“I didn’t know who they were, I’d never heard their music, and I wasn’t bothered. That took them by surprise.”

Thin Lizzy co-founder & ex-guitarist Eric Bell said that performing “Whiskey in the Jar” with Metallica was “not enjoyable”, adding how he wasn’t in awe because Lars Ulrich & Co. covered the song because he didn’t even know who Metallica was until meeting them in Dublin.

Having founded the now-legendary Irish band with Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, Eric Bell went on to carve out a sound that was quite different from Thin Lizzy’s later hard rock days. Blending elements of folk and blues, Bell co-wrote unique pieces such as “The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle” and “The Rocker”, and also had a hand in re-arranging “Whiskey in the Jar” which was famously covered by Metallica on 1998’s “Garage Inc.”

Mr. Bell was invited to perform the traditional Irish song alongside the thrash metal giants when they stopped at Dublin in 1999, but tells Guitar World in a new interview that he wasn’t exactly exhilarated when the invitation came:

“I didn’t know anything about Metallica. Not a thing. I’m not into that type of music. So when someone told me they’d recorded ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ I was like, ‘Oh, who are they?'”

“And then they asked me to do the gig, which was chaos. I don’t know why they called me. I think the impression they had was that I knew who they were. I didn’t. They thought I was in awe of them – not true.”

“One of the roadies drove me to their hotel, and I stood in the hall waiting. And one by one, they came down, shook my hand, and they expected me to be impressed. But I didn’t know who they were, I’d never heard their music, and I wasn’t bothered. That took them by surprise.”

Asked what sharing the stage with Metallica felt like, the guitarist said:

“It wasn’t enjoyable. There was no chemistry. They tuned a whole step down, which is typical for them. I, however, didn’t. So now I’m hearing ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ in F, which was very odd. From that point forward, my brain wasn’t into it. I just played it my way, and we went our separate ways.”