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MYSTERIOUS: Bob rock - You Need To See This

“I tried to write the heaviest thing I could think of”: From Enter Sandman to Nothing Else Matters, the stories behind every song on Metallica’s Black Album

35 years ago, Metallica cemented themselves as the biggest metal band on Earth. This is your track-by-track guide to their landmark moment.

Metal Hammer

“I knew the guitar was valuable, but this was before Slash blew up, so nobody really wanted Les Pauls. They all wanted Charvels”: Billy Duffy on his greatest guitar deals – and the one he regrets selling to Bob Rock

The Cult six-stringer looks back on Les Pauls loved and lost, plus the latest and greatest from his mostly back-to-basics rig

Guitar World

“Bob Rock said, ‘OK, tune up, and we’ll do the rhythm for this song now.’ I was like, ‘What?’” Kirk Hammett didn’t play rhythm guitar on Metallica's first five albums. That all changed with 1996’s controversial Load

In an attempt to explore new musical directions, Hammett was summoned to share rhythm guitar duties with James Hetfield, helping to kickstart a new phase for Metallica

Guitar World

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Revisiting the seven weeks in 1991 that changed music history forever

The 80s weren’t dead and the 90s hadn’t really begun. This is the story of how seven weeks of summer in 1991 belonged to rock (and not just grunge)

Louder

"I was in Ireland in my little house when I got the call saying, ‘This is Lars from Metallica.'" How metal's biggest band and a confused folk singer wrote a controversial hit that has soundtracked everything from WWE to The Sopranos

When Marianne Faithful got a phone call from Lars Ulrich asking her to collaborate with Metallica, she didn't believe it

Metal Hammer

“Metal needs a good f**king kick up the ass”: the story of Metallica’s Load

New haircuts, new sound, new Metallica: was Load the sound of metal’s biggest band trolling the world?

Metal Hammer

“I sold the guitar to Bob Rock like an idiot for $10,000. Then Slash blew up, and I immediately missed out on about $150,000": Billy Duffy on the one guitar he wish he never sold

Duffy’s timing could hardly have been worse

Guitar World

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“They just do what they feel is right for them. They don’t take into account what people think”: How Metallica rewrote their script (and irritated countless metalheads) with Load and Reload

When the former thrashers cut their hair and took influence from the blues, they didn’t emerge unscathed, but they remained heavy music’s biggest band all the same

Metal Hammer

“Bob Rock said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you become a guitar hero.’ And he did!” Billy Duffy on how The Cult made their most challenging hit single

The guitar icon explains how tours with Billy Idol and Guns N' Roses shaped their 1989 hit, Fire Woman

Guitar World

"It did surprise us. People started calling us sell-outs." How Metallica wrote the metal power ballad that saved Miley Cyrus - and that Elton John called 'one of the best songs ever written'

James Hetfield wasn't sure about letting his Metallica bandmates hear Nothing Else Matters. Thank goodness he did

Metal Hammer

“The teacher would say, ‘OK, get out your health books,’ and I would have to leave. My parents told me a little speech to say about our religion and why, and I didn’t believe it”: How Metallica turned childhood trauma into a decades-spanning trilogy

Inspired by James Hetfield’s isolated upbringing (and a little bit of Chris Isaak), Metallica made an honest, inverted ballad and kicked off a 27-year-long series

Metal Hammer

"I let my father know there were no bad feelings. I sorted out a lot of my anger in his departure." A death, Nirvana, U2 and a crucifixion: the surprising story behind Metallica's most successful single (and no, it isn't Enter Sandman)

With a new look, a new attitude and a dizzying new set of musical influences, Metallica crafted one of their most controversial singles. It was also their best-selling

Metal Hammer

Watch unearthed 1991 Metallica interview in which they insist they are not a thrash metal band

Restored interview not seen in decades features Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield speaking shortly before Black Album is released

Metal Hammer

“It really doesn't have much to do with us. We gave this guy a couple of riffs and told him to run with it”: The WTF hip hop collaboration that Metallica don’t talk about any more

The one time Metallica dabbled in hip hop didn’t end well

Metal Hammer

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Guitar World

“The idea is Kirk was gonna play rhythms along with James. That changed everything, and some people don’t like it”: Bob Rock says Metallica's divisive Load album redefined the Hetfield-Hammett guitar partnership

New influences, a change in production methods, and moving away from thrash led to the pair switching up their tandem

Metal Hammer

“I don’t follow the rules of metal, which is probably wrong, and I’m sorry”: Metallica producer Bob Rock looks back on controversial Load and Reload albums

Rock is “glad” he and Metallica didn’t imitate the metal stars’ blockbuster Black Album when making its divisive follow-ups

Guitar World

“I sold it to Bob Rock for the same amount I paid for it. Just after that, the ‘Slasheffect’ happened… he sold it for 15times what he paid”: Billy Duffy on the Les Paul ’Burst he sold on the cheap – and why player-grade beats all-original every time

Think of Billy Duffy and it’s Gretsch White Falcons, Les Paul Customs or maybe an LP Junior. Here he explains why these three iconic six-strings have been the tools of his trade for over 40 years

MusicRadar

“I spent six months listening only to AC/DC – and it changed my entire approach to songwriting”: How Metallica embraced simplicity – and Mötley Crüe's producer – to create their 30 million selling monster hit

Hiring Bob Rock was one of the smartest moves they ever made

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Louder

"Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down. At that same moment, I smell smoke": Six things you didn't know about The Damn Truth

They were saved by the rock community, they’re produced byBob Rock and dug by Billy Gibbons. They're Canadian rockers The Damn Truth

Guitar World

“There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason Newsted brought that art. Cliff Burton was more aggressive, and a busier player”: The bassists of Metallica

From Ron McGovney to Robert Trujillo, we trace the evolution of Metallica’s low-end sound

Louder

"A glossy heavy metal album that doesn't quite have the songs to make it stand out from the crowd, despite the talent of the players": John Sykes, Carmine Appice and Tony Franklin conjure up a cult favourite on debut Blue Murder album

After being let go by Whitesnake, John Sykes returned with supergroup Blue Murder and a debut album that failed at the box office

Guitar World

“There’s a lot of power to our band name… we weren’t part of any scene, so it was like, ‘Who are we? We are The Damn Truth’”: Meet the Canadian quartet bringing their raucous sound to the masses – with a little help from Bob Rock

Rooted in blues-rock but expanded by metal, folk, and country, The Damn Truth's catchy, riff-heavy tunes seem bound to conquer rock playlists, and stages, 'round the world

MusicRadar

NAMM 2025: “You place the wah, and leave it there, and that’s the tone”: With a little help from Bob Rock, Dunlop honours David Bowie’s maestro of the cocked wah, Mick Ronson, with signature Cry Baby

This super-cool Cry Baby is based on Ronson's original vintage Italian-made model

Guitar World

“Like nothing from the modern era”: Mick Ronson’s Cry Baby wah tone transformed rock music with David Bowie – now he’s been honored with a signature wah, inspired by his original Italian pedal

The legendary songwriter and guitarist was famed for his cocked-wah tone that helped shape the sound of some of Bowie's biggest hits

Metal Hammer

"Being sober was a real different experience from a band that was always wrecked": How Mötley Crüe cleaned up and made their biggest album

Drugged up, boozed up and almost washed up, Mötley Crüe went into rehab, came out and recorded a classic of the late-80s LA metal scene: Nikki Sixx takes us back

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