Metallica's James Hetfield Gives His Real Thoughts on Green Day Audio Ink Radio

Metallica’s James Hetfield Gives His Real Thoughts on Green Day

2025-01-09

Speaking on an episode of “The Metallica Report,” Metallica vocalist James Hetfield talked about Green Day and their lyrics. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo via Ken Settle

Metallica and Green Day are very different bands, but they both formed in the 1980s, both hail from California and both sell out stadiums around the world. So, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that these guys have mutual respect for each other. Or, maybe they don’t.

Speaking on the January 8 episode of “The Metallica Report,” Metallica vocalist James Hetfield talked about his lyrics and, in the process, opened up about his thoughts about Green Day and their lyrics.

James Hetfield on Green Day: ‘It Sticks In You’

When asked about his lyrics, Hetfield said that didn’t study literature much growing up. “All the books you’re supposed to read as a kid, I didn’t, but I will pick up a book and thumb through it,” he said. Hetfield added that he would mainly look at words that he thought were interesting. So, that early experience with words perhaps comes in handy when coming up with lyrics for Metallica’s songs.

Hetfield went on to praise Tom Waits, saying that he’s “just being a master craftsman at lyrics, painting a picture in one sentence, it 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.”

That’s when the conversation turned to Green Day. Hetfield said that he would “thumb through books just to see cool words and put them in a little pile and figure out where they belong. So, it is kind of like building a vehicle, building a whatever, collecting lots of little words. And how do they fit together? What does this really mean? Is this enough for a subject matter?”

He added, “Then, I go and I watch a band like Green day. They have some simple, ‘know your enemy’ or ‘do you know your enemy?,’ something like that. It’s so hooky and great. It sticks in you. But, that’s not really literary geniusness. So, ‘geniusness’ is another word I just made up. And there are times when I’ll make up words just to get a point across too.”

So, Hetfield seems to dig Green Day’s hooks and catchy lyrics, but also recognizes that you don’t have to have a doctorial degree to make great lyrics, because many Green Day lyrics are super simple.

He added that “putting words into the song” is “like another instrument” for him.

Hetfield Says He Doesn’t ‘Feel Responsible’ for ‘Other People’s Worries’ About Metallica

Metallica released their latest album, “72 Seasons,” in April 2023. Upon the album’s release, Hetfield did an interview that ran on Metallica’s website, in which he talked about the future of the band.

“As far as other people’s worries and concerns and fears about Metallica continuing on or not, you know, I don’t feel responsible for them,” he said. “But. I do feel that I’m responsible for what I can do, what I can put out there. Maybe it seems egotistical to think that there are so many people relying on the Metallica record to get them through the year, whatever it is, [but] I get that it does help people.”

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.