Kirk Hammet Talks About His Prog Influence and Love For Jethro Tull

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett have been listening to prog and the influence can be heard on his debut solo record Portals released on April 23. The guitarist also considers himself as a “full-on” Jethro Tull fan.

Who can forget about one of the most infamous moments in Grammy history in 1989, when Grammys introduced a new category: Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Recording and to the surprise of many, Jethro Tull won over Metallica. Since then, the two bands are looked at as enemies, but it was later on revealed that there’s no feud between them.

Jethro Tull’s frontman Ian Anderson said in a previous interview:

“It was assumed that we would not win because we were up against Metallica and Iggy Pop and Jane’s Addiction. So we were definitely the odd ones out, because we were more commonly thought of as a folk rock band, certainly not hard rock or heavy metal.”

Now, Hammett talks about how he got into listening to prog and how he became a fan of Jethro Tull. He said in an interview with Goldmine magazine:

“I just really got into prog about five years ago.

“I wasn’t into prog. Just accidentally I heard Jethro Tull Stand Up and I went, ‘Wow.’ I never ever had paid much attention to Jethro Tull; I just never did. And it didn’t help losing to them in 1989 for that Grammy.”

He noted that the Grammy loss wasn’t the reason he got into Jethro Tull, he said:

“I just never got around to it. Sometimes you just don’t get around to certain things. So, I ended up checking out their entire catalog and now I’m a full-on Jethro Tull fan.”

There’s really no surprise to a metal icon to be listening to other genres, in fact, Hammett isn’t the only one who’s a fan of Jethro Tull. Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder has the 1969 Stand Up, which is the second studio album of Jethro Tull with folk sound. It’s even been said that Vedder would bring it with him on tour and listens to it before every show.