Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has been a big horror aficionado since he was a kid.
It’s always been cool to watch him reading Famous Monsters on the band’s lane, or seeing pictures of him with rare comics and posters – the kind I’d love to be able to afford for my own collection.
Now we’ll be able to see Kirk’s collection with the book, Too Much Horror Business, a title, as you’ve probably guessed by now, which originated from the Misfits song Horror Business.
Even though I have my own horror book hitting the shelves the next day, I say the more the merrier, and I’m dying to see what kind of comic books, posters and goodies a rock star income can afford.
As Hammett told Artists Direct, “I put a lot of time and effort into the book. I thought it would only take me a few months, but it ended up taking a few years.”
Kirk added he’s been a horror fan since he was five, and bought his first monster magazine when he was six. When he was thirteen, music took over, and he left horror behind for a while.
“For a brief while, I thought all of my comic books and horror books were kid’s stuff,” Hammett continued. “Once I started making a little bit of money with Metallica, I thought, sow, I’m still really into horror movies.”
And indeed, if it’s really in your blood, you never really outgrow it, and we all pretty much try to re-purchase what we throw away and dismiss as “kids stuff” when we grow up.
As SFGate’s Aidin Vazri notes, “Every square inch of wall space in Hammett’s living room is covered with rare vintage posters, the U.S. one-sheet teaser for Frankenstein; the Spanish promotional display for Nosferatu; the original bill for The Mummy; and so on.”
Hammett also added, “I’ve lived with this stuff for so long on an intimate one-on-one basis. It’s going to be a leap for me once everyone knows what I have.”
And as Hammett says today, “I’m still waiting to outgrow it or get tired of it or get bored with it. But it does not seem to happen.”
Again, like metal, it’s in your blood, and why outgrow it when it’s so much fun and brings so much joy to your life?
We at TG also have to say that it’s sure to feel weird when the world knows what kind of goodies you have stashed away, as Kirk mentioned above, but we geeks are thankful he’s now sharing it with Too Much Horror Business.
