GILBY CLARKE Says His Favorite METALLICA Song Is 'Enter Sandman': 'That Riff Is Just The Greatest Riff Ever

In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", former GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Gilby Clarke reflected on the band's 1992 stadium tour with METALLICA. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Look, we had a lot of great times. Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] hung out with us every single day of that tour; he really was like one of us. Every day that we hung out together, we partied after the show. Before the show, [we] went and did — you know, whether it's going to museums during the day, he really was a part of us. We got along great."

He continued: "When [the tour] first started, I watched a lot of the [METALLICA] shows because they always went on first, and then we didn't go on for a long time. So after a little while, I kind of — it's not that I stopped watching them, but it would be such a long day for us. So I started coming a little bit later. I saw METALLICA in the very early days, and then I hadn't seen 'em until they blew up. So I really admired their professionalism, and I really loved the way that they were always a core unit. They ate dinner together; it's like they did things [together]. I really, really enjoyed that part of them. And as far as sound, I mean, they were huge. They're still huge. Their sound was so big and it was so tight and so METALLICA."

Asked to name his favorite METALLICA song, Gilby said: "It's such a standard thing, but 'Enter Sandman' is still my favorite song. I mean, look, I'm not really a metal guy — I grew up on THE CLASH and stuff like that — but I always loved that song because it had a little bit more melody to it and stuff, and that riff is just the greatest riff ever."

Clarke replaced Izzy Stradlin in the GUNS lineup in 1991, during the "Use Your Illusion" tour, and stayed with the band for three years. After exiting GUNS N' ROSES, Clarke continued as a producer and solo artist, while also playing in SLASH'S SNAKEPIT, ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA, HEART and other acts.

Clarke, along with fellow GUNS N' ROSES members Slash, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, played three "Appetite For Destruction" songs with Myles Kennedy at the band's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in April 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio, although Gilby himself was not inducted as part of the group. Kennedy, who handles lead vocals in Slash's solo band and ALTER BRIDGE, sang "Mr. Brownstone", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "Paradise City", with "Use Your Illusion"-era member Sorum sitting behind the drum kit on "Brownstone" and the man he replaced in GN'R, Adler, pounding the skins for the other two songs.

Clarke's latest solo album, "The Gospel Truth", was released in April 2021 via Golden Robot Records.

Gilby released his solo debut, "Pawnshop Guitars", in 1994.