S & M

S&M (aka Symphony and Metallica) is a live album by American heavy metal band Metallica, with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Kamen. It was recorded on April 21 and 22, 1999, at The Berkeley Community Theatre. This is the final Metallica album to feature bassist Jason Newsted. S&M contains performances of Metallica songs with additional symphonic accompaniment, composed by Michael Kamen, who also conducted the orchestra during the concert. According to James Hetfield, the idea to combine heavy metal with an epic classical approach was Cliff Burton's idea. His love of classical music, especially of Johann Sebastian Bach, can be found in many instrumental parts and melodic characteristics in Metallica's songwriting, including songs from Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986). Kamen, who arranged and conducted the orchestral background tracks for "Nothing Else Matters", met the band at the 1992 Grammy award show for the first time, and after hearing the "Elevator version" of the song, suggested the band perform with a whole orchestra; the band, however, did not take him up on the offer until seven years later. Lars Ulrich's favorite band Deep Purple, whom he colorfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, is noted for having kicked off this kind of approach 30 years before, in Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969), although it had actually been done multiple times before, most notably with the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed in 1967. In addition to songs from previous albums spanning Ride the Lightning through Reload, there are two new compositions: "No Leaf Clover" and "−Human". "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone, Metallica's entrance music, was played live by the orchestra. "No Leaf Clover" has since been performed by Metallica in concert, using a recording of the orchestral prelude. Changes were made to the lyrics of some songs, most notably the removal of the second verse and chorus of "The Thing That Should Not Be" and playing the third verse in its place. The "S" in the stylized "S&M" on the album cover is a backwards treble clef, while the "M" is taken from Metallica's logo. The drum kit Ulrich used on the album currently resides in a Guitar Center in San Francisco.