“They Fricking Wrote the Book”: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Praises Black Sabbath for Helping Create Heavy Metal

On July 5th, Black Sabbath will take the stage at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom to perform alongside Ozzy Osbourne one last time. Always loving what he produced with the band, Osbourne wished for nothing more than to perform once again beside the iconic heavy metal band. Called the Back to the Beginning charity event, the concert will bring back the original lineup for the performance. Outside of just Black Sabbath, several heavy metal bands will be on hand to honor the band’s legacy. And one of those people just happened to be Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who praised Black Sabbath for writing the book on heavy metal. 

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Speaking with Heavy Consequence about the upcoming celebration, Hammett, who will take part in the event, explained how grateful he was to be included. “It’s a real opportunity to say thank you to Ozzy and Tony [Iommi] and Geezer [Butler] and Bill [Ward], ’cause they fricking wrote the book on the genre. They developed it, they fleshed it out so that we can use what they did as a stepping stone to other ways to do this.”

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Kirk Hammett “Extremely Thankful” To Black Sabbath

Having spent decades in heavy metal, Hammett knew the ones who helped pave the road for bands like Metallica. “If it wasn’t for those four guys, man, we might still be just kind of like wandering around in the dark. But the fact that they created a genre — not only created it, but then developed it and, and, and then turned it into like a few different things over the course of their career — is completely awe inspiring to me and my peers musically. I mean, how do you thank someone like that?”

While Hammett will never be able to fully thank Black Sabbath and Osbourne for their contributions to music and heavy metal, he found the charity event a special moment. “I feel lucky and blessed that I’m in a situation where I can actually say thank you to the progenitors of a fricking genre.” He continued, “I love those guys. I have love for them for what they did.”

With the event drawing big names and selling out in just a few minutes, Hammett knew he might not get the chance to speak with the band directly, so he concluded, “I just want them to know that I’m just extremely thankful, ’cause my life would be extremely different if they didn’t do what they did.”

(Photo by Mario Skraban/Redferns)