The Reasons Why Metallica Uses Ennio Morricone's Music During Their Live Shows
Ennio Morricone was an Italian composer, author of several cinema soundtracks including Roman Polanski’s “Frantic” (1988), Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso” (1988), and Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” (2015).
The composer died on July 5th 2020 in a clinic in Rome, where he had been hospitalized following a fall in which his femur fractured. He was 91 years old.
The influence of Ennio on Rock and Metal music has been enormous but there is one specific band that has used his music for several years now.
That band is the legendary American metal act Metallica.
Metallica's concerts have changed a lot over the past few decades, but some things remain the same - One of these things is the concert's intro music, which has been Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" since the early days.
Ever since 1984, Metallica has used the music of Ennio Morricone as an introduction for their live shows.
Metallica explained their connection with Ennio Morricone during the 37th edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival, which took place in 2014.
The members of the band participated in this event presenting films chosen by each one of them James Hetfield explained the relationship between the film he chose and the opening song of the shows .
During a Q&A about the film 'The Good, the Bad & the Ugly', a classic movie with Clint Eastwood James said: "I don't remember the first time I saw it. I became a Clint Eastwood fan early on in my life" . "I actually identified with each person in the movie — the ugly one, the good and the bad. Without getting too deep, metaphorically, we all have that in us, we all have the potential to be each one of those"
"What I liked most about this film was that each of these characters had their own way of surviving; how they faced the desert, the war and more, just fighting for their lives".
Speaking specifically of the Ugly soundtrack number "The Ecstasy of Gold," James added the following "In the part where 'The Ecstasy Of Gold' plays in the film, that feeling of tension, of euphoria almost, we kind of try to convey that to the audience".
"We've been using the song since 83, 84. But it only became our fixed intro because our first intro idea was terrible" "A heart beating getting faster and faster and faster, and then we would start the show" "Our first manager said, 'This sucks'. You can do better than that" So he suggested 'The Ecstasy Of Gold' to us, and it was one of the best things he has ever done! I think that was the only thing we kept from him, wise advice "
7 years before this film festival, Metallica recorded the track "The Ecstasy Of Gold" The song was released on the tribute album "We All Love Ennio Morricone" This tribute album also features tracks recorded by Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters, among other stars.
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