Brant Bjork, formerly of stoner rock icons Kyuss, had a surprising reaction to the band’s record label calling them “the next Metallica.”
Kyuss formed in the late ’80s, and by 1991, they were signed to Elektra Records. Metallica had signed with Elektra in ’84, and after their eponymous record (more prominently known as The Black Album) came out in 1991, they were one of the biggest acts on the planet.
Apparently, Elektra held Kyuss to that standard as they started gaining momentum in the early ’90s. And while most musicians only dream of their band becoming as big as Metallica, that wasn’t how Bjork felt.
“Our guy at the label would always say, ‘You guys will be the next Metallica’, and that bummed me out,” Bjork recalled to Metal Hammer.
“I wanted to be this Kyuss! I felt like we fucking rocked and had hit the peak of our chemistry at the time, and Metallica were super-cool guys and really supportive, but seeing it all on that scale, it was just like, ‘This isn’t for me.’ If that’s the epitome of success in a rock band, it just seemed unrewarding.”
Bjork elaborated that he wanted Kyuss to keep things fresh and improvise rather than adopt a redundant routine. Unfortunately, his time in the group didn’t last much longer, and he left in ’94. But he got to open for Metallica with the band in Australia before he departed, and it reaffirmed his distaste for huge commercial success.
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“Supporting Metallica was fucking bananas,” he shared. “It was weird; by the time our management told us about the offer, I’d already decided I didn’t want to be in Kyuss anymore. I felt like I was no longer jiving with the guys and whatever we’d had that was magical, it was gone. I didn’t want to stick around to watch this really magical ship sink into the sea.”
Josh Homme and the remaining members of Kyuss only lasted another year after Bjork’s departure anyway. The band split in the summer of ’95, shortly after the release of their final album …And the Circus Leaves Town.
