"Personally, I don't pay attention to that necessarily," he said. "I was in the Bay Area in the beginning, before I was even a member of EXODUS, so I remember who was the forefathers of thrash. I mean, Tom [Hunting, EXODUS drummer] invented that drum beat. That [guitar] picking style was from Gary [Holt, EXODUS guitarist] that's where the genesis of that came from.
"I think what [the media] did [when they came up with the 'Big Four'] was they took the four bands who were probably the most successful in the initial period of thrash metal from, say, '85 or '84 to '90. If you were to go off popularity, if you were gonna go off record sales, you would have to say ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, METALLICA and SLAYER.
"Now, when you ask me that question, this is what I say: it's 'The Big One And The Other Three.' Sorry. Neither one of those bands and I love every single one of them
But METALLICA sits on their own. So, to say the 'Big Four'? I don't know if you can say that. You have to say 'The Big One And The Other Three.'"
