As we celebrate James Hetfield’s birthday day, James reflects on Metallica’s first ballad, “Fade to Black”. As James Hetfield tells it, it was the first time the band was accused of selling out.

“‘Fade to Black’ was the first time we got some guff from fans. ‘Ooh, you sold out. You did a ballad.’ Wow. Okay. ‘What’s sell out mean to you, my friend?’ You know. And you have to sit and explain to everyone that ‘sell out’ means you’ve done something you don’t want to do, or you’ve compromised for someone else. And everything we write is for us.”

Metallica frontman James Hetfieldwas born on August 3rd, 1963.