1988-1992 Golden years.

Seattle, 1989 the best

The transition from Puppets to Justice/Black era vocals are always mind boggling to me

it's not really hos voice died, it's the distortion in his voice left

He's technically a better singer now more than ever. He has more range, vocal accuracy and control. He did go through a rough patch in the early 2000s but his old grit has come back to a rate that's actually safe to sing at. The way I see it he sounds like the 1985 version of himself that has just aged and got better at singing. Back in 85 he didn't put that much grit in his vocals at all if you listen, just in the odd bit like he does now.

IMO weakest vocals were 1994-2003. He's been improving ever since, and in 2014 he has an incredible voice for a nearly 51 year old after 13 years of snarling vocals and blowing it twice in 4 years :P

'89, '91, '92 were the best.

CONSTANT CHILL DEEP INSAEEEEEEEEEEE!!

did this video seriously start with greenday....?

How the hell did his voice change so much between 1988 and 1989? I get aging and alcohol over time and stuff but man it was such a jump between 1 year. Seattle 89 was their absolute best performance btw.

Classic James Hetfield 1984-1987 - childhood 1988-1992 - young and dangerous 1993-1995 - illness and death

He still sounds pretty good in 1999, the S&M was a very powerful performance

The sad true, we all get old :(

I have a theory that when he blew his voice out during The Black Album, his voice may have came back for a while but I think he did permanent damage and his vocal cords never really healed. So over the years the scarring or whatever just got worse and worse. Either way the man is still my hero

Best vocals in 1989, best performance of Metallica was in fact in Seattle in 1989! Amazing Hetfield and Amazing concert!

Jame's peak live was the Justice tour, the band's peak as a performing act was the Justice tour. Jame's best recorded vocals was the new disc of Garage Inc, as was the band's. They never sounded tighter.

Metallica were definatly at thier best in the late 80's / early 90's

1983 to 20__ are the best years for metallica

I think james was at his prime in august 1989

It’s like when Jason cut his hair, James started losing his voice

When I listen to some 2019 Metallica concerts, I thing James sings better than in 2000s, it's obviously not like 89 but he's still very good singer

voice is good all along. he just aged and drank alot of liquor

Four things to consider - 1. our voices degrade and change over time as we age, his being used to its limits when touring and making albums is under more stress than a regular persons voice is. 2. Each live gig is different, one night he might feel good and voice is fine so it sounds decent then another night he might have the flu or something and not sound that good. 3. They did different tuning and altered bits of the way they play the songs including how he sang the lyrics as they want variation when singing them as much as fans do when hearing it - nobody wants a clone of the albums otherwise why bother going to see them live in concert!?. 4. He said in 1993 that he started professional singing tutoring because he was damaging his voice so he had to alter the way he sang to save his voice so that he can continue to sing at-all.

Always amazes me when I hear people whining that his voice has changed. Of course it has. When they first started out he was just winging it. Around the Justice and Black album era, he started vocal training to actually learn how to sing , hence keep his voice. Humans change as they age, so do the vocal chords.He's been wailing professionally for 36 years for fuck sake!

Lol green day intro

I really disagree with your analysis. Basically in the 90's he dialed back the growl and started singing cleaner. He was probably killing his vocal chords doing it night in and night out the old way, and couldn't keep it up as he got older.

He is still amazing no matter what.. will always be a god of metal..

There's a BIG diff between his young voice to his old voice....common sense!

He simply matured as a vocalist. He figured out that he better take care of the pipes a little better if he wanted to keep singing. That growling style is murder on the chords over years.

his voice isn't dying in 1993, he just changes the way he sings since he clearly doesnt like blewing his voice out every time he sings. check out "so what mtv 1996", you'll know how can you say his voice is dying if he is just less harsh on his screaming

the 2016 voice is actually powerful

The transition between 80’s James and 90’s James happens so fast

Damn in December 1992 and 1993 you can clearly hear that he's desperately trying to get his voice to sound like it used to, but we all know James' voice had to change for the worse... Still a great vocalist!

Oh God, I so remember in the 80's the teen boys in my neighborhood and some of the girls who liked Metallica. They all wore the black t-shirts. The atmosphere, feeling in the air, people's mind sets were so different, it's impossible for someone who has never lived through the 80's to fully grasp how different it was. It really was like a different planet.

From the looks of it, he went hardcore until about 91'. After that he realized his vocals would blow at quickly if he kept it up or just couldn't anymore and spent the next 10+ years switching and protecting it. Today we are getting him more refined than he ever had in his career. Which i do not mind at all.

Sadly i was born in 2010 so i never get to experience James's old voice live

I'm still impressed how James changed his voice from his classic screaming kid-toned to his roaring and imposing "man" vocals towards the late 80's to early 90's! If only the damage hadn't already been done early on, he'd probably still have his most incredible vocals to this day, instead of being pretty conservative(which is understandable for his age and condition though) with his singing.

1989 vocals + cliff would have been probably known as the greatest Metallica era ever

2007 sounds like jason on the echos LOL

1994 james' voice died? look at bleeding me in the 99'

The San Diego 1992 synthetise everything what James was from 1987, into a more mature and thicker in the same notes and the support and the pitch is so on point . Its really solid

First of all, yeah, he is still great. I don't care if he was greater before. The thing is that he is still at a level that he is able to play, which is great. That's why I went to 2 concerts

R.I.P old badass James' voice

Singing like this can do serious damage to your vocal chords if not done properly (even more so than death/black metal vocal styles) Sure Jame's voice isn't what is use to be, but at least he is still able to preform.

into the 90s he stopped grinding his voice, singing cleanly, probably saved his career. James actually blew out his voice on Stone Cold Crazy, so he had to re-boot his singing voice, or not sing at all. He still sounds good

You're hearing any random show when you listen to a single clip from a tour. A singer can randomly sound different on any given night. I'm not saying his voice didn't change over time. But to take one clip from one show and call the whole year that, would likely be inaccurate.

The echo from 1986 gives me chills!! 🤘🤘

You have to admit that the sound engineer on Seattle Concert was also in his best shape haha 🤘🏼

This might be off topic considering the video is about the voice, but I can’t stop listening to the 1986 bass, Cliff was such a genius 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

What I love about this though is that you can tell it’s James, like he still has that sound from when he first recorded his vocals. Even though he’s not as growly or whatever in like 2009, you can still hear that 20 odd year olds voice :’) so unique 😭

I was born in '95. I can only imagine what it must've been like to hear a peak James sing live in the early '90s.

since 1990 you can hear how technically changes his voice it becomes more harmonic

I honestly like 93- early 2000s, his voice was getting grainier. it sounded more deep and humble, now his voice has a growl to it makes it powerful and absolutely badass.

Que buen video mostrando los cambios en la voz de james!

Every James vocal up until, like, 1995, is legendary. Now it's not as much, but it's good. Not horrible.

his voice in early 1992 was amazing too, and in the beginning from the Black Album Anniversary Tour his voice was awesome

Also, realize that the Seattle 1989 concert was processed in post-production.....I agree his voice was best then but they layered his vocals after the concert.

2007 and up was pretty good

At 6:53 is when that little old James voice gone :_(

95 sounds like he’s puberty again

i really think 1996-1999 was james best voice. it was a mix of his strong rasp and his awesome melodic voice.

I still don't understand how James himself, the rest of the band, the label and management thought it was a good idea to continue touring for 2 years after he blew out his voice again in late 92. Some 93 and 94 shows are alright, but when he goes high in 1994 in this video you can hear he's straining his voice. What I also find strange is how he lost a bit of 'control' along with it, as he's seemingly articulating less from 1995 until recently. Shows between St.Anger and Death Magnetic were especially bad on that front.. Some 2017 and especially 2018 shows seemed a lot better, which makes it even weirder and I'd love to find out what changed in recent years for him to regain articulation and even some growl.

This video needs an urgent update, post covid James sounds sick af

James have a great voice!!! Still have it

I remember reading an interview with James around black album era and simply stated he decided to take some vocal training because he realised he was damaging his vocal chords and wanted to be able to continue for years to come. Im glad he did. No, hes not an angry young lad anymore. Thats called maturing. Both physically and mentally.

This is why I always listen to Metallicas before 92 album versions ❤️

they were the heaviset in 1989 and '91 and '92

He's my favorite metal vocalist of all time, maybe my favorite of any genre

Just appreciate that piece of art and dont analyze it. Listen to the show you like, songs you like and let it be. Thats my policy because its obvious bands will never sound the same as in their best years, but still... i am grateful i may listen to them, see them and have respect for them. (Any kind of band I love)

did this guy's intro just predict 72 seasons

Is it me, or as James lost his voice, the tone of the guitars lost its balls?

Seattle 1989... THE BEST

This is why proper vocals should be learned early. Just think how godly his voice would be if he had been taught proper technique in the early 80's.

His Voice is always good. Now he is still a amazing Singer

89 sounds great, but there's also a lot better audio and better PA system I guess. I like the newer James vocals, I think he sounds awesome, it's almost like 2 different people.

James has said in interviews he hates his old "squeakish" voice. I feel like if he actually liked it he'd still train his vocals to be high-pitched like they were in the 1980s.

Good edit 🔥🔥

James best voice is 1995 - 2000. Very close second is late 80s to early 90s.

My favorite years for James vocals are probably 1986 and the eras of 1996-1999. 1986, because he still has that youthful screamy feeling, whilst being more listenable than before. They were really talented for how young they were. 1996-1999 because he had some amazing talent there for the Load-era and S&M. He was a great singer back then. I used to love 1989 and 1991 as much as everyone else, but I started to appreciate James' earlier vocals more. I think I like him better with a higher voice, like Puppets-era. Alternatively, his more talented singing in 1996-1999 for his versatility.

I don't see the point in analyzing James voice considering he does a very raw style, not mention it's also careless singing.

Love the song you used for your intro

2021 he sounds amazing

Something about when you approach 30 years of age. Find me any male singer who does aggressive vocals in their career, and it's like when they get close to 30, their voice either deepens, softens, or gets rougher. James' voice deepened and softened. Corey Taylor's got deeper and rougher. Jonathan Davis' voice seemed to have gotten higher pitched, probably due to vocal lessons, but it lost it's rasp. Phil Anselmo's got deeper, and rougher, and in recent years lost range. The difference in Phil and the other singers, I think Phil gives probably the least amounts of shits. He smokes like a BBQ pit master, and he screams till his voice is shot, and most shows he barely has a voice left. The other singers I listed before either sought help from vocal trainers or they showed some restraint. Some, like Jonathan Davis and Corey Taylor got better live singing voices as a result. Others just lost their edge. I know for sure, James got help from a vocal trainer, and you can hear it. Even outside of heavy music, a voice changes. Elvis's voice changed. Sinatra's voice changed drastically. Bing Crosby's voice changed. That's just the nature of the voice. James went from a healthy amount of shows, to almost no recovery time, due to the success of the black album, and I think that really wrecked his voice.

His voice didnt die he just switched his singing style

He lost the vocal fry around 1992. That is what made his classic sound.

Before 1995 there was still E tune xD

I just love the early James voice, so pure and angry. Its like a psychopath singing. Love it.

I love the James old voice, it was not super great but it was also super great

This same thing would have happened to Kurt Cobain....hard to sing with that young grit when you get older.

I think now in 2013 James' voice is very sufficient. It will never be the way it was in the 80's, but just listen to it now, it has definitely improved since say 2008. Metallica forever!!!!

He was at his best in 1990 or so but for this song he was the best back in 84 when they recorded RTL. More of a powerful shout back in his early 20s.

muchas gracias :)

12:43 James did really good

1987-1992, best james vocals...

His voice for sad but true for S&M was amazing. And the end he did that vocal thing and it's still one of my favs. That entire concert he had an amazing voice.

You can notice how the slowed the tempo of the song as well lol I think is mostly old age, but the best is 1989. I love his voice since is deeper and he sounds like a grown man and not a teen

That's the thing. What people think was "best" voice was just a dangerous, full of incorrect techniques screaming. No surprise he damaged his voice. 1994 record was actually VERY good. Just sang in a different manner. After issues with vocals, he took lotta lessons and found how to "scream" without damaging his vocal cords (so called "false" screaming which isn't super loud and is not pushing too much air thru your vocal cords, which is one of the reasons many vocalists damage their voices)

I like his voice back in 1984 and 1989 when i was young teenager I been to metallica concert many time

That concert in, Seattle in 1989 is probably by far the best sounding James sounded and the band played.

what the hell happened from January of 1989 to August of 1989?!?! vast improvement in my opinion!!!