Metallica win their first Grammy for Best Metal Performance for "One."

Metallica hit One On One studio in North Hollywood, CA, to record their next album. This will be the first album with producer Bob Rock.

The album is remixed three times and release is stalled for almost a year.

"The grueling sessions cost the band $1 million and ended three marriages."

— Ian Christie, Sound of the Beast

"We definitely put 110 percent into this one, and that's what we got out."

— James, August 1991, Metallica: In Their Own Words

"Bob should be given total credit for making James comfortable enough to take that guard down and really sing. We've always thought of ourselves as Big Bad Metallica, but Bob taught us a new word none of us had ever heard before—soulful."

— Lars, October 1991, Metallica: In Their Own Words

"We'd never really had anybody push us before."

— Lars, on working with Bob, Music Express

"When we brought in the lyrics [to 'Holier Than Thou'] Bob Rock said, 'Hey, is this song about me?' He got real paranoid."

— James, September 1991, Metallica: In Their Own Words

Recording of Metallica

James, Lars, and Kirk play at the RIP magazine party at the Hollywood Palladium. The late night jam includes also Slash, Axl Rose, and Duff McKagan from Guns N' Roses, and Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. "Whiplash" is played twice, the first time with Sebastian Bach on vocals.

"I'm gonna sing it this time. The other guy fucked it all up."

— James, starting "Whiplash" for the second time.

RIP magazine party

1. James and Slash
2. James, Axl, Slash, Duff
3. James and Axl
4. James laughs and shakes his head at Sebastian's rendition of "Whiplash"
5. Backstage: Slash, Duff, Lars, Sebastian, Axl

Metallica win a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance for their rendition of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy." Others nominated in the same category are: Suicidal Tendencies, Judas Priest, Anthrax, and Megadeth.

The band doesn't show up at the awards show, because, according to Lars, they have little enthusiasm for a nominating group that chose a song recorded in about a quarter of an hour.

"If we release anything for the rest of the nineties, every year we'll get a Grammy for it just because they fucked up that first year. (...) We go into the studio in January last year and spend about 15 minutes—give or take a day, the shortest visit we've ever had in the studio anyway—and we put down a cover version of a Queen song from 1973 for an Elektra compilation album, and it's track 11 on side three, right, and it wins a Grammy over fully fledged albums by, like, Judas Priests and Megadeth? Don't you think it's got anything to do with, 'Gee, how can we rectify how we fucked up in 1989?'"

— Lars, Metallica: A Visual Documentary

"Enter Sandman" video premieres.

"The video format is very different now than what we were used to in the early and mid-eighties. All the videos that were being made back then were just plain stupid as far as metal bands were concerned; bands always performing onstage or bimbos running around—and that kinda turned us off to it. We've opened up our minds and our perspectives a bit more now and we've found that we can experiment with the video format and be creative with it."

— Kirk, The Island Ear

"Enter Sandman" video

Metallica (otherwise known as The Black Album) is released. The album features James playing the sitar at the beginning/intro to "Wherever I May Roam". The band throws a listening party at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"The only annoying thing is that our album played the Garden before we did."

— Lars, MTV News

"It was weird just walking around the corridors of Madison Square Garden and your album's playing up there and there's ten thousand people sitting there and it was really uncomfortable. I was more nervous that day than I've ever been for anything else with Metallica."

— Lars, Frayed Ends of Metal

Metallica debuts at #1 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart and stays there for four straight weeks. First week sales top 600,000 copies.

"You think one day some fucker's gonna tell you, 'You have a Number One record in America' and the whole world will ejaculate. I stood there in my hotel room and there was this fax that says, 'You're Number One.' And it was like, 'Well, OK.' It was just another fucking fax from the office. It's really difficult to get excited about it. We never tried to be Number One. But now we're Number One, and it's like, OK."

— Lars, November 1991, Metallica: In Their Own Words

"I never thought it was possible to have a Number One record with the kind of music we play."

— Jason, November 1991, Metallica: In Their Own Words

1. Metallica
2-3. The listening party

Beginning of the Black album tour—Wherever I May Roam, 91-92-93.

The band comes up with a totally new concept of the stage: diamond-shaped, with no backdrops, placed in the middle of the arena, and with an opening in the middle called Snake Pit, where about 120 lucky fans get to experience the band up-close and personal. The diamond stage is designed to house the tour equipment during the set.

"We don't like to separate ourselves from our audience."

— James, Rolling Stone, 1993

"The pit is elevated up just a little bit so that your head and arms are at stage level. So we're just milling around you and spitting, sweating, and whatever—wiping boogers on you the whole time. It is the eye of the hurricane. We're around you constantly."

— Jason, The Nice Paper, 1992

"[Under the stage] I have a little table with a reading light, and those guys have made it quite cozy too. I'm not to the point where I take newspapers down there yet, but I have seen certain band members reading scuba magazines while other guys solo."

— Kirk, Musician

"In Madison, Wisconsin, Ulrich was playing at one of his two drum sets—one on each side of the arrow, on platforms that rose up from under the stage via trapdoors in the runways when, in the middle of 'The Four Horsemen' the trapdoor opened. He and his kit descended from view. 'In front of 20,000 people,' Ulrich says, howling at the memory. 'They couldn't get me back up. I ended up playing two or three songs under the stage.'"

— Rolling Stone, 1999

1-5. Rehearsals before the Black Album tour—Denmark, August 8th, 1991
6. Snake Pit

As a part of the Monsters of Rock tour, Metallica performs a free concert in Moscow at the Tushino Airfield, before a crowd estimated between 150,000 and 500,000 people. Legend has it that the Russian prime minister Mikhail Gorbachev personally invited the band to play at the concert. The concert features also AC/DC and Pantera. More than 1,000 militiamen are on guard around the stage, and more are hidden in trucks parked further away. Their violent methods of controlling crowds leave 53 people injured.

"I was walking into the lobby, some kid had snuck in, and he just stood there in front of me, crying. 'You don't know what it means to me for you to come here.' I stood there, watching him break down in front of me. I don't even know how to express how it made me feel. These kids were so appreciative of the fact that we were coming there, and it was very heavy to think that maybe our music gave them a little something to grasp on to."

— Lars, "The Black Album" interview, 1991

During the show Lars catches his finger between the snare drum rim and one of his sticks and bleeds profusely.

Moscow 1991

Metallica wins their third Grammy, for Best Metal Performance for Metallica.

"I think the first thing we've gotta do is thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year. (...) I wanna thank all the radio stations and MTV, without whom all of this was possible anyway! Just kidding...."

— Lars, in his acceptance speech

Grammies

1-4. Acceptance speech
5-6. Backstage

Metallica play three songs at the Freddie Mercury tribute at the Wembley Stadium in London. James also sings "Stone Cold Crazy" with Queen and Tony Iommi on rhythm guitar. All proceeds from this gig are donated to Freddie Mercury's AIDS fund.

"The AIDS issue is probably one that is closest to home for everybody in rock and roll. We have a lot of respect for the guys in Queen, and it just seemed like something really cool to be part of. We were happy to lend our name to it."

— Lars, "Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica"

"No peace, no privacy, and our dressing room is right next to the Spinal Tap's..."

— Kirk, "Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica"

"That gig was really cool, but actually the rehearsal was even cooler. I thought it was going to be a little rehearsal room, but it was a little bigger. There was 'a few' more people there than I expected. And I was already nervous as shit. But as soon as I talked with the guys, they were really cool, really mellow, they made me relaxed right away."

— James, "Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica"

Freddie Mercury tribute at Wembley
5. James and Tony Iommi

Metallica and Guns N' Roses co-headline a 24-date stadion tour through America's larger cities.

"The four of us are incredibly egotistical, end of story! Guns N' Roses are incredibly set in their ways too, and that's just the way it is. I don't think any of us realized, when we sat down and had our drunken talks about doing this tour together, how tough it would be to get the three months of this happening. It's down to the persistence of the band members that this is happening, because if it was left to the managers, agents and accountants, this would have never got off the ground."

— Lars, Metallica: In Their own Words

"It was different. It was a good idea. We really had no idea what was going to come with it. We were out to show people that there was something a little more progressive and hardcore than Guns N' Roses. And to go about it our way. But it was hard going on, dealing with Axl and his attitude. It's not something we'd want to do again."

— James, Rolling Stone, 1993

During a show in Montreal, Canada, on the Metallica/GNR tour, there is some confusion surrounding the new pyrotechnics and James stands in the middle of a 12-foot flame during "Fade to Black." He suffers 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his face, arms, hands and legs.

"That was the joke: What's the first line to Fade to Black? 'Fuckin' hell! Aaaaargh!'"

— James, Rolling Stone, 1993

"His skin was bubbling like on the Toxic Avenger."

— Jason, VH1 Behind the Music

Riots ensue after Guns N' Roses takes the stage late and Axl walks off early.

The six phases of any stadium tour

"James was very motivated to heal himself as quickly as possible. And James is the kind of guy who doesn't like letting people down."

— Kirk, VH1 Behind the Music

The band resumes the tour on August 25, in Phoenix, AZ. John Marshall once again fills in on the guitar.

"Being a frontman [without playing rhythm guitar] was weird. It reminded me how much I really loved fuckin' playing rhythm guitar. Especially during some of the older songs, where there's a lot of guitar work or instrumental shit. It's like, 'What the fuck do I do?' I'd just leave. Go backstage and have a beer."

— James, Metallica: Unbound

1. James getting ready to perform again
2-6. James's first show after the accident, Phoenix, August 25, 1992
6. John Marshall on rhythm guitar

Metallica win Best Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Video at MTV Video Music Awards for "Enter Sandman."

"I guess these things just went down in value. If we can win one, I guess anybody can win."

— Lars, during his acceptance speech.

Lars and Kirk at the MTV Video Music Awards

Two home videos A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica Part I and Part II are released. These videos document the making of Metallica and contain footage from the Wherever I May Roam tour.

Nowhere Else To Roam tour begins. It takes the band for the first time to countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Philippines.

"For Attention:

Mr. Jake Berr
Production Manager,
Metallica

Date:
22nd March 1993

Dear Jake,

To reiterate our conversation of yesterday and in reply to your fax, I submit the following answers to your questions:

Q: Can the Band spit onstage?

A: Emphatically No. Spitting is an offence in Singapore and is a punishable one at that. (...) If it is a situation that has become a degree habitual, then all I can say is to please exercise some constraint and if they absolutely must, exit the stage right or left, get rid of the offending problem and return to the performance.

Q: Can the Band use swear words e.g. Fuck?

A: Please No. Not if they can possibly help it. (...) In particular I must put the emphasis on the ever popular phrase of "mother-fucker". At all costs endeavor to avoid this. Any reference to the word "Mother" in this society must be with the utmost reverence.

What they say and do in the privacy of their hotel rooms, dressing rooms, catering rooms, etc. is entirely their business, however when they are up there on stage and have at least 7500 adoring fans hanging on every word and the press in attendance, it would be appreciated if the more colorful adjectives were given a rest for the evening and replaced with something a little less crass.

Q: Can the Band play with no shirts?

A: Yes, in Singapore this is fine, also Jakarta is no problem.

Q: Are there any other weird things that the band cannot do?

A: I have fairly much covered everything that is likely to be somewhat frowned upon and fervently urge the guys to avoid overstepping these barriers of acceptable behaviour."

— from the Live Shit photo book

1-5. Thailand, April 1993 (The white Stetson James wears during this tour has the words "This belongs to Satan" stenciled on the inside.)
6. Perth, Australia, April 1993

Metallica win American Music Award in the category of Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist.

American Music Awards 1993

Nowhere Else To Roam tour ends in Werchter, Belgium, concluding two full years of touring in support of the Black album.

"[Touring for two years] 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. 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."

— James, "Inside the World of S&M" interview, 1999

"It is strange because it does just feel like a break in the tour. After the last show I had a couple of bottles of wine to myself and ended up throwing up before my flight..."

— James, July 1993, Metallica: In Their Own Words

The last two nights of The Black Album tour, Belgium, July 3-4, 1993

Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set is released. The band's first official live album, it comes packaged in a mini road case. The case contains three live CDs, three live home videos, a "scary guy" stencil, a Snake Pit pass and book filled with old riders and letters.

"I think it's turned into a great way of getting the last three and a half years out of our systems. We wrote the album, made the album, toured the album and here's the documentation of the album's music on the road. Now we can start with a clean slate. Everything about this tour is gone."

— Lars, Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica

1. Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set
2. "Scary Guy"