Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
This month, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett caused a stir when he was seen sporting a shirt that said Taylor Swift, the current music queen, is a “CIA Psyop”, as per theprp. When the thrash metal band performed in Budapest, Hungary on June 13, Hammett was spotted sporting the popular meme-turned shirt. Naturally, many “Swifties” were offended by that outfit choice, and Taylor Swift fans voiced their opinions on social media at Hammett’s expense. Some saw Hammett’s recent onstage fall in Dublin, Ireland, as “karma” for his apparent poke at the pop superstar because of the fallout from the shirt.
It’s unclear if he was simply playing around with the clothing, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted metal great recently expressed his disapproval of the condition of pop music. Hammett recently went so far as to refer to the current condition of pop music as “crap” in an interview with The Irish Times. You can see how he arrived at that definition below, expressing his worries about the perfectionism and similar traits that contemporary technology has ingrained in music at the expense of its essence.
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. It’s a monotonous, tedious process, especially with the records. But I learned so much. And all my friends were doing the same thing. We didn’t have tablature, we didn’t have music books. All we had was our ears and the albums. 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.
I kind of lament 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.
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.
Swifties might want to lay down their pitchforks for the time being, though, as Hammett’s decision to spell out garbage with a k implies that either he is a particularly poor speller or his anger is mostly focused on K-pop music. Unfortunately for Hammett, K-pop has a huge and fervent fan base that won’t take such a perceived affront lightly, even though his remark may protect him from additional Swfitie retaliation.
