Shinedown guitarist Zach Myers has voiced a strong opposition to the growing trend of musicians utilizing artificial intelligence to compose music.
During a recent interview with “Primordial Radio“, the rocker weighed in on the ongoing industry debate surrounding A.I. music generators and machine learning algorithms being used as tools to craft melodies, harmonies, and lyrics.
“That’s awful. Here’s the thing, man. All these Nashville guys who are writing with that — I don’t even know the name of the app… [But it’s] awful. Awful. You can hear it, dude. It’s so bad. How about you actually live a little life, go through some s**t, and then write a song about it?” Zach Myers stated.
“Here’s the thing: you can write with other people,” he clarified. “[But] I’m not writing with artificial intelligence. Listen, I ask ChatGPT a million questions a day. It’s not ‘how to write a song’ or ‘write a song with me’.”
The guitarist expanded on how technological advancements often drift from their original intent, warning fellow artists about the long-term impact on authenticity.
“I get it,” Myers added. “Again, everything starts with a good purpose, right? Everything. The Internet started with a good purpose. Now it’s just us talking s**t about each other, and usually most people are doing it from their parents’ basement Wi-Fi. And then it’s, like, ‘Oh, now it’s gonna write songs for you.’ Listen, I think you can fool… I’ve always said this about a lot of things. I always equate it to my relationship with my bandmembers, which is really great. But you can fool some of the people some of the time; you cannot fool all the people all the time. And I think when you start doing that, you’re getting into a dangerous game, man. Listen, if you can sleep at night and you got a Number One song because you wrote it with your iPhone and some computer told you how to sing it, that’s your burden to carry, man, not mine. Listen, this is the most c**ky thing I’ll ever say in my life — we got 24 Number Ones without using a computer.”
Zach firmly concluded his thoughts with a simple directive for his peers: “Don’t use A.I. to do your work for you.”
Last month, Shinedown officially released their new studio album, EI8HT, via Atlantic Records.
The launch of EI8HT marks another massive milestone for one of modern rock’s most commercially successful acts. Shinedown recently shattered their own record for the most number-one singles in the history of Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay and the Mediabase Active Rock charts, driven by the album’s hit single, “Safe And Sound“.
Leading up to the album’s release day, Shinedown built serious momentum through a series of early tracks, including “Dance, Kid, Dance“, “Killing Fields“, “Searchlight“, “Outlaw“, and the crossover anthem “Three Six Five“. Combined, these advance singles racked up an impressive 91 million streams before the full record even hit shelves.
Produced by bassist Eric Bass at his Big Animal Studio in Charleston, EI8HT highlights the ongoing evolution of the group. The record seamlessly blends emotionally vulnerable songwriting with massive choruses and arena-ready production, pushing well beyond the conventional formulas of hard rock.
With a career boasting over 8.3 billion global streams and 10 million albums sold worldwide, Shinedown continues to broaden their reach. Their evolving sound has successfully crossed over into alternative and mainstream pop radio territories, all while maintaining a fiercely dedicated heavy music fanbase.
