ron mcgovney (Indonesia)

Name : Ron McGovney

HardRock Store

Born : 2 November 1962

Position : Bass (1982)

Profile

Ron McGovney, (born November 2, 1962 ) was Metallica's first bass player when they formed in the early 1980s. He was replaced by Cliff Burton. After leaving/being dismissed from Metallica, McGovney was disillusioned with music and sold most of his equipment. However, several years later, he was enticed into another band called Phantasm with ex-Hirax (at that time) singer Katon W. De Pena. McGovney found the label of "Metallica's first bassist" too difficult to handle, and he left Phantasm after a handful of shows. McGovney met James Hetfield in junior high school. They became friends through a mutual love of heavy rock, and alienation from their peers. Hetfield convinced McGovney to learn bass guitar, rented a bass guitar and an amplifier, and proceeded to teach McGovney. Soon, the two of them moved into one of McGovney's parents' rental houses, which was due to be demolished.

At the time James and Ron were in a band called Leather Charm with guitar player, Hugh Tanner. Tanner later decided that he wanted to pursue music management, and left the band. James and Ron then met guitarist Troy James and drummer Jim Mulligan, the latter of whom left the band shortly afterward. Hugh Tanner then introduced them to Lars Ulrich, a Danish drummer. But James had already met this Danish drummer at a previous concert that they had both attended. This was the foundation upon which Metallica was built. While Ron was the only one who had a steady job, this gave James and Lars a lot of time to practice their art. However, the downfall of that was that any time they needed a big chunk of money, Ron would undoubtedly pony up the cash. James and Lars were having 12-hour marathon practice sessions. It was necessary as Lars was not that great of a drummer starting out, but with his determination and with Ron McGovney's digs, they were able to master their craft.

McGovney noted that his time in Metallica was not enjoyable. The main reason being that playing music was just a "side-gig" for him and he had so many other things that he wanted to do. McGovney was not as passionate about playing music as James and Lars were. McGovney found himself being not only the bassist, but also the manager of the band, having to do promotion work (he was responsible for the "Power Metal" slogan that Metallica used in its early days) as well as drive the band to gigs. He believed that his efforts in the band were not appreciated, and felt insulted when the band began searching for a new bassist, Cliff Burton, behind his back. McGovney was ready to quit the band whenever they hired Dave Mustaine as the lead guitarist. Mustaine was not trusted by McGovney for various reasons, (lying, stealing, etc.) Also, the general impression that Mustaine made on McGovney was, understandably, very bad. The others, however, got along to some extent due to a shared musical passion.

Another event, said to be the reason that McGovney left the band, is that during one practice, McGovney and Mustaine became involved in an argument which ended in Mustaine pouring his beer over McGovney's bass guitar, which shorted out, giving McGovney a shock when he plugged it in.

McGovney recorded several demos with Metallica including one from his own garage in '82, the Power Metal Demo, No Life 'Til Leather and the notable live demo, Metal Up Your Ass. Hit The Lights was a song that eventually went on the Metal Massacre Vol. 1 album and the solo in the song itself was not played by Dave Mustaine, as he had not yet joined the band. They brought in guitarist Lloyd Grant to do the solo for the piece [Hit The Lights].

Source : www.wikipedia.com