DAVE LOMBARDO Says SLAYER Was Best 'Big Four' Band: 'We Really Showed Everyone Else How It Should Be Done'

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo was asked which of the bands in the "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — was best. He responded without hesitation: "SLAYER. Ha ha ha! Who else could I pick?! We were brutal man, we were on top of our game, and if you watch the videos we were on fire. We really showed everyone else how it should be done — we tore everyone a new one."

In a 2011 interview with Geeks Of Doom, Lombardo denied that there was ever any competition between the "Big Four" acts. "I can't really speak for anybody else but there was never any rivalry from myself with the bands," he said. "I never had issues with any of them. I'm sure maybe with other guitar, er, musicians within the bands, maybe, of course there would have been. Twenty years, god, you can imagine the egos and the arrogance and attitude most musicians carry around with them when they haven't grown up.

When the interviewer pointed out that he very nearly said the problem between "guitarists", Dave said: "I nearly said that, yeah. [Laughs] Because, I don't know, I feel like drummers, we get along a lot better than guitar players do with each other. I've done the Modern Drummer drum festival, I've done all these various drumming clinics and things and there's one thing that we all have in common, which all us drummers have, is we like to share what we do. There's no secret. I think guitar players tend to be a little more secretive and a little more passionate. Well, maybe passionate isn't the right word, but they're a little more secretive about their tricks and whatever they do. And twenty years ago, man, I tell ya, it was the same thing."

That same year, Lombardo told Revolver about sharing the stage with the other "Big Four" bands for several gigs in 2010 and 2011, "There's camaraderie in this camp. In the metal world, there's camaraderie. I think it's really cool that it's come to that. Loving a style of music and doing a big festival like this really promotes the positive energy all these bands have to offer. Although some of us are a bit on the dark side — like, I'd say SLAYER, musically. But there is some good to the music."

In the same article, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich also denied that there was any rivalry between the four bands. "There was a time, sure, where there was a competitive edge to all of us, but I really don't feel that anymore," he said. "No matter how much anybody will push it in the press, or how many people don't buy it, I can tell you hand on heart that there's no competitive edge. It's not a bunch of 27-year-olds trying to see who's got the biggest dick. ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, SLAYER, METALLICA, we all kind of have our own little niche, our own little unique place. So it's not sorta like, Who's better at this? 'Cause at the end of the day we all do our own thing. And when it comes to drums, Dave Lombardo is, by far and away, God. There's no competitive edge, but if there was, Dave would win. Lombardo could kick the rest of our asses with just a whip of his little finger. So there was no competitive edge. That's the thing that I can truly say is the biggest difference now."

Lombardo, who has spent most of the recent years between crossover pioneers SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, horror-punk icons MISFITS, hardcore supergroup DEAD CROSS and MR. BUNGLE, was effectively fired from SLAYER after sitting out the group's Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other bandmembers. He was later replaced by Paul Bostaph, who was previously SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001.

SLAYER played its last-ever show in November 2019 at The Forum in Los Angeles.