Well, that didn't sound so good.
The featured band on this week's edition of Metal Monday is Anthrax. Anthrax was unique among metal bands for a few reasons. They were one of the few successful bands on the scene that didn't hail from Los Angeles, where heavy metal originated in the 1980s. Anthrax was from New York City. Consequently, they were to some extent outsiders to the west-coast heavy metal scene, but they did have front-row seats to many of the developments that were taking place in the realm of hip-hop. I've chosen to profile Anthrax because of two of their songs that engage with the rap world in important ways.
Anthrax was a band also known for their sense of humor. "I am the man" was released in 1987 as an EP that featured three different versions of the title track. "I am the man" is a clever parody of many classic rap topics as they might pertain to a few white boys from New York City. This is one of the very first rap/rock (or rap/metal) collaborations: Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith's "Walk this way" appeared only the year before. The "Extremely Def Ill Uncensored Version" is a live cut that features their great sense of humor as well as their interaction with the audience. Here's a video of the censored radio version:
Click here for video (embedding was disabled)
In 1991, Anthrax released a collection of B-sides, covers, and other rarities called Attack of the Killer B's. On that collection was their collaboration with Public Enemy, "Bring tha noize." The track also appeared on Public Enemy's 1991 release, Apocalyse '91: The enemy strikes black (the original song--a true classic--appeared on It takes a nation of millions to hold us back). The video appears below:
The collaboration highlights some of the concerns shared by the two movements: disenfranchised youth, rebellion, noise, etc. Anthrax paved the way for many bands of the 1990s and 2000s like Rage Against the Machine, Linkin Park, and other metal/rap collaborations.
Early in the band's history (after the release of Fistful of Metal), bassist Danny Liker decided to go his own way. He wanted to play music that was faster, louder, and more aggressive than Anthrax. He and John Connely (who also briefly played with Anthrax early on) formed Nuclear Assault, the subject of next week's post...