Guitarist Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer) is featured in an exclusive interview with Ultimate Guitar, recalling how thrash metal musicians back in the ’80s felt about glam metal, revealing that some had to enjoy this genre in secrecy. Following is an excerpt from the chat.
UG: It seems like, back in the ’80s, there was definitely a line between…. a hair metal fan wouldn’t dare go to a Slayer show. But it seems today, all these different styles are more accepted.
Holt: “In the (Paul) Baloff era in Exodus, if someone showed up with a Ratt shirt, we’d pull out the pocket knife and cut strips of the shirt off. If you look at some of the old photos of Baloff, he’s got all these pieces of cloth, like, for three inches, tied around his wrist. Those are threads of a poser shirt! But, at the same time, us guitar players were secretly coveting every Warren DeMartini riff, like the sickest, greatest guitar player on earth with the best tone ever, him and Robbin (Crosby).
So, we were actively sitting there listening to him and George Lynch. But at the same time, the segregation between the two genres — we were like mutual enemies. We needed one another. We both died out together, it seems, at the end of the ’80s. Mutual beneficial enemies, y’know?”
Read more here.
Holt will release his memoir, entitled A Fabulous Disaster: From The Garage To Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way, via Hachette Book Group on April 8, 2025.
Co-authored by Adem Tepedelen, this 304 page hardcover features a foreword by current Metallica, and former Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett. Pre-orders can be placed now at this location.
A book description states: Prolific guitarist and Exodus songwriter Gary Holt presents an entertaining, personal memoir detailing his “destruction-laden” life and the origins of the Thrash Metal scene from the Bay Area to its world dominance.
Since exploding out of the Bay Area heavy metal scene in the 1980s, thrash metal has made its way to every corner of the globe, conquering worldwide charts year after year. As the guitarist and primary songwriter of Exodus, and an originator of the subgenre and one of its fiercest proponents, Gary Holt watched as his peers—Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax—soared to superstardom. As his fellow artists amassed millions of fans and record sales, Exodus’s albums received critical recognition and inspired generations of listeners but struggled to reach the same heights of success, as the band was plagued by years of bad management, bad luck, and bad decision-making.
In A Fabulous Disaster, Holt shares a deeply personal account of what it was like to “live fast, play fast, and crash hard” as thrash metal dominated the globe. Readers witness his highest of highs and lowest of lows as Holt and his bandmates juggle major label contracts, MTV-sponsored tours and festivals, growing addictions to alcohol and meth, and the departures of original members. In the throes of addiction, Holt’s own fall from grace is swift: one year he’s playing on the MTV Headbanger’s Ball Tour with Anthrax and Helloween, and the next he’s struggling to find minimum wage jobs as he battles drugs, divorce, and the impending collapse of his music career. Ultimately, after the tragic death of one of his closest friends and former bandmates—Holt realizes the only one who can save him is himself.
An “unadulterated odyssey through decades of insanity,” punctuated by Holt’s unique insight and knack for storytelling, A Fabulous Disaster is a thrill ride from start to finish. His story proves that redemption—even from the pits of rock ‘n’ roll excess—is always possible.