a lot of the Mustaine songs (or maybe even all) the credits read "Mustaine, Hetfield" with "Ulrich" scribbled on with a different pen afterwards. Since Lars's primary talent is arrangements and by all account those only changed to a small degree from No Life Till Leather to the final album, I've always suspected most of his KEA credits may just be "contractual obligations". Like he altered some incredibly small thing just so he could legally be a co-writer.
 
Ruflux said:
I know music lawsuits are basically the worst way of determining if somebody wasn't given due credit for a song, but I thought his claim was pretty flimsy to begin with since it had essentially a lot to do with how the riff is played, and less so with the riff itself.
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Dave should have hired Bazza McKay.
 
Ruflux said:
e: As an addendum, I think the only really questionable credits are on Kill 'Em All, since scans of the original lyrics sheets exist and for a lot of the Mustaine songs (or maybe even all) the credits read "Mustaine, Hetfield" with "Ulrich" scribbled on with a different pen afterwards. Since Lars's primary talent is arrangements and by all account those only changed to a small degree from No Life Till Leather to the final album, I've always suspected most of his KEA credits may just be "contractual obligations". Like he altered some incredibly small thing just so he could legally be a co-writer.
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Apparently that's why No Life til Leather never got re-released, Lars is demanding to be included as a song writer on some stuff and Mustaine won't consent for it to be released if Lars is included.
 
Speaking of Metallica songwriters, has anyone seen James in the Ted Bundy Movie, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil?" If you didn't that's cuz he plays some random cop. Has Mustaine been in movies not as himself? James wins.
 
Onhell said:
Speaking of Metallica songwriters, has anyone seen James in the Ted Bundy Movie, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil?" If you didn't that's cuz he plays some random cop. Has Mustaine been in movies not as himself? James wins.
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Saw the clip on Youtube - it's really not much.
 
Exactly. The whole movie I'm like. Hey! Zac Efron! Wow! I see dead people! Holy CRAP! John Malcovich is playing a very apathetic judge! Oh man, I should get the soundtrack just for the rendition of Queen of the Night! *Credits* James Hetfield!? WTF!?
 
Onhell said:
Speaking of Metallica songwriters, has anyone seen James in the Ted Bundy Movie, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil?" If you didn't that's cuz he plays some random cop.
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I would wager the reason why I didn't see him in this film is because I haven't seen the film.
 
I think the Blackened demo "James Riff Tape II" shows how Hetfield can collaborate with other band members to write a song:

Hetfield first recorded Jason's riffs on his tape machine, then wrote the rest of the song based upon them.
 
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Oh man, I can't even imagine how quickly Blabbermouth editors pulled the trigger on this headline. They've been waiting years for such an amazing confluence of events...

Screen Shot 2020-06-05 at 9.15.45 AM.png

www.blabbermouth.net

JAMES HETFIELD Is The Table: One-Of-A-Kind Coffee Tables Built By METALLICA Frontman

The last two months have been a time for many to learn new skills or revisit hobbies left behind in a busy world. METALLICA frontman James Hetfield has done a little of both. A longtime vintage car enthusiast, James had been restoring classic cars for many years and has honed his welding skills...
www.blabbermouth.net www.blabbermouth.net
 
It's a shame that James couldn't put his energy into writing decent music instead, but there was only ever a fool's hope for that. Metallica don't have the excuse of yet another busy touring schedule to stop them writing music, but it will still probably be 2025 before they release anything.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Oh man, I can't even imagine how quickly Blabbermouth editors pulled the trigger on this headline. They've been waiting years for such an amazing confluence of events...

View attachment 12105

www.blabbermouth.net

JAMES HETFIELD Is The Table: One-Of-A-Kind Coffee Tables Built By METALLICA Frontman

The last two months have been a time for many to learn new skills or revisit hobbies left behind in a busy world. METALLICA frontman James Hetfield has done a little of both. A longtime vintage car enthusiast, James had been restoring classic cars for many years and has honed his welding skills...
www.blabbermouth.net www.blabbermouth.net
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IAMTHETABLE.png
 
Black Wizard said:
It's a shame that James couldn't put his energy into writing decent music instead, but there was only ever a fool's hope for that. Metallica don't have the excuse of yet another busy touring schedule to stop them writing music, but it will still probably be 2025 before they release anything.
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Funnily enough I was just listening to Hardwired and lamenting over how bad of an album it is. Those guys have no idea how to trim the fat on any of those songs. And it's a shame because I like the first 2 minutes of about every song on there, before realizing it goes on for an additional 5 minutes. Bleh. No one wants to listen to 80 minutes of modern Metallica.

Most of those songs do sound pretty good live though.
 
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