The Not Man Cometh!!!

Anthrax was a huge part of my youth. For some reason, I ventured out to see them live more than any other band in my early concert going days:

Headbangers Ball tour

     May 1st 1989 ( I was 14)

     Pittsburgh, PA

     Exodus / Helloween

Clash of the Titans tour 

     June 26 1991 

     Darien Lake, New York

     Megadeth / Slayer / Alice in Chains

Anthrax - Public Enemey

     October 2nd 1991 

     Pittsburgh, PA 

     Public Enemy / Primus / YBT

They were overall probably my favorite band behind Megadeth back then.

Dave Mustaine described the Clash tour bands as follows:

Megadeth: thinking mans metal

Slayer: slaytanic metal

Anthrax: cow diseased metal

At that time, that was accurate. They goofed off, and still shredded. "Indians" was the perfect metal song. As was the cover of Trust's "Antisocial". They had this melodic sensibility that was more Maiden than Motörhead, yet you could find them advertised on the bottom of skateboard decks, strangely linked to NY hardcore, wearing hip-hop shirts on stage, and jam shorts at photo shoots.

Anthrax was different, and I dug them for it. They didn't alienate me or my crew. We were all in. SOD was amazing, their rap mixes were game changers, they had the balls to sample Kinneson and Metallica, and the fact that they did not give 2 shits about what the "purists" thought appealed to me as a somewhat free thinker. 

From the moment I heard Armed and Dangerous till the Killer B's EP, I knew every step these guys took.

Attack of the Killer B's may actually be my favorite Anthrax moment overall. It was a joke, but it was my joke. I got it hook, line and sinker. It was perfect timing in my life. That summer, the only things I listened to were Killer B's and Skid Row's Slave to the Grind. 

Then things changed, both for me and them. In their time away, I became a father twice over. That was a little early for me, but the result has yielded nothing but good things in my life. Meanwhile, Anthrax shed their 80's sound and embraced a different direction in both approach and in John Bush's soulful vocal delivery. 

John Bush had one of elite voices in metal, and White noise is probably their best LP overall. "Only" is hands down, one of the best songs I've ever heard. Hefield said it was perfect, and I agree. 

I never saw Anthrax with Bush. The Belladonna era was my band. Not that I didn't respect them, but I was too busy screwing up a family to follow them hard core through the 90's. My taste was expanding by then, and Anthrax was off in another dimension. They seemed lost. I know I definitely was for a period of time.

Even though I was somewhat out of touch, I always kinda knew what they were up to via the metal rags, blabbermouth and Scott's constant media exposure.

Unfortunately, up until a few years ago, Anthrax was a band of constant dysfunction.

That would change at exactly the perfect time for me. With that, a new world of metalheads found themselves wanting a reality with Anthrax in it. Their comeback was not without bumps in the road, but it adds a human element in a strange sort of way. That's part of the appeal.

Yesterday, I read Scott Ian's book. I knew he wrote it. I assumed it would be ok. I figured it would include stories from his spoken word tour, which I missed, but I caught the jist of what it was about from podcasts. 

In this age, evey rocker has a book, it's pretty standard. Most of them suck. Lawyers and ghost writers take the piss out of them. There is not enough dirt. I personally find the "this is how I grew up" portions of each book to be some of the most boring shit I've ever had to endure... Just about every time I read a rock book, I'm disappointed.

Eddie trunk, of all people, convinced me to read Scott's book. Eddie tends to ramble in his new podcast, but if you can get through the first 20 minutes or so, it's pretty good. Anyway, he had Scott and Chris Jerico on talking about this book, and I pulled the trigger on it at Books-a-million in Ricmond, VA last Friday.

As usual, Scott Ian's book was different. It was great. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. I read his book in less than 24 hours, and that included a good nights sleep and an afternoon nap.

It answers almost every question I have had for years about his Band(s), and I found myself thinking that we could hang out. I don't think that about many rock stars. Call me arrogant, but rock stars don't do much for me. I don't get star struck, and the idea of kissing someone's ass just because they expect it doesn't appeal to me at all. I shared a Cigarette moment with John Baizley outside of Mr Smalls, and that was cool. I even had dinner a few seats down from Mikael Akerfeldt, pre-show at a bar in Millvale, PA, and opted to let him eat rather than bug the crap out of him. If I was ever to get all fanboy, those would have been the moments.

Digressing is my thing... Moving on.

The book was great, and I strongly recommend it for anyone who was ever even remotely into Scott's lengthy career. 

The only thing that is blatantly missing is any mention of Anthrax's short lived singer, Dan Nelson. Like zero mention at all. How that all went down, I'll never know, but he must have severely pissed off Scott who had no issue talking about all his issues with EVERYONE except Mr. Nelson.

I guess Scott had made the concious decision to end Dan's 15 minutes of fame permanently. It's no secret that Dan was the vocalist on the first draft of Worship Music (Anthrax's comeback LP), and somehow there was a falling out and he was either fired or released, who the hell knows, but Fuck that guy anyway. He was a bridge to get Belladonna back, so I'm great with his short lived tenure. I will say that his vocals on the cover of Refused "New Noise" probably made sense, lord knows Belladonna had no business touching that tune. 

But hey, Joey is great and needs no validation from anyone. He is the voice that I want fronting Anthrax. I don't even care that he calls the crowd "fuckers," (which is a pet peeve of mine) coming from Joey, it's like an old friend calling me a fucker (which I still wouldn't like). 

Note to frontmen: not everyone in the audience is a "fucker" and some of us aren't even "mother fuckers." A few of us are actually intelligent people that don't like the insult. We just like your tunes. Shut up and play them, mutherfucker.

I did see them again with Belladonna 2 years ago. They were just as great as ever. They were the band I remember. I bought Worship Music, and I think "I'm Alive" is a high point for the band regardless of the era. 

Scott, you have an Anthrax fan in me. I will buy what you release, even if it sucks. NOT. Make it great. Please and thank you.

The book was worth the money. Read it.

Nago