While speaking to Telegraph in a recent interview, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett addressed claims that he is the “peacekeeper” in the band, saying: “I have to say, I do have a temper. And I can butt heads with people. I butt heads with [Metallica frontman] James [Hetfield] and [Metallica drummer] Lars [Ulrich] occasionally.”
When asked what he and his bandmates disagree on, Hammett replied: “Oh, everything. It’s just part of being in a band and being with someone for 40-plus years.”
Hammett went on to explain that when he first joined the band in 1983 he was “equally as ornery as Lars and James.” “When I joined the band, I was right in there talking sh*t and doing crazy stuff, just as much as James and Lars and Cliff [Burton, then-Metallica bassist] were. Sometimes prickly people turn on other people around them,” he explained.
The guitarist added that toxic masculinity “fueled” Metallica in their early days. “We were like a gang of youths and just looking for somewhere to belong. I came from a broken home, James came from a broken home, Lars came from a broken home. The most well-adjusted person was Cliff Burton. We were all basket cases. But we created this thing called Metallica that’s been our refuge. It’s been the one constant in our lives.
“My dad was a full-blooded Irishman who liked to drink and liked to scrap,” he added. “He was always fighting people, even fighting his friends. He would get together with my uncles and it was just one big fucking toxic soup of masculinity, and that’s what I came out of.”
Despite his disagreements with his bandmates, Hammett said that he has no plans to ever leave the band: “Leaving Metallica is not an option. If I ever left Metallica, everyone in the world would remind me that I used to be in Metallica.”
