Around Christmas time, I passed by a Hot Topic at the mall. They had the Christmas decorations up in the front of the store with AC/DC and Metallica, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Bullet Club. So, we are certainly a part of pop culture.
I have a very vague surface level awareness of Metallica.
My kids listen to everything because I listen to everything, so it's not far-fetched to hear them playing Metallica and then playing A Tribe Called Quest or N.W.A.
I think what's cool about Slayer is no matter how old their albums are, it's the one band to me that their sound is immortal. It never sounds corny to me. You can go back and listen to some Pantera and Metallica albums, and you're like, 'OK, great music.' But Slayer, you go back, and they always sound fresh and hard as hell.
I once won a Grammy for an Australian version of 'Turn the Page' that another artist did; I can't remember his name. There've been covers down through the years around the world, but I did like Metallica's, because I kind of related to Metallica when they first came out, because Jimmy Hetfield really reminded me of me in 1965, you know?
You don't hear Metallica complaining about Pearl Jam.
Once I could drive, I spent all my time in the city going to metal shows. I missed the first couple of Metallica shows because I was lame. By the time I got into them, they were playing places like the Kabuki.
I don't need anything to get me up at the gym other than 'Metallica' and 'AC/DC'.
There's a band called Pantera that I listen to, and then Metallica's 'And Justice for All.' If you listen to a little bit of that before you go on stage, you're pretty much set for the whole show.
My biggest influences were 1980s punk and metal. Metallica were my biggest influence because they were good at everything - riffs, energy - but with such an ear for melody, it was hard not to get pulled into it and become a fanatic.
