The 5 bands that James Hetfield loved when he was a teenager

The guitarist and singer James Hetfield formed Metallica alongside the drummer Lars Ulrich back in 1981 and in the following years they became not only the most successful Thrash Metal band but one of the most influential of all time.

James was heavily inspired by bands from the 70s when he was a teenager and he praised some of them over the decades. He even had the chance to see many of those incredible artists at their peak playing live during that decade.

The 5 bands that James Hetfield loved when he was a teenager

AC/DC

As James Hetfield told Guitar World in 2009, AC/DC was one of the groups he loved the most when he was a teenager. Curiously, the first concert he ever went to was at the Long Beach Arena in California and it was Aerosmith with AC/DC as their opening act in 1978.

At the time AC/DC had their classic line-up with Bon Scott on vocals, Angus Young on lead guitar, Malcolm Young on rhythm guitar, Cliff Williams on bass and Phil Rudd on drums. A few years later, Metallica had the chance to play on the same day as AC/DC in many festivals. More recently, James was spotted watching AC/DC’s big return to live performances after years. The show happened at the Power Trip festival in Indio, California.

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is another group that influenced James a lot and he had the chance to see them playing live many times. Metallica was invited by MTV Icon (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) back in 2002 to honor Aerosmith on the show. During his speech, Hetfield praised the band and recalled how important they are for him.

“(…) There were plenty of posters on my wall and 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 and 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 through and come through as stronger people are extremely inspirational to especially myself. (Because I am) someone who has fallen and I love you guys, thank you,” James Hetfield said.

When he was a teenager, James wanted to know about what Steven Tyler was singing on the albums because he couldn’t figure out some words of the songs. So he decided to send them a letter, but they didn’t send him the lyrics.

Kiss

in an interview alongside the late legendary bassist Cliff Burton in the 80s, Hetfield was asked if Metallica could one day use costumes or make-up like Kiss, for example. His answer was: ‘We already look ugly enough like this”.

In 2009 Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the time MTV asked James Hetfield to list bands he also thought should be inducted. One of the groups he listed was Kiss.

“Motörhead, for sure, Deep Purple, Rush, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and even stuff before that … Steppenwolf. It’s crazy that Ted Nugent is not there; that dude is about as rock and roll as it gets. Alice Cooper, Kiss … that’s a pretty good list. These are bands that represent history and mean a lot to so many people. I think that alone means they should be in there too,” James Hetfield said.

Of those ones, only Steppenwolf, Ted Nugent, Iron Maiden and Motörhead were not inducted yet.

Paul Stanley is a big Metallica fan

Hetfield is not the only one who has respect for Kiss, the band’s vocalist and guitarist Paul Stanley is a big fan of Metallica. In an interview with Classic Rock, “Starchild” praised the band.

“How could you not be a Metallica fan?” he asks. “Eric Carr (Ex-Kiss drummer) was the one that brought Metallica into our realm. He did that quite a bit earlier. In the early, early days of Metallica. But in terms of becoming a worldwide phenomenon, I would have to say the Black Album was what did that.

“Enter Sandman – that song really flicked a switch, it changed something. It retained the grit, the passion and the rawness of what they had done until that point. But it managed to package it in a way that had a more widespread appeal. It wasn’t a coincidence that Bob Rock produced that album. He became the go-to guy for bringing out the most commercial aspect of a band’s sound; Whether we are talking Metallica or The Cult.”

“But the most important thing when you are a band or a creative person is to do what you want. Kudos to Metallica for that. Where they’ve gone since the Black Album, and factoring in their beginnings, is nothing less than amazing. Their appeal became massive, in capital letters, because it crossed boundaries. That’s always a great plus,” Paul Stanley said.

Alice Cooper

“It was all about Kiss and Aerosmith. The first concert I went to was Aerosmith and AC/DC at the Long Beach Arena (July 12, 1978). I also loved Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper—a lot of the edgier, harder American rock that was of that time. I didn’t get into other stuff until I was introduced to Lars two years later,” James Hetfield told Classic Rock magazine.

When Alice Cooper started his musical career, James Hetfield was only a one year-old baby. So the future Metallica frontman discovered his music when he was a kid and a teenager.

Ted Nugent

The singer and guitarist Ted Nugent is also another musician who James Hetfield was influenced by. Since when he was a member of the Amboy Dukes, Nugent already showed how heavy his guitar playing could get and that was certainly something that attracted James.

He became even more famous when he started his solo career recording songs like “Cat Scratch Fever”, “Free-For-All” and “Stranglehold”.