Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler talks about Metallica

Black Sabbath invented the Heavy Metal music with the release of their groundbreaking self-titled debut album in 1970 and influenced a whole generation of new groups that appeared especially in the 70s and 80s. One of them was Metallica, that took the music genre to another level, making in heavier and faster, being later labeled as a Thrash Metal sound.

In an interview with Loudwire, The Black Sabbath bassist and co-founder Geezer Butler talked about the American band and said that he wasn’t a big fan of their early albums but loved especially their self-titled record that is nicknamed “The Black Album” released in 1991. That record had famous tracks like “Enter Sandman”, “Sad But True”, “The Unforgiven”, “Wherever I May Roam” and “Nothing Else Matters”.

At the time, the band was formed by James Hetfield (Guitar and vocals), Lars Ulrich (Drums), Kirk Hammett (Guitar) and Jason Newsted (Bass). The famous producer Bob Rock was the one who worked with the band on that album. He had previously produced groups like Mötley Crüe, The Cult, Loverboy and Kingdom Come.

Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler talks about Metallica

“The modern metal bands had nothing to do with the sound Sabbath had apparently invented… Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ was a massive album in 1986, but I was more likely to be listening to soul or jazz.”

“I thought the riffs were great, great riffs. I always thought, ‘God, I wish I had written that.’ It’s just really good riffs and something I could relate to. (But) I couldn’t really relate to their earlier stuff.

“I mean, a lot of people think the earlier stuff is the true Metallica, but it didn’t really appeal much to me. But when the ‘Black Album’ came out, it felt more appealing to my taste.”

Geezer continued:

“(It was) one of the few metal albums I could listen to from beginning to end. I really enjoyed listening to it. There are very few albums of any genre that I can listen to from track one to the end. It’s one of those albums that I could listen to the whole thing and I’m really impressed with it,” Geezer Butler said.

Metallica are one of the best-selling bands of all time with an estimated amount of more than 125 million records worldwide. They were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Three years before, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were the ones who inducted Black Sabbath.