Metallica Have Thrown Something Away They Probably Shouldn’t Have

Metallica has finally made it to #1 on the US charts with Hardwired... To Self-Destruct! and I could not be happier. Because of the massive success of the album, this news struck me as pretty surprising.

People mistakenly throw things away all the time. I lost my apartment keys this past month by accidentally throwing them away! However, Metallica threw something pretty important away intentionally.

Why, oh why, would you want to get rid of your riffs from a successful album, and not find a way to use them in the future!?

Team Rock reports, Metallica declared that they have thrown away their unused riffs from Hardwired sessions, and will not be using them at all going forward. James Hetfield says this decision is more about "out with the old, and in with the new" than "repeating things." He says,

“Once an album is finished the box of riffs is thrown away. We use the best. There’s no reason to save it if it’s not good – we’ll write new stuff. I’m very interested in moving forward. It was difficult, having 800 riffs on my phone or my computer, and all I wanted to do was, ‘Let’s write a new one now. Let’s just do it.’ There’s something magical that happens when Lars and I get together and I plug into a loud, crunchy guitar sound. It moves me and I can create riffs.”

My motto: "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" and the music of Hardwired is certainly not broke.

Would you want entirely new material for the next Metallica album, (which, if James has anything to say about it, will arrive sooner than eight years from now) or a similar sound to what Hardwired was?

In the meantime, enjoy this new Metallica tune I'm diggin' on.