GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – JULY 09: Kirk Hammett, lead guitarist of the heavy metal band Metallica, performs on July 09, 2019 at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. (Photo by Julia Reinhart/Getty Images).
Guitarist Kirk Hammett says being invited to join Metallica was a life-changing moment. Unfortunately, he was sitting on a toilet when it happened. Hammett, who was playing for the band Exodus at the time, says his invitation to join Metallica was extended by the group’s sound engineer in 1983.
“It was April 1st, April Fool’s Day, and I was sitting on the toilet,” Hammett says. “I got the call from Mark Whitaker, and after I hung up, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I just got that phone call. Was that an April Fool’s Day prank?’ A couple of days later, I got this tape from them, but I already had the demo and I already knew two-thirds of the songs on there.” While the guitarist’s new bandmates were happy to have him, the members of the band Hammett was departing weren’t so gracious, he recalls. “They were p*ssed,” Hammett says. “I remember Paul Baloff was so p*ssed that he poured a beer over my head. He said, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this, Kirk,’ then poured his beer over my head. I just took it, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know.'”
Besides Kirk Hammett, what’s Metallica have that Exodus doesn’t?