James Hetfield recently revealed that he wasn't the first choice to be the lead singer of Metallica .
In one episode of the Road Dog Brothers , presented by Hetfield on SiriusXM , the vocalist often tells stories about touring with other bands throughout Metallica's career, and in one of them he revealed who would have been the primary choice to take over the band's vocals.
“Many of our earliest memories were celebrated alongside a band called Armored Saint , who were our colleagues from Los Angeles in the early 80s,” says James. “When we were starting out, obviously John Bush was a singer we knew very well. We really tried to convince him to join the band as a singer, but it didn’t work out.”
“He was dedicated and very passionate about the work he was doing with his brothers in Armored Saint and we absolutely respect that,” Hetfield concludes. The story was confirmed by John Bush himself, who argued that Armored Saint “was also becoming popular and doing well” at that time and that the idea of leaving the guys he grew up with wasn’t “tempting” to him.
“I felt flattered when the band was suggesting ideas to me, but it wasn’t my destiny to be in Metallica,” Bush said. “I would have changed the face of heavy metal and I don’t need that pressure. James is an incredible vocalist. He has really improved over the years and I can’t imagine anyone else in his place.”
Listen to the relevant excerpt:
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