GAME CHANGER
One day, while I was handling the onslaught of phone calls from agents and lawyers and trying to listen to the hundreds of demo cassettes burying my desk, I got a call from a man named Jon Zazula (a.k.a. Jonny Z). He ran an independent record label located in Old Bridge, New Jersey, which he and his wife, Marsha, started in 1982. It was called Megaforce and they had signed a number of heavy metal bands.
Jonny Z had contacted me because he knew I was interested in the kind of music he was promoting. He was looking for a big company to distribute his artists’ albums and fund his label.
Jonny was a big, bushy man with curly brown hair and dark eyes, and every time I saw him, he was dressed in black with scuffed cowboy boots. He was very smart and fiercely loyal to his artists. He wanted to make success happen for all of them but particularly for a band called Raven. He pushed the UK metal band on me because he said they were his darlings, and he was sure they would be huge. There were also two other acts on the Megaforce label: Anthrax and Metallica.
We became friendly and after our third meeting, he asked me if Elektra would fund a demo in hopes that Raven would get signed to the label. So, I came back with a check for $5,000 and told him, “Let’s do this—I want to hear five of Raven’s best songs. Get it back to me as soon as you can.”
He returned to New Jersey and oversaw Raven’s recording, while I listened to the other artists on his label. One of the first albums Megaforce had released was Kill ’em All by Metallica. I knew about Metallica when Phil Caivano and I went to see them at L’Amour in late 1982. There was also a cassette of Metallica demos going around the metal underground that eventually made its way onto my desk. Everything I had seen and heard by them, up to that point, completely blew me away.
I looked through the box of albums from Megaforce which Jonny had sent to my office. I pulled out Kill ’em All, and threw it on the turntable. A convergence of major events began happening right in front of me.
After the first few seconds, I fell off my chair. The sound fuckin’ destroyed me. Although I had seen them live and heard the demo tape, I wasn’t prepared for what I was hearing right then on their debut album.
I listened to the song “Hit the Lights,” then I put on “The Four Horsemen” and turned up the volume. I completely lost my shit. What I heard right then—was a game changer.
It wasn’t just loud and aggressive, it had elements of British heavy metal, punk rock, and classic rock, but more than anything it had speed. Real, fuckin’ speed. On top of that, the songwriting was extremely strong. I couldn’t believe how precise the musicianship was at that speed either. It was groundbreaking.
I quickly realized that I had to move into stealth mode. I learned that Metallica was doing a show at The Stone in San Francisco, so I quietly planned a business trip out there. I told Bob there were some new artists playing that sounded rather promising.
It was to be a fast, undercover mission. When I got to The Stone a few nights later, I grabbed a drink and sat down. Metallica came out onto the stage, and I watched them bang out “Whiplash” and “Phantom Lord.” It was absolutely soul crushing. What I saw was exactly what I heard back in my office. I knew that was it—I had to get this band signed to Elektra. After the show, I went backstage, and said, “Hi! I’m Michael Alago. I work for Elektra Records.”
Lars walked over to me and said hello. Turns out, he was the point person.
“I think you guys are incredible!” I gave him my business card which he took and looked at very closely.
“When you are in New York next, please give me a call,” I said. “I’ll bring everybody from the company to come see you.”
I flew back to New York and I kept myself out of sight. I didn’t tell Bob I had gone to see Metallica, and I certainly didn’t tell Jonny Z. The main reason I kept it quiet from Bob and the rest of Elektra was that I was essentially interfering with someone else’s record contract, namely Metallica’s with Megaforce. That was a serious problem. Even though we hadn’t made an offer yet or contacted business affairs about a possible signing, I felt inside my bones—I would get Metallica, one way or another.
A few months later, the phone rang in my office:
“Hi, its Lars Ulrich.”
“Hey, Lars! How are you?”
“Good! We haven’t heard from you since The Stone, but I wanted to let you know we’re coming to New York, and we’re going to be part of a three-act bill at Roseland—a Megaforce evening, with Raven and Anthrax, and we’re in the middle slot.”
Gotcha!