Credit: Far Out / U2start / 4TheWynne / Rick Guest
October 20th, 2026 · 4:30pm BST
It takes a lot to bring different branches of rock and roll together under one roof.
Even though so many people like to think of the genre as one big happy family, there are always going to be factions of people that hate other brands of rock with every fibre of their being, whether that’s prog and punk clashing together or rockers hating anything remotely disco back in the day. But when looking at the glory days of heavy metal, there weren’t many subgenres that seemed to have it out for each other as much as glam metal and thrash metal.
The biggest names in Los Angeles did absolutely nothing for someone like James Hetfield, and he was going to do everything within his power to show people that there was a lot more that music had to offer than fashion and catchy choruses. Metallica were going to bring music to the masses, but the main thing that they were looking for was whether or not they could write a half-decent riff whenever they played.
Because that discipline went all the way back to listening to Pete Townshend turn in some of the greatest riffs with The Who. Townshend practically invented the power chord in the minds of many listeners, and while Hetfield was just one in a long line of guitarists trying their best to make that music sound good, Bono was looking for a different kind of ride whenever he listened to some of those early Who tracks.
He felt that Townshend was speaking for the people who wanted something more out of rock and roll, and considering the fluff that was coming out around the time that Townshend made records, the Irish legend wasn’t that far off in thinking that. Townshend genuinely believed that rock and roll needed to mean more than those thrashing power chords he was playing, and when he heard Pet Sounds for the first time, he started to realise just how far the genre could go.
Brian Wilson was simply trying to make the best songs that he could, but Townshend was almost jealous the first time he heard ‘God Only Knows’, saying, “I love him so much it’s just terrible – I find it hard to live with. ‘God Only Knows’ is simple and elegant and was stunning when it first appeared; it still sounds perfect.” And anything that Townshend started with was going to get the okay from Bono once he heard it.
U2 weren’t blindly following The Who by any stretch, but Bono was deeply moved the first time he heard the 1966 masterpiece, saying, “The genius of his music is the joy that’s in it. I know that Brian believes in angels. I do too. But you only have to listen to the string arrangement on “God Only Knows” for fact and proof of angels.” But if the song is considered one of the most beautiful in the world, how the hell did it wind up on Hetfield’s radar?
Further reading: From The Vault
Well, Hetfield didn’t always consider himself a metal badass, and if he could find the time to make songs with Elton John sound seamless and work with symphony orchestras to turn their music into something bigger, than there was nothing stopping him from appreciating what Wilson was doing, saying at the time of Wilson’s passing, “I think “God Only Knows” that song is like one of the best written songs ever and thank you, Brian, for that.”
And while Wilson was the last person to be a fan of heavy metal, he didn’t mind that all walks of life catered to what he was doing. No one really needed to have any rules whenever they were making music, but Wilson knew that the best songs that he ever wrote were the ones that you felt in your heart before you even bothered to analyse the gory details behind every single note you just heard.
