The first song that Metallica ever recorded
When James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were first getting the ball rolling with Metallica, they had no idea what lay ahead. Outside of the massive undertaking of becoming one of the biggest metal bands in the world, the songs they would create together would become the inspiration for millions of metal acts down the line, crafting songs like sonic vignettes across their classic albums. Everyone starts somewhere, though, and their journey originally began on a short demo tape trying to get scouted.
Granted, when Hetfield first met Ulrich, he was less than enthused about his skills as a drummer, recounting in a documentary, “Lars had a kit, and it was like seven different colours. He kept hitting the cymbals, and they kept falling over. You know, his drumming was not amazing, but he had this drive.”
Once they started workshopping ideas with original bassist Ron McGovney, the idea was to get a song put out on one of the metal compilations released in their native Bay Area metal scene. After jamming a few times, Ulrich reached out to his friend Brian Slagel, who was in charge of the Metal Massacre series of albums coming out.
As Slagel remembers in Behind the Music: “He said, ‘Hey, if I get a band together and we cut a song, can I be on your compilation album?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely’.” To get their career off the ground, Hetfield and Ulrich spent most of the night working on the song ‘Hit The Lights’, a simple metal song about living the metal lifestyle. Since Hetfield wasn’t skilled enough at playing lead yet, he got his friend Lloyd Grant to lay down the solo that is heard on the initial pressing.
Granted, it would take a long time before ‘Hit The Lights’ took on its classic form. After drafting lead guitarist Dave Mustaine into the mix, everything was going well until McGovney resigned from the band, losing the spark he initially had for the group. Once the band caught a new band called Trauma in Los Angeles, bassist Cliff Burton was added to the mix, bringing an amount of finesse that was sorely missing from the rhythm section.
After making noise in the underground metal scene, Metallica got the deal of a lifetime from across the country, with Johnny Zazula offering them the chance to drive across the country to make their first album. Metallica were on the way to the top… but they would have to lose one more person.
When making their way through the heart of America, Mustaine’s erratic behaviour led to him being replaced by Kirk Hammett, who laid down the blistering solos on their debut album Kill Em All. Kicking off their debut record, ‘Hit The Lights’ had gone through a huge evolution in the process, taking the initial fire of the original demo tape with more teeth added to it. Although the production of the record left much to be desired, Hetfield’s skills as a guitarist had increased dramatically, including sprinkling in a tasty bend to lead the listener’s ear into the main riff.
Granted, Metallica wouldn’t stay in this kind of writing mould for much longer, progressing incredibly fast by making insane soundscapes on their follow-up Ride the Lightning. The thrash legends were bound to turn into a metal powerhouse, but this is the sound of them at their most green.
