Half-time oranges have been consumed, team talks have been given and team PlanetMosh is now coming back out for the second half of our look at when football and metal collide. On Tuesday, we brought you eleven players (and a manager) who have graced turfs around the world whilst harbouring a love for all things loud and heavy. Today, we turn this on its head and give you a starting XI of band members who are devoted football fans through thick and thin. And we might as well start with possibly the biggest of them all…
Steve Harris
The Iron Maiden bassist and founder was scouted by Wally St Pier in the mid-1960’s and asked to train with West Ham United, although his growing love of rock music in his early teens made him realise he didn’t want to play football for a living. He never lost his passion for West Ham, though, and his bass guitar, strap and sweatbands at gigs all pay homage to the team he has supported since he was nine.
Brian Johnson
The former AC/DC frontman (it’s VERY weird writing that!) and prominent Geordie is, surprise surprise, a fan of Newcastle United. In the early 1980’s he was even asked to invest in the club, saying “They wanted me to put half a million pound in the club, which at the time was a fortune and for that they were going to make me an honorary board member with no decisions and no say. I realized that it was just a big, big stitch-up by these greedy men who wanted more money from some silly pop star dude who would just throw in to it because of his love for the club.”
Robert Plant
Whilst Brian Johnson may have been asked to invest in his club for a position of little to no power, Led Zeppelin frontman Plant was actually appointed Vice President of his charished Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2009. He’s also been given the club’s magic sponge treatment a Tape for Shoulder Pain – his physiotherapy following a car crash in 1975 took place at Molineux.
Eric Clapton
Never one for a heavier style of playing as the rest of the list, but the man simply known as ‘God’ and one of the all-time great guitarists has taken his love of West Bromwich Albion to levels above and beyond. Not only is the man wearing one of their scarves on the cover of his 1978 album ‘Backless’, but he also sponsored a match of theirs that same year against Galatasaray and it is rumoured he would book himself into hotels under the alias ‘W. B. Albion’.
Geezer Butler
Quite coincidentally, Geezer’s current touring life has mirrored his sporting allegiances – Black Sabbath are touring The End as they prepare to call it a day, whilst Geezer’s team Aston Villa have reached the end already and become the first team to be relegated from the Premier League this season. In addition, Geezer’s fights with skinheads on the Villa terraces back in the late 60’s helped form the inspiration behind the Sabbath song ‘Fairies Wear Boots’.
Joe Elliott and Rick Savage
Well, here’s a rivalry and a half! Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott has his colours nailed to the red half of Sheffield and supports United, whilst bandmate Rick Savage is a big Sheffield Wednesday fan despite his involvement with the United youth programme. Truly a ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ situation. I’ll let myself out…
Mark Hoppus
The bassist and vocalist from pop-punk giants Blink-182 may not have seemed like a major football nut on the surface, but moving to London a couple of years ago meant he could follow his beloved Chelsea at a more appropriate time of the day than getting up at 4am in California to watch matches. Hoppus has even said the ability to watch games lives has taken his fandom to new levels.
Max and Igor Cavalera
The brothers from Sepultura and Cavalera Conspiracy probably didn’t have a chance at NOT becoming football fans, given that the sport runs through the veins of their native Brazil and has done for a number of years. But whilst Max has stayed true to his, er, roots and supports Brazilian outfit Palmeiras, Igor is a big Arsenal fan and played their whole set at Download last year in that season’s strip. Oh, and we even chatted about the World Cup and the evils of FIFA backstage – check it out…
Sam Carter
British metallers Architects are from Brighton, so naturally frontman Sam Carter supports Manchester United. All joking aside, he regularly airs his love for them on social media platform Twitter and is even seeing them at Wembley in the upcoming weeks in the FA Cup Semi-Final.