Exodus Star Gary Holt Mocks Metallica: “We Crushed ’em, And They Knew It”

In a new conversation with Alive & Streaming, Gary Holt, the bandleader of the thrash metal band Exodus, mentioned the 1986 New Year’s Eve show, which held in San Francisco and also included Megadeth and Metal Church, and said that his band “crushed” Metallica on the show.

“We crushed Metallica. And look, I’m not gloating, but we crushed ’em, and they knew it.

“It was their big homecoming. They just finished recording [1986’s] ‘Master of Puppets,’ and we came out – we had more amps, we had a bigger riser, we came out looking like the headliners.

“And we were partying hard after, and James [Hetfield] comes up, and we were just getting wasted – ‘That’ll be the last time you guys open for us.’ And it was. [Laughs].”

Continuing his words, Gary Holt admitted that he loves Metallica and that Master of Puppets from Metallica is the greatest metal album ever made, adding, “Nobody’s ever come up with anything close to it – maybe close would be Judas Priest, [1978’s] ‘Stained Class’ – but I give ’em all respect.

“Even with [2003’s] ‘St. Anger,’ I always said, ‘Yeah, if they made it sound right, it wouldn’t be so bad.’ On YouTube, some guy re-recorded the whole album but did it with a proper drum sound and guitar sound, and the songs are killer.

“I never listened to [2011’s] ‘Lulu’ because I don’t want it to sully my opinion of the band I admire so much. [Laughs]”