Metallica Takes Stand Against Divisive Politics at Concerts — and Activists Freak Out

Sex, drugs, rock and roll, but no politics. Metallica’s announcement this weekend that it would eschew political monologues has some music lovers raging about its reluctance to get in on the latest issue du jour.Lead singer James Hetfield told the audience at its October 10 concert at Las Vegas’s The Sphere, where the band is doing a 24-show residency this month, that it does not care about the audience’s politics. Instead, he expressed gratitude to those who traveled to the desert city and paid the hefty concert ticket price.“Metallica is not here, like some other ‘entertainers’ to influence you with their bulls—, okay?” he said. “We’re here to forget about all the outside s—. Metallica’s agenda is love, energy, and heavy music, baby,” he said between songs.While the crowd went wild at Mr. Hetfield’s announcement, the online response since then has been divided. Producer Sharon Osbourne, widow of one of the most famous on-stage shock rockers, Ozzy Osbourne, offered her support “I agree 10000%,” she wrote on X.“Been saying this for years at @Disturbed concerts,” added the heavy metal band’s lead singer David Draiman, a Brooklyn-born Jew and avowed Zionist. “Concerts should be unifying events. A time when we can shut out the noise of the outside world, and embrace our shared humanity together.”Others were less on board. Several pointed to a video of a recent Guns N’ Roses show where frontman Axl Rose picked up a Palestinian flag with the words written on it, “I don’t need your civil war,” a key refrain from one of the band’s most famous anti-war anthems, “Civil War.”Metallica, like so many other bands, has a long history of writing politically tinged music — its fourth album and 83-week billboard charter, 1988’s “And Justice for All” contains multiple tracks on injustice, corruption, greed, and censorship. The track “Disposable Heroes” from 1986’s Master of Puppets, the album that put the band on the map, speaks similarly to GnR’s “Civil War” about the powerful’s exploitation of the masses for personal enrichment. But its playlist has little to do with the left-right divide. Internally, the billion-dollar band with more than 185 million album sales is known to have opposing views on several issues, as was evident in the 2004’s documentary, “Some Kind of Monster.” But while publicly refraining from debate — as far back as 2016, Mr. Hetfield stated that the band’s policy is to stay neutral on and offstage — Metallica has a long history of walking its walk, if not talking the talk. In 2017, Metallica launched All Within My Hands nonprofit foundation to support workforce education, fight hunger, and fund critical local services. Among recipients of its funding is World Central Kitchen, which has been operating in Gaza and other wartorn regions for years. Its leader, chef José Andrés, has spoken out loudly against Israel’s actions against Hamas.Making political statements onstage is not new, but it poses a risk. The Dixie Chicks faced a reckoning during its anti-Bush statements during the Iraq War. The band mostly disappeared from the public eye as a result. April’s Coachella concert, on the other hand, was very nearly a political rally, with Green Day and The Strokes, among others, offering their condemnations of Israel. Bruce Springsteen has developed a cult of personality around his political positions. Israeli-born Gene Simmons of KISS was a regular on Fox News for a stretch.With the recent backdrop of Macklemore’s onstage antisemitic rants at Ed Sheeran’s headlining tour, not to mention country singer Kacey Musgrave’s dip into the political field this week with a screed on Christopher Columbus and hosting Texas Senate candidate James Talarico at her Dallas show last weekend, some say they are taken aback by the metal heroes’ decision to stay neutral. “A loser and a coward,” wrote progressive podcaster and comedienne Katie Halper. Indeed, choosing not to say something political is emerging as the new risk, particularly when rightwing commentators latch on to the neutrality as a clue that the bandmembers may be secretly conservative. “My ever favourite @Metallica is a true no woke heavy metal group ! Let’s rock Metallica !” wrote conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.When Mr. Hetfield said he’s in it for the music, he was excoriated online by some who say it’s his duty as a celebrity to stand for what they perceive to be injustice. After the announcement, one music critic piled on claiming that she was badly mistreated by Metallica fans at a 2010 concert, where she was called racist names and heard monkey noises. The effort to discredit the crowd was pushed back by online fans who noted that the band didn’t tour in 2010. In the end, however, for some bands, particularly those of a certain age and era, leaving out the politics is very on point. Even before Mr. Hetfield restated the band’s nonalignment, glam metal Mötley Crüe got in on the act. At a show during the band’s summer tour, guitarist Nikki Sixx told the crowd, “It does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you are Republican, it does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you are Democrat, it does not f—ing matter if you are gay or straight because we are all in this together.”

Metallica Takes Stand Against Divisive Politics at Concerts — and Activists Freak Out

Metallica Takes Stand Against Divisive Politics at Concerts — and Activists Freak Out

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