Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe has achieved massive success in the heavy metal world, but his ultimate goal in life has nothing to do with record sales or fame. In a brand new interview with James Wilson-Taylor for Rock Sound magazine, the vocalist opened up about his personal legacy and how he hopes people will remember him when it is all said and done.
When asked what he wants his legacy to be, Blythe kept his answer incredibly grounded and focused on his character.
“I would like to be remembered as a good man. That’s what I would like to be remembered as… That’s the most important thing to me,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
He continued: “It’s really cool that we’ve left behind this music, and people will enjoy it, and it’s really cool that I’ve left behind books and photography and all that stuff, but in the end, that stuff, it doesn’t really matter — it just doesn’t,” he explained.”
He went on to share a personal story about finding an old high school graduation card from his mother. Inside, she had written a profound quote that helped shape his worldview regarding fame and wealth.
“I was going through a bunch of stuff [the other day] that was in my dad’s attic, and he gave me an envelope with it, and I found a card from my mom that she gave me on my high school graduation. And on the inside there’s a quote, and it says, ‘Try not to become a man of success, but rather a man of value. — Albert Einstein.’ And I think being a good man is a man of value, being a man of value. So all the ‘you sold this many records’ and ‘you got to do this’ and ‘you got this’, all that stuff is external crap. There’s plenty of miserable famous people. There’s plenty of miserable rich people. There’s plenty of miserable people. And in general they aren’t good people. They’re not good people.”
The singer also recalled a crucial piece of advice he received early in his career from the late Dave Brockie, frontman of fellow Richmond, Virginia metal veterans Gwar.
“I’ll never forget, on our first real tour, Lamb of God, we were opening up for Gwar,” Randy added. “And nobody really knew about us then, but Gwar is from our hometown and they took us out. And I remember [then-Gwar frontman] Dave Brockie saying to me, not that I had to restrain myself from being this way, but he was, like, ‘Be cool,’ and he’s, like, ‘because who you see on the way up is who you’re gonna see on the way down.’ So if you’re a d**k and a j**k, people are gonna remember that. And it’s just so much easier to not be a j**k. It takes so much effort being a f**king d**k. And I’m lazy.
While fans revere him for his aggressive vocal delivery, Blythe is a deeply multifaceted artist. Outside of the band, he is a highly respected photographer and the author of the best-selling memoir “Dark Days,” which details his harrowing experience being incarcerated in a Czech prison before ultimately being acquitted of manslaughter charges.
Currently, Lamb of God is preparing to drop their highly anticipated new album, Into Oblivion, on March 13 through Epic Records. To celebrate the release, the band has organized a massive series of listening parties across more than 140 independent record stores from March 13 to March 15. Fans who attend will have the chance to score free promotional items, win prizes, and purchase an exclusive “Poltergeist” vinyl variant of the new record.
