Monday, March 31st, 2008
A Case Study of Producer Bob Rock and his Influence on the Music of Metallica
This is the Written Assignment I submitted as part of my Audio Engineering Diploma course at SAE London. You can view the original PDF version here , but I’ve tweaked it to a more blog-friendly version, which is published below. As with most of my coursework, it ended up a bit rushed and not as good as I’d have liked it to be, but PLEASE leave comments and let me know what you think of it - especially if you’re a Metallica fan! Thanks! [It's also posted as a journal on Last.fm , if you'd rather read and comment there!]
Bob Rock began working as Metallica’s producer on their fifth album, ‘Metallica’. This was generally considered to be the point at which the band crossed over to the mainstream, and Bob Rock is generally credited with making that happen. As Metallica’s career progressed with Rock as producer they alienated a lot of their hardcore metal fan base; most of whom believed Rock to be the primary reason for the band’s apparent downfall. Though his involvement with the band over the years is difficult to understate, there were several other factors contributing to the direction of Metallica’s career.
Introduction
The career of Canadian producer Bob Rock has seen him work with a variety of big name artists, with a large degree of commercial success, as well as some degree of critical acclaim. After producing bands like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi throughout the Eighties, Bob Rock was then recruited by Metallica for their eponymous 1991 album, which is widely acknowledged for bringing Metallica to the mainstream. I intend to look at how he impacted the sound of Metallica, and also the musical format, compared with the four albums released prior to his involvement, and also the events that led to his departure as Metallica’s producer in 2006.
Bob Rock: Pre-Metallica
Bob Rock’s musical career began in the late 1970s performing as a guitarist playing in various bands, most notably Payola$ [sic], who had some brief success in the early 80s. In addition to this Bob worked frequently as an engineer and producer with several rock artists including his own band. His biggest success as an engineer came with Motley Crue and Bon Jovi, for whom he produced several albums.
In fact it was particularly his work on Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood album which initially impressed Metallica. Lead singer James Hetfield commented at the time:
“…if you go back and look at the stuff he’s produced, it sounds great, even though the songs were crap”
Unlike some of his peers, Rock was not known for a ‘trademark sound’ as such, but had simply, as Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich put it, “an incredible ear for attitude and feeling”.
Metallica: Pre-Bob Rock
Prior to working with Bob Rock, Metallica had recorded four albums which had placed them firmly in the thrash metal genre, and earned them a dedicated following. Their first full length studio album ‘Kill ‘Em All’ in 1983, produced by Paul Curcio. Following that, the band gained increasing success, both in record sales and critical acclaim with the next two albums, Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master Of Puppets (1986), both produced by Flemming Rasmussen.
Following the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton in a tour bus crash in 1986, he was replaced by Jason Newsted, and 1988’s ‘…And Justice For All‘ album was the first release to feature Newsted.
The production sound on the ‘…And Justice For All’ album came under scrutiny for the lack of bottom end in the mix. With guitarist and lead singer James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich heavily involved as producers on the album, the domination of their instruments in the mix was evident.
Production issues aside, at this stage Metallica were starting to show signs of outgrowing the thrash metal scene. An unlikely breakthrough single from the album, ‘One’, became the first Metallica song to receive mainstream radio airplay, and also led to the band making their first music video. However the album as a whole was arguably Metallica’s least accessible work to date. This on top of the harsh production is possibly what stopped their popularity extending much further into the mainstream at that time.
The Black Album1
In preparation for the next album, Metallica were aware of the need for some guidance in terms of the production. They also felt that they wanted to produce simpler songs than they had done before. In particular, that the increasingly complex arrangements of the songs on ‘…And Justice For All‘ had proven difficult to reproduce in a live environment.
With an already impressive CV to his name, Bob Rock was considered by Metallica to work on what would be their fifth studio album – the eponymous ‘Metallica‘ (commonly referred to as ‘The Black Album’ due to it’s monochrome cover art.
Even before any work had begun on ‘The Black Album’, it was already shaping up to be a big turning point in Metallica’s career. Working with a producer who had a reputation for producing sonically pleasing, radio friendly records was an extreme change from the first four albums. Initially Rock was approached only to mix the new record, but after seeing the band play live on a number of occasions he decided he wanted to take up full production duties on the project. He felt that the band had not yet captured their live energy/sound on record.
Bob Rock brought some radical changes to Metallica’s approach to recording, and it took several months for the band to get used to their new producer, and for the producer to get used to working with the band.
Firstly, the band’s previous recording experience had been to record each person separately, and to concentrate on capturing the ‘perfect’ take. They were now being encouraged to play ‘live’ and capture a more natural, energetic performance.
In terms of reducing the complexity of the songs’ arrangements, Rock was suggesting that they stick one riff per song, and make the songs shorter, in an effort to distill the essence of the Metallica sound. This could be seen as a direct attempt to increase the commercial potential of Metallica’s music by making their songs accessible to a much wider audience.
With regards to the overall sound of the album, Rock wanted to produce something very thick and heavy, in contrast to the thin sound of ‘…And Justice For All’. The bass frequencies were once again an important aspect of the overall sound, much to the satisfaction of Jason Newsted, who was doing his best to immerse himself further into the Metallica ranks. Newsted was eager to claim his second writing credit, having contributed to ‘Blackened’ on the previous album. He came up with the bass line which eventually became ‘My Friend of Misery’, and Newsted had hoped that this would be the instrumental track on this album. On all previous records the band had included one fully instrumental track, but in the end The Black Album did not follow this tradition, possibly to avoid diluting the album’s accessibility.
The approach to recording of the drums on The Black Album was also something of a new experience for Ulrich. Bob Rock insisted on experimenting more and more in order to get the exact sound they required. This included using several and varied room mics to try and capture as much as possible, and each song typically needing around thirty or forty takes to get enough material to edit together into one very strong track. Again, as a heavy metal band the main objective had always been simply to make as things sound loud and aggressive, but now under Rock’s guidance the band were achieving a much stronger and more complete sound.
One of the main aspects which Bob Rock worked on with Metallica during ‘The Black Album’ sessions was James Hetfield’s voice. As was typical of the heavy metal genre to which Metallica had belonged until now, the vocals were rough and aggressive. Rock, however, convinced them to start treating Hetfield’s voice ‘as an instrument’ and put more focus on the melody. Coupled with the efforts to simplify their songs, the vocals were now even more important, and on certain songs would become as much of a driving force as the guitar riffs. Inevitably this would have a fundamental impact on the overall Metallica sound. ‘The Black Album’ also marked the first time Metallica had put vocal harmonies on record.
Aside from the musical innovations being made with the vocals, there was also a new attention to technical detail in terms of the microphones being used. Hetfield was encouraged to try out various microphones and find a setup which he felt accurately captured his performance and the emotion of the songs.
Throughout the course of the album’s recording, there was often a great deal of tension between the band and the producer, due to how hard Rock was pushing the band to get the best out of them (or at least what he perceived to be the best).
The eventual release of the album in August of 1991 confirmed what many had predicted – this was the album that would bring Metallica to the masses. Lead single ‘Enter Sandman’ reached Number 16 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the band’s highest ever position, and the album itself peaked at Number 1 in the album charts in both the US and the UK.
Load and Reload
After the colossal worldwide success of The Black Album, the band faced a difficult task in following it up. They chose to continue working with Bob Rock as producer and initially planned to record a double album, but due to touring schedules ended up releasing the project as two separate albums: Load in 1996 and Reload in 1997.
Having found success with the production sound on The Black Album, the challenge for Metallica would be to come up with songs as strong as those on ‘The Black Album’. Musically, fans reaction to the albums was mixed. Songs such as Mama Said had a definite Country influence, which understandably upset many a hardcore metal fan.
As far as the production was concerned, however, some were unhappy with the highly polished and unadventurous production sound. Naturally this meant that they failed to create the same impact as they had done with The Black Album, and Bob Rock was accused of lazily taking the same approach to production, and not offering anything new in terms of the sound.
By the time Reload was released in 1997 Load had sold around half of what ‘The Black Album’ had sold, which in major label terms was something of a disappointment. In the lead up to the release of Reload, Lars Ulrich suggested to fans that it would be significantly different to it’s predecessor. In fact it followed a very similar pattern in terms of dynamics and style of music.
Some Kind of Monster
After Load and Reload, Metallica released a covers album and a live album, but whilst they were making plans to go back into the studio to record new material, Jason Newsted left the band in January of 2001. The rest of the band decided to continue with the recording sessions as planned. With Bob Rock still a firm fixture in the Metallica camp, he would be filling in on bass guitar whenever needed.
Recording plans were once again put on hold when James Hetfield had to go into rehabilitation to recover from alcoholism. By this stage the band had begun filming a documentary intended to be focused on the making of the new album. The film would later be released in 2004 under the title ‘Some Kind of Monster’ and became a lot more than just a typical ‘Making of…’ documentary. The band’s management had hired the services of a “performance-enhancing coach” Phil Towle to help the band through the difficulties they faced following Newsted’s departure and Hetfield’s trip to rehab.
The film gives us an interesting insight into the dynamics of the band at this time, in particular as far as Bob Rock is concerned. Throughout the therapy sessions with Towle, Bob appears to be more or less part of the band, and have an equal say in decisions being made about the band’s future. This is hardly surprising given that their working relationship now stretched back more than 12 years. Add to that the fact that he is physically playing bass guitar for them, and it highlights just how important his presence is, and the influence that he has on the band as a whole.
St. Anger
In 2003, after a turbulent few years away, Metallica came back with their eighth studio album St. Anger. It appeared to represent yet another change of direction for the band. The production sound was raw and dry, and in stark contrast to the highly polished sound of previous albums Load (1996) and Reload (1997), St. Anger smacked of a band over compensating against the ’sellout’ claims coming from their hardcore metal fan base.
Whilst the songs were certainly louder, longer and arguably less radio-friendly, they lacked the sophistication and intelligent arrangements of the band’s earlier work. It appeared they were sticking to the Bob Rock philosophies of ‘one riff per song’ and ‘keep it simple’ but just adding the element of repetition.
Another issue which instantly upset a lot of fans was the complete lack of guitar solos on the new album. This issue is somewhat documented in the ‘Some Kind of Monster’ film, where we see lead guitarist Kirk Hammett debate with the rest of the band the importance and necessity of guitar solos on the album. Far from being overruled, Hammett appeared to reach agreement with the rest of the band that solos should be included purely on musical merit, and not just to ’satisfy the ego’ of any band member. It’s quite possible that of the thirty songs recorded by the band during the St. Anger sessions, those with guitar solos simply did not make the final cut. So it is clear that the omission of guitar solos was not a straightforward decision made by the producer.
Following Jason Newsted’s departure in 2001, Bob Rock also took up the role of Bass Guitarist for the St. Anger sessions. This inevitably led to him having an even greater influence on the music, and he receives writing credits for all eleven songs on the album.
The years of fans’ criticism came to a head after St. Anger, with an online petition lobbying for an end to Bob Rock’s work with Metallica. Addressed to the band and their management team:
“We, the longtime loyal fans and friends of Metallica and their music would like to see a major change with the upcoming album. I know it will be a hard thing to do, but we feel it is time to sever your working relationship with Bob Rock.”
It appears that Rock’s direct musical involvement in St. Anger was a step too far for some fans. Further on, the petition reads:
“Then we are left with St. Anger. It is completely unlistenable and this is the album that Bob Rock had most of his influence [sic]”
To date the petition has received over 20,000 signatures, although it is unclear just exactly how much influence, if any, this petition had on the band’s decisions. In 2006 it was announced that Metallica would not be working with Bob Rock on their next studio album, and it would instead be produced by Rick Rubin. Much of Rubin’s work is notable for it’s ’stripped down’ production sound, something which perhaps Rock was aiming for with St. Anger, but ultimately failed to achieve. With Metallica already firmly rooted in the mainstream, it is unlikely that this change will have the same impact as Rock did with ‘The Black Album’, but it appears the band are again looking for a change of direction.
That change of direction, however, will not solely be coming from the new producer. Following the completion of the St. Anger recording sessions, the band recruited Robert Trujillo as their new permanent bass player. Having now been a member of the band for several years and extensive touring, he will no doubt be an important creative input in the Metallica/Rick Rubin era. Compare this with St. Anger, where Bob Rock was a direct musical influence as the resident Bass guitarist, whilst also carrying out the usual production duties.
In contrast to Jason Newsted’s arrival in 1986, Robert Trujillo has had a more welcoming and supportive induction into the band. The now older and seemingly wiser Hetfield, Ulrich and Hammett have accepted that their initial suppression of Newsted’s role, leading to the unbalanced production sound of ‘…And Justice For All’ was a mistake.
The Cliff Factor
The late Cliff Burton is considered by many to have been the most profound influence on Metallica’s music during the early stages of their career. According to Gem Howard, a member of the bands management team in the 80s:
“Cliff was the one who brought in the musical variation to Metallica…. I don’t think for a second that they would have become a stadium rock band had he still been around, because I don’t think he would’ve thought it was cool.”
That being the case, it seems likely that he would not have shared the visions that Bob Rock had for the band. Indeed, it may not even have come to that, given that it was Cliff’s departure which indirectly led to them seeking guidance. With the original bass guitarist in place, it is highly unlikely that ‘…And Justice For All’ would have ended up sounding the way it did, and Metallica would have instead continued to grow organically, and build on the success of ‘Master of Puppets’. Ultimately, the absence of Cliff Burton in the Metallica camp has been arguably just as important as the presence of Bob Rock.
Conclusion
Regardless of any personal opinions on Metallica’s music pre- or post- Bob Rock, his place in the band’s history cannot be understated. Although the most common criticisms from fans and media point the finger squarely at Rock, it is perhaps unfair to single him out and blame him for the band’s alleged downfall.
By the band’s own admission, it was they themselves who actively sought fresh input and guidance at that particular point in their career, and were fully aware of Bob Rock’s previous work, and the reputation that he had. If Metallica had not recruited Rock to fill this role, it would have been someone else with similar ideas about where to take the band’s career.
It is also entirely plausible that the band’s own ambition and the strength of their songs would have been enough to carry them to the same heights of success. Perhaps Bob Rock just made things happen a little sooner.
Bibliography
Books
Chris Ingham (2003), “Nothing Else Matters - Metallica – The Stories Behind The Biggest Songs”, London: Carlton Books
Websites
Michael Vasiliou, “Metallica ending their ties with producer Bob Rock” [online], Online Petition, http://www.petitiononline.com/SaveMet/petition.html, 29th January 2008
Various Authors, Various dates, “Bob Rock” [online], Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Rock&oldid=199238614, 24th March 2008
Various Authors, Various dates, “Metallica” [online], Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Metallica&oldid=200276798 , 24th March 2008
Discography
CD
Metallica (1988), “…And Justice For All”. Vertigo 836 062-2
Metallica (1983), “Kill Em’ All”. Vertigo 838 142-2
Metallica (1996), “Load”. Elektra CD 61923
Metallica (1986), “Master of Puppets”. Vertigo 838 141-2
Metallica (1991), “Metallica”. Vertigo 510 022-2
Metallica (1997), “Reload”. Elektra CD 62126
Metallica (1984), “Ride the Lightning”. Vertigo 838 140-2
Metallica (2003), “St. Anger”. Elektra CD 62853
DVD
‘Classic Albums: Metallica – Metallica‘. 2001 [DVD], Dir. Matthew Longfellow. Isis Productions.
‘Some Kind of Monster’. (2004) [DVD]. Dir. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. Radical Media Productions.
1For clarity, to avoid confusion with the band name itself, this text will refer to Metallica’s eponymous album as ‘The Black Album’ in most cases.
on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 11:13 pm:
Great essay! I’m going to see Metallica at Reading this summer. Did you know they were playing?!
on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am:
Very nice article! I like to see people when they create something “useful” from their passion, like you wrote this essay with your love for Metallica:)
And the conclusion was very nice. Generaly speaking I think a producer like Bob Rock, that like you said doesn’t have a trademark sound, couldn’t overshadow Metallica’s own sound.
One little-tiny correction, though: Bob Rock produced Bon Jovi’s Keep the faith in 1992, after the Black album.
on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 10:01 pm:
[...] to resort to Metallica’s entire back catalogue, due to being approximately 50 words into my 3500 word essay on Bob Rock, and with less than a month to finish it. But that’s another [...]
on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 4:12 pm:
Great article! What you’ve provided is an honest and fair acknowledgment of Bob Rock’s contributions, positive and negative, to the band. I especially like how you put the whole thing in perspective at the end, emphasizing the difference between the pre-Burton band and the post-Burton version.
on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm:
Nice article, i agree on most of the points.
Lets hope next album will be back on track ^^
on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am:
Green tea…
Hi - just wanted to say good design and blog - cu Frank…