Metallica's James Hetfield has been busy writing new songs and has revealed that he's been inspired by Sir Elton John.
The heavy metal giants performed a medley of the music legend's hits, “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding,” as the hit “Tiny Dancer” creator and longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin accepted the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
And the frontman admitted that the experience posed a “challenge” for him, which has seeped into his recent songwriting.
“I miss jamming with you guys,” he confided on the Metallica Report podcast. And I told them, “I miss jamming with you guys!”
“We’ve done a few things here and there.
“About Elton John [covering Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding on TV in April] It was the best. It was a lot of fun. Elton, what a beautiful soul.
The Nothing Else Matters rocker loves nothing more than escaping to a tiny makeshift music studio in his basement to work on new songs, and admits that playing guitar every day is “like breathing” to him.
He said: “[I’ve] I've been skiing, climbing mountains – we've had a great snow season, lots of snow where we are in Colorado – and I've been writing a lot of music.
“[I’ve been] I play guitar almost every day. I have to. It's like breathing.”
Hetfield says he's always full of ideas and that music is an “escape” for him.
he said:
“I love my little music room in the basement, whether it's an escape from life or whatever. I've got a computer, a couple of guitars and a little rig set up. Going in there and just playing and writing is where it feeds my soul. Not so much practicing, just writing.”
He continued: “I always have ideas. I get inspired. [by] I listened to all kinds of music, even Elton John, so hanging out with Elton and Bernie Taupin was a challenge for me.
“Looking [2019 John biopic] If you look at Rocketman and the way they write, Elton is the visionary and Bernie puts the lyrics and poetry in front of him and the music just emerges naturally, which seems weird to me. I'm more like the old Tony Iommi kind of, 'Here's the riff and we're going to build a song around it.'”
Metallica's last studio album was the 2023 epic '72 Seasons'.