We all know the song, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, but most people don’t realize that is Slayer’s guitarist, Kerry King, playing the solo. The amount of money he was paid is crazy! Here’s how it all came about -

He says it was a one-off payment as he wasn’t “well to do” at the time and wanted a quick buck. “The simplicity of it is what’s funny. We were doing what became the ‘Reign In Blood’ album and the Beastie Boys were doing ‘Licensed To Ill’ in the same studio – like down the hall from each other. And Rick Rubin was doing both projects. So they needed a lead on that particular song, ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn.’ So I thought about it, and I went, ‘Yeah, why not? I can use a couple hundred bucks.’”

He went on to say, “I certainly wasn’t well to do back then. So, that’s what I did. I went in there and I did it. And in hindsight, I wish I didn’t get paid. I wish I took a quarter point or something, because now I would be a rich man!”

A point on a record is 8 cents, a quarter is 2 cents. The album has sold over 10 million copies so 2 cents would have amounted to $200,000 instead of the $200 he received.

Axel Lowe