Art & Creativity Quote by Tom Araya

There’s a quiet provocation in Tom Araya’s shrug-simple standard: quality first, everything else second. Coming from the bassist-vocalist of Slayer, a band that spent decades as a cultural lightning rod, the line reads less like bland diplomacy and more like a refusal to play the moral referee for other people’s tastes. It’s the kind of statement you make when you’ve watched “taste” get policed by genre snobs, parents’ groups, award committees, and the endless internet tribunal that insists music must also be a public-service announcement.

“As long as it’s good music” is intentionally slippery. Araya isn’t defining “good” with theory or prestige; he’s treating it like a physical reaction: does it hit, does it move, does it hold up when the hype fades? That vagueness is the point. In metal especially, legitimacy often gets argued through image, purity tests, and authenticity cosplay. Araya’s line cuts through that and puts the listener back in the driver’s seat.

The subtext is defensive but not bitter: we’re not asking permission. For an artist associated with abrasive sound and transgressive imagery, it’s also a reminder that shock is supposed to be in service of craft, not a substitute for it. Araya frames music as an experience with its own internal criteria - riffs, rhythm, energy, conviction - rather than a brand identity or a political identity. It’s a practical ethos disguised as a platitude, which is exactly why it lands.