Metallica's 11 Angriest On-Camera Moments

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(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

For many TV watchers, the 2017 Grammy Awards were probably the first time they saw Metallica perform. And what they saw was a group whose performance was ruined by a microphone problem that caused frontman James Hetfield to kick over his mic stand and toss his guitar when the song was finished.

We can’t blame Hetfield for being angry, but as longtime Metallica fans know, this is hardly the first time he or the other members of the group have had flashes of anger in public or on camera.

This newly uploaded clip gathers together some seven-plus minutes of Metallica mayhem from the band’s history: James yelling at Lars, Lars yelling at James, James yelling at the audience, Lars giving Robert a hard time, and even Kirk getting pissed at his amp.

Whew. It’s been a rough 35 years.

Christopher Scapelliti
Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.