Back in 2015, Mastodon guitarist/singer Brent Hinds found himself in a weird place by stating that he really wasn’t a fan of metal. Stating that metal was a phase he went through in his 20’s during an interview with Guitar Player Magazine, he stated “I’ve been trying to get Mastodon to not be such a heavy metal band because i f**king hate heavy metal, and I don’t want to be in a heavy metal band.” A subsequent Reddit AMA session found Brann Dailor defending his bandmate, saying that he wasn’t really being serious.
Recently, Hinds was on Jamey Jasta’s podcast, and he doubled down once again on not liking metal. However, he doesn’t consider Judas Priest a metal band:
“I don’t. I don’t really [like metal]. [I grew up listening to Judas Priest, but] Judas Priest is not metal, people, it’s rock ‘n’ motherfuckin’ roll! Who in their right mind that has a brain in their head thinks that Judas Priest sounds like a metal band?”
Jasta responded by mentioning “Painkiller,” which is one of the most metal songs ever. And Hinds countered:
“To me, that’s just hard rock ‘n’ roll. I’m not buying into that. I heard all Judas Priest songs, I went on tour with them, I know them all personally, they’re amazing people. They truly think they’re metal gods, like Rob Halford’s like, ‘I’m a metal god.’ That’s weird to say, but whatever. [Chuckles] Like, just don’t say it, it just makes you sound weird when you say it.”
He pretty much pointed out the hypocrisy of his own statement. If Rob Halford calls himself the Metal God, then there it is. Judas Priest also has a song called “Metal Meltdown” (also on Painkiller). They’re pretty much one of the cornerstones of heavy metal. That’s like saying the Black Sabbath isn’t heavy metal. Sure, what modern metal has evolved into make both Priest and Sabbath somewhat quaint by today’s standards, but they’re still metal as fuck. You can listen to the whole podcast below:
[via Guitar World]
