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James Hetfield’s opinion on Led Zeppelin
Inspired by Punk and Heavy Metal, Metallica, formed by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield in 1981, took Metal music to another level, becoming the most successful Thrash Metal band and one of the most influential Metal acts of all time. To this day, they remain one of the few Rock and Metal bands capable of selling out stadiums worldwide, something increasingly rare as fewer Rock bands reach the same level of popularity.
Over the decades, Hetfield has often spoken about the bands that shaped Hard Rock and Metal in the 1970s. One of them is Led Zeppelin, the group formed by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham.
What is James Hetfield's opinion on Led Zeppelin
Among the influential British bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Black Sabbath was the group that influenced James Hetfield the most but he also is a big fan of Led Zeppelin. In a list he made and shared with Metallica's fan club in 2015 about the best things that had happened to him that year, one of the items read “Meeting Robert Plant.”
A couple of years before, in 2008, he was asked by Rolling Stone to list who were the best singers of all time in his opinion. He placed Robert Plant on position number 10, in front of names like Johnny Cash, Freddie Mercury and Steven Tyler.
When asked by Rolling Stone in 2004 to list some of his favorites songs of all time, he mentioned "Stairway To Heaven". “When I first got a guitar, I figured out the first couple of fingerings to this. I ran around the house saying, ‘Check it out! I can play this!’ My family was like, ‘Where’s the rest of the song?’” James Hetfield said. As the years passed, he learned to play the guitar properly and he used to cover a lot of Zeppelin songs with his school band Obsession.
Hetfield was only five years old when they released their self-titled debut album in 1968. He grew up seeing the evolution of their songwriting and how they inspired the development of Hard Rock.
"Led Zeppelin III" is one of his favorites albums by them
Although "Stairway To Heaven", mentioned by him as a favorite, is part of "Led Zeppelin IV", released in 1971, Hetfield also likes the band's third album, which was put out by them in 1970. He mentioned that record when asked about the criticism on Metallica's "St. Anger" (2003) album. "We feel good about every record, but this one (Death Magnetic) seems to be getting extra good response. With (2003's) "St. Anger", time will tell. Not to consider us like Led Zeppelin or anything. But the third ZEP album they were talking smack about, but now it's one of my favorites."
"Time will tell. It has to erase all the other stuff attached to it. Like 'Load' and the (album cover) photos. And "St. Anger" and the whole movie about the collapse of Metallica. This one, right out the gate. Pretty amazed," James Hetfield told Sun Media in 2008.
Some of the most famous tracks on "Led Zeppelin III" are "Immigrant Song", "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Tangerine". A few decades later, in the 1990s, Hetfield once again listed a Zeppelin album among his favorite ones. But this time was "Remasters", the three-LP compilation album of the digitally remastered material by the group. Released in 1990, the record features famous songs from their entire discography.
Metallica played live with Jimmy Page and he taught them how to play "Train Kept A' Rollin'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBHojMzM38E&list=RDdBHojMzM38E&start_radio=1&pp=ygUabWV0YWxsaWNhIGppbXltIHBhZ2UgdHJhaW6gBwE%3D
Metallica and Jeff Beck were both inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Jimmy Page was the one who inducted the British guitar player. After the ceremony, a group of superstars formed by Metallica, Jeff Beck, Flea, Ronnie Wood, Joe Perry and Jimmy Page entered the stage to perform the classic song "Train Kept A Rollin'".
Before starting to play, Hetfield said: "This is rhythm guitar player heaven. I don't have to compete with this (I just do the rhythm). First recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951, The Yardbirds did a classic version of the song when Beck was part of the band. Curiously, according to Joe Perry, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had to teach Metallica how to play the song properly because they were not much familiar with it.
“When Metallica was inducted into the Hall Of Fame they had Jimmy Page and I think that Jeff Beck was being inducted too and me coming up to play with Metallica. The song is ‘Train Kept A’ Rollin’, Metallica didn’t know it. They did not know ‘Train Kept A’ Rollin’. It was like a drummer not knowing ‘Wipeout’ (By The Surfaris). Jimmy and Jeff kind of looked at each other like ‘Okay, we will have to run through for them’. They had the teleprompter and of course it was no pun intended, but it was a trainwreck after Jeff brought the ‘train’.”
“I mean, we made it through it. But it just showed that a generation in Rock and Roll can be two years. Like Alice (Cooper) said, we’ve learned from these guys. Even though they were maybe a couple years older than us, maybe even younger," Joe Perry told A-Sides in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Led Zeppelin was one of the bands Hetfield used to educate his kids musically
Dads who are music fans are always excited to educate his kids musically presenting them all the great bands they like, seeing their reaction when they hear those amazing albums and songs for the first time. Hetfield used to do that with his kids, especially when taking them to school. Each week he would choose a band to present to them and Zeppelin was part of the list. "All I can say is my children, when we would listen to music together, I would drive them to school. (I would say) 'Ok, this week we listen to The Ramones, next week The Beach Boys, then AC/DC, Led Zeppelin."
"Some of the heavier stuff they don't like so much, you know, (like) Black Sabbath. My daughter surprised me the other day, she says 'I love Elvis'. Elvis is her favorite artist, she is 15 years-old. My other daughter, 18, she loves like Cage the Elephant. I've met Ricky Martin before, he is a very nice person. (His) music... it doesn't do anything to my heart. But my wife enjoys it," James Hetfield said in an interview back in 2017, made available by Metallica Family (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).The post James Hetfield’s opinion on Led Zeppelin appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
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