KIRK HAMMETT

guitarist with rock band Metallica

“It’s kind of embarrassing and it kind of dates me, but it was ‘The Partridge Family Christmas Album.’ I was like five or six years old or something like that, and it was just something that I had to have. When you’re a kid … or at least when I was a kid, I loved Christmas music. What kid doesn’t? And here were the people from my favorite TV show singing them. So it seemed like a good deal to me at the time.

“Of course, you know how fragile vinyl is, and as a kid, I wasn’t too careful with my records. I think I probably destroyed that album within six months. I’m sure it didn’t even survive through the Christmas season before I wore it out.”