Kirk Hammett Recalls How Kurt Cobain Reacted to Metallica Live Show, Looks Back on What Late Icon Was Really Like

“He was such a great mellow guy and very fragile and vulnerable.”

Kirk Hammett looked back on the time when Kurt Cobain attended a Metallica show during “The Black Album” era, noting how the late Nirvana frontman allegedly went “insane” from excitement when “Whiplash” was played.

At first glance, Metallica and Nirvana may seem as far removed as it gets, but the fact that Kurt Cobain was a fan of the thrash giants shouldn’t be as surprising given that both bands represented two evolutionary branches of the same 70’s heavy rock roots, not to mention the appreciation that both parties fostered toward each other.

During a recent interview on “The Metallica Report” podcast, Kirk Hammett recalled a Seattle gig during the iconic album’s promotional touring cycle, when Cobain asked him whether they’d play “Ride the Lightning” or “Whiplash”, two of his favorite songs (via Guitar):

“I said, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to play ‘Ride the Lightning’, but we played Whiplash.”

The guitarist added:

“The whole time we were playing ‘Whiplash’, Kurt was trying to get my attention. I only found out afterward from some friends who were in the snakepit saying ‘God, when you guys played ‘Whiplash’, Kurt went insane and he was trying to get your attention the whole time.’ I was like ‘Really?’ I know that’s his favorite Metallica song, but wow.'”

“Kurt was great. He was such a great mellow guy and very fragile and vulnerable. But, at the same time, man, he had this great wit. He was a funny guy.”

“He was great. I became friends with him right when the first Nirvana album [1989’s ‘Bleach’] came out before people were even calling it grunge, and it’s so sad when I think back to all the guy wanted to do was play guitar and write songs and sing and somehow that all got destroyed for him.”