Nikki Sixx Discusses Metallica’s Success By Recalling A Stunning James Hetfield Moment

Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx joined Yahoo Entertainment for an interview in which he revealed why he thinks James Hetfield and Metallica are great.

While Metallica is a keystone in the metal music scene, Mötley Crüe is also an important figure. Both successful bands once appeared on the same stage back on September 19, 2015, at the Rock in Rio festival in Rio De Janeiro, where Metallica was the headlining band, and Mötley Crüe was next.

For their most successful album, ‘The Black Album,’ Metallica hired the producer Bob Rock who had worked with the Crüe before. After the release, the album became the band’s best-selling record and brought Metallica mainstream attention. On the other hand, this year marks ‘The Black Album’s 30th anniversary, and thus, the band recently released a remastered edition.

In the interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the host told Nikki Sixx what he thinks about the cliché ‘the best art comes from pain‘ or dark times. He then said those who think so also claim that when one gets sober and happy, they can no longer make their best art.

Upon hearing this, Nikki Sixx recalled those who had negative thoughts about Metallica after their ‘The Black Album.’ He then said that the album was amazing and stated Metallica works really hard to achieve that success.

Following that, Nikki Sixx recalled the time Mötley Crüe did a show with Metallica at the Rock And Rio festival. He stated that Metallica was rehearsing in their dressing room even after finishing their performance and said he thought they were quite dedicated. The musician then claimed that’s the reason why they are great.

After being asked about the cliché that the best art comes from dark times, Nikki Sixx told Yahoo Entertainment in the interview that:

“Well, I think that cliché is spat into our Internet world by guys that live in their mom’s basement. You know, they’re like ‘Metallica, man, after the ‘Black Album,’ I’m out.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? That album is amazing from top to bottom.‘ I know so much about that record because they used Bob Rock who produced ‘Dr. Feelgood.’ Those guys work their asses off.

Let me tell you something about Metallica. We did a show called ‘Rock And Rio’ down the road, four or five years ago. It was Mötley Crüe and Metallica. It was a festival, they were headlining, and we were next.

They rolled in, and everybody said ‘Hi,’ and everything. They went back to this room, and now we’re getting ready to go on stage. All I hear is them rehearsing in their dressing room. Then I was like ‘Look at the dedication on these dudes, man.’ It wasn’t like ‘I don’t feel like it.’ It was like ‘No, this is what we do, we’re Metallica and we’re gonna be the best that we can be.’

So, they go on stage, and James says ‘Here’s a song we haven’t played in 15 years. Here is a song we haven’t played in seven years. We just worked it up.’ And I was like ‘That’s why they’re great.’ They don’t just settle, and I love bands like that.”

You can check out the rest of the interview below.