If ever there was a time when metal might have felt the most in limbo to some of the oldheads out there, it might be the 90s. After the raucous successes earned in the 80s, the advent of grunge and shifting tastes in mainstream music made it feel like metal was in a downturn and heading back to the underground. And while some of us might feel that way, one dude that’s been there from the beginning really dug that time period for metal as a genre.
Speaking in an interview with Knotfest, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler reminisced about the 90s and the bands that emerged during that time period.
“I was really into metal back then, and it was influencing the stuff I was writing as well…It was amazing to see what new bands were coming out then. And each one had a different version of metal if you want to call it metal. Different versions, instead of just going on and screaming into the microphone and everything sounding the same. Really good, different bands coming out. Slipknot being one of them, obviously. It was great.”
It should be noted that around that time, Butler was heavily involved in his solo career. He eventually released his debut solo record Plastic Planet prior to Ozzfest 1999. If you put that record on today, you’ll find it’s chock full of sounds that were contemporary at that time. Ex-Fear Factory vocalist Burton C. Bell, for instance, provided guest vocals on the record.
“I really liked Fear Factory at the time and I’d been writing all this stuff that was too heavy for Sabbath or Ozzy. Pedro Howse, my nephew, had this band called Crazy Angel, which was like an ultra-thrash band. So, when me and him got writing together it came out ultra-heavy, and I wasn’t restricted to what lyrics I was going to write about.”
What do you think? Do you look back fondly on the ’90s now that we’re three decades removed from that time? Let us know in the comments.