One of the more silly stories in heavy metal history had to do with Metallica and their image change back in the early ‘90s. Just prior to their “Load” and “Reload” era, Metallica ditched the traditional heavy metal look and their long hair. They ended up adopting shorter cuts and a look more akin to alternative and even gothic bands at the time.
Metallica frontman James Hetfield said of the infamous back cover shot from “Load”: “Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole ‘We need to reinvent ourselves’ topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn’t make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego. I couldn’t get into it. The whole, ‘Okay, now in this photoshoot we’re going to be ’70s glam rockers.’ Like, what? I would say half – at least half – the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling.”
Alice In Chains bassist Mike Inez even teased Metallica during AIC’s “MTV Unplugged” performance writing on his bass, “Friends don’t let friends get ‘Friends’ haircuts.”
Guitarist Jerry Cantrell spoke about the incident in a recent Q&A with Metal Hammer.
“That was about the time Metallica cut their hair,” Cantrell said. “They were going for a new look, and maybe some hair was starting to go, so they made the wise decision to not hold onto it too long. Ha ha! They are close friends of ours, there was no disrespect, and I think Mike was just taking the piss. They laughed about it.”
Cantrell recently revealed that he and Hetfield have spoken about a possible collaboration at some point, but it has yet to materialize. “James and I have talked about it, kind of,” Cantrell said. “We never had a formal conversation but I’ve jammed with him at Kirk’s place. I’ve even spent a night or two at his house, and we’ve ended up with guitars in the kitchen and on the porch. It’s something I’d be really curious about, even to just write a song with him. As for whether it’d turn into something more than that, he’s got a pretty demanding day job. Ha ha! So I’d understand if it never comes to be.”
