On an interesting, honest one-and-a-half-minute interview with Road Recovery, Metallica's James Hetfield opens up about how music saved his life and how people would probably hate him if they knew his story. Granted it's an incredibly short interview, but seeing him be extremely honest about his past is interesting. This is actually a multi-part interview, released in parts, as we've previously discussed Hetfield's admitted lifelong fear of responsibility. Here, Hetfield really opens up:
"You wouldn't really like me if you knew my story, if you knew what horrible things I've done. I'm coming to grips with that, 'cause I have groups of people that I'm able to share all my horrible stuff with — shameful, extremely shameful, dark stuff. Some of it is things I've taken from my parents and carried it a little further. Other ones, I've been able to drops some of that. Other ones I've picked up on my own and then created… Shame's a big thing for me."
"Playing music has saved my life. Every day saves my life. When I'm able to write… write a riff, write some lyrics, stuff like that… it's the way I connect with the world. And so I think kids that do have the gift of art, writing painting, drawing, designing, metalwork, woodwork… any craft-type stuff… caring for that… caring for that."
I'm not sure we "really wouldn't like" Hetfield if we knew about his past. We've all made some pretty massive mistakes in our past too and I'm sure everyone's really screwed someone over. It's nothing anyone is proud of (unless you're a dick), but it's bound to happen to the majority of people. I wonder if we'll see any of that come out in the new Metallica album? I'm sure there's been a lot on it in the past too, but veiled through obscure lyricisms and that whole bag considering that's what lyricists do.
