Kirk Hammett says one his biggest regrets touring-wise is that he wasn’t able to convince Kurt Cobain to have Nirvana open for Metallica.
Hammett tells NME that he was aiming to have Nirvana open the stadium tour they were doing with Guns n’ Roses in 1992. “I had to make the phone call to Kurt to talk to him about the possibility of joining our tour and he just went on and on about how he just didn’t like what Guns n’ Roses stood for, and I said to him: ‘Just go out there and represent Nirvana — just play the show and then that’s it.’ I pleaded with him, but he just wasn’t having it. So there you have it. It would have been great if Nirvana was part of that tour — but you know [the actual opening act] Faith No More were great as well.”
Cobain’s turning that tour down isn’t surprising as he later feuded with Axl Rose in the press and backstage at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.
Hammett adds that he became friendly with Cobain before the Nirvana became successful. “He was great. I became friends with him right when the first Nirvana album [1989’s Bleach] came out before people were even calling it grunge, and it’s so sad when I think back to all the guy wanted to do was play guitar and write songs and sing, and somehow that all got destroyed for him.”
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