The musician faced backlash from Swifties earlier this month, when he donned a satirical tee reading ‘Taylor Swift Is A CIA Psyop’ at Metallica’s concert in Budapest. Hammett and co. are currently out on their ‘M72’ European and UK tour.
Kirk Hammett wears t-shirt that says "Taylor Swift is a CIA Psyop," mocking conspiracy theorists during a show in Budapest.
This satirical shirt humorously critiques and mocks the absurdity of the real-world conspiracy theories that assert Swift is a government asset.
The…
— BBQ Chiefs (@BBQChiefs) June 19, 2026
Photographs of the shirt circulated on social media, prompting criticism from some Swift fans. Hammett did not publicly address the response, but has since discussed the state of modern “popular music” on the whole.
During an interview with The Irish Times, between Metallica’s two stadium shows in Dublin last week, the guitarist claimed that “right now, songwriting and pop music is crap”.
The comment came about when he recalled how music used to challenge him when he was growing up, explaining: “I started off learning off records, just trying to develop my ear and learning songs and guitar solos from playing records over and over again…
“And it was a real challenge because if you got three different guitar players together and said, ‘OK, play ‘I’m The One’ on Van Halen’s first album’, all three guitar players would play it differently. There was some charm to that.”
Hammett continued: “I kind of lament [not having] those days when people had to really struggle to learn, because it’s all in the struggle. And it’s all in the determination and being inspired at the same time that forces you to come up with your own stuff and eventually your own sound and style.
“I just worry about how things are so perfect these days, the musicianship. It’s great that all these guitar players have all this vast knowledge of technique at their fingertips. I wonder where it’s leading to.” Read the full article on NME
