No, James Hetfield is NOT Quitting Metallica to Make a Country Record
Over the last few days, an especially effective fake news story about Metallica’s James Hetfield quitting the heavy metal band to make a country record called “Hetfield Road” has been making the rounds. Saving Country Music headquarters has been bombarded with emails about the article, and according to the stats, it’s been viewed over 223,000 times since being posted on March 8th, and liked or shared on Facebook some 87,000 times and counting.
But of course it’s entirely bunk, despite being fairly convincing in nature, especially because it does not follow the unwritten fake news rules of 1) Denoting at least somewhere in the article that it is indeed fake and 2) Including at least one detail that’s so outrageous, nobody would ever believe it.
Fake news stories can be effective social commentary tools by either illustrating absurdity by being absurd, or by saying something that truth or intellectual discourse just can’t. Sometimes comedy is the most truthful expression possible. Fake news stories can also be massive traffic generators for websites as hoodwinked readers read and share the story, and help spread the false rumor.
Helping the story along is the fact that Hetfield actually does have a small history with country music. He appeared on the tribute to Waylon Jennings I’ve Always Been Crazy from 2003 singing Waylon’s “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out Of Hand.” He also performed on the program “CMT Outlaws” in 2004, which likely is where the screenshot of Hetfield in a wide-brimmed hat with a CMT logo in the bottom right corner came from.
Snopes.com has also officially debunked the rumor, and no, I ain’t linking to the article to draw even more attention than necessary to it.
Though James Hetfield would make an interesting specimen to “go country” in the future, it would be an even bigger surprise if he walked away from Metallica to do it. But who knows, a country metal side project from the singer would not be entirely unexpected down the road.
March 11, 2016 @ 8:51 am
So we can safely say that Mr. Hetfield isn’t going to follow Steven Tyler into irrelevance, right?
March 11, 2016 @ 9:04 am
Metallica is my favorite band and James is my favorite rock star. I’d kinda like to see him do a little country side project some time, something in the outlaw mold. If there was ever a metal guy who could go country, James is the guy. I always liked Metallica’s version of “Tuesday’s Gone”. It was countrier than most of what you hear on the radio today.
March 11, 2016 @ 9:18 am
I was on Snopes earlier this morning, and as soon as I saw that headline I wondered if you’d have something to say about it. 🙂
March 11, 2016 @ 9:25 am
Am I a bad country music fan for wishing this was a real thing? I like Hetfield’s cover of “Outlaw Bit” (one of the few good tracks on the I’ve Always Been Crazy tribute) and would like to see him do more country/southern rock stuff in the future.
March 11, 2016 @ 9:47 am
“…you could smell the whiskey burnin’ town Hetfield Rooooad….YEA-UH!”
James Hetfield going country might be good. I really dug his version of “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand.”
I’d really rather it not be a thing though. Metallica gets shit on enough as it is, and beyond that I’d really rather have a new Metallica album.
March 11, 2016 @ 9:55 am
Hey, good lookin’, YeeeeAAAAAH!
Watcha got cookin’ OoooooooooH!
I like James and have a handful of Metallica albums. I think him doing a solo acoustic country/roots album would be intriguing
March 11, 2016 @ 10:05 am
I think that pic is from Metallicas video for “Mama said” which was actually very twangy.
March 11, 2016 @ 10:33 am
I’ve got something to saaaaayyyy
I killed country music today
And it….
Doesn’t matter much to meeeeeee
As long as it’s deaaaaaddddd!!!!
March 11, 2016 @ 10:58 am
I spotted this one as fake right away, but it certainly is plausible that he could do a country album sometime.
Though I think it is more probable that he would do an album of hard rock versions of country songs. I might actually like that.
March 11, 2016 @ 11:09 am
Well, that’s bad news. James isn’t a clown like Tyler and all the other rock-turned-country grandpas. It would be interesting James covering a bluegrass version of Metallica , something like Hayseed Dixie have done with rock tracks in the past.
March 12, 2016 @ 9:21 am
I’m not sure if you already know about them, but chech out Iron Horse. They have two albums of nothing but Metallica covers called Fade To Bluegrass 1 & 2.
March 12, 2016 @ 10:35 am
I didn’t know it. Thanks for the info!
March 11, 2016 @ 11:26 am
Well, “Mama Said” is one of Metallica’s best songs
March 11, 2016 @ 12:20 pm
Yea, the screenshot of James Hetfield in a cowboy hat is from their music video for the song “Mama Said”. It’s a really good song with a good bit of twang. I recommend people check it out if they haven’t heard it before: https://youtu.be/4FKYsUEuvIo
March 11, 2016 @ 4:32 pm
But if he did, the band name should be Hetfield and the McCoy’s. I’ll see myself out.
March 11, 2016 @ 6:37 pm
Off topic but the new Dave Cobb southern family album is on NPR first listen right now and it’s awesome. That guy is worth his weight in gold right now
March 12, 2016 @ 7:48 am
Yep. Some very good stuff there. Not all “country,” but definitely Southern.
March 12, 2016 @ 10:27 am
I want to see George Fisher from Cannibal Corpse do a “country album.” He could have songs like “Tailgate Smashed Face” “Buried in A Cornfield” and “Force Fed Fireball Cocktails.”
March 12, 2016 @ 6:46 pm
Jeff Walker from Carcass did a country album…
March 16, 2016 @ 10:58 am
Ross Dolan from Immolation should do one! That would be pretty awesome!!
March 12, 2016 @ 7:31 pm
I was watching an interview the other day in which James mentioned that Cliff Burton listened to country music. It would interesting to imagine that had Cliff not died, if he would of had a country side project, and after seeing this, even a collaboration with Hetfield.
March 13, 2016 @ 12:37 am
I love Metallica. James Hetfield has a pretty cool interview about meeting Waylon on the interweb somewhere. Their cover of “Tuesday’s Gone” is great in my opinion.
March 13, 2016 @ 1:49 am
I’d be all for Hetfield doing a country or southern rock album. Waylon gave Hetfield/Metallica a helluva endorsement in the 4/99 copy of Country Weekly: “My favorite audience that I ever worked in front of””and my favorite people to tour with””was Metallica. The Lollapalooza tour in New Orleans was my favorite audience ever. I was under the wrong impression about those kids. You see pictures of the mosh pit and all that stuff, but you go out there and play for them, and you can see the appreciation and you can hear it. They are the best audience I ever played for in my life.”
March 20, 2016 @ 6:37 pm
One of the reasons I love Waylon and his music to this day. The man was a rocker at heart, more of a badass than most rock n’ rollers, and someone who completely understood music in general. He is missed, immensely.
And yes, Hetfield would make a good country album, I’m sure.