James Hetfield once named his favourite grunge frontmen
If there’s anything that Metallica leader James Hetfield knows more than most, it is rock frontmen. As a lifelong fan of the heavier areas of the genre, a thrash metal pioneer, and one of the finest creative figureheads of his generation, Hetfield knows what he’s talking about.
Never afraid to discuss the brilliance of his peers, one genre that Hetfield has often spoken about being a fan of is grunge. Notably, the movement coalesced in Seattle in the late 1980s and then took over the world in the early 1990s, with its most prominent names being Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. A dedicated adherent of this era, in his time, Hetfield has also effused about the grunge frontmen’s brilliance and even named his two favourite singers from the movement.
The first he named came when speaking to Revolver in 2009; this was the late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley. Recalling hurriedly driving to watch the group support fellow thrash pioneers Slayer, he said: “I wasn’t really close with Layne. But I remember going to see Alice In Chains many times. I remember when we were down in L.A. (In 1991). I left the studio early to see them play on Clash of the Titans with Slayer.”
The Metallica leader continued: “I was driving like a madman in this rented van, going on the median and scaring the shit out of my friend. ‘We gotta get there!’ And we get there, and they’d just got off. I was like, ‘Aw, man!’ (Laughs) I hung with them a little bit. Always just loved their music. I’d say that Jerry (Cantrell) and I share some life experiences. Like getting a second chance at life and realizing how cool things can be.”
Expanding on this mutual understanding with Cantrell, he said: “So we’ve got kind of a kinship that way. And seeing them play — I just love hearing those songs. Those songs are awesome and should be heard, you know? They were so unique. So ahead of their time. And out of all the Seattle stuff, that stuff is the most timeless.”
“Unfortunately, Layne just loved the junk too much, man. That was that. I just read in his lyrics his obsessiveness about it. And he knew where he was goin’! It’s like, in the school of driving, look where you want to go. That’s what he was doing, it seems like,” Hetfield concluded.
The second grunge frontman Hetfield has waxed lyrical about is Soundgarden figurehead Chris Cornell, another artist taken before his time. Following his death in 2017, Hetfield mourned the loss of such a creative force. He said: “It does make you hug those around you, for sure. Bandmates, family that it’s out here, family at home. It makes you realize that there is a darkness that anyone and everyone can find, and feel that they’re trapped in.”
Reflecting on his own struggles, he carried on: “I know the depth of my darkness at times. It is difficult when you’re in that space to even fathom that there’s someone there that can help you or has been through that before. Sometimes you’re just in such a loss.”
“I can’t obviously explain what he was going through,” he added. “But we have our darkness. So check in with each other, let each other know how you’re doing. It’s a sad story. There’s a lot of sad stories recently. Especially in the grunge world”.
