Halfway through its 12th season and having just celebrated its 100th episode, That Metal Show has proven that people like talking (and hearing) about head banging and heavy metal. And nobody loves talking about metal music more than Eddie Trunk, who has been preaching the hard rock gospel since the ’80s via writings, radio shows and as host of VH1 Classic‘s That Metal Show. Having interviewed almost everyone there is to interview from hard rock and heavy metal’s past, Trunk (and co-hosts Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine) features heavy hitters from metal’s past such as Def Leppard‘s Rick Allen, Cinderella‘s Tom Kiefer and Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine this season, as well as somewhat more contemporary musicians like Rob Zombie, John 5 and Clutch‘s Neil Fallon. But before you tune in for the latest episode this Saturday at 11 p.m. EST, read Wrestling with Pop Culture‘s interview with this heavy metal historian.

Now that That Metal Show has made it to its 12th season and 100th episode, what have been some of the more memorable moments or guests for you?

Since the show started in 2008, we’ve had a lot of great guests. For me, it’s always really special when you get some of those iconic guys from the ’70s that played such a huge role in the history and evolution of this music. Tony Iommi, who I think is basically the founding father of metal, comes to mind. Having him on was amazing. Brian Johnson from AC/DC is just one of the best guests you can have. Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony are always a blast to have on – great people. Same with Rob Halford, we’ve had him on a couple of times. That’s certainly not to diminish any of the ’80s guys or more recent guys, but my mind always goes back to the people I grew up with in this genre of music. And to have them sitting next to me swapping stories and stuff on the show is really, really special. As far as performances, bands can’t play songs on the show because we can’t afford the publishing. So they’re just playing riffs and shredding a little bit. But we’ve had tremendous players up there doing that, and also some great drummers including in this season we have Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice doing their thing. And we have Jake E. Lee, who I tracked down out of obscurity, not only as a guest but also playing in two shows. And we have guitarist Richie Kotzen, who is one of my favorite musicians on the planet, playing a couple of shows. In the past we’ve had amazing guys. Everybody knows I’m a big UFO fan, so we have Michael Schenker play in a couple of shows and that was really special. But just about everybody we’ve had has really brought it when they’ve been part of the show.

You  mentioned having the older guys on the show, and it seems like the focus of the show is on the guys who helped pave the way for the future of metal. This season, however, I noticed you have some more contemporary guests on the show. Do you intentionally focus on the musicians from the ’70s and ’80s or are they just more readily available?

It’s very intentional because the channel we’re on is VH1 Classic, so the entire channel is rooted in classic music. That’s always going to be the focus of what we do given that we’re on that sort of network, but we are all fans of new bands and new music. We feature it whenever we can, however we can. Yes, going forward we’re trying to mix in a little more of that when we can. The network has ultimate say as to who does and doesn’t come on the show, but we certainly are doing some things differently this new season, which is really a whole new coat of paint on the show. To that end, we’re doing a bit at the top of some of the shows where we’re introducing an artist via Skype on a screen that’s dropping. We call it the Metal Modem. We have Ben [Weinman] from Dillinger Escape Plan, we have Johan from Amon Amarth, bands a little outside of what we do, and obviously newer. It’s just a good opportunity to work some of that in around all the classic stuff. We all love certain new music and I’ve always supported new music on my radio shows, I’m a big believer in that. But we’re also doing a TV show that airs on a classic network with a ton of bands that also have no outlet, when it comes to the ’70s and ’80s guys. So it’s important to acknowledge them and they will always be the core of what we do. But we’re certainly going to mix it up as best we can.

There are obviously still plenty of metal bands and metal fans. But I hear a lot of bands complain that the overall musical climate these days is no longer very supportive of rock and metal music. Why do you think that is, and where does That Metal Show and the other things that you do fit into that?

Outside of the mid-to-late ’80s when MTV ruled, this genre of music has always been under the radar in a lot of ways. I don’t know what the music industry is supporting anymore because the industry is so fragmented. The industry has changed so dramatically in the last ten years alone – from the demise of most record labels to the way artists do things – that I don’t know how much is left of the industry as far as signing and the traditional record company structure of working bands. I do think that the fan base for hard rock and metal is pretty strong right now. You see that from the live stages. That’s where you’re really going to see it because, unfortunately, record sales just aren’t going to come back to anywhere near the level that they once were. I just hosted a festival for three days in Oklahoma that had the most people it had ever had and was headlined by Guns N’ Roses, Alice in Chains and Korn. There was a festival a couple of weeks earlier in Columbus, Ohio called Rock on the Range that had record crowds, so people are definitely coming to see this music live, and that’s what’s really important because that’s where it’s always lived is on the live stage. I’m 30 years into this business, my radio show is 30 years old, and I still enjoy doing it and feel it’s important to do. I just try to do my part wherever I can. What drove me to start doing any of this 30 years ago was to support and spread the word about the bands and music I loved, but wasn’t seeing and hearing. Most importantly, I wanted to treat it respectfully and not fall into all the stereotypes that come with it. So that’s what I’ve always strived to do and at the end of the day I’m just a fan who’s worked hard enough and been lucky enough to have a few pretty good platforms to spread the word.

You talked earlier about some of the people you’ve had the honor of having on the show. Who are some of the people that have not been on the show that you’d like to talk to?

The guys we probably get asked the most about would be David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, Nikki Sixx, James Hetfield, Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. We ask them every single season and whether they are on or not is completely up to them. For some of them it’s just scheduling, some of them have issues, some of them don’t want to do the show or whatever the case may be. Those are probably the top five people I’m asked about all the time, and they’re all welcome to come on. It’s just a question of if they want to do it and if we’re working when they decide they want to. So hopefully one of these days we’ll get them.

In addition to being the host of the show, you also have a segment called Stump the Trunk. What are some the hardest or most memorable questions you’ve been asked?

Oh, there are absurd questions. There have been tons of ridiculous questions that have been asked that nobody in their right mind could ever get right. That’s done because they want to see me go crazy, which I often deliver for them. What people have to understand with Stump the Trunk is it’s a fun thing, people really love it and it’s a part of the show that will never go away, it seems. But it’s a bit. We have fun with it and I certainly don’t think for a minute that I know it all. I probably know a little bit more than the average person just because I’ve lived this music my whole life. But they’re always coming at me with crazy, over-the-top stuff, then they’ll often tell me that I’m wrong when I’m right  just to try to get me really agitated. And it works about 90 percent of the time. At this point I’m prepared for anything that comes out of anybody’s mouth during that thing.

As we mentioned earlier, this season features the 100th episode. Did you even realize when you were recording this season that you were up to your 100th episode?

We didn’t even realize it was the 100th episode until we started doing publicity for the show. We didn’t do anything special in that episode, so it wasn’t all that different from any of the other shows this season. We’re honored, of course, to have made it that far, but I didn’t get a gold watch or anything yet. There are no balloons dropping from the ceiling or anything like that, but it is certainly a milestone. That being said, Rex Brown and Sebastian Bach were both great guests and it was a fun show.

How long do you foresee That Metal Show continuing? Do you think we might see it last another 100 episodes?

I can only hope. If it was up to me, I’d be doing it every day. My dream is live five nights a week, but I have no say over that at all. That is up to the network – they own the show and they determine how often we do it and how long it stays on the air. So we’ll find out as we go and I’ll know when the fans know. People who follow me on Twitter or look at my website (www.eddietrunk.com) or what have you, they’ll know when we’re about to start filming, how to get tickets, when we’ve filmed new shows and when you can see them. I try to keep everyone informed, but I honestly have no clue. If the show ends it will have nothing to do with me because I’m happy to do it for as long as the network wants to keep doing it. The cool thing is these new shows have a lot of new features and we have a brand new set. With this kind of revamp, maybe this set’s got another 100 shows in it like the last set did.

Next season will be number 13, which is a very metal number. So you probably have at least another season.

Right. Megadeth, Sabbath… Of course, yeah. It feels great because the excitement and passion for the show being back, from fans and from us, is as strong as it’s every been. Now it’s just coming down to what VH1 wants to do going forward. But we’ll cross those bridges when we come to them.

www.thatmetalshow.vh1.com