In a recent episode of The Metallica Report podcast, Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich shared his appreciation for Lynyrd Skynyrd, highlighting their influence on Metallica. He specifically mentioned exploring deeper into Skynyrd’s lesser-known tracks, citing five songs that particularly resonated with him. These songs showcase a heavier and less mainstream side of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ulrich said:
“I’ve been on two things, which is Lynyrd Skynyrd, the heavier Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, most of them deep. One called On The Hunt, one called Cry For Bad Man, one called Workin’ For MCA, which may not be the deepest of cuts, Saturday Night Special, and a song called Searching. Those five songs: incredible, deeper, heavier. People that mostly know Skynyrd from, say, Free Bird or Sweet Home Alabama: there’s this, sort of heavier, less mainstream side to them. Great, great, mid-70s hard rock songs. Incredible drumming, singing, soloing. Those songs have definitely stood the test of time.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Influence On Metallica
The members of Metallica are not shy about expressing the influence of Lynyrd Skynyrd on them. James Hetfield, in particular, has been vocal about his admiration for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s music. He chose the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit ‘Free Bird’ as the number one song on his ‘Top Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time’ list for Rolling Stone Magazine’s December 2004 issue. About Free Bird, James stated:
“Nothing tops this workingman’s ballad. ‘Free Bird’ fit my life for the first 20 years on the road — not really getting too attached to stuff, living life for the moment and moving on.”
Metallica covered Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ballad ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ on their 1998 cover album ‘Garage Inc.’ They even collaborated with Skynyrd founding member Gary Rossington on this cover.
Metallica’s ‘The Four Horsemen’ Was Inspired By ‘Sweet Home Alabama’
Was the bridge of Metallica’s first career single ‘The Four Horsemen’ familiar from somewhere? In case you haven’t noticed, Dave Mustaine, who was still in Metallica at the time, revealed to Sirius XM in 2018 that in the midsection of the song, he basically played the guitar riff from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama. He said:
“So when I joined Metallica, I had the song Mechanix, which I wrote. One day, when we were coming to rehearsal, Lars had just said something about slowing down Mechanix. I had just gotten to the studio with Cliff, and we had been listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I was being a jerk, so I played Sweet Home Alabama instead of Mechanix and that’s basically the middle part of what would become Metallica’s The Four Horsemen.”
You can listen to the new episode of ‘The Metallica Report’ podcast where Lars talks about Lynyrd Skynyrd below.