10 Amazing Music Movies You Must See Before You Die

7. Some Kind Of Monster

Metallica have survived immense outside pressure. On tour in 1984, bassist Cliff Burton was killed when the tour bus spun out of control and overturned; in 1997, the release of under-par effort Reload saw them written off as relics from a bygone era; in 2000, drummer Lars Ulrich provoked worldwide anger when he almost single-handedly brought down file-sharing website Napster. The world threw all it had at them but they survived. What came closest to defeating them once and for all, however, came from within. Ego clashes, alcoholism and artistic differences reached a climax during the making of eighth album St. Anger, bitter rows leaving the band in the hands of relationship counsellors. Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky kept the cameras rolling throughout, the result a fascinating insight into four guys trying to balance their working lives with their domestic lives. This surprising intimacy helped Some Kind Of Monster to transcend the rockumentary genre and offer a powerful commentary on the human spirit, something few music movies had done before and never so successfully. The knocks are numerous and hard, the words barbarous and deep, but Metallica fight on, emerging from the other side a leaner, meaner fighting machine ready to take on the world all over again.