Guns N' Roses (GNR) tour mate Carrie Underwood recently chatted with SiriusXM personality and heavy rock ambassador Jose Mangin about her discovery of and sustained love for turn-of-the-century metal.
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"I remember going to big rock festivals in Tulsa and kind of being exposed to bands like Slipknot and people like that," Underwood said. "So it was just a really great time in music. I feel like the late '90s [and] early 2000s was just a fun time in rock music."
Exposure to heavy metal has made Underwood's 8-year-old son Isaiah a Papa Roach fan. Yet Underwood has yet to convert husband Mike Fisher into a metalhead.
"We have very different musical tastes for sure," Underwood said of Fisher without specifying his favorite styles or artists.
Mangin was surprised that a former pro hockey player doesn't dig heavy music, considering how well the metalcore sounds of Hatebreed, Underwood favorites I Prevail and comparable groups suit the hard-hitting, fast-paced NHL.
For a deeper dive into Underwood's rock tastes, look at her GNR tour setlist. Underwood's been performing not just Heart's "Alone" —a song she sang on American Idol in 2005— and a bevy of her own hits but also covers of Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation," Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" and Motörhead's "Ace Of Spades."
During Underwood's Country Radio Seminar (CRS) Q&A on Feb. 21, 2020, an audience question prompted the country star to praise her Nov. 4, 2019 chance to catch GNR's live set at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, which happened to land on an off night from her own Cry Pretty Tour 360.
"We recently went to a Guns N' Roses concert, and it was probably the best night of my life," Underwood said. "I know I'm married and have two kids and there's been some incredible moments, but I love concerts. I love them so much... Every time I go now, I'm stuck in a box somewhere, and I can't feel that energy. It's great, and I get to watch. But we were in the audience, and I was losing my mind, and I didn't give a crap what anyone else around me thought."
