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Credit: Florian Reischauer
James Hetfield’s favourite band of all time
You don’t get much more iconic than Metallica’s James Hetfield when it comes to metal frontmen. The guitarist and singer in one of the most influential metal bands of all time, Hetfield’s additions to culture have been manifold.
Be it his early out-and-out thrash licks with the band, his refined melodic work on 1991’s Metallica, or his muscly, hard-rock oriented work on tracks such as ‘St. Anger’ or ‘I Disappear’, Hetfield has enjoyed a long and varied career, which sees him hailed as both a legendary vocalist and guitarist.
Hetfield formed the band with drummer Lars Ulrich in 1981 after they connected via an advert in a magazine, and over the ’80s, they would rise to become one of the biggest and most exciting bands on the planet. Albums such as 1984’s Ride The Lightning and 1986’s Master Of Puppets remain as influential as they were over 30 years ago, a testament to the band and Hetfield’s songwriting prowess.
Given that Hetfield is such a titan of metal, fans have long been intrigued by the question of what artists informed his artistry. Namchecking everyone from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Sex Pistols and Venom, Hetfield had a penchant for the more challenging, darker side of rock, and this is what allowed him and the band to create such a visceral style in the early ’80s.
Luckily for fans, during an interview with San Jose Sharks in 2015, Hetfield named his favourite band of all time, and it was a rather unsurprising choice. He said: “Favourite all-time band is hard because there is so many. Led Zeppelin is in there, Motörhead, boy… they all offer a little bit different. But if I was stuck for one… Black Sabbath”.
For those well-acquainted with James Hetfield and Metallica, the frontman’s choice to go with the Birmingham metal pioneers was expected. You can hear the darkness of Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi’s riffs permeating Hetfield’s sound, particularly in the early days, even if Metallica’s style is no way near as sludgy.
Additionally, Hetfield has mentioned Black Sabbath at many points. In 2006, Hetfield and Ulrich were lucky enough to induct Sabbath into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During his speech, Hetfield said: “Black Sabbath is mammoth riffs with menacing lyrics that make me oh so happy’, that was going to be my speech and that was it. But Springsteen kind of upped the ante last year.”
After toying with the crowd, Hetfield clarified: “I’ll go a little deeper, picture a nine-year-old boy, quiet, well behaved on the outside but on the inside boiling and dying for life to burst open with any sort of stimulation. The discovery of music was what was to burst it wide open, but not just any music. This was more than just music. (It was) a powerful, loud, heavy sound that moved his soul”.
Black Sabbath are one of the most influential outfits of all time. Without them, heavy metal wouldn’t have existed, neither would James Hetfield the thrash metal pioneer. If you were to delete Black Sabbath’s contributions from the annals of music, life today would look very different. The implications of this are tremendous, and it is indicative of just how essential the Birmingham quartet were.
Listen to Black Sabbath’ Paranoid’ below.
