Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds might never have picked up a guitar were it not for AC/DC's Angus Young.
That's no small thing. Hinds' unconventional guitar playing is one of the driving forces behind his GRAMMY Award-winning metal band, one of the most popular and most unique bands in the genre. If Hinds never learned the guitar, Mastodon never would have formed and metal history would be completely different.
Whether Young is aware of Hinds or Mastodon, we may never know. But the lack of information is part of what makes Hinds' story about meeting Young so strange.
In a recent interview with the Let There Be Talk podcast, Hinds recalled his one and only meeting with his "first favorite guitar player" Young. It did not go well.
Hinds says he was at the Revolver Golden God Awards (it's not clear which year) when a mutual friend, one of Young's handlers on that particular evening, told Hinds to take Young to the restroom.
"He grabs my arm, I take him to the bathroom, you know, I was just waiting for him," Hinds said. "I was like, 'Hey, man, I just want to thank you for your work.' He looks at me like I've got s**t on my face or something. I was like, 'Yeah, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you.'"
Hinds continued: "He's like, 'What're you talking about?' I'm like, 'I started playing guitar because of you.' He's like, 'Quit pissing in my pocket.' I was like, 'F**k you,' basically."
If you're unfamiliar with the term "to piss in one's pocket," neither was Hinds, who quickly postulated that the term "must be Australian."
According to Urban Dictionary, the term means to "insincerely attempt to convince a person that you're doing them a favor, when you actually have your own interests at heart."
It's not clear what Young might have thought Hinds was trying to get out of him with the compliment. We'll probably never know since the AC/DC legend so rarely grants interviews.
If this incident changes your opinion of Young at all, it's worth noting that Hinds himself doesn't have the best reputation of behavior at awards shows.
In 2015, Hinds was reportedly ejected from the GRAMMYs before the show even began. Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman wrote at the time via Instagram that Hinds inexplicably poured the contents of his bag onto the floor and refused to pick it up.
"...Undies and money and weed spilled everywhere," Weinman wrote at the time.
Back in 2007, Hinds was severely injured in a fight at a Las Vegas hotel following the VMAs. He was beaten up by System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and another man. Eye witnesses later said (and were backed up by security footage) that Hinds was very drunk at the time and instigated the brawl after taking off his shirt and whipping Odadijan with it.
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