10 Things You Didn't Know About Metallica
9. They Intentionally Didn't Make Music Videos
As the band were just getting their feet wet in the metal scene, the entire music industry was progressing into unchartered territory. Not long after the band’s debut record came out, a little upstart known as MTV started permeating the airwaves with the first ever music videos. There were plenty of bands like Judas Priest and Twisted Sister gaining a lot of attention through MTV, but you’d have been hardpressed to find Metallica anywhere.
Instead of playing up their more radio friendly material, the band made a deliberate choice not to make videos in their early years. Seeing themselves as a punk rock antithesis to the hair metal movement, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield didn’t want to compete for attention with the Motley Crues of the world who were gaining traction on MTV.
This kind of deliberate shunning of videos seemed like career suicide, but the band ended up developing a huge cult following despite their lack of exposure. By the time they eventually ended up making a video for “One” in 1989, the band had already achieved arena status as one of the greatest heavy metal bands in the world.
MTV could have given any decent band a boost if they had a good video, but Metallica didn’t need to cater to commercial demands for people to take notice.