Classic Rock: Out now!

Metallica’s James Hetfield has spoken frankly to Classic Rock Magazine about the band’s wilderness years, saying the main problem was drugs and disagreements over who drove the band forward.

In CR’s July edition he discusses the band’s mid-90 years and the change of image and presentation surrounding 1996’s Load album – which he was uncomfortable with. He says: “The whole ‘We need to reinvent ourselves’ topic was up. Image isn’t an evil thing to me, but if the image isn’t you, it doesn’t make much sense.

“I think they were after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter-ego. I couldn’t get into it. I would say at least half the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out.

“The cover went against what I was feeling. Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. I think the cover of Load was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with all this crazy stupid shit.”

Hetfield says he resents the period when Ulrich and Hammett were bonded through their drug use and he wasn’t happy not driving the band. The result reflected in the band’s music too, he explains: “That whole period: ‘Why do we need to reinvent ourselves?’ A lot of fans got turned off quite a bit by the music – but mostly, I think, by the image.”

Going further on the subject of who drives the band, Hetfield says it was essential to get rid of guitarist Dave Mustaine, who went on to form Megadeth: “It was necessary. There would have been myself, Lars and him all trying to drive, and it would have been a triangulated mess. It’s obvious he had the same drive as us. He went on to do great things with Megadeth.

“The way things are now, Lars and I are one half of the scale with Rob Trujillo and Kirk on the other. They’re great people but they’re okay with someone else driving. It does take that, I think – they’re very un-ego-driven and Lars and I are the other way, it seems.”

The July edition of Classic Rock is on sale now.