James Hetfield

James Hetfield musician; co-founder, lead singer, and rhythm guitarist of the band Metallica.

Sourced

• "Are you saying it's too loud? It's got to be loud. You're supposed to feel it all over."
  • Playboy, April 2001

• "I like playing music because it's a good living and I get satisfaction from it. But I can't feed my family with satisfaction."
  • Playboy, April 2001

• "Dying, dying, someone told me just recently, dying is easy. Living is hard. for everyone."
  • MusiCares, May 14, 2006

• "If I hadn't have had music in my life, it's quite possible I could be in here. Or nor even in here, be dead — and I'd much rather be alive."
  • at St Quentin, during the videoshoot for St Anger

• "Everybody is born good and everybody has got the same size soul. We're here to connect with that."
  • at St Quentin during the videoshoot for St Anger

• All the drinking and all the other junk that I was stuck in... It was so predictable. So boring. I wake up the next day - somewhere, in some bed, I don't know who this person is next to me... and I'm drunk, competely hung over and have a show to do. The result is the same... When life now is pretty... exciting. You don't know what's gonna happen.
  • Some Kind of Monster, 2003 - Talking about his addictions and big changes.

Unsourced

• It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Then it's fun and games;you can't see anymore.

• The first time I played sober was because I just forgot to drink. 'Damn' I thought...'I'm playing better'

• “I remember this guy lit my couch on fire a couple of times.” --About Cliff Burton

• “We heard this wild solo going on and thought, ‘I don’t see any guitar player up there.’ It turned out it was the bass player, Cliff, with a wah wah pedal and this mop of hair. He didn’t care whether people were there. He was looking down at his bass playing.”

• “Knowing Cliff’s attitude, he’d kick our butts if we quit.” --on continuing after Cliff’s death

• “I saw the bus lying right on him. I saw his legs sticking out. I freaked. The bus driver, I recall, was trying to yank the blanket out from under him to use for other people. I just went, ‘Don’t fucking do that!’ I already wanted to kill the guy. I don’t know if he was drunk or if he hit some ice. All I knew was, he was driving and Cliff wasn’t alive anymore.” -- about Cliff's death

• “He was a wild, hippie-ish, acid-taking, bell-bottom-wearing guy. He meant business, and you couldn’t fuck around with him. I wanted to get that respect that he had. We gave him shit about his bell-bottoms every day. He didn’t care. “This is what I wear. Fuck you.” He loved music. He was really intellectual but very to the point. He taught me a lot about attitude.” -- about Cliff Burton

• “People probably thought, ‘Oh, they're not going to do the heavy lyrics now because of what happened.’ Man, those lyrics mean a lot more to me now.”

• “Cliff’s taken classes in school on music theory, things like mixing harmonies together. I think he took a junior college course.”-- 1986

• "One time we were playing at O2 Arena and I was bitten by a fucking zombie" - James Hetfield on England sucking ass

• "One time we saw some hookers, but when we got closer, we realised it was Mötley Crüe."

• "Lars would talk his way into their pants. Kirk had a babyface that was appealing to the girls. And Cliff; he had a big dick. Word got around about that, I guess." James Hetfield - Playboy April 2001.

• "Tonight we've changed the song's name to 'Of Wolfgang and Man...' I don't get it!" James Hetfield on the S&M version of 'Of Wolf and Man'

I told you not to fuck around! (after shooting at a tin can with a shotgun)