We tell you interesting facts from the history of one of the most influential metal bands in history

"Metallica." - a legendary metal band whose history began in 1981 in Los Angeles. Today, they're rightfully called titans of the genreTheir reputation and influence is worldwide! Multi-million copies, timeless hits - the biography of this band has seen many ups and downs, tragedies and... hangouts.

In addition to their merits, the members of Metallica boast a very scandalous fame. Numerous crazy anticsas well as legal problems и alcohol haunted this rock band throughout their dazzling career.

In the early days, they drank a lot

Johnny Zazula was one of the people who helped the band come out of the shadows and onto the big stage. The owner of the then young label "Megaforce Records" signed a contract with Metallica. Before arriving at his studio, the musicians had to travel a long way to get there from California to New Jersey. When they arrived at Johnny's they were dirty, hungry and wildly tired. They had nowhere to stay and almost no money! Zazula could not leave them on the street, so he took them in. However, he soon regretted it.

"They were young and wild! The first thing they did when they came to my house was to rush through the cupboards looking for alcohol. They drank everything I had! They didn't even use glasses - they just drank out of bottles! They were all pissed off and crazy drunk, and Dave Mastain was throwing up everywhere...".

The young rebels stayed in the house Johnny Not for long: soon they found another place to live. However, their alcoholic stories did not end there.

Dave Mastain had a big drinking problem.

All participants "Metallica." liked to drink. But most of all Dave Mastainwho had a big drinking problem.

After kicking the band out of his house, Zazula found a room for them in the rehearsal building, which the guys named "music room.". Many bands rehearsed there, but only Metallica slept there. From the guitarist's recollections "Anthrax" by Scott Ian.:

"Every day, Mastain would get wasted! He slept with other band members, got into conflicts and generally behaved disgustingly... In the morning, when we or some other band came to rehearse, the front door was full of rubbish! He had this kind of fun..."

They lived on booze and hot dogs.

When the band was living in San FranciscoI used to go to the market regularly "Pick N Pack."where I bought very little groceries and a lot of alcohol.

"We ate very little and drank a lot! We especially liked vodka and Pepsi Light..."

Metallica's first major U.S. tours were performances with "WASP." и "Armored Saint.". Despite the fact that the band recently signed a contract with the "Elektra Records. on release "Ride the Lightning"They didn't have any money: it was all spent on equipment and beer. Photographer Gene Ambo reminisced:

"They played a show in Milwaukee at the Eagle Ballroom and were backstage in their little dressing room. It was crowded and Cliff (Burton) was sitting behind the drums. It was really cold so we drank to keep warm. After that we went to the hotel and bought as many beers as we could. I mean, if we had five quid, everything went for beer, and no one ate that night! The next day we would go in search of two hot dogs for a dollar or rice and gravy for 70 cents. There was no food at night. There was only beer..."

James Hatfield single-handedly trashed hotels.

One night during a party with the bass player. "Armor Saint" by Joey Veroy Hatfield let his emotions get the best of him. He raged, screamed, threw things out of the window. But the climax of the wild night was the lift breakdown. Here's what the musician himself said in an interview:

"We were in Joey's room: drinking, having fun... Suddenly at some point we all got wildly angry and started throwing bottles out the window! It was pretty loud and fun, but we soon got bored. That's when I grabbed Joey's jacket and threw it into the pool outside. Luckily, it turned out to be closed. So we headed downstairs to get the jacket... On the way back we called the lift, but as I was bored I decided to manually open the lift doors between floors. We ended up being stuck for about half an hour. Then we finally got to the right floor, but by then I was incredibly angry! I grabbed a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall and started spraying people with it.

Spicy behind-the-scenes stories

When Metallica released one of their biggest early hits, the dark ballad "Fade to Black"The band quickly gained an army of female fans. And to spend time with their idols, the groupies were ready to do absolutely anything. Even fulfil the desires of the roadies. From the recollections of an ex-roadie. Thomas Bright:

"These women would come in before the show, usually in the afternoon, before soundcheck. And we roadies would seek out these chicks twenty-four hours a day, every waking minute. It was every man for himself, but most of them were more than willing to do more... The most memorable were the sisters from Philadelphia. They would do anything, gladly. Both gorgeous, pretty, eighteen-year-old blonde strippers..."

Hatfield went crazy after meeting Eddie Van Halen

In 1986, Metallica played in support of the album "Master of Puppets" at an outdoor festival at the Hippodrome. The band performed with "Dokken.", "Aerosmith.", "Ted Nugent." и "Armored Saint.".

"The show started in the afternoon, so by the evening everyone was pretty exhausted... We were all invited to see Van Halen in the big arena. I remember Eddie coming in before the show and we were all standing around drinking. It was really funny because James was all shy... We were just drinking and drinking, and in the morning James was running around destroying parking meters after completely trashing the locker room! He literally went crazy after meeting Van Halen!", recalled photographer Gene Ambo.