Machine Heads's Rob Flynn Recalls "Horrible" Original Chorus to "Davidian" | Page 2 | Revolver

Machine Heads's Rob Flynn Recalls "Horrible" Original Chorus to "Davidian"

Band's signature song nearly had very different and very cringey lyrics
machine-head-gettyimages-952828398.jpg, Gina Wetzler/Redferns/Getty
photograph by Gina Wetzler/Redferns/Getty

Machine Head are currently out on the road, reunited with original members Logan Mader and Chris Kontos, celebrating the 25th anniversary of their milestone debut LP Burn My Eyes, and Kerrang! recently had the band play a special intimate show for their "K! Pit" series (the video premieres later today, November 21st). During the taping, bandleader Robb Flynn took a moment to reminisce about the writing of Burn My Eyes' iconic opener "Davidian" — including the cringey original chorus he penned for the song. 

"We started jamming it," he recalled, "and a lot of the time when I write lyrics I just freestyle, I don't have anything set, I don't write down stuff first I just see what comes. I make up words and look around like, 'PAs! Spines! Blood! People!' whatever comes in my mind." 

He continued, "For some very bizarre reason ... the very first chorus of 'Davidian' was 'Get the fuck up to the bone-breaking groove.' And I thought that was good! I thought that was good for, like, three weeks."

Luckily, Flynn came to his senses when it came time to perform the song in public for the first time, at a punk warehouse parking lot that hosted shows in the Bay Area. Thinking on his feet, Flynn realized just how terrible the words sounded and switched them up on the spot. 

"We were getting to 'Davidian,' we're gonna do this fuckin' chorus," he said. "I said it one time and I was like, 'Holy shit! This is fucking horrible.' In that moment, in that warehouse parking lot … this shit's gotta change, right fuckin' now, because this sucks. So that night I wrote, 'Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast.'" 

And a classic chant-along was born. Watch here to see the re-formed Burn My Eyes lineup raging on "Davidian" in the studio earlier this year.