While James was complimentary towards Axl Rose as an artist, he did take the opportunity to take a little swipe at Rose with some 'dis'missive remarks about "Chinese Democracy". Here is that part of the exchange. The Houston Chronicle asked James "You guys have an uneasy history with Guns N' Roses. Have you heard Axl Rose's new record? Do you even care?"

Hetfield responded: I'll certainly listen to it. But I haven't lost sleep waiting for it. I thought we took a long time to make an album. But you know he's late for everything so it makes total sense. We saw him play at a festival in Germany two years ago. He's a good frontman. He's eccentric, but all artists are. If they don't show that they're quirky, they're lying to you. They're either pretending they're not or they're pretending they're an artist. - Check out the full interview for James' hindsight feelings about St. Anger and more.

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