About

"Unleash the fucking fury" was a short-lived popular catchphrase that inspired a series of YMNTDs and image macros.

Yngwie Malmsteen threatened to kill a fellow passenger on a flight to Tokyo, Japan after the woman poured a glass of water on the guitarist. The passenger, who had had no prior contact with Malmsteen, allegedly overheard him making derogatory comments about homosexuals and decided to show her disapproval by emptying the contents of her glass on the musician.

A member of Malmsteen's touring entourage had a tape recorder running and managed to catch Malmsteen's reaction on tape immediately after he was "assaulted" by the offended passenger. The recording found its way onto the the Internet by way of p2p networks and was considered a classic example of an artist acting out-of-line just because he was famous.^[1]

The phrase "Unleash the fucking fury" quickly became a starting point for image macros depicting people in a state of (not so) righteous anger and used as a faked angered response.

The phrase is for the most part no longer tied to Malmsteen or the incident itself, but is commonly used in CAPS LOCK image macros. The phrase is also subject to mutation as, due to the quality of the recording, some people hear the words "release the fucking fury" instead of "unleash the fucking fury".

The incident inspired the title of Malmsteen's 2005 album Unleash the Fury.^[2]

External References

f1. Recording of the incident

f2. Wikipedia – Unleash the Fury