During a recent appearance on the “Talk Louder” podcast, L.A. Guns guitarist and founding Guns N’ Roses member Tracii Guns recalled an uncomfortable conversation he had with James Hetfield around the time Metallica released their “Black Album.”
“Somehow, we ended up alone at the Scrap Bar in New York. It was like a Tuesday night, and there was nothing else to do. We were both there doing press; he was doing press for his album. And I came in, and he was the only person in there, and the bartender. So I went, ‘Hey, man.’ He goes, ‘Tracii Guns.’ And right away, I knew he was wasted. I knew he was gone. I knew he was off his tree,” Guns said.
He continued: “And I go, ‘I have a cassette of your new album.’ He’s, like, ‘You don’t like Metallica.’ I go, ‘Yeah, I do. This is a f**king great record.’ He goes, ‘Well, I got the Contraband record [early 1990s supergroup featuring Guns]. He goes, ‘F**king great playing, but those songs are sh*t, bro.’ I’m, like, ‘Yeah. Cool, man. Whatever.’
“And he just started getting kind of amped up, and I’m, like, ‘I’m gonna talk to you later.’ ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m not gonna sit here and just listen to you be mad at me.’ He goes, ‘I’m not mad at you.’ ‘You sure sound like you’re mad at me.’ He goes, ‘Whatever.’ He was just drunk. I left.”
As Guns explains, though, time has softened Hetfield’s edges. The Metallica singer has become an advocate for mental health in recent years. In 2022, he shared his struggles with the 60,000 attendees at a Metallica show in Brazil – something which Tracii Guns admits he deeply admires.
“So, years go by. I’d see him every now and then,” Guns said. “I saw him at Download festival when Lars [Ulrich] didn’t show up, and we talked for a few minutes, and I saw Kirk [Hammett]. And there’s always been this cool kind of vibe between me and those guys.”
“But then I saw that he opened up his heart in public. And he started talking about the demons that he has dealt with and how long. You go play stadiums and you go to the grocery store in your neighborhood. So it’s a big shift. And how he used to deal with things.”
“It is very difficult for a man to talk about those things with his friends, let alone talk about that sincerely in public, especially being the singer of f**king Metallica,” he added. “So I have even more respect for James now than ever. I just think he’s so bold and so brave. And although I think it’s a shame what happened to his relationship, relationships don’t last forever. But I really gotta give him massive kudos, man. Just, like, way to go, dude. And that healing process.”
He continued: “A lot of people are, like, ‘Oh, he’s a millionaire. Who feels sorry for a millionaire?’ It’s, like, dude, what does that got to do with…? Money doesn’t solve everything internally… And he got sober. That’s tough. That’s hard sh*t to do, man. And on top of it, he wrote all that great music and those songs. I don’t say this very often, but God bless that f**king dude. What a bad*ss.”
