Beatallica

Beatallica emerged from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a quartet of musical satirists whose guitar-driven hybrid fuses Metallica’s crushing metallic force with the Beatles’ unmatched melodic craft, earning them a global following for their irreverent collision of the two acts. Their history opened in 2001 when vocalist and guitarist Michael Tierney assembled performers for Spoof Fest, Milwaukee’s yearly showcase in which area musicians present short sets lampooning famous artists. Collaborating with guitarist Michael Brandenburg, Tierney fashioned several numbers that retained Beatles melodies but accelerated them to Metallica’s velocity and layered them with thrash-metal guitar textures while revising the words to evoke both bands simultaneously, transforming “For No One” into “For Horsemen” and “Taxman” into “Sandman.” The hybrid material proved a hit with that evening’s crowd, prompting Tierney, Brandenburg, bassist Lee Bruso, and drummer Ryan Charles to capture the same set inside a studio. The four musicians produced the seven-track EP A Garage Dayz Nite, pressed fifty copies, and distributed them gratis to sidestep potential legal issues; they also performed under pseudonyms, with Tierney adopting the name Jaymz Lennfield, Brandenburg becoming Krk Hammettson, Bruso answering to Kliff McBurtney, and Charles answering to Ringo Larz.

Internet-radio host Dave Dixon obtained a copy of A Garage Dayz Nite and began broadcasting the tracks online; the volume of listener requests led him to launch a dedicated fan site that hosted the EP’s MP3 files—an undertaking of which Tierney and his bandmates remained unaware until the page had already tallied more than 100,000 visits. Momentum continued with a second EP issued in 2004 under the title Beatallica (sometimes referred to by fans as The Grey Album). One year later Sony/ATV Music Publishing, owners of publishing rights to numerous Beatles compositions, issued a cease-and-desist notice to the band’s webmaster and sought monetary damages. Unexpected assistance arrived from Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, who had first encountered the Beatles-centered parodies after a journalist played selections for him and singer-guitarist James Hetfield; both Metallica members became supporters, and Ulrich enlisted the band’s legal counsel to negotiate a resolution with Sony/ATV.

In summer 2007 Beatallica surfaced with its first commercially available album, Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band, featuring a revised roster: Michael Brandenburg departed and Jeff Salzman joined as guitarist Grg Hammettson, while Lee Bruso was succeeded by Paul Terrien, who retained the stage name Kliff McBurtney. All You Need Is Blood appeared the following year, followed by Masterful Mystery Tour in 2009.