Metallica demos

Metallica recorded several demos throughout their career. The following is a chronology of Metallica demos:

"Ron McGovney's '82 Garage Demo"

This is a demo tape that was never officially released, however the tape found wide circulation both in full and partial versions. The demo contains two original songs, "Hit the Lights" and "Jump in the Fire" along with six cover songs. These include two Sweet Savage covers and four Diamond Head covers. "Hit the Lights" and "Jump in the Fire" were later released on the "No Life 'til Leather" demo and eventually made it onto the band's debut album, "Kill 'Em All". Most of the covers can be found in the band's much later album, "Garage Inc.". The demo was recorded in Ron McGovney's garage on March 14, 1982.

Track listing

#"Hit the Lights" - 4:19
#"Jump in the Fire" - 4:25
#"Killing Time" (originally performed by Sweet Savage) - 2:36
#"Let It Loose" (originally performed by Sweet Savage) - 3:10
#"Sucking My Love" (originally performed by Diamond Head) - 6:43
#"The Prince" (originally performed by Diamond Head) - 5:00
#"Am I Evil?" (originally performed by Diamond Head) - 7:43
#"Helpless" (originally performed by Diamond Head) - 6:13

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals
*Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals
*Lloyd Grant - rhythm guitar on "Hit the Lights"
*Ron McGovney - bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich - drums

"Power Metal" Demo

"Power Metal" was a demo recorded sometime in April 1982. Although the demo was never officially released, it was given the bootleg name "Power Metal" and contained four original songs by Metallica. It contained "The Mechanix", the first song written for the band by Dave Mustaine, and "Motorbreath", which was written solely by James Hetfield.

Track listing

#"Hit the Lights" - 4:18
#"Jump in the Fire" - 3:55
#"The Mechanix" - 4:47
#"Motorbreath" - 3:23

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals
*Ron McGovney - bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich - drums

"No Life 'til Leather"

"No Life 'til Leather" is Metallica's widely circulated demo tape featuring Dave Mustaine on lead guitar. All the tracks are early recordings of songs that would later appear on the band's "Kill 'Em All" album. The track listing on "Kill 'Em All" is the same as that on the demo tape, save the addition of Cliff Burton's bass solo "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth", "Whiplash", "No Remorse" and "The Mechanix" ("The Mechanix" was re-written by Metallica as "The Four Horsemen").

The demo has been re-released twice unofficially, first under the title of "Metallica—Bay Area Thrashers", and was alleged to be a live bootleg recording of Metallica in the early days, however all 'live' sounds had been added from various sources including the Metallica video "Cliff 'Em All". This was soon discovered by Metallica and all copies were removed from stores. The demo was re-released a second time under the title "Metallica—In the Beginning... Live", containing no differences from "Metallica-Bay Area Thrashers".

Mustaine recorded his own version of "The Mechanix" on Megadeth's debut album "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" The demo, along with two other songs, can be found on many peer-to-peer networks under the moniker "One Last Visit".

Track listing

#"Hit the Lights" - 4:19
#"The Mechanix" - 4:28
#"Motorbreath" - 3:18
#"Seek & Destroy" - 4:55
#"Metal Militia" - 5:17
#"Jump in the Fire" - 3:51
#"Phantom Lord" - 3:33

Personnel

*James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar
*Dave Mustaine – lead guitar, backing vocals
*Ron McGovney – bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion

"Metal up Your Ass"

"Metal up Your Ass" was recorded on November 29, 1982, at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. The support band was Exodus, featuring Metallica's soon-to-be lead guitarist Kirk Hammett. The band played all their original material (nine songs) that they had written up to that point, which included all the songs from their previous demo "No Life 'Til Leather" and two new songs (which were later released on the Megaforce demo). Two covers of Diamond Head songs were played: "Am I Evil?" and "The Prince", however "The Prince" was not recorded as the tape had run out. Both the name and album cover of this demo were to be used as the band's first album name and sleeve. However, Metallica's record company convinced the band to change the name to "Kill 'Em All".

Track listing

#"Hit the Lights" - 4:15
#"The Mechanix" - 4:28
#"Phantom Lord" - 4:59
#"Jump in the Fire" - 4:40
#"Motorbreath" - 3:05
#"No Remorse" - 6:23
#"Seek & Destroy" - 6:51
#"Whiplash" - 4:08
#"Am I Evil?" (originally performed by Diamond Head) - 7:50
#"Metal Militia" - 5:11

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals
*Ron McGovney - bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich - drums

"Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

"Horsemen of the Apocalypse" was a demo recorded in early 1983. It contained new material by the band along with three cover songs. "Fight Fire with Fire" and "Ride the Lightning" did not appear on "Kill 'Em All" but appeared instead on Metallica's second album "Ride the Lightning". Both songs, modified with input from Cliff Burton, were later re-recorded on the "Ride the Lightning" Demos. The demo has not been officially confirmed as a bootleg. The existence of this demo is doubtful as no recordings seem to be in circulation anywhere of the songs "Fight Fire with Fire" and "Ride the Lightning" with Dave Mustaine as guitarist. The only demos of these songs that are available are the versions recorded with Kirk Hammett on the later 4 song demo recorded in October 1983.

Track listing

#"Killing Time" (originally performed by Sweet Savage) - 2:36
#"Let it Loose" (originally performed by Sweet Savage) - 3:13
#"The Four Horsemen" - 4:48
#"Seek & Destroy" - 6:51
#"Metal Militia" - 5:11
#"Phantom Lord" - 4:59
#"Fight Fire with Fire" - 4:44
#"Ride the Lightning" - 6:37
#"Creeping Death" - 6:36
#"The Prince"(live) (originally performed by Diamond Head)

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals
*Ron McGovney - bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich - drums

"Megaforce" Demo

This demo was recorded in 1983 and was the first demo recorded with Cliff Burton and the last demo recorded with Dave Mustaine. The demo was designed to introduce Cliff to potential record labels and landed the band a deal with Megaforce Records. The demo was also played live on KUSF FM in San Francisco. It contained two new songs which had not been previously released. The demo received several names including "The Megaforce Demo" (due to it landing a deal with Megaforce Records), "The KUSF Demo" (due to it being played on KUSF FM) and "The Whiplash/No Remorse Demo".

Track listing

#"Whiplash" - 4:12
#"No Remorse" - 5:38

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals
*Cliff Burton - bass guitar
*Lars Ulrich - drums

"Ride the Lightning" Demos

This demo was recorded on October 9, 1983 and contained the original material Metallica had written that did not make it onto "Kill 'Em All". Two of the tracks had already been released on the band's "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" demo. Both "Ride the Lightning" and "When Hell Freezes Over" (later re-named "The Call of Ktulu") were partially written by Dave Mustaine. Both "Fight Fire with Fire" and "Ride the Lightning" had been changed from their original version due to input from Cliff Burton. All four songs appeared on the band's second album "Ride the Lightning". In 2005 several other re-recorded demos surfaced on bootlegs. Out of the seven demos that surfaced, only "Trapped Under Ice" was confirmed as an official demo.

Track listing

# "Fight Fire with Fire" - 4:44
# "Ride the Lightning" - 6:37
# "Creeping Death" - 6:36
# "When Hell Freezes Over" - 8:16

Personnel

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

"Master of Puppets" Demos

This demo was recorded on July 14, 1985 and was essentially a rehearsal more than it was a demo but was released nevertheless. The demo included five songs that were included on their next album "Master of Puppets".

Track listing

#"Disposable Heroes" (take 1)
#"Disposable Heroes" (take 2)
#"Battery" - 5:12
#"Welcome Home"
#"Orion"
#"Master of Puppets"

Personnel

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

"...And Justice for All" Demos

This demo was recorded in 1988 and included early, shorter versions of songs which later appeared on the band's fourth album "...And Justice for All". The intro to "Blackened" on this demo is an unreversed version, unlike the reversed version that appeared on "...And Justice for All". Also, "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" is recorded with gibberish sung in place of most lyrics (with the exception of the chorus' "Frayed ends of sanity/Hear them calling me"), although the final version of the song contained lyrics. "Eye of the Beholder" had two different demo versions, however there are few differences between the two besides running time. Most demo versions of this album do not include both takes of the song.

Track listing

#"Blackened" (intro)
#"Blackened"
#"...And Justice for All"
#"Eye of the Beholder"
#"One"
#"The Shortest Straw"
#"Harvester of Sorrow"
#"The Frayed Ends of Sanity"
#"To Live Is to Die" (instrumental)
# "Dyers Eve"

Personnel

*James Hetfield - vocals, rhythm guitar
*Kirk Hammett - lead guitar
*Jason Newsted - bass guitar, backing vocals
*Lars Ulrich - drums