James Hetfield looks the part of a heavy metal musician. Dressed in his customary black garb, heavy biker boots, holding a can of beer and a cigarette, he looks typical, but everything Metallica does is far from being so. Load and Reload ventured into blues, Garage Inc. had the band who inspired countless others covering songs that inspired them. Their latest release, S&M, features 18 classic Metallica songs and two new ones, but it is far from being just a “best of” album. The songs were classically arranged and Metallica played them with the San Francisco Symphonic Orchestra. The band brought in famed arranger Michael Kamen, who was responsible for string arrangements on albums by David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, Bryan Adams and Eric Clapton.
     While some fans called Metallica traitors for reasons including their new haircuts and their desire to explore music beyond the realm of heavy metal, the group never faltered. Load divided fans into two groups. Some loved the new style, while others were shocked, claimed the band had sold out and almost attacked them as traitors. The musicians were obviously not put off. Reload was a continuation of its predecessor and, as always, Metallica continue doing what they want, as evidenced by SM.
     Hetfield claims that they are long past the phase when they felt the need to be successful at any price. Now they are just happy doing what they feel like. “The good thing about being a millionaire and being in one of the most successful bands ever is that you don't need to compromise anymore,” he observes. “For us, it's really important that we find new challenges, that we release albums we like, and that we're proud of what we do. At some point in time we'll just relax and look back, and then we want to be proud of what we did."
     He doesn't give the sellout accusations a second thought, explaining, "I think it is almost funny. A lot of fans accused us of having sold out when we changed our image and our sound. For us, it's completely different. I think we would have sold out if we would not have tried to change, to take that step forward and to risk something; if we just would have tried to play it safe. We're musicians, not some sort of jukebox who'll just always throw out what you want them to! We have a right to develop as musicians, just as we developed as individuals."
     For Metallica, it is a growing process. They don't want to get stuck, and therefore they keep trying new things. Their lives have changed, and for Hetfield it is quite natural that the music change as well. "As long as it keeps changing, it's still alive,” he reasons. “Nothing that's alive can ever be static." He adds that they still love their old songs and see them as an important part of the band’s development, but they would feel too restricted if their work merely consisted of repeating the same material. "We all love playing (them); they're part of us. It's fun playing them live. If we didn't like them, we would hardly have recorded them for S&M, but it would simply not feel right to be stuck in that period for the rest of our lives--or at least for the rest of our musical careers. Metallica was always an innovative band, and we want to keep it this way."
     Their so-called "Black Album" in 1991 was a monumental success that few bands can rival, with more than 20 million copies sold worldwide. Still, it did cost them dearly. During the recording, they dealt with a lot of friction between themselves and producer Bob Rock, and it was almost the end of the band. Another heavy strain on Metallica was the fact that they toured for almost two years nonstop around the world.
     "I think it was the worst thing I ever went through,” Hetfield admits. “It was more than my body could take. You're there and your head tells you that you have to go on, but your body is close to giving out. You keep telling yourself, 'I can go on, I have to go on, I'll make it.' At the same time, you feel your body and (it) gives you a completely different message. It just says, 'I'll come home in a coffin; you can send me home in a coffin!' Five to six days a week, I was on stage for about two and a half hours every night. Doing that for over two years, my larynx didn't feel great, it felt like my vocal cords were just falling apart. Anybody who considers that fun has some sort of twisted sense of humor!"
     The concept behind their new album was the brainchild of producer Michael Kamen. "In a way it was his fault, if you can call it a fault at all,” says Hetfield. “He just approached us and said, 'Guys, I want to put a symphonic orchestra and a rock band together and you're my first choice.' We thought about it, liked the idea, and said, 'OK, we're going to do it, we're game!"
     While they didn't need much convincing to take part in the project, it was difficult for them to pick out the songs they wanted on the album. "We really had a big problem choosing,” he recalls. “Nobody really could imagine what would work and what would not. We were tossing ideas and songs around and around. For example, we wanted to leave out ‘Enter Sandman’ because we thought our fans wouldn't like it in a classical arrangement, but Michael had such a great arrangement that we had to give in, we just didn't have any other choice. Then we thought we’d give ‘Unforgiven’ a try, but it just didn't work. Even Michael couldn't do anything with it. It just didn't adapt. So we left it out in the end. We had quite a lot of songs, then we narrowed them down, and then narrowed them down some more until we were left with the 20 songs that are on the album."
     It might not seem easy for a band like Metallica to adapt a symphonic orchestra, making two different worlds collide, but for James Hetfield it is not a big problem. Metallica have always been inventive and for them the word “impossible” simply doesn't exist. "The only way it works is to treat the orchestra like they're part of the band, part of Metallica. They become a part of us and we become a part of them. The only way the songs work is when there's some sort of an intimate feeling between us. It wasn't easy, and I simply rushed over and kicked their musical scores around, just to keep that certain vibe going. For us it was a completely new experience, but it was also great. I don't know what they thought about us or me. They probably wondered who the idiot was who was running around like crazy!"
     Rest assured, however, that Metallica haven't tired of heavy metal. "I don't think we ever will,” he states, “but we definitely are a lot more open now. I just love what we're doing. I also love our old stuff, but at the same time I really want to be able to try whatever I feel like trying without forgetting what we do best, and that's simply a great heavy sound. But it would be wrong to limit ourselves."
     He doesn't believe in dividing the stages of Metallica the way certain groups of fans have done. "A lot of people tried to separate the so-called old and new Metallica, and the dividing line was our hairstyles. I think it's pretty funny if your career depends on your hair! Anybody who ever saw us live knows how intensely we play our songs, the new ones and the old ones. There really is no difference. We just want to avoid being boring, or getting bored ourselves, and that is why we just keep moving forward, why we keep moving on. It's a great feeling to know that you can do whatever you want to do, you can try out whatever you feel like trying, that I can sit down and write whatever I want to write whenever I feel like it."