Lollapalooza organiser Perry Farrell says he was “angry” when this year’s headliners Metallica played his festival for the first time.
James Hetfield and co performed at the event in 1996, with Farrell skeptical about how they’d be received. The Jane’s Addiction frontman tells Rolling Stone: “I was very angry the first time they played Lollapalooza. I helped create the genre alternative, and alternative was against hair metal, teased-out hair, spandex, bullshit rock music.
“Metallica, in my estimation at that time, wasn’t my thing. I was into alternative and punk and underground.
“I’m all about genuine, authentic, heartfelt, the real deal. So I was not sure about Metallica back in those days. It’s my fucking party and I’ll have who I want.”
Metallica headline the Chicago event on August 31, and Farrell has softened his stance towards the metal giants, saying he is “honoured” they’re taking part.
On the festival’s other headliner, Paul McCartney, Farrell says: “I was so influenced by Paul McCartney and the Beatles that, when I was in kindergarten, I faked a British accent and told everyone I was from England.”
Meanwhile, Farrell recalls getting high with late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Asked if he’d seen Brett Morgen’s documentary Cobain: Montage Of Heck, Farrell says: “He’s gone now, so you can’t very well ask him to do another take, can you? He’s very high. But I thought he was a very gentle soul and who knows what would have become of him had he lived.
“I met him briefly. I must admit, I got high with him in the basement of the Palace when he came to Los Angeles, and I hung out with him at one of the MTV awards shows. We had a mutual respect.
“I think the cat had the right idea, he had the right attitude. Except only one thing: I love life. You have to kill me. I will never kill myself. That’s the only difference.”
