TFI Friday was unquestionably one of the biggest television shows of the 90s in the United Kingdom. Chris Evans’ pre-pub, weekend-starting magazine show always managed to strike the right balance between mainstream chat and something a little wilder, but, even so, the appearance of Napalm Death back in 1999 was outlandish even by TFI standards.
Napalm appear alongside such heavyweights as Boyzone’s Ronan Keating, former Casualty actress Claire Goose, long forgotten indie chancers Kula Shaker, Dad rockers Stereophonics and pop-country megastar Sheryl Crow on the episode, featured as part of an item called It’s Your Letters. One viewer, it seems, has written in to complain about the lack of thrash metal on the show, to which Evans replied “We’re more than proud to show our commitment to thrash metal, because Napalm Death are here with us!”, to loud cheers from the live studio audience. Evans then goes on to explain that thrash metal is very short, cracking a joke about how Live Aid would have been half an hour long if it were just thrash all day - said like a man who has clearly never heard Master Of Puppets (never mind the fact that, of course, Napalm Death aren't thrash metal, but we'll let our Chris off on that one).
