Kirk Hammett

"Basically I just had to say, "Screw everyone around me - from now on I'm just gonna play what I think is important to me and our music." So I gave the big finger to all the current trends in technical wizardry, and just went off and did what I felt was best for the songs."

"I think heavy metal is therapeutic - it's music that blows the tension away. I think that's why people who have had really bad childhoods are attracted to heavy metal. It allows people to release aggression and tension in a nonviolent way. Also, heavy metal seems to attract all sorts of scruffy, lost animals, strays no one wants."

"Although I’m a lead guitarist, I’d say that a good 95 percent of my time onstage is spent playing rhythm. Consequently, it doesn’t matter how great your lead playing is—if your rhythm work sucks, you’re not gonna go very far. When you’re playing rhythm in a band like Metallica, what your right [picking] hand does is really important. Obviously, what your left hand is doing is pretty darned crucial too, but, as a lot of our riffs involve syncopated open-string notes and relatively simple-to-finger power chords, it’s often the right-hand picking and muting techniques that can make or break a song."

"Cliff was a very smart guy, a reader, very eloquent. I just don't understand why he went, and not one of us."

"[about Nothing Else Matters] James always wanted to be perceived as this guy who is very confident and strong. And for him to write lyrics like that - showing a sensitive side - took a lot of balls."

"And I thought to myself: I actually have a conection to this place, it's part of my musical legacy. [Hammett talking about Scorpions]"

"Often overshadowed by Metallica's frontman, rhythm guitarist and band leader James Hetfield (more from him in a bit), Hammett might be one of the most underrated guitarists in hard rock/metal history. Hammett doesn't draw too much attention to himself off stage, and is more casual and laid back than other members of the legendary metal outfit. However, when it comes to playing the guitar, Hammett can deliver at a blistering pace without compensating style or flare."