Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recently shared a story about when Kurt Cobain attended a Metallica concert during “The Black Album” era in a recent interview. Cobain, who was a big fan of Metallica, especially loved their songs “Ride the Lightning” and “Whiplash.” During the show in Seattle, Cobain asked Kirk if they were going to play those songs. Kirk wasn’t sure about “Ride the Lightning,” but they did play “Whiplash.”
Kirk later learned that while they were playing “Whiplash,” Kurt got super excited and tried to get Kirk’s attention. Friends who were in the audience told Kirk that Kurt went “insane” during the song because it was his favorite. Kirk remembered Kurt as a great guy—mellow, fragile, and vulnerable, but also very witty and funny.
“I said, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to play ‘Ride the Lightning’, but we played Whiplash.”
“The whole time we were playing ‘Whiplash’, Kurt was trying to get my attention. I only found out afterward from some friends who were in the snakepit saying ‘God, when you guys played ‘Whiplash’, Kurt went insane and he was trying to get your attention the whole time.’ I was like ‘Really?’ I know that’s his favorite Metallica song, but wow.'”
“Kurt was great. He was such a great mellow guy and very fragile and vulnerable. But, at the same time, man, he had this great wit. He was a funny guy.”
Kirk also mentioned that he became friends with Kurt back in 1989, even before Nirvana became famous and before the term “grunge” was widely used. He reflected on how Kurt just wanted to play guitar, write songs, and sing, but sadly, all of that became too much for him.
“He was great. I became friends with him right when the first Nirvana album [1989’s ‘Bleach’] came out before people were even calling it grunge, and it’s so sad when I think back to all the guy wanted to do was play guitar and write songs and sing and somehow that all got destroyed for him.”
