Metallica: Producer Bob Rock Gives Track-By-Track on Making of the Black Album

MusicRadar's Joe Bosso recently caught up with producer Bob Rock to talk about the 20th anniversary of Metallica's classic self-titled album, better know as the "Black Album." The producer reflected on the making of the album song-by-song, but said of the whole album, "It wasn’t a fun, easy record to make." You can check out an excerpt from the story below.

"Enter Sandman"

"I insisted on the band playing live in the studio. They had never done that before – all of their previous records were recorded in sections. I told them, ‘You’re a great live band. That vibe is crucial to the album.’"

"On S'andman,' I asked Jason to play more like a bass player and less like a guitarist. Put that with the new perspective Lars had on drums and we had a song with a killer groove."

"At first, based on the music and the riff, the band and their management thought it could be the first single. Then they heard James’ lyrics and realized the song was about crib death. That didn’t go over well."

"I sat down with James and talked to him about his words. I told him, ‘What you have is great, but it can be better. Does it have to be so literal?’ Not that I was thinking about the single; I just wanted him to make the song great. It was a process, him learning to say what he wanted but in a more poetic and open sort of way. He rewrote some lyrics and it was all there… the first single."

You can read the full story here.