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Metallica wouldn’t have been the same without James Hetfield, who has not only been important over the past decades as the singer and rhythm guitarist but also as a songwriter, since he is the band’s main lyricist. Although they are known for their Thrash Metal and Heavy Metal sound, they have shown other influences during their career, especially in the 1990s, when they experimented more and were pushed by the Grunge movement to change, as the whole landscape of Rock music was evolving. Hetfield has talked about many bands from that movement, giving his opinion on them, including Nirvana. What is James Hetfield's opinion on Nirvana Unlike many Heavy Metal artists who were not happy when Grunge appeared and changed the whole landscape of Rock music, James Hetfield actually liked it. “When all that Eighties Hair Metal was getting overproduced, Nirvana came along with this thrashy garage sound and a huge hook. It was what music needed,” Hetfield told Rolling Stone in 2004 after being asked to list some of his favorite songs of all time. Metallica also brought something new at the time, since their self-titled album, also known as the ‘Black Album,’ had been released a little less than a month earlier. In the following years a lot changed in Rock music with the advent of Grunge, even Metallica which came up with "Load", a really different album from what they did before. “People freak out about things that are different. Five years (since the release of Metallica) is a long time. Nirvana came and went. A lot of things happened in that five years," Hetfield said in an interview with Metallic World at the time as pointed out by the book "Let It Be Written". James Hetfield and Metallica connections with Nirvana During that time Metallica changed their look, with all members cutting their hair short. They also worked with a few people who had previously worked with Grunge bands. Samuel Bayer, who had directed the music video for Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ was the one they worked with for the video of ‘Until It Sleeps,’ from "Load" (1996). A few years later, in 2000, when Metallica played in Seattle, in the middle of the song ‘King Nothing,’ they started playing the riff from Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are.’ The audience was pleased with the tribute. That happened six years after James and Lars made bad jokes about Cobain’s death during a Metallica concert in London. Out of the other Grunge bands that emerged in Seattle, Hetfield’s favorite is Alice in Chains. He is a good friend of the band members and already played with them live. James Hetfield also liked Soundgarden and their late singer Chris Cornell. When asked by Rolling Stone in 2008, he listed Cornell and Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley among the best singers of all time. Cobain and Eddie Vedder didn't appear on his list. Kurt Cobain was a big fan of Metallica Kurt Cobain once said that Nirvana’s music was something between Black Sabbath and The Beatles. He was also a big fan of Metallica and had the chance to meet the members of the band. As guitarist Kirk Hammett recalled in the documentary "Get Thrashed" (2006), Cobain once went to see Metallica play. According to him,, the late musician favorite track by the band was "Whiplash". “When we recorded ‘The Black Album’ I was listening to this band that was on this independent record label. I was really into their first album. I sat down with the singer and his name was Kurt. He said that one of his favorite albums was ‘Ride The Lightning’. (Also) that one of his favorite Metallica songs was ‘Whiplash’”. Kirk Hammett continued: “Right after we finished recording ‘The Black Album’, Kurt put out an album called ‘Nevermind’. Then all of sudden, Grunge was everywhere. Kurt was a big Metallica fan. I can remember when we played in Seattle. I think it was 1992, Kurt came to the show.” “He was in the snakepit, a little area on the stage. I remember the entire time we were playing he kept waving his arms at me. I went over there. His one question to me was ‘Are you guys gonna play ‘Whiplash’ tonight?’ (laughs) And we did,” Kirk Hammett said. “Whiplash” is the sixth track of Metallica’s debut album released in 1983. One year later the band released the album “Ride The Lightning”. Like Hammett and James Hetfield, Metallica’s drummer also enjoyed Nirvana’s music. In 2019, when interviewing Joan Jett, who performed with Nirvana when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Lars Ulrich said that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was the best song of the past 25 years. Nirvana was active from 1987 to 1994 with Krist Novoselic on bass and Kurt Cobain main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. Their classic drummer Dave Grohl joined the band in 1990 and was part of their most successful albums, "Nevermind" (1991) and "In Utero" (1993). The first record, "Bleach" (1989), had Chad Channing on drums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v1edeEU314&list=RD7v1edeEU314&start_radio=1

James Hetfield’s opinion on Nirvana

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James Hetfield’s opinion on Nirvana

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