Classic Rock: Were you glad to see the back of [former METALLICA guitarist
and current MEGADETH leader] Dave Mustaine?

Hetfield: I don't know if "glad" is the right word, but it was necessary.
There would have been myself, Lars [Ulrich, drums] and him all trying to
drive and it would have been this triangulated mess. It's obvious that he
had the same drive as us - he went on to do great things in MEGADETH. The
way things are now, the character dynamics, Lars and I are one half of the
scale with Rob [Trujillo, bass] and Kirk [Hammett, guitar] on the other.
They're great idea people but very good at being okay with someone else
driving. It does take that, I think. They're very un-ego-driven and Lars and
I are the other way, it seems. That's what I've been told. [Laughs] So back
then Dave had to go.

Classic Rock: In "Some Kind Of Monster", he seems fairly unhappy about that.

Hetfield: He's an amazing, talented person. Maybe just part of his character
is having a chip on his shoulder. If I got kicked out of METALLICA, I would
have one too. Ron McGovney, our first bass player - very big chip on his
shoulder. They're never able to really be comfortable in the now, and that's
tough to see. Lars did say that too in the interview: "Can't you see what
you've done?" But none of that matters because he's chasing something
unreachable.

Classic Rock: Were you uncomfortable with the band's new image for "Load"?

Hetfield: Most definitely. Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole
"We need to reinvent ourselves" topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for
me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think
they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego.

I couldn't get into it. The whole, "Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going
to be '70s glam rockers." Like, what? I would say half - at least half - the
pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover
thing, it went against what I was feeling.

Classic Rock: What didn't you like about the cover?

Hetfield: [Laughs] How can I put this? I guess when I talked [earlier in the
interview] about the resentments of being left out of the bond that they had
through their drug use - Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art,
pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement
around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I
think the cover of "Load" was just a piss-take around all that. I just went
along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid shit that they felt
they needed to do.

Classic Rock: A lot was made of the haircuts at the time. Was that a group
decision?

Hetfield: [Laughs] It wasn't like we went in together and went, "Hey, can we
get a deal on four haircuts?" It just slowly happened, with age, thinning
hair. Long hair just didn't feel right anymore.

Classic Rock: Musically, was that the first time METALLICA was unsure?

Hetfield: I would say so. That whole period. Why do we need to reinvent
ourselves? A lot of the fans got turned off quite a bit by the music, but
mostly, I think, by the image.

Classic Rock: Were you uneasy about Kirk and Lars kissing in the
photographs?

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