Brian May is one of the most influential guitarists of his generation, although he was often overshadowed in Queen by the legendary Freddie Mercury, whose extraordinary stage presence and vocal talent naturally made him the band’s focal point. Even so, May earned the admiration of countless guitarists, many of whom have cited him as a major influence. His distinctive playing style helped shape rock music far beyond the sound Queen became famous for.
Throughout his career, May has always kept a close eye on the evolution of Rock music and has shared his opinions on many of the bands that emerged after Queen, including Metallica.
What is Brian May’s opinion on Metallica
Brian May’s closest friend for decades has been Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, so it’s no secret that he is a fan of heavy metal and has long admired Metallica. When the band celebrated its 30th anniversary, May was unable to attend the event, but he recorded a testimonial video in which he praised them, saying they epitomized Heavy Metal.
“Hello folks, uncle Brian from that old Queen group. Hey James, Lars, Kirk and the new boy Robert. I just wanna say that I’m gutted that I can’t be with you for your celebrations. 30 years, I cannot believe it’s 30 years, you boys are just boys, to an old man like me. You know, what can I say? I’m thrilled you’re still around, that you’re still trailblazing.”
He continued:
“Really, you guys completely epitomize Metal and God bless you for it. I have many great memories, particularly of course, when you honored us by coming to the Freddie Mercury tribute in 1992. I’ll never forget, that was something amazing, beyond whatever anyone could expect. You made tons of money for the trust for AIDS relief around the world, very kindly by donating all your royalties to us.”
“Many great things along the way, I’ve seen you guys more times than I can even remember or count. God bless you, I wish I was there, I’m hoping that when you get to the 40th anniversary I will be ok, so keep me in your address books, ok?” Brian May said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Metallica isn’t the only heavier band Brian May admires. When Eddie Trunk asked whether he saw a connection between Queen and Heavy Metal, pointing out that bands such as Testament, Anthrax, Dream Theater and Metallica have all cited Queen as an influence, May replied: “It warms my heart. They’re great, ‘cos I love all that stuff, I love the heavy stuff and one of my great friends is Paul Crook and he’s always reminding me, ‘Hey you don’t realize what it means, you don’t realize…’. He’s great. He’s the Anthrax guy (Was in the band from 1995 to 2000),” Brian May told Eddie in 2014.
The difference between Queen and Metallica according to Brian May
Although Queen’s and Metallica’s music is not particularly similar, Brian May has pointed out a few similarities between the two bands. He explained this in a 1994 interview while discussing the kind of audience Queen attracted. “I suppose Queen appealed very much across the board, to all ages as well, which, I suppose, is what we wanted. We seemed to talk to everyone, and that is why we didn’t fit into any categories.”
“There was a bit of a crossover from the Metallica audience to middle-aged businessmen to young girls, which we liked, and they all found something different in our records. I love that heavy Metallica thing, and it’s in there somewhere, but it’s not all that we do. It’s not that we are clever or anything, but we aimed ourselves in a slightly different direction.”
“We were concerned with songs that mean something to people, so the guitar really was never the prime thing on the records. Even in the things that I wrote, which were more guitar orientated than most of the other stuff, the song was always the most important part. Always get that right first and then look at the guitar,” he told Guitar magazine.
Brian May says people tell him “Stone Cold Crazy” may have given birth to Thrash Metal
Metallica was part of The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, performing several songs during the event. Later that night, James Hetfield joined Queen and Tony Iommi on stage for a performance of “Stone Cold Crazy”, a track widely regarded as one of Queen’s heaviest songs. Curiously, over the years, many people have told Brian May they believe “Stone Cold Crazy” gave birth to Thrash Metal.
“I think so (It’s the heaviest Queen song). Stone Cold Crazy goes back a long way. It was one of the first songs we ever played together. So it’s interesting that it never made it onto a record until the third album. That’s quite unusual, isn’t it? I think we were playing Stone Cold Crazy in our very first gigs. Freddie had written the lyrics with his old band, and the original riff was very different. It sounded like the riff in ‘Tear It Up’ (The Works – 1984). So that original version of Stone Cold Crazy sounded like a lot of other things which were around at the time, with quite an easygoing riff. It didn’t have much pace to it.”
He continued:
“But I thought: these lyrics are kind of frenetic, so the music should be frenetic as well. So I put this riff on it, which people are telling me is the birth of Thrash Metal or something! I don’t know about that. But was unusual at the time to play at that pace. That song was a bit of fun, really. I don’t think we regarded it as that serious, which is perhaps why it never made it onto an album until number three. But it’s nice and heavy. I still remember going in to do the definitive version of it. It was faster than ever – we just went for it! There’s a lot of adrenaline: let’s go for it! It really does burn. And I liked the sounds that we had in place by that time.”
“Stone Cold Crazy is a good example of us recording in a live atmosphere but in the studio. And we started to have it down by that point. Once you get a grip on that kind of stuff, you can fool yourself into thinking it’s live when you’re in the studio. So it doesn’t sound calculated – it sounds real and spontaneous. And we captured it. I think that’s all one take. It’s not like messing around doing take after take. We just did it. I’d say that’s when we started to master the studio,” Brian May told Guitar World in 2023.
What makes Queen and May so special according to James Hetfield
“Queen has been a huge inspiration in the early days for me guitar-wise, especially Brian May. Just watching Brian May, there was a moment in the show (during) ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, it was like this Rock and Roll dream I was looking at. I was right on, right at the sound desk looking at him. Long ramp, he popped out of the middle just before his solo, there’s smoke, there’s a light behind him. His white hair, you know, this big white aura around him.”
“He rises up out of the stage and he is doing the solo and he is in a giant silver cape from the seventies look. Kirk and I just looked at each other like ‘Holy Shit! This is awesome! Total fan boys at that point. Then after the show (laughs), Brian May, he says ‘I’m wondering if Kirk likes what I’m playing”. Then Kirk and I looked at each other again and went ‘Huh? (In total shock)’.”
He continued:
“We met his roadie and we were all hanging out, he had this guitar on his back. He said ‘I know some of your crew guys’ and this and that. And I’m thinking ‘What’s that on your back, It’s that ‘The Guitar’?’ He says ‘Oh yeah’. I said ‘Ok, is there any way possible that I can take a look at it?’ and he goes ‘Hey Bri, is that ok?’ and then Brian says ‘Oh sure, yeah’.”
“So he takes it out, opens it up and I’m jamming on Brian May’s ‘old girl’, (the) original guitar that he and his dad made when he was 18 years old. He still has it on tour and still plays it every night. It was spectacular. Then Brian leans on to me and he is taking selfies and it was like ‘Oh my God!’ Can’t wipe that smile off my face, it was extremely cool”.
James Hetfield continued:
“Then Kirk is like ‘My turn, my turn!’” Then Hetfield said that he gave the guitar to Kirk. “So we all got to play Brian’s guitar. Just a super, super memorable and redundantly unforgettable moment. Hopefully if I’m alive at 70, (I wanna be) that cool and that down to earth, just giving and loving life. He is so serene and a big inspiration as far as all that goes,” James Hetfield said in an interview with the official Metallica Youtube channel in 2017 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).