Marty Friedman spoke to Cleveland Scene and talked about the political correctness which he considers having gotten "out of control" in the United States. The ex-Megadeth guitarist has been based in Japan for the past decade and a half.

"When I grew up here, nobody was PC or conscious about offending people with the way they talk," he says. "People are just normal. They didn’t care about politics. They weren’t so polarized on issues, especially people I come across, the rock musicians and fans. Those people were the last people to care. Now, those people want to talk about politics, and I have no idea what they’re talking about. Even the PC thing has gotten out of control over here."

"I did an email interview and my publicist said I had to take something out because people would be offended," he continues. "There was nothing racist or anything like that. They were nitpicking all these little things. I had to go with it because I don’t know the climate here. I was surprised by the things people might be offended. If you like the music that somebody makes, you shouldn’t wrap yourself up with what kind of person that is. It really doesn’t matter, and it robs you of the enjoyment. If Charles Manson made an album and I liked it, I wouldn’t care about the person who made it. People listen to the music and love it and have great times and then find out the singer is a Republican or something and don’t like the music. Who’s the loser here? It’s the person listening to the music."

Friedman just wrapped up a headlining tour of the U.S. in support of his latest solo effort, Wall of Sound. The trek included progressive instrumentalists Scale the Summit as well as The Fine Constant. He adds that his move to Japan was exacerbated by a desire to further expand his playing.

"When I was a teenager, I already exhausted the typical rock guitarist lexicon of rock guitar phrases and things like that," Friedman says. "I wanted to learn more adventurous types of music and found myself listening to Indian music and Middle Eastern music and Chinese and Japanese music. I got the idea that there’s a big world out there, and we can never learn too much."

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