METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD: 'I'd Rather Have Eight Powerful Songs Than 14 So-So Songs'

September 21, 2008

Guitar World magazine recently asked METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield how the band's songwriting has evolved from the "black album" on. "On the 'black album' we learned how to add muscle to our sound," Hetfield replied. "On 'Load' and 'Reload' I learned that when you write too many songs, your focus gets watery; it gets diluted. I hate that part of us. We know how to take an okay song and make it good. But the question lately has been, 'Do we have the discipline to dismiss an average song and say it's not on the record? Do we know when something is not good enough?'"

He continued, "We used to have that discipline early on. And I attribute that to having blinders on — that fuckin' attitude that says, 'Fuck that, it's not heavy enough to put on the album.' In the Nineties we tried to embrace everything and [producer] Bob Rock was good at helping us do that. Each time we did, we opened our eyes a little more, but the discipline kind of went away. We became craftsmen instead of destructors. So from 'Load' and 'Reload', what I learned is that I can't spread it out over 40 songs. I just can't. I'd rather have eight powerful songs than 14 so-so songs."

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