Metallica members James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett performed the National Anthem at the NBA finals earlier this week, with the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors going head to head. A popular NBA writer said it’s disrespectful that Rush members didn’t get to perform the National Anthem.
Duncan Smith tweeted, “Sacrilegious to give the Americans Metallica and not give us Rush for the national anthems.”
Danko Jones tweeted, “Sorry but Metallica were originally from LA. The announcer said ‘from Day 1.’ Hate to be one of those guys, but I am one of those guys.”
“I hope the Warriors let Metallica do the national anthem for every one of their home games in this series, James & Kirk are the Lucky Charm the Raptors need to keep winning. #NBAFINAL #RaptorsvsWarriors”
Kirk Hammett told Kerrang in a new interview that he would like to see Metallica perform its Ronnie James Dio medley live at a 2019 show.
Metallica’s “Ronnie Rising Medley” had four Dio-era Rainbow songs (“A Light In The Black”, “Tarot Woman”, “Stargazer” and “Kill The King”) and was a standout on the charity album ‘Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life’ that was released in 2014, and later as a bonus track on 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct.
Hammet said regarding his favorite cover to play, “Well, [Misfits’] ‘Last Caress’ is just one of those songs, man. It’s just so quick and to the point. I love a lot of the covers we do.
“One thing that I would like to do live one of these days is the Dio/Rainbow medley. I think that’d be fucking incredible to do that live sometime because I’m a big Dio fan, I’m a big Rainbow fan.”
Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone in 2014 that covering Rainbow was an easy decision. “[Dio’s] music is so much a part of what’s in METALLICA’s DNA, the harder, edgier, blues-based hard rock from the seventies,” he explained. “It was fairly effortless to put this together, because it’s something that we were all reared on. I don’t recall sitting there in a band meeting or anything deciding what to play. Somebody starts playing ‘Stargazer’ — which is sort of just like something that’s in our arsenal to jam — and then that whole period there, ‘Tarot Woman’, ‘Kill The King’, ‘A Light In The Black’ — that’s just really effortless to jump into.”
Sacriligeous to give the Americans Metallica and not give us Rush for the national anthems
— Duncan Smith (@DuncanSmithNBA) June 6, 2019
Sorry but Metallica were originally from LA. The announcer said “from Day 1”. Hate to be one of those guys, but I am one of those guys.
— Danko Jones (@dankojones) June 6, 2019
I hope the Warriors let Metallica do the national anthem for every one of their home games in this series, James & Kirk are the LUCKY CHARM the Raptors need to keep winning. #NBAFINAL #RaptorsvsWarriors
— Danko Jones (@dankojones) June 6, 2019
