{"id":460107,"date":"2026-02-07T17:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/460107\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T17:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:16:12","slug":"metallicas-garage-inc-the-story-of-metals-greatest-covers-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/460107\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica\u2019s Garage Inc.: The story of metal\u2019s greatest covers album"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the autumn of 1998, after a three-album run of the Black Album<\/a>, Load<\/a> and Reload<\/a> had seen Metallica<\/a> evolve from thrash metal\u2019s greatest band to an arena rock behemoth, the band set about doing what they do best: blindsiding everyone with something completely unexpected.<\/p>\n

\u201cMetallica still needs to have fun,\u201d Lars Ulrich<\/a> told Billboard that November. \u201cWe made three pretty serious albums in a row. It was time to do something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Released on November 23 of that year, that \u201csomething\u201d turned out to be Garage Inc \u2013 a monstrous double-disc collection of covers of seminal rock and metal songs that had inspired the Four Horsemen over the years.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

While the second disc was a smorgasbord of B-sides from various Metallica releases across their career, the first was a brand new collection of fresh takes on timeless classics.<\/p>\n

We dissect that colossal first half \u2013 with a little help from some of the bands who inspired it.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

1. Free Speech For The Dumb (Discharge cover)<\/p>\n

It still seems a bold move for the world\u2019s biggest metal band to open a new record with a grinding dirge by Discharge<\/a>, the 80s most brutal punk terrorists . Once hated by the press for their relentlessly basic, bleak noise assaults \u2013 hammered out to a frantic stuttering rhythm (the \u2018d-beat\u2019,itself inspiring a global subgenre) \u2013 the Stoke-on-Trent band laid the template for metallic hardcore, and were keenly adopted by the metal underground.<\/p>\n

There was a 90s mini-industry in Discharge covers among discerning metal bands such as Anthrax, Machine Head and Soulfly, but with this face-ripping opener, Metallica stayed faithful to the original (from Discharge\u2019s seminal 1982 debut Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing), while slowing it down to a metallic grind.<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy have so many metal bands covered Discharge?\u201d the band\u2019s guitarist Tony \u2018Bones\u2019 Roberts tells Metal Hammer. \u201cEasy to do, innit?! Ha ha ha! The thing is, out of all the tracks I\u2019ve ever heard, nobody\u2019s ever got it right. It\u2019s nearly there, but there\u2019s something missing. Nobody has ever recreated it. Even we haven\u2019t recreated that original sound; it was just a one-off. Lucky day, wasn\u2019t it?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Free Speech for the Dumb – YouTube
\n\"Free<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n2. It\u2019s Electric (Diamond Head cover)<\/p>\n

Joining Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Diamond Head <\/a>were tipped for megastardom in 1980. They\u2019d been formed in Stourbridge in the West Midlands in 1976 by guitarist Brian Tatler, drummer Duncan Scott, vocalist Sean Harris and bassist Colin Kimberley. It\u2019s Electric was inspired by an AC\/DC concert in Birmingham in 1977.<\/p>\n

I was impressed they\u2019d gone to the trouble to work out one of our songs \u2013 even the solo was much spot on.<\/p>\n

Brian Tatler<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was our 45th song, written in June 1978,\u201d recalls Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler<\/a>. \u201cEverything before it was scrapped, but this had something special and entered our live set \u2013 not that we did many gigs then! It went down well live and was deemed good enough for our debut album [1980\u2019s Lightning To The Nations].\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Due to bad management decisions and wrong deals, success didn\u2019t happen for Diamond Head, but they quartet influenced an aspiring ex-pat Danish drummer named Lars Ulrich, who crossed the Atlantic to watch them live and hang out. Shortly after, their setlists were getting replicated by a fledgling Metallica.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1982 Lars sent a rehearsal room cassette of them playing It\u2019s Electric,\u201d says Tatler. \u201cThen in November 1984 I got sent a copy of the Creeping Death 12\u201d with Am I Evil? on the flipside. I was impressed that they\u2019d gone to the trouble to work out, record and release one of our songs \u2013 even the solo was pretty much spot on. I had no idea of the potential of Metallica at this point, but I was flattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Sabbra Cadabra (Black Sabbath cover)<\/p>\n

This was the Garage Inc track closest to then-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted<\/a>\u2019s heart. \u201cGeezer Butler is my favourite bassist of all time,\u201d he told fan club magazine So What! \u201cSo needless to say, that was the shit, and the one that I tried the hardest to pay the most attention to be ultra-respectful on.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Brummie metal inventors\u2019 fifth LP, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, it was an unusually chirpy, loved-up rock\u2019n\u2019roll tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that opening riff that just really gets us going,\u201d guitarist Kirk said in 1998, when Metallica were still in the studio playing around with the song. \u201cWe might try to glue Sabbra Cadabra together with another Sabbath song.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the event, A National Acrobat was plucked from the same album and interpolated into the mid-section, neatly seguing from a carefree song about shagging to some of Geezer\u2019s weightiest lyrical concerns (although sadly this meant we didn\u2019t get to hear James Hetfield<\/a> sing, \u2018Lovely lay-yay-yay-yay-deh\u2019).<\/p>\n

Sabbra Cadabra (2009 Remaster) – YouTube
\n\"Sabbra<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n4. Turn The Page (Bob Seger cover)<\/p>\n

Beardy 70s Detroit rocker Bob Seger<\/a> may have seemed an off-the-wall choice for Metallica in 1998, but this emotive ode to the road suited them perfectly; James Hetfield said that the first time he heard Turn The Page, he swore Metallica could have written it. Yet whenever any Metallicat talks about this road-weary ballad, they seem to distance themselves from its creator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very odd choice. I\u2019m not a big Bob Seger fan,\u201d Kirk confessed at the time. \u201cBut when you hear it, you can really picture James singing it\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with Creem magazine just before he wrote this song for his sixth album, Back In \u201972 (released in 1973), Detroit rocker Bob Seger addressed why so few musicians had covered his material: \u201cIt seems like the only people who do my stuff are these really off-the-wall cats looking for really off-the-wall stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Turn The Page (Live At Cobo Hall, Detroit \/ 1975) – YouTube
\n\"Bob<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n5. Die, Die My Darling (Misfits cover)<\/p>\n

It was the ever-discerning Cliff Burton who got Lars, James and Kirk into New Jersey horror punks Misfits<\/a>, commandeering every tour van stereo and endlessly flipping their tapes. By 1986, barely a Metallica photoshoot went by without a bit of visible Misfits merch, and Last Caress (from Misfits\u2019 1980 Beware EP) remains one of Metallica\u2019s best-loved covers.<\/p>\n

Metallica had also jammed Misfits\u2019 London Dungeon since the early days \u2013 including onstage with Glenn Danzig in 1994. Here they settled on Die, Die My Darling (originally recorded in 1981, but not released until after the band split up), presumably because it\u2019s just so darn catchy.<\/p>\n

6. Loverman (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover)<\/p>\n

Amid these love letters to 70s rock and 80s metal is this brooding alternative epic of obsessive lust, written in 1994 by an Australian gothic art-rock maestros Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds<\/a>. Loverman was always the odd man out on Garage Inc, but Papa Het made sure he felt right at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cCave is extremely evil, whether he\u2019s trying to be or not,\u201d James explained of his quirky pick. \u201cI just love the feel of that song and I knew we could do it properly, that we could do it justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metallica recorded the song at 3am, burnt out after a long, hard day in the studio, which ideally captured the mood: \u201cIt was the perfect vibe to do that track,\u201d Kirk said. \u201cDefinitely a high point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Loverman – YouTube
\n\"Nick<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n7. Mercyful Fate (Medley – Satan\u2019s Fall\/Curse Of The Pharaohs\/A Corpse Without Soul Into The Coven\/Evil) (Mercyful Fate cover)<\/p>\n

Near-contemporaries of Metallica on the nascent 80s extreme metal underground, Mercyful Fate<\/a> emerged from Copenhagen, Denmark with a devotedly occult but sophisticated and progressive brand of heavy metal, their first, brief phase of activity brimming with some of the mightiest metal tunes ever written.<\/p>\n

Lars called me up at home and said to me, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s up, we\u2019re recording stuff right now, you wanna hear it?\u2019<\/p>\n

King Diamond<\/p>\n

Metallica couldn\u2019t choose just one or two to cover, so they went with five, carefully arranging segments together to create Garage Inc\u2019s magnificent labour-of-love centrepiece.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know they were planning it,\u201d Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond tells Hammer. \u201cLars called me up at home and said to me, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s up, we\u2019re recording stuff right now, you wanna hear it?\u2019 I said, \u2018Wow, I get to hear stuff from the new one? Cool, man!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then he played me the whole Mercyful Fate medley down the phone. He said, \u2018What do you think?\u2019 I said, \u2018Are you kidding?!\u2019 This was really, really an amazing take on those songs; it just sounded killer, it was so well done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercyful Fate – Evil (OFFICIAL VIDEO) – YouTube
\n\"Mercyful<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n8. Astronomy (Blue \u00d6yster Cult cover)<\/p>\n

New York eccentrics Blue \u00d6yster Cult<\/a> were promoted as the American Sabbath, but their more sensitive charms were evident on monster smash (Don\u2019t Fear) The Reaper. Esoteric mini-epic Astronomy closed their 1974 album Secret Treaties. By the mid-90s, B\u00d6C bassist Joe Bouchard \u2013 one of the song\u2019s co-writers \u2013 had quit play music to take a job in publishing. When he heard Metallica were covering one of his old songs, it prompted him to go back to music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself, to have this kind of success, that honour of being covered by a famous band, really meant that I should write more songs,\u201d Joe told Classicbands.com. \u201cThe Metallica record ended up selling about 5 million copies. So, that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

9. Whiskey In The Jar (Thin Lizzy cover)<\/p>\n

The oldest tune covered on Garage Inc \u2013 by several centuries. A traditional Irish folk ballad, Whiskey In The Jar\u2019s roots have been traced back to the 17th century, though Metallica were drawing on Thin Lizzy<\/a>\u2019s 1972 version of this tale of a doomed highwayman betrayed by his lover.<\/p>\n

All four Metallica members were big fans of the Dublin rockers, and their iconic frontman Phil Lynott, and this cover came out of a jam that followed a day of unsuccessful songwriting.<\/p>\n

Lars Ulrich later revealed that four other Lizzy songs were in contention for Garage Inc, but according to Bob Rock, they liked the idea of honouring Lizzy\u2019s more overlooked earlier era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the most simple ones on the album, because their heart was in it,\u201d Bob Rock told AVClub in 2015. \u201cIt was really a live performance of [Metallica] playing it, which you hear, the enthusiasm and the excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metallica\u2019s version went on to win a Grammy, helped along by a wild video, set in a raucous, all-female house party.<\/p>\n

10. Tuesday\u2019s Gone (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)<\/p>\n

Lynyrd Skynyrd<\/a> were one of the founding fathers of Southern rock in the 70s, before their career was cut short by a tragic plane crash in 1977 that took the life of frontman Ronnie Van Zant and five other people.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a movin\u2019-on song: you\u2019re splitting, you\u2019re leaving your woman at home. You\u2019re off doing your own thing.<\/p>\n

James Hetfield<\/p>\n

Skynyrd were fused into Metallica\u2019s DNA. James Hetfield revealed that the band\u2019s immortal 1974 song Sweet Home Alabama was \u201cthe first piece of vinyl I bought with my lawnmower money\u201d, while former Metallica guitarist (and later Megadeth frontman) Dave Mustaine later cheekily inserted the song\u2019s riff into Seek And Destroy.<\/p>\n

Metallica first dusted off Tuesday\u2019s Gone, a plaintive ballad from Skynyrd\u2019s debut album (Pronounced \u2018L\u0115h-\u2019n\u00e9rd \u2018Skin-\u2019n\u00e9rd), for an all-acoustic benefit organised by Neil Young in October 1997.<\/p>\n

A month later, they recorded it at San Jose radio station KSJO FM, joined by Jerry Cantrell, Pepper Keenan, Jim Martin, Les Claypool and Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always loved that one,\u201d James told So What! \u201cIt\u2019s a movin\u2019-on song: you\u2019re splitting, you\u2019re leaving your woman at home. You\u2019re off doing your own thing. It really fits the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Tuesday’s Gone – 3\/7\/1976 – Winterland (Official) – YouTube
\n\"Lynyrd<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n11. The More I See (Discharge cover)<\/p>\n

Garage Inc. was bookended by two Discharge songs. The track that closed the album, The More I See, was a 1984 single featuring a riff that presaged their subsequent shift from proto-hardcore punk to more metal territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody mentioned to us one day, \u2018Did you know Metallica have covered two of your songs?\u2019 I didn\u2019t know anything about it!\u201d Discharge guitarist Bones tells Hammer. \u201cI met \u2019em a few times in the 80s at CBGBs and places like that. They came to watch us somewhere in London a few years ago; they were playing the O2 the day after. They didn\u2019t speak to us, but they saw us. They tried to blag a free t-shirt, but the person selling them didn\u2019t seem to know who they were, so they didn\u2019t get one!\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 316 (December 2018)<\/p>\n

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