The hardest working musician in classic rock, according to James Hetfield: “Insane”
Slash is a musician who has spent the majority of his life on the road. His work ethic is strong, but even he tipped his hat to James Hetfield and the guys from Metallica because of their commitment to the craft.
When Guns N’ Roses hit the road with Metallica, the timing couldn’t have been worse for the lads behind Appetite for Destruction. The band was already falling apart at the seams, with egos running wild and arguments breaking out left, right and centre. Axl Rose wasn’t exactly helping matters either – showing up late to gigs and acting like he was in it for himself, not the rest of the group.
Chances are, Slash would have become tired of this attitude regardless, but the fact that it was happening while the band were touring with who he considered some of the hardest working men in rock was the icing on the cake. The final straw came on a night when Metallica needed the band to start earlier, and Axl didn’t.
“Not only did we not go on early enough to fill the void left by Metallica, we went on three hours later than our OWN scheduled stage time,” said Slash discussing the show in question, “In the end it was something like four hours between the time Metallica were forced to stop the show and the moment we took the stage, and once we did, Axl ended it early.”
He continued, “It was actually a huge issue for me because I’d lost face with everyone in Metallica. We didn’t keep our promise to them, the fans, or to ourselves to put on the best show possible. I felt like an ass and I couldn’t look James, Lars, or anyone from their band in eye for the rest of the tour…..”
While Slash might have considered Metallica one of the hardest-working bands in rock with an attitude that he wished his own band had, Hetfield somewhat disagrees. He is no doubt aware of the work ethic of his own group, but he also has rock stars that he looks up to more in terms of work ethic. In his case, it’s all about AC/DC.
As a rhythm guitarist, it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that Hetfield is a big fan of Malcolm Young. In an interview, the Metallica member said that Malcolm, Tony Iommi and Rudolf Schenker were his “rhythm gods.” That being said, while he learnt a lot about playing rhythm guitar from Malcolm, it was Angus who he really looked up to, not just because of his playing style, but because no matter how old the lead gets, he continues to go out on stage every night and give it his all.
“Angus Young is probably the guy that I definitely take my hat off for, that dude is insane,” said Hetfield, “I don’t know, he must sweat gallons every show and he is like the size… He’s like a little dude, he’s an elf and (it makes everybody wonder) ‘Where’s that water coming from?’ How can you sweat your body weight? (laughs).”
He had real respect for the lead guitarist because he knew first-hand just how many side effects those live shows can come with. “He’s up there in age too. So that’s the person we’re kind of, I guess, seeing ‘How long can this guy go?’ He is the canary in the coal mine (laughs),” he said, “I’ll tell you, out of the big four, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, myself, Dave Mustaine and Tom Araya all had neck surgery from all this headbanging.”
