Guy Fieri Proclaims His Love for Rage Against the Machine, Metallica + More
Citizens of Flavortown know that Guy Fieri has a rock edge. The celebrity chef even has a liquor brand with singer Sammy Hagar, Santo Tequila. But were viewers aware that Fieri is a big fan of rock and metal acts such as Rage Against the Machine, Metallica and others?
The TV personality familiar to food lovers revealed as much during a chat with blink-182's Mark Hoppus on the Aug. 31 entry of the rocker's Apple Music show, After School Radio. Not to miss an amusing opportunity, the episode is titled "Mark Goes to Flavortown."
Fieri tells Hoppus, "I'm a Metallica junkie. … Pantera, [Rage Against the] Machine, AC/DC. I mean, you name it. … There was just something about living in Los Angeles and living down in Long Beach back in the day. And Rage coming out and just getting all of that energy."
He adds, "And I'm friends with Brad — Brad Wilk, [Rage's] drummer."
But despite the restaurateur's rock connections, Fieri says his wife "won't let me play it at house parties. I don't get to necessarily always jam my Rage. But … the awesome thing is both of my sons are huge fans. So whenever mom's not [around], we get to play Rage."
Those who've paid close attention to Fieri's movements have seen his love for heavy music in action. Earlier this year, footage emerged that showed him going incognito at a Slipknot concert during a show on the tour behind the band's 2019 album, We Are Not Your Kind.
Elsewhere on After School Radio, the "Mayor of Flavortown" who's the star of TV shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guy's Grocery Games talked a little bit about the "Red Rocker."
"I don't even know how to explain [Hagar]," Fieri remarks of his friend and business partner. "He's one of the deepest people you'll ever meet. And coming from Montrose to being Sammy, to being Van Hagar, to such an amazing guy. And so I got to be friends with him."
Sharing how the pair first met, the TV personality remembers, "There was a contest to sell his tequila, which back in the day was called Cabo Wabo. Whoever sold the most Cabo Wabo got to go to the Sammy Hagar concert here in … California and get a signed guitar from him and meet him. … Sure enough, I won."
Fieri continues, "When I [walked] into his dressing room and he's there with his wife Kari … he's looking at me and he's like, Who's this dude with bleach blond hair, tattoos, shorts and flip-flops with sunglasses on walking in? He goes, 'You look like me.' And I said, 'You think your influence hasn't made it through the speakers to people?' … And it was so funny because I wasn't saying, Hey, I want to look like Sammy Hagar. It's just when you can't drive 55, and when you live your life to the fullest, there are no boundaries about how you do shit."
Listen to Fieri's full After School Radio interview here.