Headbangers’ ball: Sanjoy Narayan on the French band Gojira

A standout moment of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was when the French heavy-metal band Gojira played a version of the French song Ah! Ça Ira (Oh! It’ll Pass).

The song, which dates to 1790, was a sort of anthem during the French Revolution, which began in 1789. As rain lashed the city, the band members, perched on window ledges at the Conciergerie (a former courthouse and prison that is now a museum), belted out their version with metal music’s archetypal intensity and fury. Pyrotechnics lit up the building in what turned out to be explosions of red ribbon. A performer dressed as a decapitated Marie Antoinette appeared to sing along.
The song lasted barely three minutes, but for Gojira, the effect has been huge. Their powerful rendition was enhanced by the fact that behind them stood the building where thousands, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned and eventually executed by guillotine during the revolution.
The setting and narrative have translated into an overwhelming interest in the band. The day after the performance, Gojira saw a 100% rise in daily streams across France, and an overall increase of 80% on Spotify worldwide.
Formed in 1996 in Ondres in south-west France, the band is named after the original Japanese Godzilla, a giant fictional monster created in a devastated post-war Japan, in 1954.
At the French band’s core are the Franco-American brothers Joe Duplantier (guitarist, vocalist and lyricist) and drummer Mario Duplantier. Christian Andreu plays lead guitar; Jean-Michel Labadie plays bass.
Gojira’s music has all the hallmarks of a top-of-the-line heavy-metal act: heavy, down-tuned guitar riffs; complex rhythmic patterns and time signatures; powerful, often guttural, vocals interspersed with clean singing; intricate high-speed drumming; and deep basslines. Yet the band stands out from the pack because of what they stand for.
Their commitment to environmental causes is a defining, and rare, characteristic. Most of Gojira’s songs directly address environmental issues, deforestation, climate change, and humanity’s impact on nature. Many of their albums, including From Mars to Sirius (2005) and The Way of All Flesh (2008), feature ecological themes.
The commitment, chiefly driven by the beliefs of frontman Joe Duplantier, extends into activism. Their song Amazonia, from the album Fortitude (2021), was released as a single, with proceeds passed on to NGOs that work with indigenous communities under threat in the Amazon rainforest.
Alongside the release of Fortitude, Gojira organised an auction of band memorabilia, with those proceeds passed on as well. At the time, they called for solidarity from other metal bands such as Metallica, Tool, Slayer, Slash, Sepultura, Deftones, and Lamb of God, who did join in. The auction eventually raised more than $300,000.
Before this, in 2016, the band’s Silvera music video drove a reforestation campaign, with trees planted for every thousand views. Before that, in 2010, Gojira partnered with the marine-conservation NGO Sea Shepherd, donating proceeds from merchandise sales.
At concerts, amid earth-shaking riffs, one might find information booths about environmental causes.
In the world of heavy metal, where dark themes and aggression reign supreme, Gojira’s progressive metal sound stands apart as being intricately crafted and technically sophisticated. So does their mission.
Joe Duplantier, 47, has said the band “believes music can be a force for positive change”.
In the song Global Warming, from the album From Mars to Sirius, his guttural roar warns, “We will see our children growing / We will see our children die”, a chilling reminder of what is at stake.
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