Channeling Zeppelin: The Metallica song described as the “‘Kashmir’ of the ’90s”
Anyone trying to compete with Led Zeppelin should probably check their ego before stepping into the studio. Whatever they’re making might be one of the greatest songs of all time, but when placed next to what Jimmy Page could do on the fretboard, it was often best to go back to the drawing board. While Metallica’s early heroes were far heavier than Zeppelin, their producers believed they had found an answer to the gods of hard rock once the band went mainstream.
Granted, there’s also a school of thought where people think that the band’s self-titled Black Album was the last time they were ever any good. They certainly had a great bunch of hits from the record, but some fans felt like they were being rejected once they saw their favourite bands. Were they selling out? Were they cashing in and leaving thrash metal? Here’s a better question: who gives a shit?
As much as people like the idea of tearing artists through the mud when they go mainstream, The Black Album is still one of the finest records in Metallica’s catalogue. Sure, songs like ‘Enter Sandman’ got played into the ground and have a riff that plays nonstop at any guitar store in the world, but the reason why those tracks worked was because of the time and care that were put into them. And when paired with Bob Rock’s style of production, it was going to sound absolutely huge.
Even though Rock did eventually steer them into a trainwreck on St Anger, he knew what he was doing getting the right takes on this record. ‘The Unforgiven’ only managed to sound huge thanks to him getting the right solo out of Kirk Hammett, and when working with James Hetfield, he made sure that he captured ‘Nothing Else Matters’ despite the frontman being scared to show it to the rest of the band.
Of all the demos they were working through, though, the riff that gave them the most trouble was ‘Sad But True.’ The lick had potential, but since it was played so fast, it ended up sounding too happy to work with the rest of the songs. Once Rock suggested slowing it down and tuning down the song to D standard, he knew that he was looking at the kind of grandiose song that he hadn’t heard since the 1970s.
“I told them I thought it was the ‘Kashmir’ of the ’90s. The riff was astounding.”
bob rock
When talking about the tune later, Rock said that Hetfield had written the heavy metal equivalent of a Zeppelin epic, saying, “They played me the demo, and I told them I thought it was the ‘Kashmir’ of the ’90s. The riff was astounding. To my knowledge, they never had anything so heavy, so punchy and powerful. Rhythmically, I could tell it had the potential to be absolutely crushing!”
Although the riff itself doesn’t share that much in common with Page’s signature lick, there is still that grandiose quality to it. While a lot of that comes down to what Hetfield did, the reason why it works so well is because of Lars Ulrich’s drumming. As much as people like to clown on Ulrich for being subpar, hearing him come in with those caveman-like drum fills is what makes everyone want to headbang as soon as they hear it.
Even though there’s a 100% chance that Hetfield wasn’t thinking about holding a candle to Zeppelin at this juncture, ‘Sad But True’ does seem to occupy a similar space to ‘Kashmir’ these days. They aren’t necessarily the most celebrated songs in either band’s catalogue, but it might be the finest case of each band operating at the peak of their powers.
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