Why James Hetfield is glad a Metallica fan spat on him in 1989

James Hetfield onstage with Metallica in 1992 — (Image credit: Michel Linssen/Redferns)

Accusations of “selling out” have followed Metallica for almost as long as they’ve been a band. From the moment the metal titans first touched an acoustic guitar in 1984, gatekeepers have been pissed off at them, sometimes for the most ludicrous of reasons. And one seemingly innocuous act that infuriated the purists was the first time the Four Horsemen made a music video.

Metallica made their MTV debut in 1989, with the release of the haunting clip for …And Justice For All single One. It was a moment of victory for the band, following years of rejection from mainstream TV and radio, even as Master Of Puppets became a megahit and they toured extensively with Ozzy Osbourne. As singer/guitarist James Hetfield revealed in 2018, however, that win didn’t enthuse everybody.

“When [MTV] asked us, ‘We need a video,’ that helped us a lot,” Papa Het reflected during a video interview on Justice…’s 30th anniversary. “There was one moment where I was at [legendary venue] The Stone on Broadway in San Francisco, there to see some metal band. Some kid came up to me and he spit on me!”

The ‘fan’ proceeded to verbally accost Hetfield, accusing him and his Metallica bandmates for selling out by making a music video. The frontman responded with undented bravado. “Right there, I went, ‘Yes we did. Fuck you!’” he remembered.

Hetfield goes on to sound shockingly grateful for the experience. He looks back on it almost three decades later as a learning curve, where he figured out that catering to insular minds would never let Metallica grow and develop.

“That’s when I started to realise, ‘OK, you can stay small and in this thing but, if you have something to say that’s really important, you need to utilise these things, whether it’s video, the internet or a movie.’ That’s what you gotta do: you gotta go for it!”

Following the release of One in ’89, Metallica would continue to flourish, headlining arenas around the world before topping global charts with 1991’s Black Album. The simplified-sounding follow-up again (unsurprisingly) riled up thrash’s elitists, but also affirmed its creators as the heavy metal band, setting new standards for what the genre can achieve commercially.

Decades on, Metallica continue to cram stadiums. The band just finished the European leg of their 2024 M72 tour and will embark on a series of North and Central American shows next month. See the full list of announced dates below.

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Metallica 2024 tour dates:

Aug 02: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 04: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 09: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 11: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 18: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 25: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 01: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 22: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 27: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 29: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.