Sammy Hagar Reveals Metallica Owes Him $200

Sammy Hagar claims that Metallica still owes him $200 from a bet he made with them in 1988.

Hagar shared through an Instagram post a press photo taken before the Monsters of Rock ’88 tour, which included Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica, and Kingdom Come. Hagar wrote:

“This was the press conference for the Monsters of Rock stadium tour. I must admit we had a good time that day hanging out with all these guys. Metallica hadn’t [broken] yet with ‘Enter Sandman,’ but they crushed it every night [and] put a big hurt on Dokken, who had to follow them — ouch!”

At that time, he knew and believed that Metallica was going to be huge. He said:

“I bet the members of Metallica $100 each that at the end of this tour their next record would go platinum. So far, Lars [Ulrich] and Kirk [Hammett] are the only ones that paid up.”

Metallica’s album, …And Justice for All, was released in September 1988. It became the band’s fastest-selling LP even to date and has sold over 8 million copies in the United States.

In 1991, Kirk Hammett shared that touring with the album influenced the arrangements on their self-titled 1991 LP, commonly known as the Black Album. Hammett stated:

“Touring behind it, we realized that the general consensus was that songs were too fucking long. Everyone would have these long faces. And I’d think, ‘Goddamn, they’re not enjoying it as much as we are.’ … I can remember getting offstage one night after playing ‘Justice’ and one of us saying, ‘Fuck, that’s the last time we ever play that fucking song!'”

Meanwhile, Hagar tweeted that Lars Ulrich and Hammett have already paid up, but James Hetfield and Jason Newsted apparently still owe him $100 each. See his recent tweet below.