YNGWIE MALMSTEEN: 'I'm Just A Health Freak'

Legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen was a guest on the October 25, 2008 edition of "The Classic Metal Show". You can listen to the chat in three parts below. An excerpt from the interview follows.

The Classic Metal Show: You have a reputation of being difficult to work with. You obviously are a perfectionist, but have turned out top-notch stuff because of it.

Yngwie: I think there is a lot that can be said about that. I think in the past behavior patterns were a certain way because that's just the way things were in the '80s. There was a lot of drinking and all this stuff. A lot of egos involved, and some friction. Things now are very, very, very different in today's world. Just myself, I'm completely clean. I don't drink, smoke…nothing. I'm just a health freak. It does result in a very clear mind. It does result in a focused mind. It does result in being much more together and much more efficient in what you do. Whether or not those rumors are well deserved is not reflective of what's going on now. For whatever it's worth, I'm certainly familiar with when things were a little bit crazy, but that's the way it was then. As far as the way things are going now, I'm really, really happy and very, very pleased with what's going on. I'm just kind of enjoying it.

The Classic Metal Show: I like the way you have a sense of humor about things, especially with naming your last CD "Unleash The Fury". That little episode just never dies. I'm sure you hear about that everywhere you go, even to this day.

Yngwie: Yeah. It's a very bizarre thing that happened. First of all, it was more than 20 years ago — the actual incident. The incident itself is crazy. The most bizarre thing is that somebody actually decided to record it, and then several years later decided to put it out there on the Internet. It's a bizarre incident altogether, and I had to laugh about it.

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