PARIS, France — Not only will Friday's Olympic Opening Ceremony be the first ever held outside a stadium, with the athletes riding boats down the River Seine to make their introduction, it'll also be the first to ever get metal.
European outlets have reported that the legendary French metal band Gojira will be part of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony -- the first time a metal band will perform on this stage.
Who are Gojira?
Gojira first formed in the 90s as Godzilla, later renaming themselves Gojira (the original Japanese name for Godzilla).
Composed of guitarist and vocalist Joe Duplantier, lead guitarist Christian Andreu, drummer Mario Dulplantier, and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie, the band have released seven studio albums since 2001's Terra Incognita.
Their lineup has remained remarkably consistent over the past couple decades -- only one founding member, Alexandre Cornillon, departed the band in 1998, and the current four have stayed together since then.
The band has been compared to, and was heavily influenced by, Metallica.
"It's almost like Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield were my teachers, in a way. I just watched so many videos of them, analyzing every detail. They are geniuses, you know?" Gojria drummer Mario Duplantier said back in 2021 about complimentary statements in the past from Metallica members about Gojira.
The band has been considered a standard-bearer for French rock and bringing French rock to an international audience. The metal magazine Hammer declared them "metal's most important band" in 2016 and they've been nominated for a Grammy Award three times -- twice in 2017, for best metal performance and best rock album (Magma) and once in 2022 for best metal performance.
If you're looking for a little taste of what to expect from Gojira during the Opening Ceremony, below is their most-viewed YouTube -- the video for 2016's "Stranded." It has 30 million views in the last eight years.
