(Credits: Far Out / Tommy Holl)
Wed 4 March 2026 9:59, UK
It’s hard to imagine anyone at the front of Metallica other than James Hetfield.
Even if he isn’t the most diverse lyricist or dynamic frontman of all time, Hetfield’s trademark bark has given the thrash legends their teeth for over four decades, along with his relentless down-picking on rhythm guitar. When the band was starting to make it, Hetfield wasn’t all that comfortable with being out front.
It’s hard to imagine a lead singer ever being introverted, but what can often start off as a small snowball, a simple decision for one member of a garage band to step out in front and sing a few songs, can lead to an avalanche and leave you the most recognisable metal frontman of all time. But it wasn’t always set up this way, for a long time, Hetfield preferred the comfort of the shadows over the limelight.
Despite some photos showing Hetfield at the microphone, he always felt more comfortable fading into the background, even asking other metal singers if they wanted the gig singing in the group. Until his work on The Black Album, Hetfield admitted not taking proper care of his voice, telling Classic Albums, “I never wanted to be a singer. We were looking to play, and there’s gotta be words in the song, so I’ll do it”. When breaking the ice with new producer Bob Rock, Metallica had something different on their hands with the tune ‘Nothing Else Matters’.
However, Hetfield admits that the chord progression for the tune came about as a fluke. After getting bored talking on the phone with the guitar in his hand, he started picking all the open strings before hearing something musical in his noodling, turning it into the song ‘Nothing Else Matters’. After adding little extensions, Hetfield never considered bringing it to the band because he thought it sounded too soft. When Lars Ulrich heard it, he felt they should flesh it out, leading to one of Hetfield’s biggest fears: singing.
(Credits: Kreepin Deth)
Working with Rock to get the proper intonation, Hetfield went to a cantor for a synagogue to help get his voice back in shape, which let him open up his vocal range rather than just bark. Further in the documentary, Rock mentioned helping Hetfield through the song by offering different inflexions, trying to let the listener hear Hetfield instead of one giant wall of sound.
When listening to the song for the series, Hetfield was not thrilled with the version that ended up on the record. During the verses on the line, “all these words I don’t just say”, there’s a moment where his voice wavers, causing him to physically wince at the performance. After Rock assures the viewers that no Pro Tools were used on the recording, Hetfield looks at one of the engineers and says, “That was bad”.
The track clearly held some painful moments for Hetfield as he noticably cringed at the prospect of even hearing the tune again, let alone travelling back in his mind’s eye to the moment it was created. Little did Hetfield know that ‘Nothing Else Matters’ would open new doors for Metallica later.
During the production cycle, the band contacted classical composer Michael Kamen to create an orchestral version of the song. While the final edit used the orchestra sparingly, the more grandiose side was yet to come, as the band would later perform the song with The San Francisco Symphony for the concert S&M.
Metallica transformed some of their best material alongside ‘Matters’ into classical metal spectacles throughout the evening, with Hetfield’s vocals in rare form. Becoming one of the most versatile singers in thrash metal might not have been one of James Hetfield’s dreams as a musician, but there was no going back after letting his musical guard down for the first time.