Metallica frontman James Hetfield talked about why he thinks Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi is one of the most influential and oft-imitated guitarists in the history of music.
Speaking about Iommi’s influence on his own playing, Hetfield said: “Tony Iommi is the riff lord, in my mind, and he is the one that has inspired me the most out of any guitar player for my rhythm guitar playing and songwriting.”
He continued, discussing the iconic “Children Of The Grave” riff: “Yeah, the ‘Children Of The Grave’ riff — obviously, Tony is the riff lord and everyone starts the song together on the one riff…. Basically, Tony plays off that riff, goes in to hit the big giant chords, which opens the song up. I really love the drum overdub that they did to help with that percussion of the riff and the real cool ghostly guitar sounds at the very, very end.”
Hetfield’s praise arrived during the latest episode of the “James Hetfield’s Riff Life” show on SiriusXM’s Maximum Metallica, where the conversation turned to the guitarist who shaped his rhythm playing more than anyone else. The comments also point back to a sound that began with a single accident in a Birmingham factory, long before anyone called it heavy metal.
Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his fretting hand in a sheet metal factory accident at the age of 17. He rebuilt his technique around prosthetic fingertips, down-tuned strings, and heavy power-chord riffs, a combination that became the foundation of heavy metal guitar playing.
Iommi has described that adaptation in his own words. “I had a work-related accident in the early 60s that cut off the tips of my fingers,” he told Hetfield during a conversation. “So I can’t bend heavier strings. I can’t even feel the strings.”
“Children of the Grave” appeared on Black Sabbath’s 1971 album Master of Reality, the band’s third studio record. The song was written by Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward, and its relentless main riff and marching drums turned it into an anti-war statement aimed at a generation living under the threat of nuclear conflict.
The track’s weight has carried far beyond 1971. The song features Bill Ward’s most powerful drumming on the album and a main riff that practically invented thrash metal years before the genre existed. Iommi’s use of down-tuning and the tritone, often called the “devil’s interval,” made him the only constant member of Black Sabbath and a pioneer whose influence reached directly into the sound of bands like Metallica.
Hetfield’s respect for Iommi has been mutual and long-running. The two guitarists have sat down together to discuss technique, songwriting, and Sabbath’s legacy, with Iommi crediting Django Reinhardt’s example for inspiring him to keep playing after his injury. The SiriusXM segment follows that same thread, with Hetfield once again naming Iommi as the model for riff writing and heavy rhythm guitar.
