{"id":517965,"date":"2026-06-25T16:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517965\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:02:09","slug":"after-the-taylor-swift-t-shirt-controversy-metallicas-kirk-hammett-says-right-now-songwriting-and-pop-music-is-crap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517965\/","title":{"rendered":"After the Taylor Swift T-shirt controversy, Metallica\u2019s Kirk Hammett says \u201cright now, songwriting and pop music is crap\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Metallica<\/a> guitarist Kirk Hammett has shared his thoughts on the current state of songwriting and pop music, calling it \u201ccrap\u201d, amid controversy over him wearing a Taylor Swift<\/a> T-shirt.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Metallica live in Amsterdam: still the greatest heavy metal band around<\/a><\/p>\n

The musician faced backlash from Swifties earlier this month, when he donned a satirical tee reading \u2018Taylor Swift Is A CIA Psyop\u2019 at Metallica\u2019s concert in Budapest. Hammett and co. are currently out on their \u2018M72\u2019 European and UK tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photographs of the shirt circulated on social media, prompting criticism from some Swift fans. Hammett did not publicly address the response, but has since discussed the state of modern \u201cpopular music\u201d on the whole.<\/p>\n

During an interview with The Irish Times<\/a>, between Metallica\u2019s two stadium shows in Dublin last week, the guitarist claimed that \u201cright now, songwriting and pop music is crap\u201d.<\/p>\n

The comment came about when he recalled how music used to challenge him when he was growing up, explaining: \u201cI started off learning off records, just trying to develop my ear and learning songs and guitar solos from playing records over and over again\u2026<\/p>\n

Kirk Hammett wears t-shirt that says “Taylor Swift is a CIA Psyop,” mocking conspiracy theorists during a show in Budapest.<\/p>\n

This satirical shirt humorously critiques and mocks the absurdity of the real-world conspiracy theories that assert Swift is a government asset.<\/p>\n

The\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 BBQ Chiefs (@BBQChiefs) June 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was a real challenge because if you got three different guitar players together and said, \u2018OK, play \u2018I\u2019m The One\u2019 on Van Halen<\/a>\u2019s first album\u2019, all three guitar players would play it differently. There was some charm to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammett continued: \u201cI kind of lament [not having] those days when people had to really struggle to learn, because it\u2019s all in the struggle. And it\u2019s all in the determination and being inspired at the same time that forces you to come up with your own stuff and eventually your own sound and style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just worry about how things are so perfect these days, the musicianship. It\u2019s great that all these guitar players have all this vast knowledge of technique at their fingertips. I wonder where it\u2019s leading to.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cI hope it leads to a better quality of pop music, popular music, and just a better quality of songwriting. Because right now, songwriting and pop music is crap.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that all these great musicians who can teach themselves through the internet step up and put all that great learning and all that great inspiration into creating new stuff, new songs, the future of music, and at a higher standard than what it is now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I\u2019ll say it again, K-R-A-P. Crap. Sorry for all you pop fans out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MetallicaMetallica. CREDIT: Tim Saccenti<\/p>\n

Shortly after Hammett wore his Swift tee at a Metallica show, the musician fell off stage during the first Dublin date<\/a> last Friday (June 19) \u2013 with some Swift fans saying the incident was \u201ckarma\u201d (via Reddit<\/a>).<\/p>\n

However, some users on the thread hit back at this: \u201cSo karma is a 63-year-old falling off a stage because he wore a tongue-in-cheek shirt that a handful of obsessive weirdos took too seriously?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammett, who quickly recovered and continued playing live, joked about the moment on his Instagram Stories. \u201cSlip & Destroy,\u201d he captioned the clip.<\/p>\n

Metallica\u2019s current tour is scheduled to resume with a massive show in Glasgow tonight (Thursday June 25), ahead of a stop in Cardiff on Sunday (June 28). They\u2019ll then take to the stage at the London Stadium on July 3 and 5. Find any remaining tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The metal outfit have teamed up with UK blood services for their UK tour to urge fans to donate blood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April, Metallica announced two further US shows for later this year<\/a>, taking place in Connecticut with Suicidal Tendencies\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Spiritbox<\/a>. Their residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, meanwhile, will run from this October to March 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a four-star review of Metallica\u2019s \u2018M72\u2019 tour opener in Amsterdam in 2023<\/a>,\u00a0NME\u00a0wrote: \u201cMetallica have always been a gateway band for heavy music, but there\u2019s a renewed excitement around them now. Tonight\u2019s surprising, ambitious and giddy gig matches that energy at every turn.<\/p>\n

\u201c[\u2026] From the gorgeous \u2018Nothing Else Matters\u2019 through to the unifying \u2018Seek & Destroy\u2019, the majesty of heavy music is on full display throughout the gig as Metallica prove why they\u2019re clearly still the greatest metal band around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has shared his thoughts on the current state of songwriting and pop music, calling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,637,278,640],"class_list":["post-517965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}