Metallica‘s lead vocalist and guitarist, James Hetfield, recently shared some surprising details about the band’s early days and the extreme measures they took to survive during the early 1980s. Speaking on the latest episode of the official podcast, The Metallica Report, Hetfield opened up about the difficult times they faced while recording their iconic albums “Ride The Lightning” (1984) and “Master Of Puppets” (1986) at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen.
During their time in Copenhagen, the band had to engage in various forms of theft just to make ends meet. Hetfield recalls (as transcribed by Guitar): “We were up in the attic, sleeping on the floor and stealing food from other bands that were coming through there, stealing bikes just to get around, stealing empty beer bottles to go turn them in for more beer. There was a lot of thieving.” He added with a laugh, “We didn’t have anything, we didn’t have shit. So it wasn’t thieving, we were just borrowing it forever.”
Reflecting on these experiences, Hetfield mentioned that these early struggles have made him feel more at home in Denmark now. He said: “Because of all those adventures in the early days, I feel a lot more at home in Denmark now. You know, the early days were tough because, as far as us and the business side, we had no clue. Lars was kind of taking a shot at it.”
The Sweet Silence Studios also provided a rich musical environment, having hosted sessions with artists like Chet Baker and Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. Hetfield fondly remembered: “Lars and I slept in the tape storage upstairs of Sweet Silence and looking through it was like whoa, Richie Blackmore’s stuff and all kinds of different bands that have gone through there doing stuff.”