Machine Gun Kelly's success as a pop punk artist is hard to argue with, like the guy or not. His debut album as a punk band Tickets To My Downfall in 2020 has already sold over a million copies and was the first rock album in over a year (at the time) to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Now in an interview with Billboard, Kelly said Tickets To My Downfall "opened the lane back up for people to make money. It opened up these festivals. [Rock] needed a defibrillator. Who cares who gives it, just as long as that motherfucker doesn't die?"
Kelly also addressed his switch over to pop punk and the hate he got for it.
"I know it kills certain bands in that community that I got the success that I got. But I earned that shit. Dude, I was fucking loading up the van with our drums and amps in 2010, driving to Indiana and Chicago, playing Warped Tour. I can tell you the fucking Wi-Fi codes to venues in Blackfoot, Idaho. Can you say that shit as a band?"
Machine Gun Kelly's reception in the metal world hasn't exactly been great, with Corey Taylor calling him out for running his mouth "about bands that have been doing this for 20 fucking years" and Trivium's Matt Heafy doing the same for "wearing a fucking 16 year old pop punk cosplay identity on a fucking stage." And honestly, I'm not even sure it's so much Machine Gun Kelly's success that's been the problem so much as it is the dude acting like he's the first to do it and being outwardly full of himself. Yes, Machine Gun Kelly has been successful, but to take credit for reviving rock with Tickets To My Downfall seems a little farfetched.
