Metallica’s Black Album Is 20-Years-Old!

Metallica’s 1991 eponymous album, commonly referred to as the ‘Black Album’ is 20-years-old next month!

Bob Rock, producer of the seminal record spoke to Musicradar.com about his work on the mega-hit LP. “It wasn’t a fun, easy record to make. Sure, we had some laughs, but things were difficult. I told the guys when we were done that I’d never work with them again. They felt the same way about me.”

In the interview Rock commented on the band’s approach to mainstream song writing. He said “they had broken through to one level, but they still weren’t on mainstream radio. When they came to me, they were ready to make that leap to the big, big leagues.

“I noticed that Lars played to James’ Hetfield’s guitar, much like the way that Keith Moon played to Pete Townshend. I told him that in order to get that feel, he had to be the focal point musically. So on certain songs, the band played to Lars. They followed him. It made a real difference.”

Rock also spoke about Hetfield’s writing saying “He wanted to go deeper with his writing. He wanted his songs to really matter. We talked about the great songwriters, like Dylan and Lennon and Bob Marley, and I think he saw that he could write for himself but still touch other people. It was a struggle for him, but he had a tremendous breakthrough as a writer.”