Top 10 Non-Metal Musicians Who Like Metal Music
You're scrolling through your favorite metal bands, horns up, head nodding, and then someone drops the bomb that your favorite pop star just admitted to loving Slayer. Wait, what? Turns out, there are a surprising number of artists whose music couldn't be further from brutal riffs and blast beats, but who still keep metal albums in heavy rotation when the cameras are off. This list is all about those unexpected fans. Think jazz cats, country crooners, synth-poppers, and folk whisperers who secretly or not so secretly headbang on the side.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress.On the start of her career, she performed at an event called the Lollapalooza Festival during 2007 whereby a record label company Interscope found her due to her performance... read more
Lady Gaga is probably the most high-profile pro-metal musician of the 21st century. She mainly loves Metallica, but not exclusively - she has talked about her old metal days in Jersey and the Lower East Side. She's a proud metalhead with a long track record of celebrating and working with heavy metal, going deeper than the typical modern celebrity's aesthetics.
While headlining Lollapalooza, she danced to Metallica's "Metal Militia"! Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich said about her, "I knew she was a metal chick at heart, but I didn't know how deep her metal roots were. Her relationship with Metallica goes way back - like deep album cuts on the early couple records."
In 2017, Lady Gaga joined Metallica for the band's Grammy performance of "Moth into Flame." Performing with Metallica was like a dream come true for her, and she rewarded herself with a new tattoo inspired by the song. However, this collaboration was met with mostly negative responses from a portion of Metallica's fandom.
The Born This Way album cover is reminiscent of Judas Priest's album art for both Painkiller and Defenders of the Faith. It even contains the song "Heavy Metal Lover." Lady Gaga also toured with Babymetal as an opening act. She once said, "I always used to say to people, when they would say, 'Oh, she's the next Madonna.' No, I'm the next Iron Maiden."
He's a country musician who always wanted to be in a metal band, and he proved it - in 2010, he recorded the album Orion, a tribute to Voivod, a Canadian metal band that is obviously his favorite.
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer and film director. He is best known as the former drummer of the hugely popular 90s grunge band Nirvana and the vocalist/guitarist for the alternative rock band Foo Fighters. He has sat behind the... read more Dave Grohl's genre is close to metal, so loving metal isn't a big surprise. However, he's not just a fan - he's done more than just listen to metal. He recorded his own one-off metal album, Probot (2004), which Grohl described as "a death metal Supernatural."
The album features metal musicians whom Grohl admired, including members of Venom, Voivod, King Diamond, Celtic Frost, Sepultura, Napalm Death, and more. In an interview, he said Voivod blew his mind in the '80s.
John Darnielle is the singer/songwriter for indie folk band The Mountain Goats. Oddly enough, perhaps their best-known song is "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," about two high school kids who form a death metal band.
But Darnielle's metal love doesn't stop there - he also wrote a book about Black Sabbath's Master of Reality for the 33 1/3 series. Additionally, for Pitchfork's "Situation Critical" feature, where musicians choose songs to soundtrack hypothetical situations, all of his selections were songs by Danzig.
Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends as a child, she received her breakthrough role as Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel television film Camp Rock and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam... read more Demi Lovato said, "[Metal isn't] all I listen to, of course, but there was a period of time where it was. I guess it started in school. I started listening to stuff with screaming in it, and then I started [exploring] more metal. MySpace helped me a lot, and friends would tell me about certain bands. And some of the bands I like aren't necessarily too metal. It's funny, because the Jonas Brothers dance and play dance music in their dressing room, and I'll be across the hall, and I just blare metal. People walk by and go, 'Really?'"
What does she like about metal? She obviously respects the musicianship because she explained, "It's so completely different from anything else. You've got vocals that I can't do, the double bass drums, the incredible guitar solos... every part of the band does more difficult stuff than your average rock band does. I listen to these bands, and I wish I could do all of that, but I can't."
Kenny G is a sax player known for smooth jazz, but he was seen at least twice at Opeth shows in LA. Opeth is a death metal band from Sweden.
Why doesn't Opeth invite him to play a sax solo on their next album? Opeth's style is progressive enough to include some odd sections, in my opinion. Some other metal bands have already done similar collaborations - Tobias Sammet sang jazz in the middle of a power metal song, and I liked it.
(Check out the list: Top 10 Metal Songs That Include Rare/Atypical Combinations with Other Music Genres.)
Kurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1987, he started the grunge band Nirvana, which became one of the most successful bands ever. He was a talented yet troubled grunge performer. Kurt Cobain became a rock legend in the 1990s with his band. He committed suicide at his... read more You may be surprised, but he loved Celtic Frost, one of the bands that pioneered extreme metal in the '80s (prototypes for black, death, and thrash metal). Cobain's favorite Celtic Frost album was To Mega Therion.
He also really enjoyed The Melvins, who, especially back in those days, were about as 'heavy' as you could get...
Wow. And grunge was made to kill metal...
Rivers Cuomo is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist and songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer, with whom he has recorded sixteen studio albums. Weezer's band member was part of the prog-metal band Avant Garde (active from 1985-1990) before Weezer was formed. Also, Weezer's 2002 album Maladroit incorporated some metal riffing into their usually softer sound. Cuomo's most recent reference to his metal past is the title of Weezer's 2010 compilation Death to False Metal.
Rivers was actually inspired by Kirk Hammett to learn guitar. I believe Maladroit had some inspiration from bands like Black Sabbath, as I've heard. So Rivers was definitely a fan of the genre.
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian–French singer-songwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. She's a big metal fan and even sang Metallica's Fuel live when she was 18-19.
Chad Robert Kroeger is a Canadian musician and producer, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Canadian rock band, Nickelback.
The Newcomers
Beck Hansen, known by stage name Beck, is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is mostly known for his musical composition, as well as a palette of sonic genres. He's a fan of Carcass, a band that plays death metal and goregrind/grindcore.
Deryck Jason Whibley (born March 21, 1980) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and producer of the punk rock band Sum 41. To date, he has released eight studio albums with Sum 41, including their most recent album, Heaven :x: Hell, which was released... read more
Amy Lynn Hartzler, known professionally as Amy Lee, is an American singer-songwriter, classically trained pianist and composer. She is also the lead singer to the Arkansas band Evanescence. She's not very high on this list because her genre is close to metal, but she should be included because she likes death metal, which is quite far from what she sings. She started listening to death metal at 15-16.
Michael Ryan Pritchard, known professionally as Mike Dirnt, is an American musician best known for being the co-founder, bassist, backing and occasional lead vocalist of the American punk rock band Green Day. He has cited Cliff Burton as an influence, alongside wearing an ...And Justice for All shirt in the music video for "Revolution Radio," so I'm sure he's a Metallica fan.
Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is an American rapper, actor and music producer born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. Eminem has sold over 300 million records making him the bestselling hip-hop artist of all time. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of D12 and (with Royce... read more
Adam Wade Gontier is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for both Saint Asonia and Three Days Grace. Gontier initially left Three Days Grace in January 2013 but rejoined the band in October 2024. He is known for his distinctive gritty vocal... read moreHe was a singer and dancer who was an Iron Maiden fan and even attended the same show as me in London in 2013. No lie. May he rest in peace, charmer.
Wasn't he a country musician? I didn't know he liked metal.
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and guitarist of the punk rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt... read more
Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor, singer-songwriter, and director. He is well known for being the lead singer of Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Shaun Morgan Welgemoed, known publicly as Shaun Morgan, is a South African musician and singer for the post-grunge/alternative metal band Seether.
Benjamin Jackson Burnley IV is an American musician, composer, and producer, best known as the founder and frontman of the American rock band Breaking Benjamin.
Aaron Lewis is an American musician, who is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and founding member of the rock group Staind, with whom he has released seven studio albums.
Shimon Moore is an Australian singer best known for being the former frontman of the alternative rock band Sick Puppies. Born on November 11, 1982, in Sydney, Australia, Shimon has been passionate about music from a young age. He co-founded Sick Puppies in 1997 and served as the lead vocalist and guitarist... read more