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The most bananas stories and insane 100% true tales about the lives and behind-the-music antics of your favorite rock stars and legendary bands.

Freakin' Rock Stars

Things all metalheads should know about their favorite bands, artists, and albums.

The Devil's Music

Metallica

Metal titans <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/metallica/6088506" target="_blank">Metallica</a> were affectionately referred to as&nbsp;Alcoholica in their early days -- and with good reason. The members drank with the thirst of parched nomads and didn’t seem to know the meaning of when enough is enough. There’s no question that Metallica were serious thrash pioneers. They were almost as serious about their partying.The&nbsp;No Life Til Leather demo era of Metallica is marked by the saga of founding member <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/dave-mustaine/820231" target="_blank">Dave Mustaine</a>, who was booted from the band before Metallica entered the studio to record their full-length debut Kill ‘Em All. Mustaine, who was fired for being a belligerent drunk, was sent back to LA on a Greyhound bus. In addition to being rightfully pissed that the band send him back to Cali on a bus and played his parts on the four songs he co-wrote for the album, Mustaine was miffed that a bunch of drunks fired him for being too drunk for their band.“I was really hurt because I didn’t really believe that I got a chance,” Mustaine told <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Louder-Than-Hell-Definitive-History-ebook/dp/B005Z0IWZA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1537457989&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=louder+than+hell">Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal</a>. “At that time, if someone would have sat me down and said, 'You know Dave, you’ve got a f*cking problem…'&nbsp;But no one said that to me. I didn’t hear that from anyone’s lips.”Before they let Mustaine go, Metallica recruited Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett, who shared his bandmates penchant for a good time. It was with this take-on-the-world-and-drink-all-their-booze mindset that Metallica entered the studio to record their debut album. And despite their copious boozing, they were able to destroy night after night without missing a note.Metallica kept the party raging until the late ‘80s and beyond. The more popular Metallica became, the more the more groupies considered them a prize. And Metallica were happy to deliver. Drummer Lars Ulrich once joked that Metallica considered naming 1988’s …And Justice For All album Wild Chicks, Fast Cars and Lots of Drugs, according to Mick Wall in the book&nbsp;Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica.Here are 12 of Metallica’s wildest, most destructive and most debauched stories as recalled by friends, writers, photographers and the band members, themselves.

Metallica’s Wildest, Drunkest and Most Depraved Moments

Band/Musician

Jon Wiederhorn

Hey, music buffs: study up on these lists fun facts and little-known trivia that take you inside the studio and behind the scenes of classic, hit, and infamous songs and albums.

Music in the Making

Metallica&rsquo;s second album, 1984&rsquo;s Ride the Lightning served as&nbsp;a groundbreaking achievement for the band, and considerably upped the ante on their 1983 debut,&nbsp;Kill &lsquo;Em All. But the album most fans and critics rank as the band&#39;s greatest is Master of Puppets, which <a href="http://www.ranker.com/review/metallica/6088506" target="_blank">Metallica</a> released in 1986. The record adhered to a similar structure as Ride the Lightning, combining speedy thrash cuts with slower, more anthemic fare, and including a cinematic instrumental.

But Master of Puppets took all of its predecessors strengths and made them even better. The songs were more intricate, the hardcore-paced tracks were more visceral, and the instrumental, &ldquo;Orion,&rdquo; was executed with more fervor. Many consider it&nbsp;a flawless album, but it might not have been if&nbsp;Metallica made different choices during its creation.

The band spent far more time working on Master of Puppets than their first two albums combined -&nbsp;each of which was created in less than a month. By contrast, Metallica spent a whopping four months simply tracking Master. From there, studio time increased exponentially as the band worked with producer Flemming Rasmussen in Copenhagen between September and December 1985.

Bassist Cliff Burton drew from his love of classical and soundtrack music when the band put the tunes together, and played bass by plucking the strings with his right hand instead of using a pick. Singer/guitarist&nbsp;James&nbsp;Hetfield was on fire when it came to concocting crushing, memorable riffs and poignant lyrics, and driven by the energy in the studio, drummer Lars Ulrich rode the wave, laying down tumbling beats and crashing cymbal hits that underscored the rollercoaster ride of the album. But there&#39;s a lot even hardcore fans don&#39;t know about the making of Metallica&#39;s&nbsp;Master of Puppets.

Fascinating Facts From The Making Of Metallica's 'Master Of Puppets'

Musical Album

The Making Of Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' (13 Facts)

Slayer

When thrash metal titans Slayer announced that they were going to play one last tour before breaking up, fans and critics started reminiscing over the band’s numerous accomplishments over the past 37 years. During that time, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/slayer/2045598" target="_blank">Slayer</a> released 11 full-length studio albums, toured the world countless times and gone from feared pariahs to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/slayer-band-facts/jessika-gilbert" target="_blank">monumental anti-rock stars</a>.Perusing the triumphs and pitfalls of the band’s career, it’s impossible not to recognize their 1986 album Reign in Blood as, perhaps, their greatest and undoubtedly most controversial release. When it came out the albums was faster than any other thrash album, and while the Reign’s tempos have been surpassed by lots of death metal and black metal outfits, the record remains one of the heaviest and most brutal metal releases to date.Slayer weren’t the first thrash metal band signed to a major label. That honor goes to Metallica, but with Reign in Blood Slayer became the most extreme. The album addressed Nazi <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/nazi-experiments/jacob-shelton" target="_blank">war atrocities</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/satanism-facts-and-trivia/will-gish" target="_blank">Satanism</a>, serial killing and Christianity bashing and bombardment was relentless, never slowing below breakneck speed. Considering its malignant aesthetic it’s surprising that it was distributed by a powerful record corporation – in this case Geffen. What’s even more surprising is that Reign in Blood went double-platinum and is now considered a metal classic.&nbsp;Here are other wild facts you probably didn’t know about one of the greatest metal albums ever.

Fascinating Facts You Didn't Know About Slayer's 'Reign In Blood'

15 Things You Didn't Know About Slayer's "Reign In Blood" Recording

Metal

Witty, spontaneous and occasionally vulnerable, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/halestorm/1120304" target="_blank">Halestorm</a> frontwoman Lzzy Hale remains a constructive role model in the often destructive music world. Currently on tour to promote the band’s fourth full-length album, Vicious, Hale is a figure of empowerment and a devoted flag-waver for the seemingly fading art of guitar-based rock and roll.Walking a tightrope between tough chick and enthusiastic rock recruiter, Hale performs with youthful energy, making even angry&nbsp;songs like “Black Vultures” and the title track of the band’s new record seem more like energetic exercises than pain-stricken exorcisms.Rock and roll pumps through Hale’s blood, and her ability to belt it out or sing with tenderness and compassion stems both from experience (she has been performing original music since she was 13 in 1997) and from her early exposure to classic music. As a kid, her dad gave her records by The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper and AC/DC, while her mom rounded out her tutelage with albums by female performers, including <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/life-of-janis-joplin/erin-mccann?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Janis Joplin</a>, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart and Pat Benatar.Taking a trip down memory lane, Hale talked about the 10 songs that have had a direct impact on her decision to write and play music, the effect the tunes had on the evolution of Halestorm and the way they helped shape her personality both onstage and off.

Halestorm Frontwoman Lzzy Hale Tells Us The 10 Songs That Shaped Her Singing

Song

10 Songs That Molded Metal Frontwoman Lzzy Halestorm’s Singing Career

Beer

Heavy rock and beer go together like condoms and casual sex. If you’re gonna regularly indulge in one, it sure helps to have a stockpile of the other. Okay, Ozzy once said, “Wine is fine, but whiskey’s quicker.” Nonetheless, there’s nothing like sipping a quality IPA, a hearty stout, an amber ale, a smooth lager or even a cheap but potent malt liquor with the speakers thumping. Even sh*tty groups sound better after a few beers. And who better to judge a good brew than dudes whose bands are supplied with cases of the stuff every night on tour?Then there are the super-serious beer guys, like Khemmis drummer Zach Coleman, who works as the head brewer of metal beer producer TRVE Brewing in Denver, and super-metalhead and 3 Floyds brewer Todd Haug, who has worked with various bands to come up with cool signature products.Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Mastodon, Kid Rock, and AC/DC are just a handful of major rock musicians to market their own beers. Other, far more mainstream entities, including the Grateful Dead Estate, Paul McCartney, Pixies, Elbow, New Order, Queen and, yes, Hanson have joined the signature beer sweepstakes. But seriously. Who’s gonna drink harder, rock harder, destroy more sh*t and puke more frequently than hard rock and metal bands and their fans? So, ignore those indie and classic rockers and get your micro-beers from dudes that know a Hefeweizen from a Belgian pale ale, or at least drink enough that, after a few, the differences between a Pliny the Elder double IPA and Pabst Blue Ribbon don’t mean a thing.

Rock Bands With The Coolest Custom Beers

The 14 Coolest Rock & Metal Custom Beers You Should Check Out

Celebrities

Musicians, more than any other entertainers, are accepted and even celebrated for their hard-partying lifestyles. When the balance between inebriation and creativity is right, artists can lead prolific, productive lives -&nbsp;at least for a while.For years, not even heroin stopped Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, or Kurt Cobain from writing exceptional music that stirred the soul and captured the human experience. Countless other musicians have created classics while recreationally using other forms of narcotics, uppers, downers, hallucinogens, weed, and alcohol. Of course, many talented artists have died from partying too hard. It’s a long list that includes acts from multiple genres: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, John Bonham, Jim Morrison, Bon Scott, Amy Winehouse,&nbsp;Layne Staley. And that’s just a sampling.Then, there are the musicians who pushed things too far even for their hard-partying band&nbsp;mates. Well on their way to self-destruction or at least annoying the hell out of the people they had to be around every day, these musicians were booted from their bands for being unable to control their habits.

Rockers Who Were Fired From Hard-Partying Bands For Partying Too Damn Hard

12 Rockers That Were Fired From Bands For Partying Too Damn Hard

Country Music

&ldquo;Any time I can throw sand in the face of the purist, it just feels so good to me, dude,&rdquo; says <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/devildriver/3585229" target="_blank">DevilDriver</a> frontman&nbsp;Dez Fafara about Outlaws &lsquo;Til The End, his bands collection of outlaw country covers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been a purist. I have more in common with Bauhaus than I do with <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/black-sabbath/2589632" target="_blank">Black Sabbath</a>. But then again, I love metal, I love Sab. So doing this thing I was my way of saying, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s do something that hasn&rsquo;t really been done before, and with a ferocity that it should been done with.&rdquo;

Fafara&nbsp;has always done things his way. When the singer&nbsp;realized his previous band, the&nbsp;California nu-metal band Coal Chamber, had unraveled and were about to self-destruct he started up the more aggressive death and groove-metal outfit DevilDriver. For the next 13 years, the band went through a few different lineups as it experimented with different ways to inject melody and groove into crushing, cathartic tunes. Inspired by <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/metallica/6088506" target="_blank">Metallica</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/pantera/1751724" target="_blank">Pantera</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/slayer/2045598" target="_blank">Slayer</a>, Morbid Angel and In Flames, DevilDriver released seven full-lengths, and five charted in the top 50 of the Billboard album chart.

With Outlaws &lsquo;Til The End, the follow-up to 2016&rsquo;s Trust No One, DevilDriver have left their comfort zone and recorded an album of outlaw country covers in an effort to expose headbangers to rebel country music and country fans to extreme metal. For Outlaws &lsquo;Til The End, Vol. 1, Fafara and his bandmates &ndash; guitarists Mike Spreitzer and Neal Tiemann, bassist Diego Ibarra and drummer Austin D&rsquo;Amond &ndash; rejiggered a batch of covers of songs by outlaw country pioneers, including <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/willie-nelson/2398496" target="_blank">Willie Nelson</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/johnny-cash/1300391" target="_blank">Johnny Cash</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-george-jones-albums-list/reference" target="_blank">George Jones</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/dwight-yoakam/899118" target="_blank">Dwight Yoakam</a> and Steve Earle. In addition, Fafara recruited a bunch of high profile guest vocalists, including Lamb of God&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/devildriver-frontman-dez-fafara-favorite-country-albums/jon-wiederhorn?publish=true" target="_blank">Randy Blythe</a>, Fear Factory&rsquo;s Burton C.Bell, Fear&rsquo;s Lee Ving and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/hank-williams-iii/1125173" target="_blank">Hank Williams III</a> to perform on the tunes.

While the band&rsquo;s label agreed to put the album on their release schedule, a record executive who worked extensively with Coal Chamber and DevilDriver at Roadrunner Records didn&rsquo;t think it was such a good idea for DevilDriver to release an album of country covers.

&ldquo;He said to me, &lsquo;Look, I don&rsquo;t know if this is a good, viable thing to do for the DevilDriver brand. Maybe you should do this as a Dez solo record.&rsquo; And I was like, &lsquo;Really?!? You shoulda never told me that. Now I&rsquo;m definitely gonna do it!&rdquo;

Outlaws &lsquo;Till The End, Vol 1 is a spirited, reverential hybrid of metal rhythms and country music songs that illustrates that the two genres aren&rsquo;t as incompatible as some might think. That&rsquo;s because Fafara has had a genuine love for country ever since he was a kid and he would comb through his parents&rsquo; record collections and play albums by Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers. But while he makes sure that the new DevilDriver album is imbued with twang and heartache, there&rsquo;s no shortage of crunching riffs and roaring vocals

&ldquo;Someone said to me it&rsquo;s like school buses colliding, but there&rsquo;s a beautiful fire in the end,&rdquo; Fafara says. &ldquo;I liked that. That&rsquo;s where my mind was at &ndash; &lsquo;cause I kind of see myself as an outlaw, too. If I can&rsquo;t push people&rsquo;s buttons and throw some surprises their way then what the fuck am I doing this for?&rdquo;

Check out&nbsp;DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara&rsquo;s 10 favorite country albums.

DevilDriver Frontman Dez Fafara's Top Ten Country Albums

DevilDriver Frontman Dez Fafara's Favorite Country Albums

Bands/Musicians

Kids are told, “If you play with fire you’re going to get burned.” Adults don’t always follow their own advice, especially rock stars. Many big name acts rely on showers of flame to make their shows sizzle and setting off controlled explosions at just the right moment can be enthralling to an audience. But as artists from <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/rihanna/1910648?ref=tags" target="_blank">Rihanna</a> to <a href="https://www.ranker.com/review/metallica/6088506" target="_blank">Metallica</a> have learned, nobody is safe from a flame-induced accident. And when artists without the cash, equipment or wherewithal to pull off pyro displays make a mistake, it can be a recipe for disaster. Even when every possible precaution is taken, situations can quickly get out of control. From the humorous to the horrific, here are 11 of the most dramatic pyro mishaps of all time.

Fire Away: The Worst Pyrotechnic Accidents Of All Time

The Worst Pyrotechnic Accidents Of All Time

Randy Blythe

Everything about&nbsp;<a href="http://burnthepriest.lamb-of-god.com" target="_blank">Legion: XX</a>, the new album recorded by the members of Lamb of God, makes vocalist Randy Blythe a little nostalgic.&nbsp;The record was released under the band’s original moniker Burn the Priest, which issued its self-titled album almost 20 years ago, shortly before the group changed its name.All of the songs on the album are covers of tracks Blythe and his bandmates – guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell and drummer Chris Adler – were heavily into and which influenced their songwriting. To decide on the tracklist, which features covers of songs by Big Black, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Ministry, S.O.D. Quicksand, Melvins, The Accused and Slang Laos, each member of Lamb of God submitted a wish list. Then they duked it out to determine the final cut.For Blythe, it wasn’t wholly indicative of his listening habits in the late ‘90s. While the vocalist was excited to perform songs by Big Black, Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags – bands that were ingrained into his musical vocabulary when he joined, he was on a whole other trip by the time he became Burn the Priest’s vocalist. As a hardcore dude who was playing with a metal band, he was delving into extreme metal, including grindcore, death metal and sludge, but he was also attracted to the more hardcore-oriented sounds of bands on Amphetamine Reptile and Touch &amp; Go. Below, is a list of 11 albums Blythe had on heavy rotation in the days of 1998 before the release of Burn the Priest.

Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe On 11 Albums That Influenced Him As A Vocalist

Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe On The 11 Albums That Influenced Him 

Albums

As the old saying goes, don&#39;t judge a metal album by its cover. When it comes to cover art, bands strive to present the coolest looking artwork they can afford. Some bands are able to make a memorable cover that will adorn T-shirts and back patches forever. Others, not so much. Of course, all cover art varies depending on the&nbsp;style of the music; a <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-ratt-albums-list/reference" target="_blank">Ratt</a> album cover&nbsp;looks far different than those of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/disgusting-cannibal-corpse-lyrics/brandon-michaels" target="_blank">Cannibal Corpse</a>. Regardless of the genre,&nbsp;no band is immune to bad cover art.&nbsp;From obscure acts to metal legends such as <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/wild-black-sabbath-stories/nicky-benson" target="_blank">Black Sabbath</a> and <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/john-bush-of-anthrax-and-armored-saint_s-top-20-vocal-influences/celebrity-lists" target="_blank">Anthrax</a>, they&nbsp;have all released some real stinkers. Here are some of the most ridiculous album covers in metal history.

The Most Ridiculous Album Covers In Metal History

The Worst Album Covers In Metal History, Ranked By Fans

Judas Priest

After Black Sabbath, Judas Priest are arguably the most important band in the history of heavy metal. In the late ‘70s, when Sabbath and other bands were hemming and hawing about being called a heavy metal band, Judas Priest embraced the term and encouraged other bands to take pride in being part of a musical subculture shunned by the mainstream. Along the way&nbsp;Priest introduced the now-traditional twin-guitar attack, pioneered the studs and leather look of ‘80s metal and brought the world the first great multi-octave metal vocalist, Rob Halford, who inspired everyone from Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson to Disturbed’s David Draiman. While they were never the absolute wildest band in the genre – which may explain why they’re still around and making great music after almost 50 years – they were responsible for more than a few outrageous moments and other crazy and sometimes horrifying incidents. Below, are ten of the most insane stories that would never have taken place were it not for the existence of the Metal Gods, Judas Priest.<div> &nbsp;</div>

Breaking The Law: Weird And Wild Stories About Judas Priest

The 10 Craziest Stories About Judas Priest

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

It seems as though the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland has hosted as many marquee fights as Madison Square Garden. Since 1986, the Rock Hall has been the site of moving speeches, great performances, and legendary jams. But some artists get bewildered, disillusioned, and even enraged by the process and protocol of the foundation. 

&nbsp;

Fights involving&nbsp;ex-bandmates, current bandmates, Hall of Fame executives, judges, and anyone else within range of the podium have occurred. Along the way, the musicians have created controversies&nbsp;nearly as memorable as the actual inductions.

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