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Birth School Metallica Death, Volume 1

By: Paul Brannigan, Ian Winwood
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's summary

A landmark release, this is the first of a two-volume biography of Metallica, the biggest metal band of all time, told via exclusive interviews with the band and their world.

The California quartet has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, won nine Grammy Awards, and had five consecutive albums hit number one on the US Billboard chart. Theirs is a tale about much more than sales figures and critical acclaim, though, and their journey from scuzzy Los Angeles garages to the world's most storied stadiums has been dramatic and painful.

Birth School Metallica Death is the definitive story of the most significant rock band since Led Zeppelin. It's a story about family, community, self-belief, and the pursuit of dreams, which unfolds through firsthand interviews with the band and those closest to it. In this epic saga, deserving of a broad canvas, the first volume details the band's rise to international fame while the second explores the challenges and tensions that accompany such status. Piece by piece, Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood reveal just how Metallica has stayed ahead of the competition for so many years.

©2013 Paul Brannigan, Ian Winwood (P)2013 Blackstone
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What listeners say about Birth School Metallica Death, Volume 1

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A must listen for Metallica fans

This book is a must listen for any Metallica fan. Gives a lot of previously unknown detail

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History

There was a great deal of history about the band that I was unaware of, even though I consider myself a diehard Metallica fan having seen them 16 times in my life

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1 person found this helpful

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Incredible

Very well written with descriptions and sentence structures as complex as a Metallica song. A giant fan of Metallica and relished the time taken in the early years to describe situations and characters. Ray Porter's narration is brilliant and perfect for this book. I was on the fence before purchasing and by the first chapter, this has become one of my favorite books.

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Worth the read for fans

The book is not perfect and glosses over important aspects of the early years, but for the sake of capturing the milestones, it's worth the time.

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Excellent

Great story and great narrator. Looking forward to listening to volume 2. After each section that covered an album, I listened to that album in its entirety. Knowing the behind the scenes stuff that went into each album offers a new perspective.

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3 people found this helpful

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Awesome Book!!

Awesome Book!! It’s a must read or listen for any Metallica Fans!! Looking forward to volume 2.

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Excellent



Great story but I found it peculiar the narrator affecting a British accent while reading certain quotes. It was also jarring hearing different mispronunciations—“EEommi”, “Doanington”, etc. Nit picking, I know, but just my 2 cents. Also, where’s volume 2!?!?!?

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Better than I thought!

Any additional comments?

I was expecting a lot of the early history to be glossed over and/or limited. As a fan of everything before the black album (yes, I'm one of "those guys") , I was pleasantly surprised how detailed their early days and even their upbringing were.

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12 people found this helpful

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Come for the metal, stay for the writing

I frequently read music biographies to learn the back stories behind my favorite bands or to give me insight into new music. Usually these books are interesting but not always well written. This book however is very well-written and very interesting. Some of the descriptions of songs were so well done that I knew exactly what he was referring to before he mentioned the title. This is the rare audiobook that kept me in the car in my driveway just to hear the rest of the chapter.

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8 people found this helpful

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As Good as a music biography gets

I’ve read many music biographies. This book and its sequel are tied with Dennis McNally’s A Long Strange Trip as the best music biographies I’ve ever read.

This book goes into extreme detail that will teach someone all that they need to know about Metallica’s story and does so with an amazing sense of humor that is both incredibly clever and entertaining. I cannot recommend it enough! I’ve already read this book several times and plan on re-reading it many more times.

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