Formed by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield in 1981, Metallica became the most successful Thrash Metal band in the world and helped give more exposure to some of their peers, including the other members of the Big Four: Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer.
Hetfield has talked about those bands on several occasions, including Slayer, probably the heaviest of them all, which was originally formed by Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Kerry King
What is James Hetfield’s opinion on Slayer
James Hetfield is a huge fan of Slayer and Metallica have played snippets of their songs many times over the years during rehearsals and even during their shows. The members of both bands are good friends and have performed together multiple times at festivals. Of course, they are also part of the “Big Four” of Thrash Metal. In 1995, for example, Metallica played a small part of “Black Magic” during their show in Donington.
Hetfield lamented the death of Slayer‘s guitarist Jeff Hanneman in 2013 at the age of 49. “We were pretty close to each other. (We were from) the same area, kind of rival bands from the area, playing The Woodstock, from them doing Judas Priest covers and us doing Diamond Head covers, (growing) into our own styles.”
“When you lose a brother who (has a) similar age, similar mission in life, similar lifestyle, it’s a godsmack in your face, to talk with you about how you are living your life and what can you do better to take care of yourself. Sad, extremely sad, I’ve met the guy plenty of times, he had a great vibe. At the end of the day he was always really pretty reserved and a somewhat guy. That reminds a lot of me sitting in my room coming up with riffs, you know. Shy guys write pretty good riffs I’d say,” James Hetfield told Metal Injection in 2013 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
James Hetfield loves Slayer’s “Angel of Death”
One of James Hetfield’s favorite Slayer songs is “Angel of Death,” featured on their classic 1986 album Reign in Blood. He once recorded a video of himself driving and rocking out to the heavy track, which was written by the late Jeff Hanneman. Although the bands admired each other, there was a healthy rivalry between them, as Hetfield once said they were always trying to “out-riff” each other.
“Is amazing that in the early ’80s, mid-’80s and late ’80s, there was a lot of great metal happening. Not from just us and the other Big Four but lots of other bands that were very inspired by the movement. There were a lot of bands from the Bay Area. Exodus was a great band, we loved watching them, we did quite a few shows with them. (Also) the band in Seattle called Metal Church. But it was really while growing up in L.A., us and Slayer for sure. Who can be heavier, who can be faster? And it was a very great, and healthy, competition,” he told Newsweek in 2017.
In the 80s, when both bands were still releasing their first albums, he was asked in a TV interview if he believed bands like Slayer and Exodus were copying Metallica. The musician said he didn’t agree with that and explained: “I don’t think they are copying. I mean, when it all kind of started out, everyone was a little shortsighted and said that everyone sounded pretty much the same. (But) as you get into your second and third albums you kind of develop your own style a little bit. It’s definitely apparent now between us, Slayer and Exodus,” he said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Dave Lombardo played with James Hetfield, Hammett and Trujillo once as Metallica
Curiously, original Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo played with Metallica in 2004. Lars Ulrich had an anxiety attack on the plane and had to be rushed to the hospital afterward. Luckily for the band and the fans at the Download Festival, the show was not canceled because Lombardo, who performed the same day with Slayer and Slipknot’s Joey Jordison stepped in.
“Slayer had played in the tent earlier in the evening. I was somewhere backstage when I was approached by management. They said, ‘Lars can’t make it. Metallica was wondering if you’d be able to sit in?’ It was a bit of a shock. My first thought was, ‘Is Lars OK?’ But they said, ‘He’s OK, he’s at the doctors. He’s just having a bit of a moment.’ So I said I’d do whatever I could to help.”
He continued:
“I knew a few of their songs well enough to play them. But I just didn’t know all the details of some of the other songs. So we agreed that I’d do the first two, Battery and The Four Horsemen. Then Joey would jump in, ’cos he’d been in a Metallica covers band and he knew all those songs inside out,” Dave Lombardo said.
Nowadays, Kirk Hammett’s former bandmate in Exodus is Slayer’s guitarist. He replaced Jeff Hanneman in 2013 and has been with the band ever since. But he still performs with Exodus as well.
Kerry King said Dave Mustaine helped Metallica to become what they are
Dave Mustaine was a member of Metallica from 1981 until 1983, when he was kicked out of the band after conflicts with his bandmates. Slayer’s guitarist Kerry King, who even played live with Megadeth in 1984, said in a 2022 interview with Metal Hammer that, in his opinion, Dave was crucial to Metallica.
“I looked up to Mustaine ever since he was in Metallica. I was in the crowd with Jeff actually, saying, ‘Look at that dude! He’s just ripping up there!’ He’s got a great style and in the beginning, it helped Metallica become what Metallica is. And let me tell you something – to this day, he’s a great guitar player,” Kerry King said.
The guitarist also made some funny remarks about the controversial Metallica documentary “Some Kind of Monster” (2004). He once said he didn’t want to watch it because he didn’t want to “see these fragile fucking old men that can’t have a cocktail.
Asked by MAD TV in 2007 about those comments, James Hetfield said:”That’s probably what they saw, and that makes a lot of sense. That’s what they’re afraid of… they don’t want to get old and… Everyone gets old, everyone goes through things. It happened that we went through that on film. And we’re not afraid to show ourselves to anyone at any time.”
“That is pure freedom right there. Putting that movie out was more for us, I would say. I’m not interested in showing everyone my dirty laundry, but that was part of human nature. It wasn’t to shock anyone, it wasn’t to make money. There was no ulterior motive to that except showing what we went through at that time,” he said.