DESTRUCTION's SCHMIER Explains Why American Thrash Bands Became Legends While Their European Counterparts Struggled

In a recent conversation with Chris Akin Presents, Destruction frontman Schmier addressed a long-debated question among metal fans: Why did American thrash metal bands like Metallica and Slayer achieve worldwide fame while German bands such as Destruction and Kreator never reached the same level of success, despite emerging in the same era?

Schmier pointed to the sheer influence of the American music industry as a key factor.

“You have to see that the States are a huge music market — the biggest music market in the world. So, when you’re big in America, you can be big everywhere. Basically, that’s what they do with a lot of the pop artists too — they make them big in the States first, then they come over to the U.K., they come to Europe and then they conquer the world,” he reflected.

He explained that for European bands to achieve true global success, they often had to break into the American market first.

“I think a lot of the European bands that got big in Europe had to be big in America first, like Scorpions,” he continued. “Scorpions went big in America and also big in Japan, and then they finally got recognized in Germany also. So I think America, as a music market, it’s the most powerful music market in the world. And if you’re big in America, you can be big everywhere.”

Beyond the market size, American media played a crucial role in shaping the success of thrash metal bands.

“So Metallica and Slayer, they broke through and Megadeth, they broke through in America, because also back in the day, remember you had MTV, you had Headbangers Ball, and that shit was playing all over, in every home in the States, and it was huge. And I think Europe was a little bit behind with the kind of support from the media. Later on, we had Headbangers Ball too, but it never went as big as in America.”

Schmier also noted that Metallica’s ability to appeal to a mainstream audience played a major role in their dominance.

“Metallica became commercial at one point with The Black Album,” he added. “They made a big step working with producer Bob Rock, and he made an amazing album with the band, with very catchy songs. And the European bands stayed filthy — we kept on thrashing.”

Similarly, Megadeth found mainstream success with more accessible material. “And the same goes with Megadeth — they had some really commercial albums. And Symphony Of Destruction is just a simple fucking hit.”

Another factor, according to Schmier, was the generational gap between the American and European thrash scenes.

“You also have to see that the American bands are all older than us. They are our bigger brothers. We’re basically the little brothers of the American bands. We came out at almost the same time — there’s not a big time difference between those albums; our first demo came out ’83 already also — but the guys were a little bit older, more experienced musicians at that time already. And I think this is also a little plus for the Americans.”

The quality of early production in the U.S. also gave American thrash bands an edge over their European counterparts.

“Also in America, you had the big producers. The first Anthrax, the first Metallica, they sound amazing. Maybe the first Megadeth doesn’t sound that good, but in general, America had early great producers for metal, which Europe was lacking.”

Despite the dominance of American thrash in the early years, Schmier pointed out that Europe has since carved out its own thriving metal scene, especially when it comes to festivals.

“But at the end of the day, now Europe has been picking up big time. We have a lot of big festivals. We have a lot of big metal festivals that you guys in America don’t have. I mean, you have some of them, but something like Wacken Open Air in Germany, with 100,000 metalheads, doesn’t exist in America.”