The image of James Hetfield, the legendary frontman of Metallica, singing alongside pop sensation Lady Gaga during their performance of “Moth Into Flame” became an iconic moment in Grammy history. This electric duo graced the stage at the 59th Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in L.A. on February 12, 2017.
The surprising collaboration between Lady Gaga and Metallica began at a casual dinner party at actor Bradley Cooper’s house. Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich met Lady Gaga there and came up with a brilliant idea.
Ulrich recalled, “I was at a dinner party [with Gaga] and we were sitting next to each other… and I thought, ‘Wait a minute, this would be cool.’ So I said, ‘We’re doing the Grammys in a couple of months, do you wanna join us?’ and she immediately replied, “Yes, that would be great.”
This led to the high-profile collaboration. Lady Gaga and Metallica performed an incredible live version of “Moth Into A Flame” on stage. Watch the video below:
On that night, Lady Gaga and Metallica encountered problems that almost overshadowed their amazing performance. Firstly, Laverne Cox, who introduced the performance, forgot to mention Metallica but later apologized for the oversight on Twitter. Metallica then faced microphone issues at the start of their performance, muting his powerful voice.
However, thankfully, Lady Gaga’s quick thinking turned a potential disaster into a memorable performance. She generously shared her microphone with Hetfield, transforming a technical issue into an intimate duet.
Honestly, the brilliance of this performance lies in the imperfection caused by the mic failure and how Lady Gaga and James Hetfield adapted to it. The dress rehearsal was technically “better”, but it lacked the interesting spontaneity of the live performance. The incredible musicians and performers seamlessly adapted to the unexpected situation, earning praise from the audience for their amazing handling of the mic outage.