Slayer guitarist Kerry King recently spoke with Metal Hammer: In Residence and voiced his dislike of music back in the '90s

King: “I think we refocused on God Hates Us All. I think in the '90s, me and Jeff Hanneman just didn’t pay any attention to anything. In particular, I didn’t like where music was going and I let it get to me for the only time in my career – and that was basically the '90s. I couldn’t understand why things were popular and it just bummed me out completely and I had to forget about it and refocus because it was just bringing me down. I’m not talking about pop and stuff like that. Heavy music – I didn’t like where heavy music was going. I remember in particular when we did Undisputed Attitude in 1996, we did that in rebellion to Green Day and the Offspring."

The full interview with King appears on the new episode of Metal Hammer: In Residency on Spotify, available now at this location for premium subscribers.

King was recently interviewed by Lisa Sanchez of El Paso, Texas radio station KLAQ 95.5 FM; check out their chat via the video below. A couple of transcribed excerpts follow.

 

 

When asked about Slayer continually attracting new generations of fans, Kerry replied, "I think it's real, I think it's street, I think it's aggressive; it's full of angst. Kids got angst, adults got angst. And Slayer's a lifestyle, Slayer's not just a band anymore. I think our fans look at us and they see themselves - more than I ever saw myself in any of my hero's bands. Do I dress up and put leather pants and chains on, on-stage? Yeah, but that's about it. Other than that, I do soundcheck in my camos, like I'm in everyday. I think our fans relate to us because they see themselves in us."

 

 

When asked about the songwriting progress for the follow-up to last year's Repentless album, Kerry answered, "We do have a bunch of new material that no one's ever heard, and if the lyrics don't change that musically, the songs are done — full production, with (producer) Terry Date from the last record. So I'm gonna work on lyrics with that in mind, but if I get some awesome idea that the song has to change, we'll have to record it again. But I'm sure some of them won't. So it's a very cool place to be, 'cause we've never been in this position with this many songs — they weren't leftovers, they just weren't finished."