Remember the days when every rock anthem climaxed in a blistering guitar solo that sent shivers down your spine? Well… Metallica's Kirk Hammett has an opinion that might leave some shredders out there feeling a little deflated. In an interview with U.K.'s Total Guitar magazine, he declared that guitar solos, while beloved by fellow musicians, are a fading relic for the average listener.
"People are not going to remember a great guitar solo. I hate to say it to all your readers out there. They will remember a great melody. They will remember a great song. And I am not talking about musicians. Yeah, musicians will remember a great guitar solo, but non-musicians, who are the majority of the fucking listening world, they are not going to remember guitar solos."
"Yeah, they are gonna remember a great melody and they’re really gonna remember a great song, especially a song that's gonna bring them to a different place from where they were five minutes previously." Hammett bluntly added.
This isn't just some casual opinion; it's a philosophy deeply woven into Hammett's musical DNA. He recalls starting his songwriting journey with John Marshall (former guitar tech and fill-in Metallica guitarist) at the tender age of 15, inspired by song-driven giants like Kiss, Aerosmith, and Van Halen.
"I figured it out when I was 15 years old. John Marshall and myself had literally been playing guitar for six months when I said to him, 'We need to start writing tunes. Look at Kiss, they write all their own songs… and Aerosmith, Van Halen.' So John and I started writing music. And it was a lot of crap, but it was something."
This focus on songcraft permeates his latest work with Metallica, the aptly titled 72 Seasons. Instead of meticulously crafting solos, Hammett opted for a raw, improvisational approach. He churned out 20-30 solos, tossed them to the band's drummer and producer, and said, "You guys edit them."
"I wanted the solos to be more '70s rock solos, or in a nutshell, Angus Young," Kirk said. "Because I love Angus's groove, and over the last couple of years or so I have found a bigger appreciation of his playing because Angus always plays for the song. Some of his solos are crazy and wacky and out there but they always, always are in that context of the song, and it never, ever sounded like Angus worked anything out. It sounded like he just went in there and went for it, and so that's what I did. I had to do it this way because it was how I felt inside. I wanted spontaneity. I didn't want picture-perfect solos because some of my favorite players' solos were kind of rag-tag and I love that."
