How Elton John Inspired Metallica

In a recent episode of The Metallica Report podcast, James Hetfield shared how working with Elton John has influenced him and helped him grow as a musician within Metallica. Despite being in the industry for decades, Hetfield and his bandmates remain passionate about creating music and have no plans to retire.

Their latest album, 72 Seasons, showcases this enduring creativity. Hetfield stays inspired by spending time in his home studio, focusing on writing rather than practicing. Hetfield said:

“There’s always ideas.
“I get inspired from all kinds of different music [I’m] listening to.”

Reflecting on his collaboration with Elton John, Hetfield revealed how the experience had a profound impact on him:

“I mean, even the Elton John thing, you know, hanging out with Elton and Bernie Taupin challenged me. Watching ‘Rocket Man’ and seeing how they wrote… Elton is such a visionary. Bernie sets a set of lyrics, a poem, in front of him, and he sees the music just appearing, which is bizarre to me, a more of the old, kind of Tony Iommi way, where here is the riff, and we build around the riff, instead of building around a lyric.”

Elton John Praises Metallica

Metallica’s relationship with Elton John is built on mutual respect and admiration. John contributed to Metallica’s 2021 album The Blacklist and has praised their song “Nothing Else Matters” as one of the best written. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, John expressed his admiration for the band:

“Metallica are probably the crème de la crème of those kind of bands. You can’t really define them. They’re not a heavy metal band. They’re a musical band. Their songs aren’t just heavy metal. They’re beautiful songs. This is such a melodic song. It’s f*cking great, actually.”

John’s heartfelt words moved Hetfield to tears, highlighting the deep connection between the artists. In honor of John and Bernie Taupin receiving the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Metallica paid tribute by covering John’s Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding at a special ceremony in March.