Some Kind of Monster (song)
Encyclopedia
"Some Kind of Monster" is a song by the American heavy metal
band Metallica
. It was released in June 2004 through Elektra Records
. The song is featured on their eighth album, St. Anger
. It was also released on an EP
of the same title, which may be considered as the fourth and final single from the album.
The EP was released along with the Some Kind of Monster
documentary. A special edition of this EP included a Some Kind of Monster T-shirt
. The live B-sides
are all taken from the previous single release "The Unnamed Feeling
" EP. The song "Some Kind of Monster" was Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2005 But lost to "Velvet Revolver
" for the song "Slither
"
describing the lyrics to producer Bob Rock
being about a Frankenstein
creature or "some kind of monster." Thus, it was also used as a very fitting title for the 2004 documentary
about the recording of St. Anger and the turmoil surrounding it. Hetfield has previously described the entity that is Metallica - the burden of fame and life in general - as monstrous.
The song's birth and development are well detailed in the eponymous documentary as well. It was one of the first songs put together for the album. It would later be released as the final single and music videos of St. Anger, and would be shortened considerably from the album version. The video contains old footage of Metallica concerts as well as a performance of the song in Metallica's San Francisco headquarters which is included in its entirety on the St. Anger DVD
. In some regions, such as the US, the EP
was bundled with a T-Shirt featuring the artwork.
During the "clean" intro, the sound of Lars Ulrich
's snare can be heard rattling in the background.
On the documentary's DVD extras there are a couple of sections entitled "Tough Riff", that show Hetfield teaching the song's main riff to Kirk Hammett
, who appeared to have trouble figuring it out.
Additional musicians
Production, tracks 1 and 8
Production, tracks 2-7
Packaging
, while on the plane, Dean hums this song to calm himself down.
A copy of the single is featured in the Criminal Minds
episode called "Extreme Aggressor". The song "Enter Sandman
" is also mentioned.
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
. It was released in June 2004 through Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
. The song is featured on their eighth album, St. Anger
St. Anger
St. Anger is the eighth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on June 5, 2003 through Elektra Records. It was the band's last album released through Elektra. The album marked the end of the longest timespan between studio albums from Metallica, with nearly six...
. It was also released on an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
of the same title, which may be considered as the fourth and final single from the album.
The EP was released along with the Some Kind of Monster
Some Kind of Monster (film)
Some Kind of Monster is a 2004 documentary film featuring the American heavy metal band Metallica. It shares its name with the song "Some Kind of Monster" from Metallica's 2003 album St. Anger....
documentary. A special edition of this EP included a Some Kind of Monster T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
. The live B-sides
B-Sides
B-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
are all taken from the previous single release "The Unnamed Feeling
The Unnamed Feeling
"The Unnamed Feeling" is the third single by heavy metal band Metallica from their 2003 album St. Anger. The song is about an unnamed feeling a person feels when they are close to the edge of losing control, just before he or she panics.Along with a music video, the song was released as a single...
" EP. The song "Some Kind of Monster" was Nominated for Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2005 But lost to "Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...
" for the song "Slither
Slither (song)
-Personnel:*Scott Weiland – lead vocals*Slash – lead guitar*Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals*Matt Sorum – drums*Dave Kushner – rhythm guitar...
"
Chart performance
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Billboard 200 | 37 |
| Top Canadian Albums | 8 | |
| Top Soundtracks | 4 |
Information
The name Some Kind of Monster came from vocalist/guitarist James HetfieldJames Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
describing the lyrics to producer Bob Rock
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...
being about a Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
creature or "some kind of monster." Thus, it was also used as a very fitting title for the 2004 documentary
Some Kind of Monster (film)
Some Kind of Monster is a 2004 documentary film featuring the American heavy metal band Metallica. It shares its name with the song "Some Kind of Monster" from Metallica's 2003 album St. Anger....
about the recording of St. Anger and the turmoil surrounding it. Hetfield has previously described the entity that is Metallica - the burden of fame and life in general - as monstrous.
The song's birth and development are well detailed in the eponymous documentary as well. It was one of the first songs put together for the album. It would later be released as the final single and music videos of St. Anger, and would be shortened considerably from the album version. The video contains old footage of Metallica concerts as well as a performance of the song in Metallica's San Francisco headquarters which is included in its entirety on the St. Anger DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. In some regions, such as the US, the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
was bundled with a T-Shirt featuring the artwork.
During the "clean" intro, the sound of Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
's snare can be heard rattling in the background.
On the documentary's DVD extras there are a couple of sections entitled "Tough Riff", that show Hetfield teaching the song's main riff to Kirk Hammett
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, who appeared to have trouble figuring it out.
Track listing
This is the track listing of the Some Kind of Monster EP.- Tracks 2-7 recorded live on June 11, 2003 in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Personnel
Metallica- James HetfieldJames HetfieldJames Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
– lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Kirk HammettKirk HammettKirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
- rhythm and lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, backing vocals - Robert TrujilloRobert TrujilloRobert Trujillo is an American bassist who currently plays bass in Metallica. He has also played in Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Black Label Society, and with Jerry Cantrell and Ozzy Osbourne.-Career:...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and backing vocals on tracks 2-7 - Lars UlrichLars UlrichLars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
Additional musicians
- Bob RockBob RockRobert Jens Rock, , is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing bands such as Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, The Offspring and most recently Bush.-Payola$ and Rock and Hyde:Rock began his music career in Langford,...
- bass on tracks 1 and 8
Production, tracks 1 and 8
- ProducedRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Bob Rock and Metallica - EngineeredAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
and mixedAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
by Bob Rock, assisted by Mike Gillies and Eric Helmkamp - Digital engineering by Mike Gillies
- MasteredAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
by Vlado Meller - Track 8 remixRemixA remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ed by Randy StaubRandy StaubRandy Staub is a Canadian recording engineer. He has been nominated for the Juno Awards' "Recording Engineer of the Year" award nine times. He won in 2002 for the songs "How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad" by Nickelback. Staub also mixed Alice in Chains' fourth studio album, Black Gives Way to...
and Bob Rock, remastered by Ted JensenTed JensenTed Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
Production, tracks 2-7
- Recorded and mixed by Mike Gillies
- Mastered by George Marino
Packaging
- IllustrationAlbum coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
by Matt MahurinMatt MahurinMatt Mahurin is an American illustrator, photographer and film director. Mahurin's illustrations appear in Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Forbes, and The New York Times.Mahurin's work as a photo essayist has dealt with subjects such as homelessness, people with AIDS, the... - Design by Kathleen Philpott
Cultural references
In the episode "Phantom Traveler" of the television show SupernaturalSupernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
, while on the plane, Dean hums this song to calm himself down.
A copy of the single is featured in the Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
episode called "Extreme Aggressor". The song "Enter Sandman
Enter Sandman
"Enter Sandman" is a 1991 song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the first single from their eponymous fifth album, Metallica. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich...
" is also mentioned.