In a recent interview, Tesla bassist Brian Wheat criticized the term ‘hair metal,’ saying it used to bother him a lot.
“It used to drive me nuts because I used to take it, when people were saying it in kind of a derogatory, condescending way, ‘Oh, they’re a hair band,’ which we never were,” he explained. “We were no more a hair band than The Black Crowes are. The Black Crowes and Tesla are both blues-based rock bands. We both are heavily rooted in blues-based English rock.”
He explained why it doesn’t bother him anymore. “I mean, Tesla was like Humble Pie or Bad Company or Led Zeppelin, with two guitar players. Or AC/DC or UFO. Those were the things we grew up on. We weren’t of that thing, but they wanna put us in there. And I’m over it now. It doesn’t bother me. It used to really piss me off, but these days, last 10 years, I’ve just kind of said, ‘Okay, whatever you wanna call us. As long as you’re calling us something and talking about us and coming and seeing us play, then I don’t care. Call us whatever you wanna call us.'”
This is not the only time the bassist has explained why he doesn’t like the term. “I find [the term ‘hair metal’] condescending,” he told The Cassius Morris Show in 2021. He added that it does not have anything to do with the music. “What does f*cking hair have to do with the music? Should we be called ‘cock metal’ because we all have big dicks?”
“Seriously, it’s, like, ‘hair metal’ — what does that have to do with [anything music-related]? It’s condescending. It’s a putdown. It’s almost like saying, ‘Well, the music’s not valid. They just had good hair.’ That’s what it’s like,” Wheat added.
Earlier this month, Tesla released the official music video for the electric version of ‘All About Love,’ the title track from their latest six-song EP, ‘All About Love.’
