Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho has addressed critics who continue to dismiss his band due to his iconic status as a professional wrestling legend. Speaking with “The Jesea Lee Show“, the vocalist argued that while initial hooks or gimmicks can draw attention, a band cannot survive for a quarter-century without high-quality songwriting and a willingness to evolve.
Reflecting on how various legendary acts leverage distinct visual identities or musical niches, Jericho explained that the performance on stage ultimately separates the novelties from the mainstays.
“Every band has a gimmick. Slipknot wears masks. When Metallica came out, they played faster than anybody. Kiss had makeup. All that is great. Fozzy has a wrestler as a singer. Awesome. Then five minutes into the performance, either it’s good or it’s bad. If Kiss didn’t have good songs, it wouldn’t have mattered they wore makeup. Same with all the other bands, and same with Fozzy. If we weren’t a great rock and roll band with great songs, we wouldn’t still be around 25 years later playing festivals high up on the ladder like we are [at the Sonic Temple festival in Columbus],” he explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Jericho emphasized the absolute necessity of artistic growth, drawing parallels to icons like David Bowie, as well as stadium rock giants who stepped out of their comfort zones to reach the next tier of their careers.
“I think you look at the greatest bands of all time, they always changed,” Jericho continued. “Always. I mean, look at Metallica. If they were still playing Kill ‘Em All music, it would be boring at this point in time. They had to branch out. Guns N’ Roses, I watched them last week — ‘November Rain‘ and ‘Estranged‘ and all this stuff. It’s, like, [those songs] don’t have any place on Appetite For Destruction, but they didn’t get to the next level until they wrote those types of songs. And that’s one thing with Fozzy. We have a sound, but we have no problems adding or subtracting, changing, trying different things. And Bowie was like that. He was always David Bowie, but it was always different. And we take great pride in doing that with Fozzy, and I do it in wrestling as well with the different personas and characters that I create. You have to continue to give people something new without betraying what you are essentially deep down inside. And, once again, if you can figure a way to do that — unless you’re AC/DC or Slayer, who don’t have to do that, every huge band in history has done that.”
Having established an incredibly loyal following across multiple entertainment industries over the decades, Jericho noted that he frequently hears fans chanting classic wrestling catchphrases at rock venues. He welcomes the cross-generational support, invoking a perspective once shared with him by Kiss frontman Paul Stanley.
“There’s people that still chant ‘Y2J’ when I do a show, and that’s fine because that tells me that people remember that era and it means something to them. ‘You just made the list.’ I get that every single day. But if I was saying ‘you just made the list’ every night, it wouldn’t be as special anymore. So yes, I appreciate it. It’s like [Kiss frontman] Paul Stanley says: if the career of Chris Jericho is a 35-year elevator, some people get on the bottom floor, some people get on the eighth floor, some people get on right near the top. As long as you get on, I’m excited. And if you left and came back, or you left completely, I appreciate the fact that people were fans of mine in any era. The long-term ones, I mean, that’s amazing as well. And, of course, in this day and age you get a lot of haters, and I can’t worry about that. I can’t worry about people on social media who absolutely hate everything I do, ’cause they’re never gonna like me. I don’t worry about the people that don’t like me. I focus on the people that do, and I focus on making new fans who like what I do. That’s it. The ones that hate me, thank you. Go watch something else. That’s fine. Anybody that’s listening that has any type of fanbase, don’t worry about the haters ’cause they’re never gonna like you. ‘Cause if they suddenly start liking you, then they’re telling themselves that they were wrong. And no one likes to be told that they’re wrong or thinking that they’re wrong. ‘See, I told you he was s**t. I told you he sucked.’ And it’s like, okay… Either way for me, I focus on the people that go, ‘Man, that was really fun. Thank you for, for being here,'” he concluded.
The veteran rock outfit is keeping remarkably busy in 2026. This past April, Fozzy released their latest single, “I Know Evil“, which served as a primary preview for their “Twisted Faith Tour 2026” alongside high-profile appearances at the Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals.
The new track follows a string of standalone singles helmed by Fozzy‘s longtime producer Johnny Andrews (known for his studio work with Three Days Grace, All That Remains, and Halestorm), including “Fall In Line” in April 2025 and “Spotlight” in October 2023. In September last year, the band surprised fans with a studio cover of the Ozzy Osbourne classic “Crazy Train“. Fozzy‘s latest full-length studio album, Boombox, arrived in May 2022 and spawned the successful rock radio singles “Nowhere To Run“, “Sane“, and “I Still Burn“.
