James Hetfield has been one of the most influential Heavy Rock musicians in the world for the past four decades. Metallica gained notoriety in the 1980s as a Metal band but managed to reach an even wider audience in the early 1990s with the release of the “Black Album.”
He was influenced by a wide variety of bands in his early days as a musician, and one of them was Thin Lizzy. James is a big fan of the Irish band led by the late Phil Lynott and has mentioned some of their songs as favorites over the years.
The 3 Thin Lizzy songs James Hetfield mentioned as favorites
“The Boys Are Back in Town”
“There are so many great Thin Lizzy songs, they’re all just amazing pieces of songwriting, and they’ve all got their moods and their place. My walkout music would be The Boys Are Back In Town, there’s no doubt about it. That song makes me smile, and it gets me pumped up. There’s a feeling of ‘family’ or a gathering – a gang – and the harmony solos are so catchy and memorable.”
“It’s the perfect length of song, too, it’s got a little breakdown, it’s got it all! A good vibe and it always, always puts me in a great mood,” James Hetfield told Classic Rock in 2026 after being asked which was his favorite song of the band. He was deeply influenced by the Irish band when he was a young musician and already said that the band’s late bassist and singer Phil Lynott was one of his favorite songwriters of all time.
Talking about the musician with Hot Press magazine in 2011, James recalled how he felt when Phil died in 1986, only 9 months before the tragic accident that killed the Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was also a big Lizzy fan. It was one of those moments that was so sad.”
He continued:
“You just wondered, ‘Why did God take such a creative person?’. But I think there was a purpose to it all. Because the struggles that he wrote about: with drugs, drink, ethnicity, all of those things. They almost speak louder now he has passed. For me, going through the struggle with alcohol and addiction in general, just going back and listening to his lyrics it’s like, ‘Wow, I know what he’s talking about now’. So I love that,” James Hetfield said.
“The Boys Are Back in Town” is Thin Lizzy’s most famous song these days, having been streamed by more than 500 million people on Spotify alone. It is followed by “Dancing in the Moonlight,” which is a bit behind, with more than 100 million streams.
“Jailbreak”
“Jailbreak” is the title track of Thin Lizzy’s acclaimed 1976 album, which also featured “The Boys Are Back in Town.” When asked by Vic Garbini in the 1990s about some of his favorite songs of all time, James Hetfield mentioned this track and explained the inspiration the Irish band gave him.
“Those guys introduced me to guitar harmonies. I love that dual guitar stuff, which especially influenced me on Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master Of Puppets (1986). That song’s one of the easier songs, so I learned it first. We use it on our pre-concert intro tape, so it’s a little special,” he said.
James has had the chance to pay tribute to the band and to Phil many times over the years. Metallica, of course, covered the traditional song “Whiskey in the Jar,” which was made famous among Rock fans by Thin Lizzy’s version. It became the most successful cover the Thrash Metal band ever recorded, even leading many unaware fans to believe it was actually written by them. Back in 2019, before performing the song at their show at Slane Castle in Meath, Ireland, James said: “We love you, Phil!”
When visiting Dublin while on tour in recent years, James took a photo with Phil Lynott’s statue, kissing it. Thin Lizzy’s influence can also be heard in original Metallica songs. “The Day That Never Comes,” for example, has elements of Thin Lizzy’s sound.
“Honesty Is No Excuse”
The lesser-known song on the list is “Honesty Is No Excuse”, mentioned by James in an interview with a Rock magazine in the late 1980s, in which he also named Thin Lizzy as his favorite band and Phil Lynott as one of his favorite musicians, alongside names such as Glenn Danzig (Misfits) and Allen Collins (Lynyrd Skynyrd).
The song is part of Thin Lizzy’s 1971 debut album, which featured their original guitarist Eric Bell, with whom Metallica had the chance to perform in the late 1990s. However, the musician said he did not enjoy the experience and later complained he didn’t receive any payment for his guest spot.
“I didn’t know anything about Metallica. Not a thing. I’m not into that type of music. So when someone told me they’d recorded ‘Whiskey in the Jar‘ I was like, ‘Oh, who are they?’ And then they asked me to do the gig, which was chaos. I don’t know why they called me. I think the impression they had was that I knew who they were, I didn’t. They thought I was in awe of them – not true.”
He continued:
“One of the roadies drove me to their hotel, and I stood in the hall waiting. And one by one, they came down, shook my hand, and they expected me to be impressed. But I didn’t know who they were, I’d never heard their music, and I wasn’t bothered. That took them by surprise.”
“It wasn’t enjoyable. There was no chemistry. They tuned a whole step down, which is typical for them. I, however, didn’t. So now I’m hearing Whiskey in the Jar in F, which was very odd. From that point forward, my brain wasn’t into it. I just played it my way, and we went our separate ways,” Eric Bell said in an interview with Guitar World.
He wasn’t happy when he found out he didn’t get paid for being part of their show
“I was quietly expecting about two grand, which wouldn’t have meant a thing to them. But I got handed over a big ball of Metallica t-shirts, key rings and hats. I got paid fuck all. Then they all fucked off.”
“It wasn’t until I was sitting in my car on the way home I realized they hadn’t paid me. I thought I’d get something in the post but not a dickie bird. Later somebody tried to get in touch with Metallica to get me something. But they found it impossible and they gave up. They are a pack of bastards. I couldn’t believe what they did, especially as they are so well off. I should have been paid £2,000 but got fuck all,” he said in an interview with Guitar World in 2019.
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