In the latest episode of The Metallica Report podcast, legendary producer Bob Rock revisited one of the most polarizing eras in METALLICA’s storied career — the making of Load (1996) and Reload (1997). Often scrutinized and divisive among fans, the albums marked a sharp stylistic turn for the band, but Rock maintains it was a natural and necessary evolution — one he still stands by.
Reflecting on the shift, Rock said: “Well, the big change in Load and Reload was that because of the influences of other bands — I don’t know whose idea it was; maybe it was [METALLICA drummer] Lars [Ulrich], because he is kind of this guy that thinks big and looks at music kind of maybe like I do. All of a sudden he said, ‘Well, I like these bands like AEROSMITH, THE [ROLLING] STONES, GUNS N’ ROSES.’ There’s two guitar players. Before ‘Load’, James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] did all the rhythms. So the idea is Kirk [Hammett, METALLICA guitarist] was gonna play rhythms along with James, and that changed everything. And some people don’t like it.”
Rock compared the production approach on Load to his earlier work with METALLICA on The Black Album, and to the methods used by previous producer Flemming Rasmussen.
“When I first met them, they told me how they record. So, basically, what they knew is how he [Flemming] put together a record,” Rock said. “I’m not gonna get into why and how, but I don’t do that. And I told them, ‘I don’t do that. I record everything live.’ And they said, ‘Why would you do that?’ And I explained to ’em. I said, well, the way they did it, it’s very mechanical. In other words, you can’t go back and fix a kick drum — you just can’t do it. You can’t change it. And you can’t really realize what the whole song is until you finish it. But what you do when you record live, you get a good example of pretty much everything, like all the parts.
“So you can figure out like… Jason [Newsted, then-METALLICA bassist] wasn’t playing bass like a bass player. He was just doubling the guitar. So I taught him, like, ‘Dude, be a bass player.’ So there’s points where he’s not playing the guitar riff; he’s playing with the drums. And that would’ve never happened if you just do it to a click and do all the guitars. So that opened the door, and it’s my fault that I opened that door to them, because what they realized, through the recording of the Black album, they realized that there was something different about that, and in ‘Load’ they embraced it.
As the band worked on what initially was intended to be a single record, they amassed 26 tracks. Rock revealed that Load and Reload were ultimately split due to the overwhelming volume of material and personal life events, like the band members starting families. A move to New York for the second phase of recording also brought new influences into the mix — and new challenges.
“They married and stuff, and nothing was getting done. So I said, ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’ So we picked New York. In New York, it kind of changed. They started looking at other things, and they started experimenting, like Hetfield‘s LYNYRD SKYNYRD kind of things. So they went into different things, and to me, that is what a band does.”
He also emphasized that trying to replicate the success of The Black Album was never part of the plan. “I was glad we weren’t copying the Black album, ’cause you can’t make the Black album again. When you make albums like that, it’s everything coming together — where I was, where they were, where culture was, where music was. And so I embraced the fact that they wanted to be a little freer and all these other influences rather than just metal bands that they grew up on started to come in into the picture. So that’s that album. So we ended up in New York discovering what was there, ’cause it was just the basic tracks.”
Rock even dove into the technical differences between the two records, pointing out how the switch to an SSL 9000 console for Reload resulted in a more aggressive, modern sound — albeit one he wasn’t thrilled about.
“When we were in New York, they didn’t have the consoles that we used before, the [SSL] 6,000. All the studios that were available, they had an SSL 9,000. It’s a different ball of wax. And [engineer/mixer] Randy Staub and I f**king hated it, because it kept breaking down and losing. Anyway, I’m not gonna get into it, but it’s an acquired taste. It’s not what I do, but that’s what we had to finish it. So when I listen to Load and when I was asked to write about [the reissue of] both records, and I talked to Lars about this, I said, ‘They’re completely sonically different.’ Reload is aggressive. But you’ve gotta understand — people love Load. They don’t know what I know. And they don’t care what I know. But to me, it was really apparent that they’re so different. And then I go to back to why and stuff.”
During an interview with “Rolling Stone Music Now” earlier this year, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett was asked if the fans could see a return to the Load era’s bold musical direction, he responded: “Yeah, who knows? We might just say, ‘Okay, let’s go back to the ’90s again.’ It’s not a bad idea. We haven’t said that to each other yet. And it’s interesting because when Load and Reload came out, there was a lot of derision, there was a lot of backlash. It was too much change.
“We changed our appearance, we changed our sound, we changed the way we recorded,” he continued. “I was even playing different guitars and f**king tuning to E flat and listening to a lot of blues and jazz. And so all those factors came out on Load and Reload to make what Load and Reload are, and Load and Reload are so different from anything that came before it. It’s interesting, ’cause nowadays I run into fans and they love that era — they love Load and Reload. But when those albums first came out, it was, like, ‘F**k Load. F**k Reload. F**k METALLICA.’ But nowadays we play ‘Fuel’ and people go nuts.”
“ When I was a teenager, I listened to all the [LED] ZEPPELIN albums except [Led] Zeppelin III, because it was more acoustic and I just wanted the high-energy, aggressive stuff, ’cause that’s what I’d like when I was a kid. But over time, I really came to embrace Zeppelin III and how wonderful it is. And now I f**king fully understand it and its place in ZEPPELIN‘s catalog. And I think a similar theme kind of happened with Load and Reload. After people got over the initial shock and the challenge, people kind of sat down and gave an honest listen and said, ‘Oh, it’s not really that bad at the end of the day.’
When the interviewer suggested METALLICA‘s image, specifically their nail polish and short hair, influenced album perception more than the music itself, Kirk responded: “One of the reasons why I cut my hair, bro, is ’cause I didn’t think I looked good with long hair when I wore a suit jacket. So I cut my hair so I looked better when I wore a suit jacket. I swear to God. That was one of the only reasons. There wasn’t like any fricking huge thing. I showed up and I cut my hair. Then literally the next day, Lars cut his hair, because he was already thinking about it. And so James [Hetfield, METALLICA frontman] saw that Lars and I cut our hair and he f**king went for it. It just seemed like a cool, kind of nice change. And [then-METALLICA bassist] Jason Newsted already had short hair by that point.”
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