Slayer’s Gary Holt Loves Himself Some Taylor Swift, Not Beyoncé
Slayer guitarist Gary Holt digs pop music, but he sure has some strong opinions about Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
In an appearance on the Scandalous podcast, Holt talked about how he loves listening to pop music in the car and has a fondness for George Michael. He expressed how much he loves Swift and enjoys her songs. Holt also doesn’t understand why the massive pop star is a target for hate, particularly with how hard she works and how she’s “f—ing nice to everybody.” Notably, he cited how Swift issued over $55 million total in bonuses to every worker employed on her record-breaking Eras Tour.
However, Holt is far less impressed with Beyoncé, and it’s due to the number of songwriter credits on many of her songs.
“How can 30 people write a song, all gathered together? … Who even knows who did what anymore, when there are like 20 names on it,” said Holt.
On the surface, Holt’s argument makes sense, but oftentimes, there are so many songwriters on various modern pop and hip-hop tracks due to multiple samples being used on the same song. As a result, there can be many songwriters listed on a given track.
Of course, for those who take issue with sampling a song, that’s an entirely different debate for another story.
Kerry King Regrets Taking Flat Fee for Beastie Boys Collaboration
Speaking of songwriting credits, Holt’s Slayer bandmate Kerry King can certainly speak on that subject, particularly in the capacity of being a guest musician on a track. King notably plays guitar on the Beastie Boys’ hit “No Sleep till Brooklyn” off of their 1986 debut studio album Licensed to Ill. In the United States alone, that album has sold over 10 million copies. However, the Slayer guitarist has one major regret appearing on that record.
Kerry King notably plays guitar on the Beastie Boys’ hit “No Sleep till Brooklyn” off of their 1986 debut studio album Licensed to Ill. In the United States alone, that album has sold over 10 million copies. However, the Slayer guitarist has one major regret appearing on that record.
King told Border City Rock Talk that he was paid a flat fee for playing guitar on “No Sleep till Brooklyn.” That flat fee was “a couple hundred bucks,” according to King. Had he opted to take his payment via percentage points on the overall net profits of the sale of Licensed to Ill, he likely would have made significantly more money.
“In hindsight, I wish I didn’t get paid,” said King. “I wish I took a quarter point or something, ’cause now I would be a rich man.”
10 Times Rockers Praised Taylor Swift
Bono
Back in October 2022, U2’s Bono said, “I’m a Swiftie” in an appearance on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show alongside Swift. Host Graham Norton if the two ever worked together before. Swift said, “Not yet. We’re gonna talk about it later.”
Swift added about Bono, “He’s so nice he sent me roses when I played in Dublin. He doesn’t want to take credit … He’s a truly great person. He’s just that great and thoughtful, just the best there is.” Bono coyly responded, “I better have a drink.”
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