Thurston Moore Clarifies His Whole ‘Black Metal Is For P—ies’ Thing

Last month, while talking up the October release of 'Full Bleed' from his new band, Caught On Tape, Thurston Moore, for some reason, poked at those who make music under the black metal banner, calling them "pussies." Now, in a new interview, he explains his comments, which were, apparently, controversial within the black metal community.

"That was really taken out of context," Moore said in a new interview with Rolling Stone. "It was really funny how people got tweaked by that. I was answering a question. How do you answer a question about black metal? Black metal, it doesn't even consider itself music. In fact, it doesn't want to be confused with any kind of music because it's something else entirely. It's a voided concept from its start. It's all about complete disintegration of existence."

The irony here, if there is any, is that the one time Sonic Youth leader actually did take part in the recording of such an album that falls into this category. 'Twilight III: Beneath The Trident's Tomb,' by the band Twilight, features Moore on guitar. So how does Mr. Moore answer to that one?

"There are certain stylistic maneuvers within black metal that really informed me as a guitarist and I use in my own playing," he said. "And I think some of the people who are seriously involved with that scene realized this about me and reached out to me. That's certainly true of Neill (aka 'Imperial') from Krieg, who sings on Twilight. He's a true black metal aficionado and devotee and he's a real important exponent of that music, and he reached out to me and wanted to know if I would take part in this project. And I think it was a little bit of a risk for those guys having somebody who's not exactly 100 percent in the scene to get involved. But I think they trusted my integrity with it."

Ultimately, however, Moore concedes, "It's a music that uses the elements of rock instrumentation but it's so anti-everything that, for me, it doesn't matter what you say about it because it doesn't exist. I figured I would just write something ridiculous about it. And boy, did black-metal devotees get really upset by it." Adding rather humorously, "You're not supposed to be alive, so why are you getting upset?"

Moore's forthcoming new solo effort, 'The Best Day,' will see its release in October, as will the Caught On Tape album.