James Hetfield

James Hetfield, founder of the band Metallica, was born August 3rd, 1963, in Los Angeles, California. James' childhood was hard. His father was a truck driver and his mother was an opera singer. The Hetfield family took religion very seriously. James' mother disapproved of medicines due to their belief, and because she refused to see a doctor, she died of cancer. This led to James' disassociation from his religion.

James Hetfield was 9 years old when he first started to play instruments. He took piano lessons before taking on his brother David's drums and finally picking up a guitar in his pre-teens. James' favorite bands were rock bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. Hetfield started his first band during his teenage years. It was called Obsession.

After moving to Brea, California, James made a new friend, Jim Mulligan, at Brea Olinda High School. The two jammed at lunch time, scaring other student guitarists with their loud music, before a guy called Hugh Tanner was seen carrying around part of a flying V guitar at school. The band Phantom Lord came about with Hugh on guitar, Mulligan on drums and James singing while playing guitar. The group went through a few bass players until graduation, when James moved back to Downey, California.

Back in Downey, James moved into a house that was being prepared for demolition. It was the perfect place for James and Ron to jam. James talked Ron into taking up bass. Phantom Lord disbanded, and then the third band under Hetfield's leadership, Leather Charm, was born. The only difference between Leather Charm and Phantom Lord was that James sang without playing guitar while Ron played bass guitar. Hugh Tanner and Jim Mulligan kept their former Phantom Lord positions. The band performed at a few parties and recorded a demo, but then began to fall apart. First, Tanner left the band, and was replaced by a man named Troy James, then Mulligan left for a more progressive, Rush-like band. Without a drummer, the band was forced to stop playing. Although it was Mulligan's departure that led to James searching for a new drummer, it may be safe to say that Hugh Tanner was responsible for the moment that would change the course of James Hetfield's life and set him on the path to achieving his childhood goal. Tanner introduced James to Lars Ulrich: The rest, as may be read elsewhere, (see Metallica), is a long, illustrious, albeit occasionally curious, and still-evolving history. This is how the band Metallica came about.

This is a review of how the band Metallica came to be. These are some of the great accomplishments that led James Hetfield to achieveing his childhood ambition. James Hetfield and the rest of the band Metallica are the ones who introduced me to the world of metal music. Because of James Hetfield and his band, Metallica, I started to play the guitar hoping to be as good as them. I hope that this biography might intrigue someone and maybe have an impact on them.