Esquire Magazine asked Eddie who his ten favorite That Metal Show guests were, his list appears below. To read Eddie’s explanation about the artists not appearing here, click on their highlighted names to read why they made Eddie’s top ten.
10. Lita Ford
“Back in 2008, I had just gotten the show together. We were going to shoot a pilot, not knowing if it was going to get picked up or aired. I needed to reach out to someone who was not overexposed. Someone people were really wondering about, someone who’d be a good reveal. So I got Lita Ford for our first episode, which was that pilot. She’d moved away to a private island with her then-husband, raised some kids, and kinda gone off the grid. I always call Lita my good luck charm. Because getting her on and having her on that first episode was part of the reason why the show got picked up. It set the good omen for the show that continues to this day.”
9. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Ace Frehley
8. Jani Lane
“We had Jani [the late, alcohol-plagued lead singer of Warrant] on one of the last shows he ever did. I saw no telltale signs of any distress or him being impaired or anything. But when I gave him a hug goodbye, he seemed very thin and frail. And passed away before the show even aired. But one of the things that really resonated with me about that show? A few weeks after, I was doing an appearance in Ohio. Jani was from Ohio, originally. I was in my dressing room, getting ready to go out and do whatever it was I had to do, and a guy came in and said Jani Lane’s brother is here and wants to know if he can see you for a second. I said sure. So he came in and told me how appreciative he was that the last thing that anyone saw of his brother was that he was being treated respectfully. Not just, ‘Here’s the Cherry Pie guy.’ Obviously, he was very sorry that his brother passed away, but he was glad that the last time anyone saw him, was on my show, being treated in a respectful manner.”
7. Ronnie James Dio
“Having Ronnie on was always very memorable for me. People always thought of Ronnie as this metal icon, which he was, but he also had a great sense of humor. An example? He liked to take the piss as the British would say. He told me that he went to see U2. And Bono went into one of his heavy moments and started clapping his hands and said, ‘Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies. What should we do about this?’ Ronnie turned to the guy he was with and said, ‘Maybe he should stop clapping his fucking hands!’ Ronnie told me he didn’t believe in using the stage for any sort of messages.”
6. Axl Rose
4. Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony
“Another guy, like Brian Johnson, who’s fun is Sammy Hagar. One time he came on with [former Van Halen bassist] Michael Anthony. We actually had them on twice. But after the first time, Sammy kept getting on me that I wasn’t tough enough with Michael. You know, ‘This guy got fucked by Van Halen more than I did. You gotta pull that stuff outta him, man. Let him tell the story.’ So I said to Sammy, ‘The next time you come on the show, you interview him!’ Sure enough Sammy told me he wanted to do it again and he wanted to be a co-host. Somehow we talked Michael into doing it. We had a blast. Sammy going to Michael, ‘How’d you get kicked out of Van Halen? How badly did you get screwed?’ We had so much fun.”
3. Mick Mars
2. Tony Iommi
1. Dokken
“That band was George Lynch [guitarist] and Don Dokken [singer]. George and Don have had lots of problems over the years. They’ve never gotten along. They both expressed interest in reuniting, but they could never pull it together. I started massaging this idea with both of them and said, ‘Hey guys, how cool would it be to come on the show, announce a reunion, go out on tour, and make a bunch of money?’ I finally got them to agree to come on the show and sit next to each other. These are two guys who really don’t like each other. It had probably been 10 years since they’d sat and talked with each other. They came on, with the intention of announcing their reunion. As they were walking toward the set, before the cameras start rolling, they’re already disagreeing on how the news should be broken and whether this was the right time to announce the reunion. We didn’t really know what was gonna happen. But when we got out on the set, I asked them, ‘Well, since you’re here, does this mean what we think? Is the band back?’ And they kinda disagreed about that, right on camera. And I finally say, ‘Are you guys breaking up on camera, before you’ve really reformed?’ They didn’t really know how to respond. We got through the show and it was over. The reunion lasted about 30 minutes. On camera.”
source: esquire.com
13 Responses
For those of you wondering, or not 😉 , I already voiced my displeasure about Sykes NOT making this list.
Dana from here 🙂
Dana
give JS a wake-up call and tell him to put out the flippin’ album already or reform Lizzy and do some shows in honor of Philo.
Remind him that we’re getting older everyday.
Gheez already.
G Man,
I agree with you. I wish I had that kind of power..and Sykes’ phone number. 😆
D 🙂
Dana, who is JS? Thin Lizzy was Brian Downey, Scott Gorham, Philip Lynott, Brian Robertson. in
1976
Russ,
JS is short for John Sykes. He was in Thin Lizzy before his Whitesnake gig and appeared on their, Thunder and Lighting album. He also recorded a single entitled, Please Don’t Leave Me, with Phil Lynott.
He was also was a member of the band again in the 2000’s. They toured under the Lizzy moniker with Sykes handling all the lead vocals.
Dana from ET.com 🙂
Thanks Dana, I knew he was in Whitesnake, I really only got into Thin Lizzy during the Jailbreak ,Live and Dangerous, and Johnny the Fox albums. I do not believe I have heard any of their other albums. Probably why I did not associate him with Thin Lizzy.
I suspect the problem with Dokken, is Don’s arrogance, refusing to acknowledge the importance of George’s solo’s to every hit that band ever had. The vocals were great, but I couldn’t wait to hear what George was going do, and he never disappointed. They were a great band, and Don should just get off his high horse, do an equal split, and hope the fans forgive him for taking so long.
If only it was that simple, uhhh, put this way, it isn’t all Don
Do tell.
One of my favorite episodes was with Sykes. His reaction to Jennifer (miss box of junk) was priceless. Don Dokken is a jerk. I saw the guy smoking a cigarette on stage, no wonder his voice is shot. It’s too bad he can’t get over himself, he could have made a boatload of money on a reunion with Lynch, Pilson and Brown.
Lots of guests stand out: Phil Anselmo was great because he was the wise-cracking good natured Phil we all love. He was the same old Phil on TMS that he was when I met him for the first time in the early 90’s before his drug addiction. The episode with John Sykes was great. He seemed to be relaxed and REALLY seemed happy to see Jennifer! Zakk has been great every time. I’d love to see Zakk back this season as the guest musician. He’s such a goofy, fun loving dude. Alice Cooper telling the Elvis story was great. Ace was probably my favorite, though. The “Smoking Flute”! Only Ace could come up with that. It’d be a riot to have Ace and Zakk on the same episode.
Hey there James, I heard you had one hell of a party Saturday! I had a great time down in Daytona, and the 500 was great too! I thought the first new episode of TMS was good, especially Geddy, but I wasn’t crazy about the set, thought it was kind of boring! But the most important thing is the guests, and the guests were great. That new show, Rock Icons is really good as well, looking forward to next weeks episode with The Metal God! Take care James, cheers, stay frosty! 🙂
Glad you had a great time at the race. The Daytona 500 is one race I’ve always wanted to see live. The Rock Icons show is great. It’s a bonus to TMS. My only complaint is it’s only half an hour long. The new TMS table is weird looking but you’re right, it’s the guests that are important. Take care bud!