'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past

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'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past originally appeared on Parade.

There's no question that the history of rock and roll is filled with stories of famous feuds — but as the world's most iconic musicians get older and wiser, it seems more and more former rivals are joining forces...and fans are loving every minute of it.

In a video shared to Instagram this week by the official account for the iconic metal band Pantera, frontman Phil Anselmo revealed a surprising "secret" to James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica: He apparently only recently got a phone. But the real surprise was the fact that the musicians seemed to be getting along so well —at least for commenters, many of whom recalled Pantera and Metallica's contentious past relationship.

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"It's the first one I ever got," Anselmo, 57, said in the clip, talking about his phone. "Cause Zakk only texts," he continued, referring to guitarist Zakk Wylde. "I'm like man, this is all new to me."

"Wait, wait," Hetfield, 61, interrupted, laughing. "You're just now getting a phone? Welcome, bud! Wow. You survived a long time without it."

Anselmo went on to admit he didn't know how he'd managed so long without a phone.

"Yeah, my kids didn't get one till they were 16 either," Hetfield quipped before playfully grabbing Anselmo by the shoulders.

Fans in the comments couldn't believe what they were seeing,

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"I love that Metallica and Pantera are this close now," one person wrote, adding, "Along with Ozzy Osbourne they are my top three favorite accent metal but anyone that was around in the 90s knew you would never see these two laughing together. It got pretty ugly between the two bands back in the 90s. Very happy to see this."

"Two of the biggest metal gods talking together, gives me chills!" a second fan added.

"Phil seems in great spirits. He must be sober now," somebody pointed out, with someone else chiming in to say, "I tell you what it’s great seeing these guys you grew up listening to their music being like this."

As Ultimate Classic Rock reported, back in 2003, Anselmo announced that he'd challenged Metallica to a head-to-head concert face-off between them and his band Superjoint Ritual. While Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich dismissed Anselmo's comments at the time, saying he "has a tendency to talk a lot of horses," Anselmo insisted the reason why Metallica would never accept the challenge was "because they know what would f---in' happen. We would f---in' eat them alive! That's the end of the f---in' sentence. We would crush 'em."

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In 2008, however, Anselmo's band Down toured with Metallica; two years later, he called his one-time adversaries the "Rolling Stones of metal."

Related: Iconic Heavy Metal Singer, 66, Makes Surprising Statement About Academy Award-Winning Actress

'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past first appeared on Parade on Jun 30, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 30, 2025, where it first appeared.