What James Hetfield Said Is Important.
Today’s video is an important one. It’s not something I’m used to talking about nor am I qualified to, so I am merely remarking on James Hetfield’s incredible speech during a Metallica show recently. This is important. As a community of rock and heavy metal lovers, we need to look for each other.
If you need to speak to someone who will listen to you with an open heart, please call this number (UK): 116 123 or go to https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ if you’d prefer to email someone.
Credit to @RockFeed for the video.
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#jameshetfield #metallica #metallicalive
@JustinHawkinsRidesAgain
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I'm sorry if my words are clumsy or not exactly right when talking about these issues – if any of you have better resources or communities online that people could benefit from being apart of please, share them. In the mean time, if you want to talk to someone, these great folks are a good start: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
@Shinken69
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Those backpacker guitars suck.
Get a Traveler Guitar LTD EC-1
@vinskeeter
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I'm sure he helped many people with what he said.
@jessiejoseph1093
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Wow
@markkevorkian
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
My exgirlfriend had to write a poem or something in high school and she just wrote the lyrics for fade to black.they called her mother to the school, thought she was suicidal. Whoops!!!.
@TimmyToddyToady
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
This shouldn't be so taboo a topic. It happens, and we need to be open about it.
@Glensully
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
the stupid thing on all of this is you 'cant talk about suicide on youtube' WHY? we should be talking about it way way more. I am middle aged male – I see it and heard about others near me, its stupid not talking.
Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. It is temporary problem! things always change!
@bigburlyMSmike
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
At some point in our lives, to a certain degree, I think we've all been tempted by the darkness. A long time ago, when I was still a very young man and working through the sudden passing of a friend, I had those terrible thoughts entire my head. I did, unknowingly and what turned out to be, the best thing I could have done at the time…I called my best friend (I love you, Jill), who was 4,000 miles away, and just talked to her for a while. I never mentioned how I was feeling, or the thoughts roaming through my head, but just hearing her voice got me through that evening.
Sometimes, it really can be simply a phone call, or just talking to someone (anyone), to rein a person in from the edge of the cliff. Help is always out there, in one form or another. It doesn't make a person weak to ask for help…quite the opposite. If I'd not talked to my best friend, who knows where I might be at this moment.
This is a topic that is becoming less taboo than in many years past, but it still it not talked about enough.
@dylanw9650
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Brother I love you and James Hetfield and all of my other JH brothers (including Jimi). Thank you for having the Jigantic Huevos to talk about this. Thank you for creating music that inspires us all to face The Darkness itself. I hope to shake your hand one day and I'm confident that you'll understand the road we've shared together. I'm behind you right now but I'm confident we'll be at the finish line jamming together. Thank you for your presence on this platform.
@MusickopatH
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Ridicilous that word suicide is beeepeed😀
So fake and unnatural, being fake and unnatural, hiding, keeping secrets, keeping up false images, not opening up as you are and acting like eveerything is fine always leads to high pressures and also to suicide in the end because that pressure gets to high and big that you cant deal with it anymore so you need to escape it. First maybe to eating disorder or say drugs but til the end to suicide
@taywizzle
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
The song fade to black is about suicide, surely you'd know that as you've said before that you are a 'big fan' of their work
@daisychainmilk
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Now can someone tell me who the hell this James Hatfield is?
@bvon336
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
James is a good man. He has demons for sure. Wish him the best.
@capital5901
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I find it ironic that they would bleep him talking about suicide but then another platform makes a series called 13 reasons why romanticizing suicide. The world is strange, but the people are strangers.
@exposingtheamericanstasitr3579
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Said no one ever….
@FloorManiac
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Justin, thanks for these little fireside chats. It's a good thing.
@acampomft
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
"Begins with S and ends in oooicide!" 🤣
@DanJanTube
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
James is a good dude, I hate to see him hurting
@Lola_Santoro
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
James was born to play the Lion in the Wizard of Oz.
@jedsteelwell2354
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Not sure why anyone would get married especially someone that has lots of money.
@Caligulon
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
That sweater is amazing! Is it for sale?
@Terri_MacKay
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I was there, I was in that moment, and the only thing that stopped me was the thought that my daughter would be the one to find me, and I would never do that to her. However, the feelings that had gotten me to that point hadn't gone away.
I went to my doctor, and was immediately put on medication, and set up with a psychiatrist and a therapist, and was given the phone number of a shelter that I could call if I ever felt that I was going over the edge again. Someone from the shelter will pick you up, and take you to the shelter where you can stay while you receive intensive therapy, until you feel that you're safe to go home again. Luckily I live in Canada, so none of this cost me anything. I live in Ontario, so I'm not sure about other provinces, but here, if you feel like you are having a mental health crisis, you can go to any hospital emergency room, and they have to admit you. A doctor cannot let you leave their office, and a hospital cannot let you leave, if they believe that your life is in danger.
Going to the doctor that day, and finally opening up about the deep depression I had been in for years, was the best thing I had ever done for myself.
If anyone is feeling depressed, s**c*d*l, or self-harming, please know that your life and mental well being are worth fighting for. If you don't believe that…talk to someone, go to a doctor, get the help you need. Stick with it, and the day will come when you learn to love yourself, and realize that your life is worth living.
@tripmom4944
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Justin. You are a good looking man. Please fix your hair
@patzpea
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
What a lovely man you are Justin Hawkins.. I wasn't familiar with you till the Taylor Hawkins tribute and I must say I'm hooked… much respect from Texas, USA
@SirArthurStreebGreebling
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I think it's ridiculous that YouTube censor 'that word'. I understand why to a point – but is/was there really a plague of YouTube videos encouraging it? They don't bleep fuck or wanker. So why bleep suicide. Thats pretty out there for Hetfield, he's not a man that's always that open, publicly. It's clear that you're perhaps not a natural at opening up this either, Justin, your natural protection is humour, but you're doing it…and dude you're supporting the issue. Thats good in itself. You've 258k followers. They have e.g., 25 friends. If they tell 10, that's potentially 2.5 million people you're spreading support to. That's using your platform for a good reason. 💯👍
@lornai7171
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
CALM are a brilliant resource too. Campaign Against Living Miserably. They're online. Reach out.
@imeowmeow4868
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I would be that person in the crowd shouting YEAH! cuz trauma is REAL.
@tomaskns
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Please stop doing that high notes on your opening its so eerie …
@Andreas-ni2lt
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Although being very young, Metallica in the mid 80s already had quite 'deep' lyrics dealing with real human topics, while most other metal bands were singing about hobbits or some obscure cavallery attacks of the 19th century. That's why I still respect them a lot.
@Callyourmama-h5e
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Can’t they all hear the fire alarm going off to get out of there?
@johnnyrandom100
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
well done James, and Justin for backing him up. I have lost a friend to the S word, I tried CPR but failed. A few years later a man asked my Daughter for a drink of water, she came to my shed and told me. I said to give him some. After a while, I went to see if he was still there, and he was. I asked if he was ok? No not really he said. I went through the gate and sat with him. What's up? I said.
After about an hour of chatting, He told me he was going to commit the S word. I found out that his wife didn't listen to him his kids didn't care. He felt taken for granted. I asked if he had told his wife and kids if they knew how he felt? and he said no. I told him he needed to speak to his wife. A bit more to the story but that's the condensed version of it. He spoke to his wife and is still alive today. Sometimes you just need to speak to someone even if they are a stranger. Keep strong we will listen.
@comment_below
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
omg… why would he get bleeped ….
@illegallystalked3119
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Justin what ever happened to the boob chariot?
Did you sell it in a garage sale or is it under a tarp in your backyard?🤔
@dbass4973
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
don't do it, just wait for the breakdown
@lucabiolzi1767
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I've been there… and nearly done that. James (and you Justine) is so right. JUST TALK TO SOMEBODY, ABOUT HOW YOU'RE FEELING. Don't be afraid of being judge! It may not gonna make you feel much better, at least not at first, but it will certainly put you on the right path… to save your life.
Ultimately, what did save my life… WAS MUSIC. Even if I lost two of my greatest heroes, Chris Cornell an Eddie Van Halen, I hold on tight to the musical inspiration they provided me with. I digged deep within myself, to find the passion I had lost but that I knew was still in there somewhere… and wrote an entire album around my darkness, getting rid of it during the process. "Music man, it's all there is. Keep playin' man!"
I WISH YOU ALL, IN THIS WONDERFUL COMMUNITY, THE BEST FROM THIS HUGE GIFT THAT WE CALL LIFE. THERE'S A REASON FOR US ALL TO BE RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. MAYBE… TO SAVE A LIFE? 😉❤️
@guntis62
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
59 ain't middle-aged, it's on the cusp of being a senior citizen and starting the last 400m.
@hannanathan564
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Dude your channel is so cool! I’m so glad I came across it!
@justplaybrent
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
After viewing your video I watched other videos featuring JH talking about suicide. None of those other videos had the word suicide beeped out, why was yours?
I don't know if this is something you can choose in a setting for your account but if it was done by you it's utter bullshit. It's censoring speech and goes directly against the point you are trying to make in this video. It needs to be talked about and heard. By bleeping out the word for the small percentage of people that may be triggered emotionally by it is counter productive to the real help it may bring the countless others that need to hear real talk about depression and SUICIDE!
@charlottesghost2845
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
It makes no sense why you can't say the S word on YouTube. I didn't even know that was bleepable! How are people supposed to deal with it if we can't even mention it, much less speak about it realistically? It's counter-productive to prevention! ugh
@Avonidsed
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Justin, you are fantastic. I think part of the issue with the S word is the stigma around it. In your pinned comment, you apologize for being clumsy with your words. What you call clumsy I call frank and honest. As someone who suffers form chronic anxiety and the occasional bout of depression, I appreciate how you spoke honestly and openly about the topic.
Keep on going Justin. TBH every time you ride again, you restore a little more of my faith in humanity.
@robisallbyhimself
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I've worked in mental health for a little while now. It's baffling that you're not able to say the world suicide in all forums. If you can freely say the word it takes away the stigma and can help people to overcome the mental barrier of reaching out for help and saying that they feel like ending their own life.
@ontaka5997
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I am now wondering whereabout in Switzerland Justin is living right now.
@dane3038
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I think the guy who said "Yeah!" was just excited that Hatfield was addressing the issue. He probably felt ( as I do ) that we need to destigmatize the issue and face it. Rock n Roll.
@courtmarr5714
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
<3
@KD-wb4fj
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
I'm thankful that when I went through a bout of depression in my teens years that I didn't get suicidal thoughts, as I don't know how I would have managed then, but they have popped up since in the midst of stress and anxiety of my adult years. Just horrible. Thank you for shining a light on the subject. So many of my male friends have confided to me over the years that they have been brought to the brink and didn't feel they could talk to anyone about it, for fear of seeming weak. So important that male figures are talking openly and helping to normalise the discussion
@mig_zvm
April 30, 2026 at 12:36 am
Thank you for this