KERRY KING BLAMES JEFF HANNEMAN AND TOM ARAYA FOR HIS NOT PARTICIPATING IN THE BIG FOUR JAM

So unless you live under a rock in a cave beneath the ocean, you’re aware that the Big Four did some shows together this past June; at the time, I suggested that it would be cool if they all came out and jammed together, and then they did all come out and jam together (video above courtesy Metal Injection), and it wasn’t really that cool. ‘Cause when I made that suggestion, I guess I forgot that this was all the Big Four bands now, not the Big Four bands in 1990.

So I was actually a little relieved — although not at all surprised — that 75% of Slayer did not participate in the jam (the exception being Dave Lombardo, natch). ‘Cause Slayer have always been and will always be “Cooler Than Thou.”

As it turns out, though, Kerry King would have liked to have participated, but had to do the work his lazy and decrepit band mates wouldn’t do. From a recent Revolver interview:

Why didn’t you play in the Big Four jam on “Am I Evil” at the end?

There’s a damn good reason. It isn’t too long an explanation. [Dave] Mustaine came to me that day and James [Hetfield] came to me that day saying, “Hey, it would be really cool if you played.” I knew Jeff [Hanneman] wouldn’t do it, and I knew Tom wouldn’t do it. And I also knew after we played that neither one of them would edit our video that was going to cinemas in a couple hours, so I told James and Mustaine both, “Listen, man. I’ve gotta edit our video before I can even think about playing with you guys.” So the entire time of the set change between Slayer and Metallica, I was editing that video. I came running to the tuning room after I got done picking the songs, and they were already onstage.

And to make it an even better story, I found out at 1 a.m. the night prior, so I really had no chance to work on that stuff or anything. So I wanted to; it just couldn’t happen. I’ve got a lot of flack for that but yeah, that’s the story.

Well, that… actually sounds like a fairly reasonable explanation. I mean, not the thing about just finding out about the jam at 1 a.m. the night before, ’cause I find it hard to believe that Kerry King really couldn’t pull it together to play “Am I Evil?” on short notice, but the editing part. ‘Cause Tom Araya is falling apart and probably needs to go lie down or whatever the second he walks off-stage, and Hanneman makes Kerry King look like Mr. Happy Fun Sunshine Guy, so I’m sure he was probably like, “Yeah, I’ll do the jam,” just as his car was pulling away and he was flipping Hetfield the bird. (Scratch that — Hanneman is too cool to expend energy flipping Hetfield the bird.)

Luckily for King, and those of us who imbibe enough alcohol to still find this whole concept appealing, he’ll probably get another shot at doing that jam when the Big Four inevitably tour the U.S. In the meantime, Metal Injection has the entire Big Four show online, in case you still haven’t seen it; if you like fancy packaging and stuff, a DVD of the event comes out in November.

-AR