The classic Metallica line-up formed by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton helped to shape what would later be defined as Thrash Metal. By mixing the speed of Punk with the heaviness of Metal bands, they created a new kind of sound that attracted millions of fans worldwide.
Their first albums stayed true to that style, but the band evolved and experimented with different approaches, even recording some surprising covers, such as Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page.” Over the years, James Hetfield has shared his thoughts on many artists, including Seger and his hit song.
What is James Hetfield’s opinion on Bob Seger and “Turn the Page”
James Hetfield is actually not a fan of Bob Seger and said that he could not stand and “hated” the musician, but it was not personal. It was simply because Seger’s songs were constantly playing on the radio when he was growing up. “Actually I can’t stand Bob Seger (laughs). I never met him, so nothing really against him. But everytime… you know, growing up the radio (used to play all the time) ‘Just take those old records off the shelf’. That’s all I ever herad on the radio and I (used to be) like ‘Play some Aerosmith!” or something, you know? I would just turn the radio off or it would just drive me up the wall,” James said in the behind the scenes documentary of “Garage Inc.”
During the same conversation James explained that although he is not a Bob Seger fan, he loved “Turn the Page”, especially because of the lyrics. “‘Turn the Page’ was just some song that Lars heard on the radio and loved it. (He said) ‘Hey, you ever heard ‘Turn the Page’ (by) Bob Seger? (I said) ‘Yeah, I really actually like that song. The lyrics are us.’ So that was an easy choice (for us).”
James Hetfield continued:
“It was more the song. The song and lyrically especially, it belonged to Metallica, just ‘on the road again’, we’re the road dogs. That’s one song that we can really relate to. It came out really well,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Also back in the 90s, he chose in an interview with Vic Garbini, some of his favorite songs and one of them was “Turn the Page”. But once again, he stated that he was not a Bob Seger fan and made it clear that ‘Old Time Rock and Roll’ is a song he does not like to hear at all.
“I f*cking hate Bob Seger, but that song is great. Okay, I don’t really hate him. But he was one of the guys I’d hear on the radio all the time polluting my ears with. (Whines) ‘Get your old records off the shelf…’ That really annoyed me. But being on tour as long as we have, I’ve got to say that one song sums up the whole road experience really, really well,” he said.
Written and released by Bob Seger in 1973, the song was included on the album “Back in ’72” (1973). Metallica’s 1998 version, featured on their covers album “Garage Inc.”, introduced the track to a new generation. Also to many listeners around the world, since Metallica is more known internationally than Seger.
Bob Seger loved Metallica’s version and is a fan of the band
Althought the Metallica members are not big fans of Bob Seger, the musician already said he liked them from “the word go” and is a big fan of them. “They played it for me before they ever released it and I said, ‘Yeah, go guys! I really like it.’ I really love the drums. They are just totally different than on our version and it adds a big thing to it. I”ve always liked Metallica. I liked them from the word go. I”m a big fan of theirs,” Bob Seger told Santa Cruz Sentinel in 2015.
He had already praised their version in a 2012 interview with Artisan News. Seger once again said that he loved the drumming on it. “I loved it, yeah. It was great. They told me they were gonna do it and I loved it. I really like the drums, especially. Because our drums are really simple and (they did) a cool take on it. It’s been done before, I won a Grammy in Australia. Another guy (John English) did it in Australia and won a Grammy doing it,” Bob Seger said.
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1945, Seger started his career in 1961, two years before James Hetfield was born. He is retired and has released 18 studio albums, the last one being “I Knew You When” in 2017. He has sold an estimated amount of more than 75 million records worldwide. Other hits from his career are “Night Moves”, “Against The Wind”, “Still The Same” and “Hollywood Nights”.
How Lars Ulrich got the idea for James Hetfield to sing Bob Seger’s song
It was Metallica’s co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich who had the idea for Metallica to cover the Bob Seger song. As the drummer recalled in an interview with Howard Stern in 2023, he was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco when he heard the track. That was the moment he realized Hetfield could do a really great version of it.
“I was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge up in San Francisco and I heard Seger’s, the live version of ‘Turn the Page’. I could just hear James singing that. The first thing that popped out (of my mind) was that James would f*cking nail this vocally. (Also) just the lyric element I think it felt like it would speak on his behalf and to the situation that we were in.”
“There was just something about the vocals. I think early on the cover songs (of ‘Garage Inc.’) were a lot about the riffs and the energy. But later the cover songs became a big part of how James would interpret them. How James would tackle them and make him his own,” Lars Ulrich said. During the same conversation, Kirk Hammett explained how the late Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers inspired his guitar part, which replaced the original saxophone line.
Kirk Hammett said:
“When I was listening to the song and I heard the saxophone part I thought that would be a great guitar line. I thought it would be even cooler if I played it on slide. Because I’m a big Allman Brothers fan, Duane Allman in particular.”
“I saw it as my opportunity to pick up a slide and record a song with slide playing. I’m happy that I did because I love playing slide and I love Duane Allman,” Kirk Hammett said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Until 2025 Metallica performed that song live 94 times since 1998. The most recent performance was in Los Angeles in 2023.