In a recent interview with Billboard, Metallica’s manager Peter Mensch spoke about METALLICA’s popularity. He said:
“That’s one of the reasons why METALLICA are as big as they are now. No one else is even close to them. If hard rock is about losing your inhibitions or frustrations, James Hetfield still, to this day, his lyrics, are f*c*ing angry. He’s fueled by hate also.”
He further added about his approach to managing bands:
“You don’t have to be a total sh*t to be a manager, but it helps sometimes.
“You manage from the highest moral ground. If you’ve got all the answers, then you have the high moral ground in your comments to promoters or record company people. Then you become a pain in the arse because they disagree with you. But we’re right. Cliff and I are always right. Never wrong.
“If you manage bands, at all levels, you’re kind of the mommy bird and they’re baby birds and you have to feed then. So anybody that doesn’t want to help you feed them, you get angry at. If you get in my way, I’m going to roll over you. Because my job is to feed the baby birds.