Kirk Hammett Responds to Criticism of His Solos on New Metallica Album: ‘If You’re Touring & Making Albums, There’s No Way You Suck’

“I can’t stop being bewildered by all these people who say, ‘This guy sucks! That guy sucks!’ Hey, I’ve got news for you – you don’t get to where you’re at if you suck!”

Metallica’s lead guitarist has lately been at the center of the discussion surrounding solos in rock music, the flames of which were heated up after the wider audience had enough time to digest his work on Metallica’s latest outing, “72 Seasons”.

While some of his solos, particularly the one from “Lux Æterna”, drew criticism for what was perceived as a lack of effort (YouTuber & guitarist Bradley Hall originally stated his opinion on the matter by releasing what he thought would be better solutions), Kirk Hammett went on to publicly suggest that the average listener doesn’t pay that much attention to solos anyway — which caused even more debate and counterarguments.

Kirk Hammett revisited the argument in a new interview with Total Guitar, responding to critics of his “Lux Æterna” solo by suggesting that “bad solos” are a thing of the past:

“I don’t think anyone really sucks. These days, I don’t think bad guitar solos even exist anymore because everyone is just so much better than they used to be.”

“Like, in the ’60s there were bad guitar solos. You would find them in pop songs, where you’d go, ‘Urgh! Nice try. Next!’ But that’s the past, and that’s a good thing.”

Moreover, Hammett argues that any musician who’s out there and performing can hardly “suck”:

“My attitude is that if you’re out there and you’re touring, and you’re making albums, and you’re recording, there is no way you suck.”

“And so I can’t stop being bewildered by all these people who say, ‘This guy sucks! That guy sucks!’ Hey, I’ve got news for you – you don’t get to where you’re at if you fucking suck! Okay? These people are talking on 10 percent of what they see in all of these people musically. It’s incredible.”

“I don’t think I’ll be doing this on future albums”

Some criticism focused on Hammett’s decision to make his solos completely spontaneous and intentionally not planned out. He now notes that this won’t always be the case going forward:

“I didn’t want picture-perfect solos, because some of my favorite players’ solos were kind of rag-tag, a lot of them, and I love that. Don’t get me wrong – I love precision, too.”

“Having said that, this is a one-time thing. I don’t think on future albums I will be doing this, because if I do I have a real fear of repeating myself. So this is not going to be my approach to solos on the next album.”