Friday, January 13, 1984 was a bad day for Metallica. The crown princes of thrash metal had pulled into Boston, Massachusetts, where they were due to play a show at local sweatbox The Channel the following night. They had just returned from a much-needed two-week break from the relentless treadmill of playing, rehearsing, writing and drinking that seemingly hadn’t stopped since the release of their landmark debut album Kill ’Em All six months earlier, and their spirits were high.
They were soon brought crashing down to earth. The night before the gig, on that ill-fated Friday the 13th, thieves broke into Metallica’s equipment van outside the venue. Lars Ulrich’s drum kit was stolen, as were frontman James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett’s Marshall head cabinets. Financial inconvenience aside, the robbery temporarily stalled their momentum. Understandably, they were gutted.
