Metallica and San Francisco Symphony: S&M (1999) on Netflix

NR19992h 30mDocumentary Music

In April 1999 Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony share the Berkeley Community Theatre stage over two nights. The band plays its songs with symphonic accompaniment and two new pieces.

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Netflix4.4/5
IMDb8.8/104,553 votes
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Plot summary

The San Francisco Symphony's conductor, who arranged and conducted the orchestral backing on one of Metallica's songs, met the band at the 1992 Grammy awards and proposed a concert with a full orchestra. Seven years passed before the band took him up on it. On April 21 and 22, 1999, the Berkeley Community Theatre hosted two nights of Metallica songs with symphonic accompaniment, spanning Ride the Lightning through Reload, with two new compositions, No Leaf Clover and −Human. The orchestra also played Ennio Morricone's The Ecstasy of Gold, the band's entrance music.

Cast

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Metallica and San Francisco Symphony: S&M (1999)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Michael Kamen, who had arranged the orchestral backing for "Nothing Else Matters", met Metallica at the 1992 Grammy awards and suggested the band perform with a whole orchestra; they only took him up on it seven years later.
James Hetfield credits the idea of combining heavy metal with an epic classical approach to Cliff Burton, whose love of Johann Sebastian Bach is audible in Metallica's songwriting on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
For S&M, changes were made to the lyrics of some songs: the second verse and chorus of "The Thing That Should Not Be" were removed and the third verse played in its place.