Did Grunge Kill Metal In The 90s? KREATOR’s MILLE PETROZZA Has A Different Opinion

In a recent conversation with Kahler Guitar And Bass Bridges, Kreator‘s incombustible frontman, Mille Petrozza, opened up about the band’s challenging journey through the 1990s, a decade that threatened the very existence of thrash metal. Reflecting on that turbulent time, Petrozza shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “We were all terrified at the time. I mean, it’s not that I thought it was over. I remember in the ’90s, I tried to sell one of my Jacksons at the time. Nobody wanted to buy it. [Laughs] Everybody wanted Les Paul or Fender, like a traditional…”

He recalled how the era forced metal to retreat underground, yet Kreator managed to endure when many thought the genre was doomed. Also, Petrozza doesn’t blame grunge for thrash metal’s struggles, unlike many who believe it was the primary factor in the genre’s decline. Instead, he pointed to the music industry itself.

“I’m so happy that the ’90s are over. There’s certain metal bands that always go, ‘Grunge killed metal.’ I don’t think so. I think what killed it was maybe certain people in the industry that didn’t want metal to be there anymore. And nowadays with everything being more global through the Internet though, through your own social media, you can do so much more,” he explained.

Mille further elaborated on the shift in the music industry, adding, “We still need some of the industry, of course, and nowadays people who are working in record companies are metalheads. Back then there was mostly businessmen that didn’t really know about music unless it sold a lot of copies.”

Petrozza expressed his relief that things have changed for the better, with more passionate individuals working behind the scenes, helping keep metal alive and authentic: “So nowadays it’s a lot cooler because the scene created itself. There are people working in the industry who actually love the music, and you don’t have to rely on people that just love whatever sells the most.”

This isn’t the first time Petrozza has addressed the challenges metal faced during the 1990s. In a 2013 interview with DeadRhetoric, he shared a similar sentiment:  “Some people said it was the grunge phase that killed it all, but I don’t think it was only that. I think some metal bands were mistaken for the glam stuff. Like the real metal bands were labeled with the idiots that were around at the end of the ’80s that made metal look bad. In my opinion, that’s what they did. A lot of the glam stupidity took people off of metal. I think it has to do with the MTV era. Most of it here in America was the Poison, Ratt, Whitesnake, then you had your one spot of Slayer, Exodus, and Kreator. It was mostly that and people would think, ‘This is metal.’ They want their glam stuff. I didn’t listen to it, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.”