#38 - Anthrax

Anthrax was one of the most important metal bands of the 1980's.  Hailing from New York City, they pioneered the East Coast thrash metal sound, with a clearer punk influence than West Coast and European peers.  They also embraced the clean, high-pitched, wide vibrato vocals of much of the NWOBHM of their formative years, something that you didn't hear much of in the early music of contemporaries Metallica and Kreator.  Another characteristic of the band that became a staple of the NY thrash and metal scene was the levity in their song content and performance attire and demeanor. You can hear their musical and lyrical influence on later terrific NY bands Carnivore/Type O Negative and Scatterbrain to name a couple of my faves.  Another area where their enormous influence can be easily discerned is in the 90's rap/nu metal movement.  Anthrax was among the first bands to mix heavy metal and rap with 1987's "I'm the Man", paving the way for Faith No More, a Sir Mix A Lot and Metal Church collaboration, Body Count, and finally Rage Against the Machine in 1992 and the rap metal explosion that followed.  Credit to their NY compatriot Beastie Boys though, who were a clear influence on Anthrax at that time.  They also collaborated notably in the early 90's with Public Enemy on an excellent cover of "Bring the Noise"

As with most of the mid-eighties thrash and underground metal movement, I was late to the game with Anthrax.  I never really heard them until MTV picked them up for heavy rotation of "Antisocial" from their 1988 fourth album, State of Euphoria.  It was a good song and representative of their mid-eighties sound, as I soon learned when I delved into their back-catalog.  Their classic lineup broke up after the 1990 release of Persistence of Time, a heavier and more serious album then their previous work but no less enjoyable.  Well, maybe less enjoyable than 1987's Among the Living, which is top to bottom a fantastic album, with interesting and unusual lyrics for the genre and a similarly unique musical style, although as mentioned above, one that would influence a generation of crossover thrash metal artists.  On it, one can hear a song about the tragedy of John Belushi's death ("Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)"), another based on comic book character Judge Dredd ("I am the Law"), two reworkings of Stephen King stories ("Among the Living" based on the novel, The Stand and "A Skeleton in the Closet, after the novella "Apt Pupil"), and the following classic lament for the lot of the native American.  Drummer Charlie Benante's opening nod to native American drumming, Joey Belladonna's wildly wailing (but pristine) vocals and the ultra-heavy "war dance" breakdown make "Indians" one of the best on an album full of bests.