Metallica: The $24.95 Book

by Ben Apatoff

"The metal band everybody knows—but nobody has ever figured out. Ben Apatoff has taken the ultimate deep dive into the dark legend of Metallica, one of rock's weirdest and most fascinating mysteries. In this brilliant book, he tells the definitive story of how a band of nobodies took on the world—and why the world will never be the same." —Rob Sheffield, author of Dreaming the Beatles THE $24.95 BOOK looks at Metallica's cultural significance, with chapters devoted to each member, each album, touring, fashion, books, film, influences, fandom, history, and more, exploring the band's ideologies along the way. With more than 125 million records sold worldwide, Metallica is the biggest metal band of all time. Four decades into their unparalleled career, Metallica is a massive cultural force who drastically changed the sound of popular music by creating their own rules. Yet for all their popularity, Metallica can seem impenetrable, raising more questions and inspiring more discourse as their mythos grows. Metallica, by dedicated fan and music journalist Ben Apatoff, including previously unpublished photos and a foreword by What Are You Doing Here? author Laina Dawes, provides an in-depth look at the band and their music that both die-hard fans and newcomers can enjoy.

320 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2021

Reviews

[Julius · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best and most definitive book I've read about Metallica so far, and I don't see that likely to change. Ben really nails what Metallica stands for, what they mean to their fans and to the world, why and how they did things and mostly, what makes them Metallica. Not as opioniated like Mick Wall's book about them, not as fact driven as most biographies, but insanely well researched and put together. Ben did not have any direct access to the band or the people surrounding them while writing this, using only open and public sources, which is impressive. This does make the only negative point about the book noticeable though; if you are extremely knowledgeable about the band, you won't learn much from the book. The most you'll learn are facts you might have forgotten over the years. Not a negative thing overall though.

The book is structured extremely well, with chronological chapters about the albums. Chapters about band members, music videos, literature and movies that inspired Metallica songs; all are sprinkled in throughout between the chapters.

An extremely enjoyable read, recommended to anyone who enjoys the band more than the average listener.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metallica the $24.95 Book is a well written and very approachable book. Most chapters felt like really good conversations with Ben Apatoff at a dive bar expounding on the various ways in which metallica kicks ass. It was great to get some background on the members of the band. Much that was new to me may be familiar territory to folks that have followed Metallica more closely but was presented in a very engaging way. As a casual fan of Metallica, I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy this book or even if I’d finish it. But I did!

I loved the biographical parts and was particularly moved by the chapter on Jason Newsted and what he brought to the band and what might have been if he had been given a better welcome.

There were moments that were too exhaustive for my taste (I don’t really need to know about the lesser music videos tbh) But on the whole I really enjoyed the book and getting to know more about the band. And Apatoff was a great guide, a fan who clearly knows his metal.

A great read for fans of any level. I ended buying a couple of extra copies for friends.

[Nick Spacek · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a fan's book, but apatoff's research is impeccable, going off on tangential chapters which make for a really thorough run-through of four decades of the world's biggest metal band. his honesty regarding missteps in the band's career makes for a read which will see a lot of headbangers nodding along: "yep, mm-hmm, st. anger is a trash fire."

humor abounds, references to any number of obscurities will make this a "you're in or you're out" kind of read, but for those who know their minutiae will be amply rewarded, and it's intriguing enough to pull in dilettantes, as well.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these men and this was a great book.

[Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome successes, like Master of Puppets, the Black Album, the video for "One", and the band's ability to grow and learn and change over time. This is a book for scholars and fans, by a scholar and fan.

The other great thing about this book is that I learned a few new things. Not factoids, but different ways of humanizing these metal gods. My absolute favorite line in the book is the one about Cliff finding out he's making enough money to buy a house and getting pumped to have a place to use his knife-launcher. It broke my heart all over again to think of how young Cliff really was. I also have a new appreciation for how groundbreaking Metallica was/is. I was only 4 when Kill 'em All came out, so I wasn't living Metallica as they happened.

Anyway, I highly recommend to all metal fans, and really most music fans. Or just, anyone interested in how Metallica fits into pop culture.

YE-AH!

[Manon Kroon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book on Tumblr and after a few months, I finally bought this back in December 2021. I had no expectations of this book, but I ended up loving it. This book goes into detail about the band's history and also talks about albums like Master Of Puppets, Death Magnetic and Hardwired. Every member gets a chapter and everyone, with the exception for Robert Trujillo, gets a large chapter in which we also get some background information about the members. Even boxsets these guys released between 2016 and 2018, the Black Album box set isn't included in the book, are being talked about. This book gives you a great overview of the band, which is active for 40 years.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok read. There are better Metallica books out there, for sure. I would really like to know what is wrong with 'Load" and "Re-Load" albums in the authors eyes. He speaks like these are universally panned albums. Nothing could be further from the truth. His trashing of Unforgiven II is comical. 79 mil spins on Spotify says differently.

[Lee Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty comprehensive history of the band covering a aspects of their fandom and every album. You can tell the author thinks they are one of the most important rock bands of their era justifiably so.

[Richard Trujillo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author immediately and continually wants to paint Metallica as champions for the left wing political establishment. Incredibly annoying and incorrect and pretty much ruins an otherwise good read.