His parents were divorced, and at a young age, he lost his mother to cancer. He grew up hunting, playing guitar, and was an ordinary quiet kid. Lars Ulrich put out an ad in 1981 in a newspaper asking somebody to jam out and listen to rock music with him and he replied. Lars and James hooked up, and started the band, Metallica.See full bio »
2004Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
(documentary)
(writer: "Frantic", "Seek and Destroy", "Some Kind of Monster", "Dirty Window", "My World", "Shoot Me Again", "Enter Sandman", "Purify", "Master of Puppets", "The Shortest Straw", "Sad But True", "The Unnamed Feeling", "Sweet Amber", "All Within My Hands", "Damage, Inc.", "St. Anger", "Battery", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Invisible Kid" / as Hetfield)
1999American Movie
(documentary)
(writer: "Fight Fire With Fire")
1998Metallica: Cunning Stunts
(video documentary)
(writer: "Creeping Death", "Sad but True", "Ain't My Bitch", "Hero of the Day", "King Nothing", "One", "Fuel", "Nothing Else Matters", "Until It Sleeps", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Wherever I May Roam", "Fade to Black", "Ride the Lightning", "No Remorse", "Hit the Lights", "The Four Horsemen", "Seek & Destroy", "Fight Fire with Fire", "Master of Puppets", "Enter Sandman", "Motorbreath")
1998Your Friends & Neighbors
(writer: "Enter Sandman", "Welcome Home Sanitarium", "Wherever I May Roam")
1987Metallica: Cliff 'Em All!
(video documentary)
(writer: "Creeping Death", "Damage, Inc.", "Whiplash", "Master of Puppets", "The Four Horsemen", "Fade To Black", "Seek & Destroy", "Welcome Home Sanitarium", "For Whom The Bell Tolls")
The only thing I could think was: The band? No way! There ain't no band. The band is not the band right now. It's just three guys. [explaining what he was thinking following the death of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton]
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Trivia:
He originally wrote the 1991 hit "Nothing Else Matters" as a personal song, not intended to be played in front of anyone else, but Metallica drummer and band mate Lars Ulrich convinced him to use it for a Metallica song, which he did.
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