There were certainly paragons for his guitar’s hyper-percussive, palm-muffled strumming technique, but Hetfield made it the norm in ’80s metal.
He was never a stupid headbanger, as the sophisticated picking on “Fade To Black” or later the nuanced hard rock of the “Black Album” prove.
“I wonder what James Hetfield would sound like as a drummer,” Dave Grohl once said. “Because in the end he takes over the rhythm work and the melody with his guitar at the same time. He’s in a class of his own.”
James Hetfield will be 59 years old on August 3rd. Congratulations!
Incidentally, ROLLING STONE voted the Metallica frontman the 87th best guitarist of all time.