An Interview With Metallica’s James Hetfield

Back in the ’8os, Metallica was extremely prolific, recording four of metal’s mightiest albums in just five years. Since then, though, the band’s pace has slowed. In the past 15 years, they’ve recorded only three studio albums, and it took eight years for Metallica to release Death Magnetic’s successor, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct. For the latter, it was worth the wait. And on February 12, the foursome will perform some of the new album at the Grammy Awards (and potentially take a ninth award home). In a conversation with Newsweek, frontman/guitarist James Hetfield speaks about the making of Hardwired, his all-time favorite Metallica album and how he secretly wants to play drums.

Sure. Lars [Ulrich] and I have been married for 35 years []; you get to know each other pretty well. We’re brothers that hate each other, love each other, can’t stand each other. Can’t continue without each other, all of that stuff []. I’ve known him longer than anybody except for family members. There are times when he’ll just do a count in, and we both start playing the same song. And who knows