The band Michael Fassbender says cures hangovers: “The anxiety’s all gone”
Since he broke through in the 2000s, Michael Fassbender has been considered one of the finest actors of contemporary Hollywood, with his oeuvre encompassing many different realms. Fassbender has featured in Andrea Arnold’s 2009 drama Fish Tank, starred as Magneto in the X-Men prequel series, and also worked with celebrated directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Steve McQueen and David Cronenberg in a variety of highlights.
As well as being one of the most celebrated actors of his generation, Michael Fassbender is also a lifelong lover of music. In his time, he has mentioned many prominent artists among his favourites, including Gary Numan, Marvin Gaye, and even American thrash metal pioneers, Slayer. It might seem strange to think that the Irishman enjoys the heavier side of things, but it makes a lot of sense when you note that he is particularly exceptional at playing villains.
When speaking to KCRW in 2014, Fassbender showed off the wide-reaching scope of his taste by naming a mix of tracks as his favourites. Among his picks was the 1979 new wave classic, ‘Cars’, by Gary Numan. Fassbender recalled growing up and his brother buying him Numan’s debut album, Pleasure Principle, because he loved the track so intensely.
Moving on from the futuristic sounds of Gary Numan, Fassbender also has a passion for the power of genres such as R&B and pop, naming Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye as some of his go-to favourites. Discussing 1983’s ‘Human Nature’ by the former, the Irish actor said: “I just picked that one as a sort of one that really encapsulates the idea of Michael Jackson – for me anyway. Somebody that basically gave his whole life, I think, to an industry”.
Fassbender isn’t only concerned with the mellower side of music, though. As mentioned earlier, he loves thrash metal. During the conversation, he revealed he had a “big” heavy metal phase and that ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica is another track he loves dearly. Fassbender said: “I think music is a very big deal for teenagers and especially in places away from cities. It’s kind of the one outlet you can get. There’s not a lot of options other than, you know, fields and mountains, which are beautiful and great, but in terms of any action, it was found through some sort of music. So yeah, heavy metal was big”.
Outside of these, there’s another artist that Fassbender has a lot of time for. In a conversation with Esquire in 2012 to promote Ridley Scott’s hotly anticipated Alien prequel, Prometheus, he again noted his love for thrash titans Slayer and Metallica. However, he then explained that he thinks hard-rockers AC/DC are “brilliant” and that they’re the perfect antidote for a hangover, as they rid him of anxiety.
The Prometheus star said: “I still listen to Slayer, man! I just put them on the other day, still listen to Metallica. AC/DC brilliant…If you’re a little bit hungover, put on AC/DC, it’s like there’s no room for [the hangover] any more, the anxiety’s all gone.”
