James Hetfield opens up in interview

Road Warrior Number of posts : 17180 Age : 48

METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD Explains Why DAVE MUSTAINE 'Had To Go' - June 3, 2009

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was interviewed for the July 2009 issue of U.K.'s Classic Rock magazine. A few excerpts from the lengthy chat follow below.

Classic Rock: Were you glad to see the back of [former METALLICA guitarist and current MEGADETH leader] Dave Mustaine?

Hetfield: I don't know if "glad" is the right word, but it was necessary. There would have been myself, Lars [Ulrich, drums] and him all trying to drive and it would have been this triangulated mess. It's obvious that he had the same drive as us — he went on to do great things in MEGADETH. The way things are now, the character dynamics, Lars and I are one half of the scale with Rob [Trujillo, bass] and Kirk [Hammett, guitar] on the other. They're great idea people but very good at being okay with someone else driving. It does take that, I think. They're very un-ego-driven and Lars and I are the other way, it seems. That's what I've been told. [Laughs] So back then Dave had to go.

Classic Rock: In "Some Kind Of Monster", he seems fairly unhappy about that.

Hetfield: He's an amazing, talented person. Maybe just part of his character is having a chip on his shoulder. If I got kicked out of METALLICA, I would have one too. Ron McGovney, our first bass player — very big chip on his shoulder. They're never able to really be comfortable in the now, and that's tough to see. Lars did say that too in the interview: "Can't you see what you've done?" But none of that matters because he's chasing something unreachable.

Classic Rock: Were you uncomfortable with the band's new image for "Load"?

Hetfield: Most definitely. Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole "We need to reinvent ourselves" topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego.

I couldn't get into it. The whole, "Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going to be '70s glam rockers." Like, what? I would say half — at least half — the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling.

Classic Rock: What didn't you like about the cover?

Hetfield: [Laughs] How can I put this? I guess when I talked [earlier in the interview] about the resentments of being left out of the bond that they had through their drug use — Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art, pretending they were merry. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of "Load" was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid smurf poo that they felt they needed to do.

Classic Rock: A lot was made of the haircuts at the time. Was that a group decision?

Hetfield: [Laughs] It wasn't like we went in together and went, "Hey, can we get a deal on four haircuts?" It just slowly happened, with age, thinning hair. Long hair just didn't feel right anymore.

Classic Rock: Musically, was that the first time METALLICA was unsure?

Hetfield: I would say so. That whole period. Why do we need to reinvent ourselves? A lot of the fans got turned off quite a bit by the music, but mostly, I think, by the image.

Classic Rock: Were you uneasy about Kirk and Lars kissing in the photographs?

Hetfield: Totally. That's why they did it. I'm the driving force behind their homosexual adventures. I think drugs had something to do with it too. I hope. [Laughs] There are many times in our career that people have jumped ship, and that's going to happen. It's more hurtful to hear, "Okay, people are stomping METALLICA records because they're suing Napster."

Guest

I'm surprised James would allow Kirk to "drive" at all...

Road Warrior Number of posts : 17180 Age : 48

Shawn Of Fire wrote:: I'm surprised James would allow Kirk to "drive" at all...

Yeah, i thought that too... but it must of been around the time he was drinking too much.

Bukkake Tsunami Number of posts : 25557 Age : 53

How long has it been now? 26 years? What more needs to be said on the subject? Lazy interviewers with nothing interesting to ask, so they just keep dredging up the past.

_________________
I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too.

Master Of The Crotch Grab Number of posts : 6841 Age : 50

Shawn Of Fire wrote:: I'm surprised James would allow Kirk to "drive" at all...

Creeping Death was pretty much written by him actually. Just grab up Exodus' Die By His Hand demo, its pretty much that song with some changes.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 5704 Age : 49

Creeping Death has a whole lot of changes from Die by my Hand.

Yeah, I wouldn't allow Kirk to drive. Just listen to his solos these days!!!! He sounds like he hasn't practiced in years.

Master Of The Crotch Grab Number of posts : 6841 Age : 50

Temple of Blood wrote:: Creeping Death has a whole lot of changes from Die by my Hand.

Yeah, I wouldn't allow Kirk to drive. Just listen to his solos these days!!!! He sounds like he hasn't practiced in years.

Its still similar enough to know where it came from. My point is, he did have creative input that was good.

Road Warrior Number of posts : 17180 Age : 48

He also wrote "Impaler" while in exodus but overall he hasn't done much.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2256 Age : 40

Troublezone wrote:: He also wrote "Impaler" while in exodus but overall he hasn't done much.

Besides 95 % of all of Metallica's friggin' solo's!!

Plus, he is credited in several songs on the first four albums, not just the Loads.

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2256 Age : 40

Oh, and he wrote the classic Enter Sandman riff as well.

Guest

Kirk does a lot. It's just that he doesn't "drive" a lot. If Lars/James did not like what Kirk came up with, they would veto it and simply not use it. He's allowed contributions based on Lars'/James' approval.

Administrator Number of posts : 19452 Age : 57

MetalGuy71 wrote:: How long has it been now? 26 years? What more needs to be said on the subject? Lazy interviewers with nothing interesting to ask, so they just keep dredging up the past.

Yes, but this is "Classic rock" magazine, thus they ask a lot of questions about the past that people are still interested in reading.

_________________
ULTIMATUM - TOO METAL FOR WIKIPEDIA!

Guest

I thought that was a decent interview. All those dudes were so young and permanently drunk in the 80s...it's no wonder they had issues getting along.

Guest

He sounds more relaxed then in some past interviews.

Subject: Re: James Hetfield opens up in interview Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:06 pm

I'd have thought Kirk would want to stay with the thrash-metal-blinding solo approach. Apparently, I was wrong.

Metal master Number of posts : 638 Age : 49

xyz wrote:: I'd have thought Kirk would want to stay with the thrash-metal-blinding solo approach. Apparently, I was wrong.

I remember him saying way back when Load was about to be released that he was the guy in Metallica that was really into alternative rock and wanted to experiment with that kind of sound more often. OTOH, he obviously wasn't happy when Lars barred him from solos altogether on St. Anger.

Metal is in my blood Number of posts : 3325 Age : 53

I don't know that we ever really gain much more perspective, as it relates to Dave Mustaine and his days in Metallica (well, at least I don't), but it is nice to hear that James thinks Dave went onto to great things with Megadeth. He's been more than a little apprehensive in the past to acknowledge Dave/Megadeth's role in metal.

**In the cutting room floor excerpts from Megadeth "Behind The Music", Lars admits to being happy for Dave's success with the Peace Sells album, and how he thought that was a great record. Lars then states how he had to secretly keep those feelings from James (James of course was sitting right by him while Lars was stating this, with pretty much nothing to add).**

I think the most interesting tidbit of info was how much James hated the whole "Load" period, and the reinvention of the band from a purely fashion sense. It was fairly obvious to me in reading from articles years back that James was never into the covers for Load/Re-Load, and that he and Lars were coming from two very different places. Lars obsessions were Art/Oasis/& whatever seemed trendy. I'm surprised that James never put his foot down and stated that the band was going a little too far with what he called their 70's glam stage. I never saw James as an appeaser, and I figured that he was fairly okay with that whole direction. I know Jason hated the whole look, but that was never really a surprise to me.

I'm actually surprised that the band survived that period, considering the resentment James seems to have over that period in the band. I wish the interviewer would've addressed the music on those albums as well. James isn't one to trash his own music, but it's fairly evident that the band have moved on from that period, considering they've barely been pulling anything out of those albums for what is the current set list on this tour.

Here's another little funny thing regarding the Load years. I remember when Dave Mustaine was being interviewed sometime after the Load album came out. He stated that Lars was giving him crap, because Megadeth weren't a band that were taking many chances (I disagree, when you look at both the Countdown and Youthanasia up until that point). Dave's response was, "Why, am I supposed to be tongue F**king my drummer these days"? LOL!

Anyways Troublezone thank you for unearthing this article!

Subject: Re: James Hetfield opens up in interview Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:21 pm

I remember watching "Some Kind Of Monster," and Lars was saying he was "attracted" to Mustaine's and Hetfield's masculine nature. I'm not trying to say Lars is a homosexual or anything, but it seemed that any softening in Metallica's music would come from Lars or Kirk, definitely not James or Jason.

Metal is in my blood Number of posts : 3012 Age : 35

just some more of the old yada, yada, yada.

Subject: Re: James Hetfield opens up in interview Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:06 pm

sam wrote:: just some more of the old yada, yada, yada.

I don't think so. As I stated before, I think James always seemed to be more rebellious in terms of music. He doesn't seem like the one who would try to become more mainstream.

Road Warrior Number of posts : 17180 Age : 48

xyz wrote:: I remember watching "Some Kind Of Monster," and Lars was saying he was "attracted" to Mustaine's and Hetfield's masculine nature. I'm not trying to say Lars is a homosexual or anything, but it seemed that any softening in Metallica's music would come from Lars or Kirk, definitely not James or Jason.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lars and Kirk were bisexual... they are definately the more feminine guys in the band. It would have been more disturbing if James and Jason tongue kissed. Shocked

Ate his vegetables Number of posts : 4958 Age : 34

Troublezone wrote:: I wouldn't be surprised if Lars and Kirk were bisexual... they are definately the more feminine guys in the band. It would have been more disturbing if James and Jason tongue kissed.

Kirk is a sexy beast. $\'arry \'eadbanger$

Road Warrior Number of posts : 17180 Age : 48

Schbopo wrote:

Troublezone wrote:: I wouldn't be surprised if Lars and Kirk were bisexual... they are definately the more feminine guys in the band. It would have been more disturbing if James and Jason tongue kissed.

Kirk is a sexy beast. $\'arry \'eadbanger$

Does he give you wet dreams? Laughing

Heart of Metal Number of posts : 2096 Age : 61

I like Load, but nothing after that.

Metal is Forever Number of posts : 7831 Age : 44

Good thread, Dave's batter without them though IMO.