James Hetfield

James Hetfield

(born August 3, 1963) Musician; co-founder, lead singer, and rhythm guitarist of the band Metallica

• If I hadn't have had music in my life, it's quite possible I'd be dead — and I'd much rather be alive.

• The first time I played sober was because I just forgot to drink. 'Damn' I thought...'I'm playing better'

• “I remember this guy lit my couch on fire a couple of times.” --About Cliff Burton

• “We heard this wild solo going on and thought, ‘I don’t see any guitar player up there.’ It turned out it was the bass player, Cliff, with a wah wah pedal and this mop of hair. He didn’t care whether people were there. He was looking down at his bass playing.”

• “Knowing Cliff’s attitude, he’d kick our butts if we quit.” --on continuing after Cliff’s death

• “I saw the bus lying right on him. I saw his legs sticking out. I freaked. The bus driver, I recall, was trying to yank the blanket out from under him to use for other people. I just went, ‘Don’t fucking do that!’ I already wanted to kill the guy. I don’t know if he was drunk or if he hit some ice. All I knew was, he was driving and Cliff wasn’t alive anymore.” -- about Cliff's death

• “He was a wild, hippie-ish, acid-taking, bell-bottom-wearing guy. He meant business, and you couldn’t fuck around with him. I wanted to get that respect that he had. We gave him shit about his bell-bottoms every day. He didn’t care. “This is what I wear. Fuck you.” He loved music. He was really intellectual but very to the point. He taught me a lot about attitude.” -- about Cliff Burton

• “People probably thought, ‘Oh, they're not going to do the heavy lyrics now because of what happened.’ Man, those lyrics mean a lot more to me now.”

• “Cliff’s taken classes in school on music theory, things like mixing harmonies together. I think he took a junior college course.”-- 1986