The 2024 Paris Olympics was one of the most memorable sporting events in recent memory. You had the mayor of Paris swimming in the Senne river before the start of the Games, you also had Yusuf Dikec’s nonchalance winning him a silver in shooting along with immortality as a meme.
But cast your mind back to the opening ceremony and the musical performance at the Château de Versailles. Instead of the usual route of pop, Paris went to the dark side of music. The screaming melodies of Gojira along with the angelic voice of Marina Viotti greeted audiences from all over the world to the oldest sporting event in the world. Less than a year on, the performance has won Gojira their first Grammy award. But who are they? And why do they sing about whales?
The heaviest brothers of the Universe
In the small town of Ondres in 1996, Brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier allegedly said, “Faisons un groupe” (let’s form a group). Christian Andreu and Alexandre Cornillon joined them and formed “Godzilla”, inspired by the mythical creature of the same name. In 1998 Cornillon left, being replaced by Jean-Michel Labadie and three years later, the band changed its name to “Gojira” just before publishing their first album “Terra Incognita.”
Flying whales from Mars
Gojira refined their style in their upcoming albums, hitting it big with “From Mars to Sirius”, which featured classics such as “Flying Whales” and “The Heaviest Matter of the Universe.” However, the band got attention due to their insistence on climate activism in their song lyrics, such as
“Waters of chaos have invaded all space”
“The flood on Earth again, I have to find the whales.”
Referring to rising sea levels and the mass extinction of animal species around the world. Speaking to the Irishtimes, Joe Duplantier said, “The extinction of so many species is going to be one of our legacies. It took billions of years to create these species and in 40 years, boom, thousands and thousands of species are extinct because of us.”
The gift of Gojira
In addition to their climate activism, the band is considered to be the first one to overtake metal’s big four with their original sound and subject matter. After the release of L’Enfant Sauvage in 2012, the band gained mainstream success. Their fan following was further increased with the release of “Magma” in 2016. The album and the single “Silvera” got them their first Grammy nominations.
Activism and Amazonia
Gojira didn’t stop there. Not with their music and certainly not with their activism. Frontman Joe said to Louder, “70% of our planet is water, but because it’s not our natural element, that’s the environment we rape, pollute and destroy, without any restrictions. How can people not get annoyed about that? Why would anyone think that’s something easy to ignore?”
During the 2019 Amazon rainforest fires, the band called for unity in the music industry through their website which has had an activism section since 2012. In 2021, the band released the single “Amazonia” which was used as a front for a fundraiser for the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest.
Throughout the campaign, the band auctioned off items from their own shows and from heavy hitters such as Metallica, Slayer and Lamb of God among others. Speaking to Forbes in 2021, Duplantier insisted, “The music community can be powerful when united towards something meaningful like this! So many friends, great artists, and bands have joined the movement without hesitation by donating instruments. This is a collective effort from so many people around us!”
French Revolution at the Olympics
Fast forward to 2024, Gojira became the first metal band to perform at the 2024 Paris Olympics when they took to the castle to perform “Ah! Ca! Ira!”, a take on the French revolution song “Ca Ira” which means “It’ll be fine.”
Their hard performance, along with Marina Viotti, who symbolised the beheading of Marie Antoinette, and Victor Le Masne was a sight to behold. It was pleasantly surprising and metal fans all over the world rejoiced in the metal revolution that Gojira was now at the forefront for. The song became the band’s fourth Grammy nomination and their first win as the Best Metal Performance.
Gojira have already cemented their legacy as one of the pioneers of modern heavy metal. They’ve come here, through their long roads of obscurity and hardship, by being true to themselves. Their vocals might not be clear to a lot of people but their message is as transparent as it can get.