It’s an image forever etched into Grammy history: James Hetfield, Metallica’s powerhouse frontman, standing shoulder to shoulder with pop icon Lady Gaga, belting out “Moth Into Flame” under the bright lights of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. On February 12, 2017, the Staples Center in Los Angeles witnessed a moment no one saw coming—a fiery collision of heavy metal and pop spectacle.
The spark for this collaboration didn’t come from a record label or PR meeting, but rather from a casual dinner at actor Bradley Cooper’s home. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich found himself seated next to Gaga, and inspiration struck. “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,’” Ulrich recalled. “‘We’re doing the Grammys in a couple of months, do you wanna join us?’ And she just said, ‘Yeah, that would be great!’”
For Gaga, the idea wasn’t far-fetched. Though known for her pop anthems and theatrical performances, she’s long professed her love for heavy metal. She’s attended Iron Maiden and Anthrax concerts and has even listed “Metal Militia” from Metallica’s debut album among her favorites. Determined to rise to the occasion, Gaga arrived hours ahead of rehearsals, working meticulously to nail her part. Hetfield later praised her on The Howard Stern Show, calling her “extremely creative and a fearless artist.”
But when Grammy night arrived, the performance was anything but smooth. Presenter Laverne Cox mistakenly failed to mention Metallica in her introduction—something she later apologized for. Then came the bigger disaster: Hetfield’s microphone malfunctioned, leaving his iconic growl completely inaudible. In a moment that could have sunk the entire performance, Gaga stepped in, sharing her mic with Hetfield and transforming a technical nightmare into an unexpectedly intimate duet.
Still, the glitch didn’t sit well with Hetfield. “I felt embarrassed. I haven’t been that angry in a long time,” he admitted afterward. Ulrich echoed the frustration, revealing that the backstage atmosphere in those first moments was tense. The culprit? A stagehand had accidentally unplugged Hetfield’s mic cable right before showtime.
Yet what could have been remembered only as a disaster instead became a testament to resilience. Hetfield later reflected to the New York Post: “It ended up being a blessing because I ended up singing in a microphone with Lady Gaga — maybe even more than she wanted. It felt more like a real collaboration because of that.”
For all its chaos, the performance endures as one of the most talked-about moments in Grammy history. A clash of genres, a triumph over technical failure, and an unlikely partnership that proved rock and pop can set the same stage ablaze.
