Sick of brunch shots and wellness quotes? Here are 12 metal musicians’ feeds that’ll have you banging your head and laughing your ass off.
Ah, Instagram, a nonstop visual feast for fanboys, publicists, and people on the toilet. Not quite the pithy sparring match of Twitter, nor the baby picture-packed complainathon of Facebook, Instagram has remained a relatively fun and quick way for people to give those around them a cool snapshot of what's going on with them. That said, the platform is also a hub of self-branded social media celebrities and influencers obsessed with posting trendy memes and carefully-planned shots that show off their mimosa-soaked “best lives”… none of which feels pretty metal.
But it’s not a complete pop culture wasteland. Metal Instagram is alive and pulsating with merch appreciation, fan art, and shaky concert footage. Plenty of the cooler accounts in IG are those of metal musicians whose crazy touring lives and storied careers give them plenty of rare and killer pictures to post. Even better, a handful of them know how to use the platform as another way to entertain, and have filled their feeds with hilarious videos and fascinating real-time adventures.
Here are 12 metal musicians whose Instagram accounts you should need to follow immediately…
Spiked leather, classic live photos, and Britney Spears memes -- the Metal God’s Instagram has it all and then some. Not only does Rob Halford have access to all manner of insane behind-the-scenes shots from his years in Judas Priest, he also has a great sense of humor and a hardcore love of his fans. Hilarious one minute and endearing the next, Halford’s IG is a must-follow.
As the bassist for White Zombie, Sean Yseult toured with pretty much every cool metal band ever, and has tons of killer pictures from back in the day to show for it. But she’s also a designer with great taste who lives in New Orleans, so even her contemporary and everyday posts are bursting with rad art and culture. Be careful with this account, as a lot of the time it just serves to make you jealous of all the cool shit that Sean has, does, and has done in her life.
The IG account of Cannibal Corpse frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher is loaded with cool tour opics, promo art, and photos of George chilling with death metal royalty. But it’s his more human moments -- posing with his family or loving on some Warcraft -- that make this account both fun and heartwarming. Now if only Cannibal Corpse would write a song about the claw machines at the Denver Walmart…
It’s not just that Twitching Tongues frontman Colin Young is pretty fucking funny on a consistent basis that should inspire you to follow him. It’s also that his weird short movies and Vine-style videos show some incredible comedic timing and writing. The deeper you go, the stranger they get, so really get your stalk on with Colin’s account.
There’s a lot to see on Orange Is The New Black actress and Brujeria and Alekhine's Gun vocalist Jessica Pimentel’s page. Between her acting career, her rad musical back catalog, and her presence as a staple of the New York metal scene, Jess always has something eye-widening to show her followers. She’s also a hardcore Buddhist, so if you’re a spiritually-minded hesher who could use occasional inspiration, her account’s a good one to make part of your scroll.
Obviously, the main reason to follow Chicago weirdo thrashers Oozing Wound is because their music fucking slaps. But the second is that the band is constantly surrounding themself with bizarre lowbrow art, and a hard third is that they’ve got their meme game down to a science. Probably the most underground account on this list, but one whose posts you’ll end up liking the most.
Nevermind that Scott Ian, guitarist for Anthrax and The Damned Things, is a rock star of a pretty mind-boggling magnitude -- he’s also a devoted horror hound with a love for all things weird and geeky. When he’s not posting behind-the-scenes pictures of himself with bands, he’s posting sick horror art and make-up shots from his appearances on The Walking Dead. Where’s a picture of you just cold chilling with Stan Lee?
It’s easy to think of Municipal Waste and Iron Reagan frontman Tony Foresta as a madcap ball of destruction due to his onstage persona. It’s via his Instagram, though, that fans can see exactly just how much of a madcap ball of destruction he is in real life. Those addicted to Always Sunny memes really have no reason not to follow Tony.
Bad Wolves guitarist Doc Coyle is just always doing something interesting. If he’s not touring the world with his band, he’s recording his Ex Man podcast, visiting museums, or making videos explaining Thanksgiving to British people. He also uses his account to promote other musicians and bands in a constant display of gratitude for and excitement over his peers. This isn’t just a fun, passive account; this one, you read the captions.
On the surface, Slash’s Instagram seems like a pretty obvious one to follow -- because he’s Slash, arguably the biggest rock guitarist of all time. But it’s as much the weirdo memes and awesome horror art he posts (though he could stand to be a little more dutiful about accrediting artists) that makes the Big Top Hat’s account truly enjoyable. Just a heads up, though: this one’s strictly NSFW.
It certainly helps their Instagram that Brooklyn experimental speed metal crew Mutoid Man are funny as hell. But more importantly, this band just has a ton going on right now, from touring the world to opening for Mastodon to working with black metal talk show Two Minutes To Late Night. There’s always something rad to see on Mutoid’s feed.
Speaking of Mastodon, drummer Brann Dailor seems like he’d be fun to hang out with, if you could keep up. His Instagram dances on the brink of madness, presenting followers with a tornado of beautiful pictures from fun locales and bizarre image filters and meme fodder. One hopes the fine people at Genesee have furnished him with some beer and schwag for all the free promotion he’s given them.
