‘I’m here as an example of how music has saved lives,’ says Metallica frontman James Hetfield

(Image credit: Little Kids Rock)

James Hetfield has spoken of the powerful, transformative impact of music in his life, and admitted “music has saved my life daily.”

Metallica’s frontman relayed this message in a pre-recorded video broadcast during an online benefit for the Little Kids Rock organisation, a group committed to bringing both musical instruments and a musical education over one million children in the US. A long-time supporter of the initiative, Hetfield is seen jamming with school kids in the video, and being quizzed on his own formative experiences with music.

“It has been a passion of mine since the early, early times,” says Hetfield, acknowledging that music was always a constant in his Los Angeles home during his childhood. “Music has been an outlet for me, it has been a connection, it has been a best friend for me for my whole life.”

“Having an option for music, music at schools, I’m an advocate for having an opportunity and a place for people to at least explore that. And if they find it helpful, that’s great. And it could turn out to be a wonderful career.

Hetfield has spoken on numerous occasions in the past about music’s capacity to elevate, empower and connect.

“My viewpoint of the world is totally off kilter, it’s defective, and then when someone comes up to you and says, ‘What you’ve written down or what you’ve created has helped me’ that’s more of a connection,” he said in 2018. “You haven’t spoken any words – you’ve just felt what that person is feeling, even though it might be different. Everyone loves it when someone tells their story. Someone’s saying, ‘That guy is singing to me’ or ‘That song is about me’.”

Metallica are currently at work on the follow-up to 2016’s Hardwired… to Self Destruct album.