VMPHOTO

Cliff Burton had already written the bass intro to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” before joining Metallica. He had performed an early version of the riff with his pre-Metallica band, Agents of Misfortune, at a Battle of the Bands in 1981. When Burton brought the idea to Metallica, James Hetfield added the heavy guitar accents, helping turn Burton's unusual bass line into one of the band's most recognisable openings. Recorded for Metallica's 1984 album Ride the Lightning, the song was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same name. And the “bell” heard at the beginning isn't actually a traditional bell: at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, drummer Lars Ulrich struck a huge cast-iron anvil with a metal hammer to create the sound. The recording was combined with a bell sound from a sound-effects reel, giving the intro its distinctive metallic character. The album credits list Ulrich as playing “drums, anvil.”