The guitarist and singer James Hetfield is certainly one of the most successful Heavy Metal songwriters of all time. Metallica is the biggest Metal band from the past decades and nowadays is the only Metal act that can play to sold out stadiums in any country in the world. The group was able to capture new generations as the years went by and their fan base continues to grow.
But to become an incredible songwriter, Hetfield had many other influences. One of them was an American singer and songwriter that Hetfield described as “a master craftsman”.
The musician that James Hetfield called “a master craftsman”
Although bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and others part of New Wave of the British Heavy Metal were a big influence to James Hetfield, there are many other artists that he loves. One of them is the American singer, songwriter and actor Tom Waits, who he described as a “master craftsman”.
Hetfield said that in an interview for the podcast “The Metallica Report” in 2025. “Mostly I see words that are interesting (when writing songs), and that’s out of curiosity. And me, I would say that coming from a graphics background, the way a word looks is almost more important. Like ‘Lux Æterna’ — how cool is that? There’s an X in it, and then the A [and] E together. How cool. It’s almost how it looks.”
“As far as Tom Waits, just being a master craftsman at lyrics and painting a picture in one sentence interests me, and it takes work. I saw Tom kind of live it. It was his vocabulary as well. He could sit and speak like that. I can’t,” James Hetfield said.
One of his dreams is being as good as Tom Waits
Back in 2016, Metallica’s co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich was hosting a symposium at the Berkeley University in California. James Hetfield was a guest and during the event he asked his bandmate about how he used to write lyrics. As one of the influences, the Metallica frontman mentioned Tom Waits.
“(Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) Uh… I listen to Hair Metal, that makes me angry, so… (laughs). It comes from anywhere, a line from a movie, listening to talk radio, its kind of anywhere really, reading stuff. As far as lyricists go, I mean there are some that I really admire and like to tap into.”
He continued:
“I just wish that I could be as good as Tom Waits, Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, a lot of great lyricists. It is really cool to read up on them and hear how they come up with their stuff.”
Born in Pomona, California back in 1949, Tom Waits is a musician, composer, writer and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. Known for his raspy voice, he often composes songs mixing Rock, Blues, Jazz and experimental music.
His debut album “Closing Time” was released in 1973 and during his career, Waits has released 17 studio albums. The artist has sold an estimated amount of more than 4.6 million records in the United States.
He also has a successful acting career, having been featured in movies like “Rumble Fish” (1983), “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), “Mystery Men” (1999), “The Book of Eli” (2010) and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (2018).
The musician was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 by Neil Young, who said in his speech that: “Tom Waits is indescribable and I’m here to describe him”.