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People sometimes tell me that I don't talk or act or look like a metal fan. Well, what does a metal fan look like? I've found people from all walks of life who love metal.

Metal never goes away. It drifts in and out, but the true fans are always there for it.

There's real potency in metal. Metal fans love metal as if it's a nation they would fight for. It's not diluted by pop culture.

Some of the smartest people I know are metal fans.

I am a closet metal fan.

I realized that, all along, my theory was right: Make music that you want to hear, and instead of having fans that one day might criticize or abandon you, your fans aren't even fans. They're people with tastes similar to yours. They're friends you haven't met yet.

I've learned that there's a signature Metallica sound, and if we stray too far from that, our fans get impatient, or they just don't understand, or they miss the point. And I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing; it's just something we have to contend with.

Me being the metal fan that I am, I like to listen to thrash metal to get me pumped - that kind of music will get your heart racing and ready for a crowd.

You'd be surprised the type of people who are into metal when you see them. Sometimes I'm even surprised, but it's cool. That's the reason it's still around.

I don't have the relationship that I thought I did with my fans. Maybe I did early on when I had a couple thousand fans, but it's not like us anymore. It's the idea of Notch and the 'Minecraft' community.