Kirk Hammett‘s love of almost all things horror is well known, as the guitarist has amassed one of the most impressive horror movie collections that’s even been used as previous museum exhibits. But one thing you may not have known is that the Metallica guitarist’s immense collection might not have come to fruition had it not been for the Glenn Danzig-led band, Misfits.
While speaking as part of Gibson TV’s recent Metal and Monsters special, Hammett revealed the role that Misfits played in his horror collecting. “Hearing the Misfits, and then looking at the Misfits cover, I was like, ‘Hey, this is like an audio version of a copy of a monster mag.’ The Misfits logo, that font was from Famous Monsters of Film, and I turned over and looked at the song titles – ‘I Turned Into a Martian’ – this is for me. I understand where these guys are coming from,” he recalled.
“I realized these guys are total monster kids, like I was,” he continued. “And I don’t know what happened, but that prompted me literally within that same week, to starting to collect again like I used to when I was a kid. I got back into the monster mags and the monster toys, artwork and just everything, full on. This was just after Ride the Lightning.”
Within the interview, Hammett reveals his first cross pollination of metal and horror came with Black Sabbath years before, but Misfits definitely sparked a renewed interest in the intersect between his two loves.
Further sharing his love for the band, Hammett says, “I have to say that Glenn Danzig and the guys in the Misfits have been flying the flag for the genre the entire time. They’ve been indoctrinating people through their music this entire time and I love them for that.”
He adds, “I can just picture it, some 12-year-old kid comes with his dad and doesn’t know anything about the Misfits and sees them and goes, ‘Whoa,’ then goes home and picks up an album and sees the album titles and then asks his dad, ‘What are these album titles?’ And the dad says, ‘Oh, those are horror movies.’ Boom, right there … The Misfits are like a gateway drug to horror.”
In recent years, Glenn Danzig has reunited with the Misfits, often playing one-off destination concerts rather than embarking on full on touring.
See more of Kirk Hammett’s discussion about horror’s influence on metal, his discussion on his 10 Favorite Horror Rock Bands and more in the Gibson TV video below.