Formed by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich back in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, Metallica became one of the most successful Metal bands of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 125 million records worldwide and over the years many famous artists talked about heir music. One of them is the legendary guitarist Carlos Santana.
In an interview with Red Bull in 2022, the musician revealed some of his favorite guitar solo of all time and one of them is from Metallica.
The Metallica guitar solo that Carlos Santana said he likes
Carlos Santana picked the guitar solo from “Nothing Else Matters”, released by Metallica on their 1991 self-titled album as one of his favorites of all time. He explained his choice, saying: “When I was living in San Francisco, these guys were my next-door neighbors. We bumped into each other a lot. I love [James Hetfield’s] guitar work on this song. It’s so melodic, passionate and powerful. I’ve always wanted to do a heavy metal album. I love the energy of that stuff,” Carlos Santana said.
Metallica’s guitarist Kirk Hammett already recorded twice with Carlos Santana, being part of the musician’s solo albums. The last time the two worked together was recording the song “America For Sale” released by Santana on his 2021 album “Blessings & Miracles”. The musician was asked in an interview with Guitar World if he liked Metallica, since he invited Hammett to play with him.
The musician praised Hammett and said that Metallica is the number one band in the world. “Kirk Hammett and I are brothers, we go back. Who isn’t a Metallica fan, you know? (So) I love Metallica, I love AC/DC, Led Zeppelin. And Peter Green when he did [the songs], The Green Manalishi, and Oh Well. All that, that’s the first heavy metal, you know?”
“Peter Green before Led Zeppelin and then later on, of course, AC/DC. What I like about that energy is that it’s very, very raw and very vibrant. There’s a reason why Metallica is the premiere number one band in the world,” Carlos Santana said.
The guitarist said the same thing about Metallica in a conversation with Forbes in 2021. “I think the most premier, number one band in the world is definitely Metallica.”
The song
Written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, “Nothing Else Matters” became the most famous Metallica ballad. Ever since it was released became part of their concert setlist. The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Also number 6 at the UK Singles chart back in 1991.
But Santana is not the only famous artists who praised the Metallica track. In 2021, during an interview with Howard Stern, Elton John moved James Hetfield to tears saying that that is “one of the best songs ever written”. The pianist and singer played on the version that Miley Cyrus did for the tribute album that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the album.
Some of the other bands that covered the “Black Album” songs on the tribute record were Ghost, Weezer, St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridges and more. It’s one of the song that helped Metallica to reach a bigger audience, since it was a ballad, that could be played on the radio.