Top 10 Facts About Metal Musicians

James Hetfield of Metallica built a car “designed to survive everything from earthquakes to nuclear holocausts”

Funny, because I'm remembering the concert-induced Metalliquake!

Matt Barlow of Iced Earth was a policeman and after the 9/11 attacks, he left the band to work as a policeman again

The September 11 terrorist attacks made him want to contribute to the "real world" instead of living the illusion of a "rock star."
So, one of the most impressive metal singers for one of the best U.S. bands left the band and became a police officer again in the police department in Georgetown, Delaware. He returned to music in 2007.

Mike Mangini of Dream Theater is also a software specialist who worked on a program that studied the links between the human brain and body

He graduated from Bentley University as a computer science major. He's one of my top three favorite drummers.

Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden is a professional pilot who used to take unpaid leave to front Iron Maiden

He also flies the band's plane, called Ed Force One, named after Ed, their mascot.

I know this! I love his show "Flying Heavy Metal" on Discovery Turbo.

Cozy Powell of Rainbow set a world record by playing 400 drums in under one minute, live on television (BBC)

He set a world record for the most drums played per minute.

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth chose heavy metal as a career as revenge against a brother-in-law who punched him for listening to Judas Priest

Gee, aren't both sides of this story blowing things well out of proportion?

More specifically, he was listening to Sad Wings of Destiny.

This is absolutely hilarious!

James Hetfield of Metallica had parents who were Christian Scientists and did not believe in medicine, so his mother died of cancer with no medical help

James was 16 years old when his mother died, and even his father wasn't there because his parents were divorced.
It's no wonder Hetfield wrote the song "The God That Failed." The song is about his mother, who solely relied on her belief in God to heal her, but he didn't. Hetfield felt that had she not followed her Christian Science beliefs, she could have survived. She was too young.
However, Hetfield does not celebrate God's failure in the song, but instead blames God, through his mother's faith and death, for contributing to the meaninglessness of life.
"Until It Sleeps" is also about his dying mother.

Well, yeah, "Dyers Eve" and "The God That Failed" are some obvious clues to this.

Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden was a talented fencer who trained with the UK National Olympic Team

And here we can see photographic evidence...

Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth went to a Lutheran school for five years, where a pastor shoved a bar of soap down his throat, so Jon formed a band to "prove these people wrong"

Jon Schaffer developed a lot of anger and rebellion at this Lutheran school, where he had to deal with the abusive nature of the pastors.
On one occasion, one of the pastors shoved a bar of soap down Jon's throat because the pastor felt threatened due to Jon's refusal to submit after he couldn't answer Jon's questions about evolution versus creationism. According to Jon, this did have an effect on him forming a band, so that he could "prove these people wrong." (wiki)

Rob Halford of Judas Priest could have been a classical singer

Classical voice teachers say this, being impressed with his "fabulous range of vocal colors" and "mad skills."

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Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse is a vegetarian

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Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth once played soccer in Sörskogen's team

Morbid Angel has album titles that are working through the alphabet

Altars of Madness
Blessed Are the Sick
Covenant
Domination
Entangled in Chaos
Formulas Fatal to the Flesh
Gateways to Annihilation
Heretic
Illud Divinum Insanus
Juvenilia (it should have been titled Just Kidding About That Whole Illud Thing)
Kingdoms Disdained

Jeff Hanneman of Slayer was a "super quiet" guy, but he wrote the music and lyrics to songs that can't be described as quiet

R.I.P. Jeff.
He wrote "Raining Blood," "Angel of Death," "South of Heaven," "Hell Awaits," "Dead Skin Mask," "Black Magic," and many more. Robb Flynn of Machine Head, who did over 120 shows with Slayer, commented: "Jeff was super quiet, really kept to himself."

Cozy Powell of Rainbow raced for Hitachi on the UK saloon car circuit and was quoted as saying, "I drive like I drum - madly"

Unfortunately, he died in a car accident while driving at 104 mph (167 km/h) in bad weather in 1998, at the age of 50.
R.I.P. Cozy!

Rob Halford of Judas Priest is gay

Everyone pretty much knows that, but there's no shame in gay musicians being in the music industry.

He came out as gay publicly in 1998 in an interview with MTV News:
"I think that most people know that I've been a gay man all of my life, and it's only been in recent times it's an issue that I feel comfortable to address (...) something that I feel has a moment, and this is the moment to discuss it."

Rob Halford of Judas Priest broke his nose onstage and was rendered unconscious in 1991, during what was supposed to be his final show with the band

On the last show of the "Painkiller" tour in 1990, Halford was knocked off the motorcycle he famously rides onto the stage at the end of each show by a misplaced prop. So, he missed the last song of what was supposed to be his final show with Judas Priest.
Well, maybe he shouldn't have left the band... Actually, it wasn't his last song with Judas Priest because he rejoined the band many years later.

Mike Mangini of Dream Theater was a full-time associate professor at Berklee College of Music, Percussion Department

He resigned in 2010 to join Dream Theater as a drummer, of course.

Manowar attacked Twisted Sister by calling them "sissy boys in makeup," prompting Twisted Sister to challenge them to a street fight that Manowar never showed up for

Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian records each track of the multi-layered backing vocals individually and doesn't use a harmonizer

Oh my God, their songs have numerous layers of vocal harmony. That's a lot of singing and recording...
Hansi explained: "Harmonizers and 'perfect pitch' programs do not work well with my voice due to distortion and the natural double-layer effects my vocal cords have."

Metallica bought the rights to the film Johnny Got His Gun to continue showing the music video to their song "One"

In the video for the song One, Metallica used scenes taken from the anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun. And because their video was played a lot, Metallica was routinely required to pay royalty fees to continue showing the music video. So, Metallica bought the rights to the film. Simple, eh?

Tobias Sammet of Edguy formed the band at 14

"Although I have always been the clown of the class, it didn't work out very well with the girls," he said.
I guess his metal band and his voice worked out with the girls, though. As he said, "My plan to be a professional musician, which I hatched in a certain phase of pubescent ignorance, seems to have worked out... thank God."

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple was the original Jesus Christ in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)

Yes! Apparently, they were impressed with his vocals on Child in Time. I think they made the right choice because Ian absolutely killed it!

He was selected for the role personally by the authors of the rock opera - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

Fenriz of Darkthrone was elected as councilman of Kolbotn

Metallica moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco in the 80s because "the glam metal scene in Los Angeles sucked"

Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell has a university degree in philosophy

Rob Halford of Judas Priest considered wearing a wig or a toupee but decided against it

Halford even planned to design a line of wigs at one point. But he actually handled the matter with more dignity - first going for a close-cropped look and eventually shaving his head.

This was actually the original outfit of Judas Priest until they invented the leather look.