Metallica have denied the claims made by an anonymous Navy Seal that said the band asked the U.S. Navy to stop using their music in interrogations.
“When we first started the war in Iraq, we were using Metallica music to soften people up before we interrogated them,” said the Navy Seal referred to as “the Shooter” to Esquire magazine. “Metallica got wind of this and they said, ‘Hey, please don’t use our music because we don’t want to promote violence.’ I thought, Dude, you have an album called Kill ‘Em All.’”
The band posted their side of the story on their website, writing, "There has been a lot of talk recently about us asking the military not to use our music to 'soften people up before interrogation.’ We NEVER commented to the military either way on this matter. Any statements that have been made otherwise are not correct."
Frontman James Hetfield was asked by Germany-language TV network 3SAT in 2008 about the band's music being used at Guantanamo Bay and he said, "Part of me is proud because they chose Metallica. And then part of me is kind of bummed about it that people worry about us being attached to some political statement because of that. We've got nothing to do with this and we're trying to be as apolitical as possible, 'cause I think politics and music, at least for us, don't mix."
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