Metal legends and reliable documentary subjects Metallica are having a lovely 2016. Their latest record (Hardwired…To Self-Destruct) has earned warm reviews, the band is now hunky dory with Napster and who knew these guys were so good at the promotional tour funzos thing? Among Metallica’s 2016 adventures was an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon where they performed a toy instrument version of the immortal “Enter Sandman” alongside The Roots and the guy from Fever Pitch. In a recent chat with Spotify, the band fessed up a bit about how these sorts of situations make them feel.
“We’re literally afraid to jam with certain people, because we think we’re not worthy enough. We’re not great musicians,” shared frontman James Hetfield. A rather candid way of assessing your own material when millions worldwide worship what they do, don’t you think? “Even with those little flutes and stuff I was worried. Kirk [Hammett, guitarist] was practising the song on this little recording thing. It’s like, ‘Dude, stop practicing it – just go have fun. Go screw it up!’”
Metallica popping by Fallon might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but the band itself had an awesome time going all classroom with their 1991 classic.
“You’ve got to laugh at yourselves,” notes Hetfield. “You’ve got to not take yourself so seriously all the time. The Jimmy Fallon thing showed up in our lap, they said, ‘You want to do this?’ We had a blast. Stuff like that is just fun. It lightens your heart and it humbles you as well.”
Consider this a valuable lesson. Even metal gods understand the value of not taking yourself so goshdarn seriously.
