Kill 'Em All

For other uses, see Kill 'Em All (disambiguation).

Kill 'Em All
Studio album by Metallica
Released	July 25, 1983 (1983-07-25)
Recorded	May 10–27, 1983 at Music America Studios in Rochester, New York
Genre	Thrash metal, speed metal
Length	51:15
Label	Megaforce, Elektra
Producer	Paul Curcio
Metallica chronology
Kill 'Em All (1983) Ride the Lightning (1984)
Singles from Kill 'Em All
"Whiplash" Released: August 8, 1983 (1983-08-08) "Jump in the Fire" Released: January 20, 1984 (1984-01-20)

Kill 'Em All is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 25, 1983. Since its release, it has been certified 3x platinum by the RIAA, having sold over three million copies in the United States.

Background

Metallica's original line-up featured James Hetfield (guitar/vocals), Lars Ulrich (drums), Ron McGovney (bass), and Dave Mustaine (lead guitar). Because of tensions with Mustaine, McGovney left the band. Castro Valley-born bassist Cliff Burton was recruited as his replacement. Mustaine was fired in April 1983 for his drug and alcohol problems, overly aggressive behavior and clashes with bandmates. After Mustaine's departure, Metallica recruited Kirk Hammett, who previously played for Exodus and was a one time student of Joe Satriani. The band started recording the album with Hammett, whose guitar solos on the album were partially based on Mustaine's original solos (the first four bars of most solos were written by Mustaine), barely a month later. Mustaine then formed the band Megadeth, which also achieved multi-million selling success.

Despite their differences, Mustaine's contributions to the early years of Metallica were still acknowledged; he received co-writing credits on four of the songs on Kill 'Em All. The songs "The Four Horsemen" (originally titled "The Mechanix"), "Jump in the Fire", "Phantom Lord" and "Metal Militia" were primarily written by Mustaine, most of "The Four Horsemen" was written by Dave Mustaine when he was in his previous band Panic. "The Mechanix" was performed at many early Metallica shows, but following Mustaine's exit, the band added a mid-paced, melodic middle section. Hetfield also wrote new lyrics for both "The Mechanix" and "Jump in the Fire" (a song originally about teenage sexual frustration), and retitled "The Mechanix" as "The Four Horsemen".

Album title

The band initially intended to title the album Metal Up Your Ass with the cover featuring a toilet bowl with a hand clutching a dagger emerging from it. However, Megaforce urged them to change this, and they agreed, switching to Kill 'Em All. This time the cover featured the shadow of a hand letting go of a bloodied hammer. Burton is credited with coming up with the name Kill 'Em All (referring to timid record distributors, saying "why don't we just kill 'em all?") as a response to the whole situation. Even though the original title was unused, the band did later release a "Metal Up Your Ass" t-shirt with the proposed artwork. A live bootleg recording of a 1982 performance is in existence, titled Metal Up Your Ass (Live), and includes the originally intended cover artwork.

Original pressings of the album came with an inner sleeve that included pictures and lyrics as well as a silver label on the vinyl. Subsequent pressings had a blank white sleeve and standard album label. The 1988 re-release re-introduced the lyrics and photos. The original release can be distinguished by the words "Bang That Head That Doesn't Bang" at the top of the back cover. This was dropped from the re-release.

Songs

"Hit the Lights"

"Hit the Lights" was a song that Hetfield carried over from his band Leather Charm. Early versions of the song can be heard on the compilation album Metal Massacre, as well as its subsequent re-issue and the band's first demo, No Life 'Til Leather. The demo's title comes from the first line of the song. Hetfield had brought the majority of the song to Ulrich from his old band, Leather Charm, and the two worked out different arrangements. It was one of only a handful of songs that were performed live with Mustaine as the lead guitarist.

The song was covered by Black Tide on its debut album Light from Above. The song was also featured on Guitar Hero: Metallica along with "Whiplash" and "Seek and Destroy".

"The Four Horsemen"

Main article: The Four Horsemen (song)

The lyrics, as the title suggests, are about the end of the world and the apocalypse, referring to the Biblical text about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. However, some believe the song is about Metallica themselves as the "horsemen". The lyrics refer to the horsemen as Time, Famine, Pestilence and Death. This is a revision upon an already non-canonical misinterpretation of the Biblical passages. In the Bible, the four horsemen are actually: Conquest, War, Famine and Death. In other popular culture they are known as Pestilence, War, Famine and Death.

The song is a reworking of the Mustaine penned "The Mechanix". "The Mechanix" had different lyrics, symbolically referring to sexual themes and was written by Mustaine during the time when he was in his previous band Panic.

After Mustaine was ejected from Metallica, he included it on Megadeth's debut album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, with the title slightly shortened to just "Mechanix", with the original lyrics and at a much faster tempo. After Mustaine's departure, Hetfield rewrote the lyrics, and the band added a new, melodic guitar solo in the middle of the song. This section is rarely played when Metallica performs the song live. Mustaine has claimed that the song's bridge is inspired by the main riff in Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Sweet Home Alabama".

"Jump in the Fire"

Main article: Jump in the Fire

The original lyrics of "Jump in the Fire" were written by Mustaine, and also contained vague sexual themes. The lyrics Hetfield wrote for the album were written from Satan's point of view. It describes how the Devil watches the people who are killing each other, and so he is sure that they will all go to hell for their actions as they, allegorically, "jump in the fire". The original lyrics, featured on the No Life 'til Leather demo, dealt with sexuality and were written by Mustaine. It is known for its guitar outro at 3:46.

The song was released as Metallica's second single, accompanied by fake live performances of "Phantom Lord" and "Seek & Destroy", which were alternate studio recordings with sounds of a crowd overdubbed in. According to Ulrich in an interview in 1991, "Jump in the Fire" was inspired by the Iron Maiden song "Run to the Hills", which was #1 on the charts as Kill 'Em All was in the process of being written.

The cover of the "Jump in the Fire" single features an oil painting entitled Devil's D-Day that the artist Les Edwards created in 1978.

"(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth"

"(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth" is a bass solo by Burton, with some accompaniment on drums by Ulrich. The song features Burton's distinctive "lead-bass" style of playing, incorporating heavy distortion, use of the wah-wah pedal and tapping. At the beginning of the track, Burton says, "Bass solo, take one", likely to inform listeners that the song is played in one take. It was also the bass solo that Burton was playing when Hetfield and Ulrich first saw him at a gig. Hetfield stated, "We heard this wild solo going on and thought, 'I don't see any guitar player up there.' We were both counting the strings and I finally turned to Lars and said, 'Dude, that's a bass!' Cliff was up there on stage with his band Trauma with a wah-wah pedal and his huge mop of red hair. He didn't care whether people were there. He was looking down at his bass, playing." The song along with "Motorbreath" were both featured in the 2011 indie film Hesher.

"Whiplash"

Main article: Whiplash (song)

"Whiplash" was the first single released from the album, and is credited to Hetfield and Ulrich. It is mostly about the feeling one gets from headbanging. "Bang your head against the stage like you never did before", "Make it ring, make it bleed, make it really sore" and "You're thrashing all around, acting like a maniac" are examples of this.

Often in concerts, Hetfield changes the original lyric from "But we'll never stop, we'll never quit, 'cause we're Metallica" to "But you'll never stop, you'll never quit 'cause you're Metallica" emphasizing that it is the fans who've made Metallica what they are. In live performances, Jason Newsted often sang for part or all of the song, notably in Live Shit: Binge & Purge in San Diego, California. He also sang it without Hetfield on the stage July 7, 2000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, July 8, 2000 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY and July 9, 2000 at Texas Stadium in Irving, TX. Hetfield was icing down a recently injured back while Hammett, Newsted and Ulrich performed.

A number of covers of the song have been performed. In 2005, Motörhead won their first Grammy Award for the cover of the song on a Metallica tribute album. It was also covered by Billy Milano and Scott Ian and Phil Soussan and Vinny Appice for Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica, while Pantera, using the joke name "Panterica", performed the song live with Newsted on bass and members Dimebag Darrell (guitar) and Philip Anselmo (vocals) switching instruments.

"Phantom Lord"

Anthrax recorded a cover of the song as a B-side to its 1998 album, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real. It can be found on the import-single for the song "Inside Out" and on the compilation album ECW: Extreme Music.

"No Remorse"

The song was covered by death metal band Cannibal Corpse on its album Gore Obsessed (2002) and its extended play Worm Infested (2003).

"Seek & Destroy"

Main article: Seek & Destroy

"Seek & Destroy" has been frequently played in concerts over the years since its live debut in 1982 and has been Metallica's closing song since the Madly in Anger with the World Tour.

During the documentary film about Metallica, Some Kind of Monster, the song is used when footage of the band is shown highlighting the progression in the band's appearance and sound over time. In the book Metallica: This Monster Lives one of the film's directors said how initially they wanted to alter the footage so it flowed smoothly but soon noticed the value of showing the alteration in the band in each piece of footage.

It was also the theme song of former WCW and current TNA wrestler Sting and AAA wrestler Cibernético. In Sting's case, the song was a live recording from Woodstock 1999 which would be included on the 1999 compilation WCW Mayhem: The Music. Former New York Mets pitcher John Maine took the mound to "Seek & Destroy". Also, the San Jose Sharks and the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League use the song as their entrance theme during home games.

"Seek & Destroy" was covered by Chuck Billy and Jake E. Lee and Jimmy Bain and Aynsley Dunbar for the album Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica. The song has also been covered by thrash metal band Testament, Bludvera and Acid Drinkers and instrumentally by Freaklabel as part of a tribute medley. Malaysian death metal band Sil Khannaz also cover this song on their tribute album The Best of Sil Khannaz. Apocalyptica, and Pantera, the latter with Jason Newsted, covered it live.

Singles

• "Jump in the Fire" was released as a single in the UK in February 1984 to promote a UK tour with Venom. The single would feature "Phantom Lord" and "Seek & Destroy" as live tracks, although they are actually studio recordings with fake crowd noise dubbed over them.^{[citation needed]}
• "Whiplash" was released as a 12" single in the US, featuring the same tracks as the UK "Jump in the Fire" single but also featuring a "special Neckbrace remix" of "Whiplash". However, Ulrich stated that there is no difference between the remix of "Whiplash" and the original version,^{[citation needed]} except of course that it is a different mix of the song, it has added reverb which is very noticeable. It has the same instrumental tracks but with a different mix.

Reception and awards

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Daily Vault	A
Q	(Summer/01, p. 127)
Rolling Stone
Piero Scaruffi

In 1989, Kill 'Em All ranked number 35 on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Albums of the '80s. and was listed by Kerrang! magazine at number 29 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". The album peaked at number 120 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and sold 300,000 copies upon first release. It sold 500,000 copies and was certified gold in 1989, platinum in 1991, 2x platinum in 1995 and triple platinum in 1999.

Track listing

All lyrics written by James Hetfield. 

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Hit the Lights"	James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich	4:16
2.	"The Four Horsemen"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Dave Mustaine	7:13
3.	"Motorbreath"	Hetfield	3:08
4.	"Jump in the Fire"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine	4:41
5.	"(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth" (instrumental)	Cliff Burton	4:15
6.	"Whiplash"	Hetfield, Ulrich	4:10
7.	"Phantom Lord"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine	5:02
8.	"No Remorse"	Hetfield, Ulrich	6:26
9.	"Seek & Destroy"	Hetfield, Ulrich	6:55
10.	"Metal Militia"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Mustaine	5:09
Total length:			51:15

Bonus tracks (1988 Elektra reissue)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Am I Evil?" (Originally performed by Diamond Head)	Sean Harris, Brian Tatler	7:49
12.	"Blitzkrieg" (Originally performed by Blitzkrieg)	Ian Jones, Jim Sirotto, Brian Ross	3:35
Total length:			62:38

Digital reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"The Four Horsemen" (Live in Seattle 1989)	5:31
12.	"Whiplash" (Live in Seattle 1989)	4:19
Total length:		61:04

Personnel

• James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Lars Ulrich – drums
• Cliff Burton – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar

Production

• Paul Curcio, Jon Zazula – producers
• Chris Bubacz – engineer
• Alex Perialas (first pressing, credited as "Alex Perialis"), Bob Ludwig (all other releases) – mastering
• George Marino – remastering
• Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position
1986	Billboard 200	155
1988	Billboard 200	120
2007	Finnish Albums Chart	12

External links

• Official site