“I could have ruined metal!”: Armoured Saint frontman reveals how he was once approached to be Metallica’s lead singer instead of James Hetfield
Step aside Papa Het… Anthrax and Armored Saint’s John Bush has revealed that he was once asked to front Metallica instead of James Hetfield.
In an interview with Get On The Bus, Bush explains that he was approached with the proposition of fronting Metallica around the release of their 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. “It was an honour to be asked to sing in Metallica,” he reflects. “It just was not my fate.”
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Metallica’s manager, Jonny Z [Jon Zazula], asked Bush personally – and, when his request was denied, he’d approach Bush yet again in the 1990s to join Anthrax. Second time lucky.
It would take 28 more years for Bush to finally give fronting Metallica a trial run. Armored Saint opened up for Metallica on their run of 30th anniversary shows in 2011, and Bush joined Hetfield and co onstage to sing The Four Horsemen. “They told the story about how, ‘we were gonna maybe get this guy, but it didn’t happen… this is what it would sound like if he did join,’” Bush recalls. “That was a really special moment in my life.”
Despite the experience, Bush insists it just wasn’t his “destiny” to front the band. “I could have ruined metal. That’s just too much, man – that’s too much pressure,” he admits. “It just wasn’t my fate. And I could never imagine anybody singing those songs other than James Hetfield. That would’ve been a big loss for heavy metal.”
While Bush never ended up officially joining the Metallica ranks, he’s glad that he’s found friends in the Metallica gang. “There’s always a connection… Armored Saint ended up going out and touring with Metallica on Ride The Lighting and March Of The Saint, for us,” he says.
“We have a lot of history together as friends. And one of the funny things is James, during Metallica’s recent set [at Sonic Temple], said, ‘I was stoked to see Armored Saint Today… We destroyed a lot of hotels together.’”
These hotel-destruction tales have been teased for years. Back in 2011, Hetfield and Lars Ulrich introduced Armored Saints to the stage, referring to the legendary event. “There’s a story… Let’s see… it was a hotel in Detroit or something…” Hetfield begins, before Lars cuts him off, looking into the audience and asking: “is everybody over 21?”
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