During a new conversation with Little Kids Rock’, Metallica’s James Hetfield mentioned his involvement with Little Kids Rock, as well saying the following:
“Music has saved my life daily. It has been a passion of mine since the early, early times. Music has been an outlet for me, it has been a connection, it has been a best friend for me for my whole life.
“Having an option for music, music at schools, I’m an advocate for having an opportunity and a place for people to at least explore that. And if they find it helpful, that’s great. And it could turn out to be a wonderful career.
“I’m here as an example of how music has saved lives.”
Little Kids Rock began as an informal effort by former schoolteacher Dave Wish to give his San Francisco Bay Area second grade students a music enrichment program. Borrowing from friends and scouring area flea markets for instruments, he began offering free after-school guitar classes. The curriculum Wish developed immediately captured each student’s interest because it had them playing the types of music they enjoyed listening to, and enabled them to improvise and compose freely around a basic network of ideas and skills within minutes of picking up the instrument.