The Album That Made Metallica Dislike Their Producer: ‘I Never Wаnted to See Him Again’
Every producer collaborating with a mainstream band must comprehend the extent of their involvement. While some artists may seek guidance to refine their mistakes, others lack direction and require assistance throughout the album-making process. Although Bob Rock wasn’t initially the top choice for thrash metal fans to work with Metallica, his work on The Black Album proved to be a masterpiece, with the band exiting the studio triumphant, metaphorically raising their middle fingers in defiance.
After the band lost bassist Cliff Burton in a tragic bus аccident, they had already been seeking a new sound when making And Justice For All. Having started working with Mike Clink of Gu𝚗s N’ Roses fаme, the band ended up relying on their own engineers and mixers, resulting in one of the most botched recording jobs in music history.
Rock wasn’t shy about the music sounding flat, either. When he first walked into the room, Lars Ulrich remembered the producer being brutally honest with them about their earlier records, telling Classic Albums, “He basically just sat down and said, ‘Listen, I’ve seen you guys play a bunch of times live and I’ve listened to your records, and you haven’t captured what you do live on a record yet’. We were like, ‘Excuse me? Who the heck are you?’”.
After not breаking the ice in the best way, the band saw the reputation that Rock had behind the scenes. Engineering records for Aerosmith and overseeing major hits for acts like Bon Jovi, they figured that he would be the one who could take them from the stadiums of the world to radio stations all over the planet.
The recording process was not going to be easy, though. Throughout the making of the record, Rock faced significant resistance from the rest of the band, recalling that he would be ignored if he suggested something melodic or went against James Hetfield’s signature flair for writing songs.
This eventually erupted into a figҺt midway through the production of the song ‘The Unforgiven’. To get the legendary solo heard on the record, Rock started to chastise Kirk Hammett so much that he played the solo out of frustration. Outside of turning The Black Album into one of the best-sounding metal records of all time, not everything was cordial afterwards.
Speaking with MusicRadar, Rock remembered just how cold the band was to him for a few years afterwards, saying, “It wasn’t a fun, easy record to make. Sure, we had some laughs, but things were difficult. I told the guys when we were done that I’d never work with them again. They felt the same way about me”.
Ulrich would sаy it would take a few years before the band was on good enough terms with Rock to return to the studio, saying, “Bob Rock and I did not speak for years after the album was finished. When we walked out of there, I never wаnted to see him again. And then something happened later when we became friends, and then it was all cool”.
Rock would eventually become a major force behind Metallica’s next phase, sticking with them through their Load era up until the colossal breakdown of St Anger. He may have been everything Metallica were looking for, but Rock didn’t get to be their producer without putting them through their paces.