THIS DAY: KIRK HAMMETT JOINS METALLICA
California native Kirk Hammett was a 20-year-old student of Joe Satriani when Metallica tapped him to replace original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine.
That was twenty-five years ago today.
Think he might have thought it was an April Fool's joke?
Hammett is known as the nice, Zen, easy-going member of Metallica, a fact that is made plain throughout the recent band doc, Some Kind Of Monster. Metallica must be thankful that it has a resident peacemaker to arbitrate between Type A personalities Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield. You know, when a band therapist isn't handy.
But that doesn't mean Hammett can't melt faces with the best of them. It was his riff, written at 3am in a hotel room, that grew into the band's mainstream breakthrough, "Enter Sandman."
Watch him shred this classic solo for "Unforgiven" in the studio, right in surly producer Bob Rock's smug grill.
Happy 25, Kirk.
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qsax says
cool bit. nice to remember back when guitar heroes were real.