“It's scary when you haven't played for quite a while and can't remember the riff to Seek & Destroy”: James Hetfield reflects on the anxieties he experienced after stepping away from the guitar for too long

James Hetfield performs onstage with Metallica at Downing Stadium in Randall's Island, New York City, in 1996.

The stat sheet of Metallica's self-titled 1991 ‘Black’ album reads like a record executive's wildest fantasy.

It's the best-selling album in the United States in the last 30 years, with over 17 million copies sold, and has spent over 600 weeks in the Top 200 album charts in total. Onstage, in the three years after its release, the band played hundreds of live shows to millions of eager fans. One could go on, but the bottom line is, by 1993, the band had more than earned a break.