gojiraspiritbox
22:43 Thursday, 13 March 2025
Gojira performing "Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira!)" at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony was hands down one of the biggest moments metal has ever had in the mainstream. But was it the biggest? Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante certainly thinks so.
In a new interview with Audacy Music, LaPlante reasons that the moment was so big because "a billion people watched it." While the worldwide numbers aren't clear in terms of viewership, it's worth noting that 28.6 million people in the United States alone watched the opening ceremony.
"In my opinion, [that] was the biggest mainstream moment in the history of metal," said LaPlante. "Most metal bands don't hit mainstream in any capacity like that until they make more mainstream music. And I don't mean 'mainstream' in a bad way. I just mean more accessible to lots of people. But Gojira, that's why it was so shocking to me, and I think to the world, who's kind of scared of that performance, is that they didn't do anything — I don't think they compromised anything. I think it might be the most metal thing to ever happen on TV — ever, ever — 'cause a billion people watched it."
LaPlante also recalled Gojira not thinking they were going to win the GRAMMY for the Best Metal Performance. LaPlante joked that Spiritbox was telling Gojira that they would win, and they should probably sit closer to the stage than they did – which is especially funny considering Gojira sat far back enough that they almost missed accepting the award.
"It was funny 'cause [the guys in Gojira] are very humble people and they are really nice and really supportive of us. And so we were all in the lineup to go do the Getty Images together… And we were, like, 'Guys, you opened the Olympics. You're winning.' … I really think they thought they weren't gonna win because they sat so far in the back, they almost didn't get to do their speech. I'm, like, 'Guys, at least come to the 10th row.' … So I'm really happy for them.
"Of course, I'd love to win a Grammy. That sounds awesome. But when there's only one metal award, all the other people in there are awesome, and I don't think anyone is sad to lose to those other people, because there's only five bands that get to be picked to be nominated for that every year. That's the only award for metal."
