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Shop nowBirth School Metallica Death, Vol. 1
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Learn moreA landmark release, this is the first of a two-volume biography of Metallica, the biggest metal band of all time, told via exclusive interviews with the band and their world.
The California quartet has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, won nine Grammy Awards, and had five consecutive albums hit number one on the US Billboard chart. Theirs is a tale about much more than sales figures and critical acclaim, though, and their journey from scuzzy Los Angeles garages to the world's most storied stadiums has been dramatic and painful.
Birth School Metallica Death is the definitive story of the most significant rock band since Led Zeppelin. It's a story about family, community, self-belief, and the pursuit of dreams, which unfolds through firsthand interviews with the band and those closest to it. In this epic saga, deserving of a broad canvas, the first volume details the band's rise to international fame while the second explores the challenges and tensions that accompany such status. Piece by piece, Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood reveal just how Metallica has stayed ahead of the competition for so many years.
Paul Brannigan is the author of This Is a Call, the acclaimed biography of ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl. A former editor of Kerrang!—the world’s biggest weekly music magazine—Brannigan currently contributes to Mojo and Q. He lives in London.
Ian Winwood is Britain’s foremost rock and metal journalist. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Guardian, Mojo, Kerrang!, Classic Rock, Revolver, NME, Q, the Mirror, and on the BBC. He lives in London.
Ray Porter is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator and fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Almost Famous, ER, and Frasier.
Reviews
“Introduces us to the boys who went on to be metal kings…[Brannigan and Winwood] have worked closely with the band over the years, and it shows, both in the access they’ve gained, the anecdotes they witnessed firsthand and the warmth they afford their subjects. No stone is left unturned as the band’s insane life is meticulously researched.”
“The Metallica story has been told many times before, but seldom as entertainingly or as smartly as this…Ian Winwood and Paul Brannigan’s vivid prose makes this well-worn saga seem somehow fresh and fascinating again.”
“A refreshing approach to the traditional music biography. Even the most knowledgeable fans will eagerly await the second volume.”
“Covers the hardworking, hard-drinking, hard-driving band’s first decade, from its founding in Los Angeles by drummer Lars Ulrich and rhythm guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield in 1981 to the preview of its game-changing fifth album at Madison Square Garden in 1991…The authors’ enthusiasm for their subject is infectious. They’re well-placed to show how Metallica learned from their British New Wave of heavy-metal forebears and, in true Oedipal fashion, killed the fathers to create something new.”
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