John 5 Recalls Silly Moments With Metallica: “Lars Ulrich Would Jump On My Back And They’d Chicken-Fight”

Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 recalled silly moments he lived with Metallica while he was briefly working for them in the late ’80s and revealed epic Lars Ulrich memory.

Metallica is a Los Angeles-based heavy metal band formed in 1981 by the singer/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. During its ongoing career, Metallica released 10 studio albums, 8 live albums, 3 EPs, 10 video albums, and many more things until press time.

On the other hand, the American guitarist John 5 is known for being the guitarist for Rob Zombie. He also appeared alongside successful musicians such as Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth, Slash, Rob Halford, Scorpions, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and more.

In the late ’80s, John 5 briefly worked for Metallica when he was a teenager. He did odd jobs for the band. Also, over the years, he had covered Metallica‘s Enter Sandman in 2017.

However, during a recent conversation with The NFR Podcast, John 5 took fans back to his golden moments with Metallica. At first, the guitarist mentioned he and Megadeth drummer Chuck Behler always went to see Metallica. Later, the guitarist revealed the moment he played guitar for Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and why they called him Little Ozzy.

“This was the ‘…And Justice for All’ tour, and I would play some guitar for Kirk because I knew all of their songs,” John says.

“And they were laughing, and they would call me Little Ozzy – I had long hair, and I would hang out with those guys on the ‘…And Justice for All’ tour, and they would give me like little jobs and things like that.”

John Reveals Silly Moments With Metallica

John later remembered some silly moments he lived with Metallica members. Saying that those times were great, John recalled Lars Ulrich‘s chicken-fight when Lars was on his back. According to him, Metallica members were the nicest people.

“It was really cool, and they would give me silly jobs, like, Lars would jump on my back and they’d chicken-fight or something like that, silly stuff,” John recalls.

“Or I’d get them like beer or something like that. They were the nicest people.

“When I started to get known, they’d be like, ‘Holy shit, that’s Little Ozzy! What’s he doing in Marilyn Manson? What’s he doing playing with David Lee Roth?’

“So it’s funny how it all comes around.”

Elsewhere in the interview, John also touched on a scary Metallica show at the Day On The Green music festival. According to him, it was one of the worst shows he’s ever been gone.

“It was really scary,” John reveals. “The worst one I was at – I was at Day On The Green when Metallica was playing in San Francisco.

“I think it was, like, Scorpions were on it, but I went to see Metallica, so I just remember Metallica, and it was ‘…And Justice for All’ tour, and I remember, because I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to get in the pit.’

“I’ve been in some others, and then it started, and I was like, ‘Nuh-uh.’ And it freaked me out a little bit because I couldn’t get out, like, that field is like a zillion people.

“It was going off, and it freaked me out, and that was the last pit I was ever in, really like freaked me out, I just went to the side and I was like, ‘Whoah, I’ll never do that again.'”

Back in October 2020, John 5 had recalled how Lars Ulrich fired him after he ruined …And Justice For All statue. According to him, it was devastating to him to be yelled at by Lars Ulrich.

“I remember, we had a great time, and they would jump on my back and they would have chicken fights during the encore – I’d bring them out on stage… It was a lot of fun,” he said.

“And then one night, I was watching, and my foot caught like a rope and the ‘…And Justice [For All]’ statue tipped over. I didn’t even know because I was just walking like [whistling].

“And my foot caught that rope and – boom – they were all watching this huge ‘…And Justice’ statue falling, and Lars brought me to the hotel and he goes, ‘These kids worked so long for these concert tickets and you ruined the show!’

“And he took away my laminate – because we were friends, I mean, we’re still friends of course, but it was devastating to me.”