LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 3, 2019…HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO METALLICA’S JAMES HETFIELD. TODAY HE’S CELEBRATING HIS 56TH BIRTHDAY. HERE ARE SOME FACTOIDS ABOUT JAMES YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN:
-HIS MOTHER WAS A LIGHT OPERA SINGER, HIS FATHER A TRUCK DRIVER
-HETFIELD’S PARENTS DIVORCED WHEN HE WAS 13
-HIS PARENTS WERE VERY STRICT CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS, DISAPPROVING OF MEDICINE OR MEDICAL TREATMENT
-EVEN AS HIS MOTHER WAS DYING FROM CANCER MEDICINE WAS REJECTED
-THE UPBRINGING BECAME AN INSPIRATION FOR MANY OF JAMES’ LYRICS, MOST NOTABLY ‘DYERS EVE’ AND ‘THE GOD THAT FAILED.’
-AFTER HIS MOTHER’S DEATH HE WENT TO LIVE WITH HIS HALF BROTHER AT THE AGE OF 16.
-HE WAS 9 YEARS OLD WHEN HE TOOK UP THE PIANO
-HE STARTED PLAYING THE DRUMS AT THE AGE OF 12 WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING HIS HALF BROTHER DAVID’S SET.
-AT THE AGE OF 14 HE TOOK UP THE GUITAR
-HETFIELD IDENTIFIES AEROSMITH AS BEING HIS MAIN MUSICAL INFLUENCE, SAYING THEY ARE THE REASON HE WANTED TO PLAY THE GUITAR
-”GUITAR WORLD” MAGAZINE RANKED HETFIELD AND KIRK HAMMETT AT #2ON THEIR LIST OF “THE 100 GREATEST METAL GUITARISTS” POLL
-“ROLLING STONE” MAGAZINE HAS JAMES HETFIELD LISTED AT # 87 ON THEIR LIST OF “THE TOP 100 GUITARISTS OF ALL-TIME”
HERE’S METALLICA PERFORMING THE ENTIRE “DEATH MAGNETIC” ALBUM LIVE ON THE DEATH MAGNETIC TOUR.
photo thanks-Alberto Cabello
