Was QUORTHON a "liar" ?

[J.K.]

[Small correction on the thread title/Mod]

Hello all, here is a little question for you.


In many BATHORY interviews, Quorthon always claimed to haven't listened to this or that band.


For example, with the first releases he claims that he has NEVER heard records of VENOM, SLAYER or MOTÖRHEAD.

Then, with the Viking era, he stated many times that he has NEVER listened to MANOWAR.

And all these bands are obviously great influences when you ear his music... So such statements just sound incredible to me.

So do you think that he lied ? And why should he did that ?

And to conclude, don't you find that the thrash metal songs on "Blood Fire Death" are total rip-off of SLAYER "Hell Awaits" era ? It's quite shoking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDNXykkZ ... re=related

He even imitates the singing style of Araya on the refrain (sounds like the refrain of Hell Awaits")

Cheers to you all.

[Herkus Monte]

I think you shouldn`t take seriously ANYTHING Quorthorn said in the public (especially when it concerns revealing his real name, but that beside the point here).

[J.K.]

That's true that he liked to "joke" but, regardind his music I think he has been quiet honest many times (revealing place where he played/record, people who helped, etc.) so, why not on the influence and all...

[mordred]

It is common knowledge that he was a huge Manowar fan which he did state in public. I have also read interviews where he said Motörhead was an early influence on Bathory.

I don't know about Slayer, but I know he denied being influenced by Venom. From what I remember in some interview from around the viking era he said he had heard Venom but they were never an influence on early Bathory because he didn't know them then.

[ION BRITTON]

I hear more MOTORHEAD in the first BATHORY than anything else while there's more VENOM in MAYHEM's Deathcrush than in any BATHORY album.
It doesn't matter what he said about MANOWAR, if you have actually heard the epic albums the facts are there, greatly influenced by Into Glory Ride and Hail To England, but the personal element is there as well, MANOWAR never captured the icy cold atmosphere of the North as BATHORY did.
Don't know about the SLAYER influence and whether he was a big fan of them or not, it's far from a total rip-off though.

The question is: do you like their music? And let's suppose that Quorthon did lie on the interviews, does that change the way you listen to their music? It's not the first time something like this happens, various artists have said weird things over the years about their influences and other bands, personally I don't pay much attention to this kind of statements, their egos sometimes don't allow them to admit some things in public, definitely not a strange human reaction..

[Cochino]

So everybody around him was listening to those bands but he wasn't? I find it hard to believe, but I guess we'll never know.

[ION BRITTON]

Especially for MANOWAR, there's way too many similar parts/passages/lyrics to be considered entirely coincidential.

[J.K.]

There is also some METALLICA influence in his music. I don't remember the song but on Hammerheart there is an enormous "for whom the bell tolls" feeling on one song haha.

ION BRITTON: It -of course- doesn't change anything for me and my love of his albums, just wandering these strange statements I read here and there, that's all

[ION BRITTON]

There is also some METALLICA influence in his music. I don't remember the song but on Hammerheart there is an enormous "for whom the bell tolls" feeling on one song haha.

It's the ending of "Home of once brave"

[Väänänen]

So everybody around him was listening to those bands but he wasn't? I find it hard to believe, but I guess we'll never know.

Who would "everybody" be? I'm under the impression that he wasn't a huge socialite and that he mostly hung out with the same bunch of people all the time. His dad mostly, haha. And why would it really be that hard to believe that you can be close minded about music? I have friends whom I'd consider huge metal fans, but don't listen to more than 10 different bands.

I'm a big, big fan of both Manowar and Bathory (especially the "viking era"), but I honestly don't think that the similarities are that fucking huge. Not huge enough that the songs couldn't have been invented twice, not affected by each other.

[Cochino]

Well, by everybody I mean pretty much anyone who listened to Metal back then, no matter where you lived, at least knew those bands. And Sweden isn't Tibet or Haiti where that music probably took a lot longer to arrive so I seriously doubt he didn't know those bands, but by saying I doubt it I'm not saying I'm sure he did, I just think the posibilities of him lying about it are higher than those of him not knowing those bands. You must also remember that he isn't known for giving straight honest answers in interviews all the time.

[ION BRITTON]

I'm a big, big fan of both Manowar and Bathory (especially the "viking era"), but I honestly don't think that the similarities are that fucking huge. Not huge enough that the songs couldn't have been invented twice, not affected by each other.

They might not be that fucking huge, but there are there and they are quite obvious. For instance lines like these can't be coincidential

From Blood fire death

All you vagrant souls
Of profane disbeliefs
False prophets and deceivers
Shall swing from the trees

and from Manowar's The oath

Burning embers of the second death will come in the night
Priests and kings, the alpha and omega poison bites
False prophets and deceivers swing from the trees
Now dawn the age of bird drunk with blood like lepers with disease

IMO it would be naive to believe that Quorthon hadn't heard Sign of the hammer before..

[J.K.]

hahaha

Good job ION BRITTON, you find even the lyrics similarities

You should work at the FBI !

[Väänänen]

Well, by everybody I mean pretty much anyone who listened to Metal back then, no matter where you lived, at least knew those bands. And Sweden isn't Tibet or Haiti where that music probably took a lot longer to arrive so I seriously doubt he didn't know those bands, but by saying I doubt it I'm not saying I'm sure he did, I just think the posibilities of him lying about it are higher than those of him not knowing those bands. You must also remember that he isn't known for giving straight honest answers in interviews all the time.

"Knew" - which I'm also sure he did - is not really the same as "was influenced by" or "actively listened to" in my book.

Yes, I know he tended to bend the truth a lot, but honestly - I still don't think he was influenced by Manowar. Like "That's a great riff, I'll steal it!" kind of influenced.

[Väänänen]

Ion Britton: Nice one Still, stealing - blatantly - a line of lyrics is still not something that makes me think Bathory's viking era as a whole is influenced by Manowar. In my ears they're still two compleeetely different musical entities.