James Hetfield has been one of the most important frontmen in Heavy Metal over the past decades and is an inspiration to countless musicians worldwide. During his youth, he was influenced not only by heavy bands but also by several other important American groups.
He has spoken about many of them throughout his career, sharing his opinions on Aerosmith and their vocalist Steven Tyler.
What is James Hetfield’s opinion on Steven Tyler
James Hetfield has been a huge Aerosmith fan since he was a kid and believes Steven Tyler is one of the best singers of all time. The Metallica frontman placed him in 11th position on a list of the greatest vocalists in history when asked by Rolling Stone in 2008. Tyler was ranked ahead of names like Johnny Cash, Freddie Mercury, and Ronnie Van Zant.
While honoring Aerosmith alongside Metallica on MTV Icon, Hetfield explained how much Steven and the other members of the band inspired him. “I would just like to close my eyes and imagine myself in my room as that teenager listening to ‘Toys In The Attic’ and ‘Rocks’, playing them to the grooves were worn out, listening to every Brad and Joe lick toward the very end. (So) I could sing every one of those things. I would turn them up so loud to get every last note that the next song would scare the hell out at me. Especially little things like before my favorite song ‘Nobody’s Fault’. Someone walked in the studio and I heard a door. I simply thought that was so cool, ‘they didn’t take that out!’”
He continued:
“But anyway there were plenty of posters on my wall. The one that really meant a lot to me was the one of Steven and Joe up there singing into the same microphone. My mom, God rest her soul, she was an artist. She projected my image onto the wall and painted me as Steven and as Joe, in a silhouette. It was so cool, it was in my room. I just couldn’t decide which was cooler, so I decided to sing and play guitar.”
“Also I just wanted to acknowledge how much I admire you as humans. In this music business is really tough to stay human. There is a lot of people that demand a lot of things from and all the hell that you guys have gone trough and come through as stronger people are extremely inspirational to especially myself, someone who has fallen. I love you guys, thank you,” James Hetfield said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). As Hetfield previously revealed, the first Rock concert he ever attended was at the Long Beach Arena in 1978, with AC/DC opening for Aerosmith.
Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were who James Hetfield wanted to be
Every young Rock and Roll fan dreams of becoming a Rock star, but very few are actually able to reach that level. Hetfield was one of them, and interestingly, he once said that when he was a kid, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler were the ones he wanted to be. “I wanted to be the guys which I had the poster on my wall. There was a particular poster of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry together on a microphone. I didn’t know who I wanted to be, they were both so cool.”
“So I kind of ended up being both, singing and playing,” He told Marc Maron in 2017. James, who took piano lessons when he was young, also said that one of the things that made him want to quit was that he wasn’t learning any Aerosmith songs.
He had the chance to meet Steven back in the late 80s. More recently, both of them were part of the lineup for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s final show. Interestingly, Aerosmith and Metallica, sold the same estimated amount of records worldwide, 150 million.
What Steven Tyler said about Metallica
Although James and Steven are friends, the Aerosmith frontman didn’t compliment Metallica on his biography “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir”. “With Aerosmith we do so many different flavors: ‘Game On’, ‘Shank After Rollin’’, ‘Seasons of Wither’, ‘Nine Lives’, ‘Taste of India’, ‘Ain’t That a Bitch’. We do down-home Delta blues, sleaze boogie, anthems, mandolins, steel-drum calypso, wailing sirens, cat-in-heat yelps, sentimental ballads, metal, Beatles covers, mooing killer whales, and the Shangri Las.”
“You can’t put your finger on what we do. Because we do a lot of different kinds of music, unlike Metallica, which does only one genre. Have you ever heard a slow Metallica song? Is there one that you could dance to at a prom? If you asked them, they’d go, “Why would we?” he said.
Hetfield used to send letters to Aerosmith when he was a kid. He asked for the lyrics to their songs since the albums he had didn’t include them, but they never replied. . “I wrote letters to Aerosmith. They were my all-time favorites back then. I wanted the lyrics. “Man, I can’t understand what the fuck he is singing. Can you please send me the lyrics?” I sent it to Steven, Joey, Tom. I put all their names on the letter. Of course, I expected something back. I had no idea of the magnitude of it all.”
He continued:
“Because they were so personal to me. I could feel their music, they were my buddies. And I didn’t get anything back. I got an order form for a Draw the Line T-shirt. Wow, thanks a lot. When we started getting more into the music and meeting these people, it was, hell, they’re regular guys. They have problems dealing with the public. But I did learn a lot about how I would like not to treat our fans,” he told Rolling Stone in 1993.