Metallica’s 2004 public therapy session is now on Netflix and well worth a visit if you’ve never seen it. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of their music – to me it’s terrible stunted post-pubescent bawling, but they are a nut-tight band, at least with their instruments in their hands. It’s just when they’re off stage that things go all titty-uppy.
SKOM is about what happens when you’ve been rich, feted and adored throughout an adolescence which has somehow extended into your early 40’s, and the only person who might potentially speak truth to you is another overindulged princeling who makes faces behind your back for a living. Hetfield and Ulrich had seen, done and acquired everything by this point, but emotionally they’re still in nappies.
By happy chance – or design, maybe? – they hired a recording studio, a film crew and a $40,000-a-month therapist at the same time as Hetfield went through addiction recovery. Between the riffs in the studio there are endless riffs round the canteen table, as these monsters of rock very slowly turn back into something like functioning human beings. Egos get deconstructed and songs get partially built. It takes fucking ages, with some spectacular blow-ups along the way, and the unflinching camera is in their faces throughout.
It’s horrendous and hilarious viewing, and I found it hard to like anyone involved, expect perhaps poor Kirk Hammett, the waif-like third child shrinking shyly between the warring siblings. It doesn’t help that everyone’s into them for something – the therapist trying to string out his contract, and their manager trying to get, well, something he can sell at some point in the future.
And then… they audition bass players. After playing with Rob Trujillo the three titans of thrash repair to the kitchen to compare notes. Suddenly Ulrich and Hammett are kids again, third on the bill in a shitty back room, playing fuck-off brilliant to no one but themselves, and loving it. They rave about the new guy and Hatfield, swaying slightly between them, adds nothing but a smile. He knows. They’re back.
Give it a go along with the short from the same documentary makers, revisiting the film 10 years later, with interviews with a much happier and distinctly more mature band.
Bingo Little says
Thank you so much for flagging this. I’ve been wanting to watch this movie for ages, heard amazing things.
Friar says
Oh it’s amazing and Chiz nails it. Its first two acts are essentially Spinal Tap lost in the Air Force base corridors but real. And then the Trujillo turns up and his face when they make him the offer… wow. And then they play with a real bass player rather than their improbably Beckham-haired 60-something producer Bob Rock and you remember why they’re bigger than pretty much any band alive today.
The therapist reminds me of no one so much as a balding, older Carter Burke from Aliens. He couldn’t be more insincerely self-serving if he’d been asked to caricature himself.
fortuneight says
Appreciate the reminder. Been procrastinating about a Netflix sub and this might tip the balance. I’ve seen bits of this but never seen the whole thing. The bit where they offer Trujillo the job was truly memorable.
moseleymoles says
I saw most of this when it was on TV a few years back. The early scenes are pure comedy gold – the very definition of ‘zero world problems’ being when Lars has to trim back his contemporary art collection as he has run out of space.
DrJ says
When this came out originally I saw it in the cinema with a directors Q&A. I thought it was hilarious. I got the DVD and watched it a few times over the intervening years. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve shifted my feelings towards the band in the movie. Sure, they’ve reached a point of success and security, but I do now feel sorry for Hetfield when he just disappears. At its core is the common enough tale of waking up in you 40s and saying “wait, what’s going on, how did I get here? Am I happy?” It just seems preposterous because it’s Metallica, and the force of their music makes you assume that the people behind it are pretty assured of themselves. Springsteen presented a similar version of events in his book last year where he hit a point post-Nebraska when he was successful but he suddenly felt woefully inadequate and incomplete, so he got help. No one laughed at Bruce, the way they laughed at Metallica. You also feel sorry for the group as a whole when it slowly becomes obvious that the therapist might not have their best interests at heart, and Bob Rock doesn’t help either. I agree that when Rob rocks up, it changes everything.
The DVD is worthwhile, it has some great deleted scene including one where they go and try to record with a hip hop act. Now that *is* funny.
Arthur Cowslip says
I want to add my praise for this film. Truly terrific, and achingly true about life in a band. Second only to Anvil for music docs.