Kirk Hammett

Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist in the band Metallica. Hammett is one of the better-known students of guitar virtuoso and instructor Joe Satriani.

Sourced

• Basically I just had to say, "Screw everyone around me - from now on I'm just gonna play what I think is important to me and our music." So I gave the big finger to all the current trends in technical wizardry, and just went off and did what I felt was best for the songs.
  • Guitar World (March 1992)

• I think heavy metal is therapeutic - it's music that blows the tension away. I think that's why people who have had really bad childhoods are attracted to heavy metal. It allows people to release aggression and tension in a nonviolent way. Also, heavy metal seems to attract all sorts of scruffy, lost animals, strays no one wants.
  • Playboy (April 2001)

• Cliff was a very smart guy, a reader, very eloquent. I just don't understand why he went, and not one of us.
  • Playboy (April 2001)

• [about Nothing Else Matters] James always wanted to be perceived as this guy who is very confident and strong. And for him to write lyrics like that - showing a sensitive side - took a lot of balls.
  • Playboy (April 2001)