Metallica singer James Hetfield got in fight over t-shirt
Gene Hoglan recently dropped a fascinating story regarding his first encounter with Metallica singer and guitarist James Hetfield, and how they got in a verbal fight over James refusing to make him a t-shirt. The story reveals an awkward and heated interaction that took place decades before they would work together professionally. The drummer recounted this tale during an appearance on the Garza Podcast.
The story revolves around a backyard party in 1981 where a young Hoglan desperately wanted an Iron Maiden shirt from a teenage James Hetfield.
“When I was on the road with Metallica back in 2010, Metallica would take their opening acts out to dinner after their show. We were in Moscow and I was with Fear Factory at the time and we had Gojira also at the table. And it was just Lars didn’t make it but everybody else did,” Hoglan said.
“So we were all talking about like the what was your first instrument and what was your first record and what and so I had asked James (Hetfield) I was like, ‘Hey, James, do you remember your first Iron Maiden shirt?’ And he was like, ‘No, I don’t think I ever had a Maiden shirt.’ I was like, ‘Well, you did and let me tell you.’”
Hoglan recalled first meeting James Hetfield at a 4th of July backyard party in 1981 when he was 13 and Hetfield was 17. Spotting Hetfield in an Iron Maiden shirt—rare at the time—Hoglan excitedly approached him, only to learn Hetfield had made the shirt himself. When Hoglan asked for one too, Hetfield refused.
“So I proceeded to tell him that at this backyard party on July 4th, 1981. I was 13 at the time. That would have made him 17. I see this guy wearing an Iron Maiden shirt that was like this was like I said this is 81 so nobody knew who Maiden was. It was the first album cover, a white print on a black shirt. And I went up to this guy and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you have this major shirt, but I’ve never even met anybody who even knows who Iron Maiden is.’ I knew two people that knew. I’m like, ‘Where did you get that shirt?’ He’s like, ‘I made it. I made it at school.’ I was like, ‘Oh man, well, can you make me one?’ And he’s like, ‘No,’” he continued.
“And I was like, I’d fish in my pocket. I got five bucks like and at that time even concert shirts were maybe five bucks. So the lot of money then. I said, ‘Here’s five bucks. Can you make me one?’ He’s like, ‘No.’ So I went and found my sister at the party and got five bucks from her. I came back to him with 10 bucks. I said, ‘Here’s 10 bucks. Will you please? I’ve never met anybody. Nobody will ever have an Iron Maiden shirt. Nobody will ever know who these guys are because they’re so heavy. Nobody’s ever I’m never this is my only chance to ever get an Iron Maiden shirt.’ And he’s like, ‘No, f*ck off.’ I was just like, ‘Yeah, screw you,’” Hoglan recalled.
The story then came full circle months later when Hoglan attended a Saxon show at the Whiskey.
“And so a number of months later in March of 82, I went to go see Saxon at the Whiskey and as me and my buddies are walking in the door, the opening band is going on. And I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. That’s a motherf*cker that wouldn’t make me the Iron Maiden shirt. F*ck you.’ And turns out that was Metallica. And when I was telling James that, he was like, ‘That was our second show, you know,’” he concluded.
James Hetfield’s Iron Maiden fandom
James Hetfield has never hidden the impact Iron Maiden had on his youth. In a 2016 interview, he said: “Early Iron Maiden albums. I love the new wave of British Heavy Metal. That makes me feel good, it reminds me of youth.”
Hetfield has also shared a memorable encounter with Maiden bassist Steve Harris. Speaking to Metallica’s fan club magazine So What!, he recalled: “It was our first brush with somebody kinda cool and famous… Steve Harris, a super-down-to-earth, really cool guy.”
The admiration runs both ways. Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson once joked in an interview: “Of course, we’re gonna be better than Metallica!” But he later explained: “We have a great relationship with Metallica… I said it because I knew it would piss everyone off. I knew it wouldn’t piss Metallica off, because they’re Metallica. What do they care?”
These moments highlight the respect and lighthearted rivalry between two of metal’s most influential bands, showing how Hetfield’s teenage fandom carried into lasting mutual respect.
