Metallica’s James Hetfield Says Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell ‘Inspired’ Him: ‘He Introduced Me to Solid-State Amps’

“[We] inspired each other. He inspired me as well. No doubt.”

Metallica frontman James Hetfield said that he and the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrel inspired each other, noting how it was Dime who introduced him to solid-state amps back in the day.

Although the late Abbott brothers founded Pantera the same year Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield conceived Metallica, the Texan metal legends would take nearly a decade before finding nationwide success with the 1990s “Cowboys From Hell”. However, Lars Ulrich recently noted that a bond was established between the two bands as soon as they met, even though Metallica was attracting serious attention on a national level with “Ride the Lighting” at the time.

Speaking to Jose Mangin on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s “Metal Ambassador” podcast, Papa Het commented on his relationship with Dime, saying:

“Well, what a blessing to have been in his life and him in my life. And yeah, some of those early days, just traveling down there to the Dallas area and meeting with those guys and just hanging out.

“Yeah, Dimebag introduced me to the solid state amp, I remember. He had this fricking amazing crunch going on. I was, like, ‘What is that?’ You know? So, uh, yeah. [We] inspired each other. He inspired me as well. No doubt.”

This March, Lars Ulrich similarly waxed euphoric about Metallica’s historic ties with Pantera:

“We met the brothers on the ‘Ride the Lightning’ tour and became friends with them. This was in Dallas in — what — 1622 or something? It was about 400 years ago. We obviously loved both of them, and they had a posse down there, and we would see them whenever we came through Texas.

“We watched the band evolve over the years from more rock vibes into that creative, unique force that they became. So, we’ve had a relationship with them for decades and decades.”

Metallica’s new album “72 Seasons” is out now.