"When you see all of these bands citing you as influences, it makes you feel relevant"
About this Quote
Relevance is the drug that aging rock gods are allowed to admit they still crave. Geezer Butler’s line isn’t the swagger of a legend pretending he doesn’t care; it’s the blunt, human relief of someone watching his work travel forward without him having to chase it. Coming from Black Sabbath’s bassist and chief lyric architect, “bands citing you as influences” lands as more than a compliment. It’s the closest thing rock has to peer-reviewed validation: a receipt that your sound didn’t just dominate a moment, it rewired the genre’s DNA.
The specific intent is modest on its face - gratitude, even bemusement - but the subtext is sharper. “It makes you feel relevant” hints at the insecurity baked into a scene that fetishizes youth and novelty while endlessly recycling riffs, aesthetics, and mythologies. Butler isn’t claiming immortality; he’s measuring his continued presence in the only currency that matters in loud music: what younger artists steal, reshape, and proudly name-check.
Context does a lot of work here. Sabbath helped define heavy metal’s vocabulary, yet metal culture is famously splintered into micro-subgenres that love declaring independence from their ancestors. Being cited across those factions becomes proof of endurance, a way to outlast trend cycles and critical fashion. Butler’s phrasing also dodges ego. He doesn’t say “important” or “great.” He says “relevant,” a word that admits how quickly art can become museum-piece nostalgia - and how exhilarating it is when it doesn’t.
The specific intent is modest on its face - gratitude, even bemusement - but the subtext is sharper. “It makes you feel relevant” hints at the insecurity baked into a scene that fetishizes youth and novelty while endlessly recycling riffs, aesthetics, and mythologies. Butler isn’t claiming immortality; he’s measuring his continued presence in the only currency that matters in loud music: what younger artists steal, reshape, and proudly name-check.
Context does a lot of work here. Sabbath helped define heavy metal’s vocabulary, yet metal culture is famously splintered into micro-subgenres that love declaring independence from their ancestors. Being cited across those factions becomes proof of endurance, a way to outlast trend cycles and critical fashion. Butler’s phrasing also dodges ego. He doesn’t say “important” or “great.” He says “relevant,” a word that admits how quickly art can become museum-piece nostalgia - and how exhilarating it is when it doesn’t.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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