Kirk Hammett is not winning over fans of contemporary pop music these days. The Metallica guitarist recently wore a t-shirt that upset Taylor Swift fans, and in a new interview he calls today’s pop music “crap.”
While speaking with The Irish Times, Hammett recalled how music used to challenge him when he was growing up, saying, “I started off learning off records, just trying to develop my ear and learning songs and guitar solos from playing records over and over again… And it was a real challenge because if you got three different guitar players together and said, okay, play ‘I’m the One‘ on Van Halen’s first album, all three guitar players would play it differently. There was some charm to that.”
He continued, “I kind of lament [not having] those days when people had to really struggle to learn, because it’s all in the struggle. And it’s all in the determination and being inspired at the same time that forces you to come up with your own stuff and eventually your own sound and style. I just worry about how things are so perfect these days, the musicianship. It’s great that all these guitar players have all this vast knowledge of technique at their fingertips. I wonder where it’s leading to.”
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He then took a shot at today’s pop music by adding, “I hope it leads to a better quality of pop music, popular music, and just a better quality of songwriting. Because right now, songwriting and pop music is crap. I’m hoping that all these great musicians who can teach themselves through the internet step up and put all that great learning and all that great inspiration into creating new stuff, new songs, the future of music, and at a higher standard than what it is now. Because I’ll say it again, K-R-A-P. Crap. Sorry for all you pop fans out there.”
Just last week, Hammett made headlines for wearing a “Taylor Swift Is a CIA Psyop” t-shirt during Metallica’s recent concert in Budapest, Hungary. While he may have been wearing the shirt in jest, Taylor Swift is the current queen of pop music, which may lead some already upset Swifties to associate his quotes in the Irish Times with the superstar singer.
A few shows after wearing the aforementioned t-shirt, Hammett fell off the stage in Dublin, Ireland, as Metallica were performing “Seek & Destroy,” leading some Swifties to believe it was karma.
Metallica will wrap up their current UK/European jaunt with a two-night stand July 3rd and 5th in London. After taking the summer off, they’ll kick off their 24-date “Life Burns Faster” residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere, running from October 1st, 2026, through March 13th, 2027 (pick up tickets here).
