The Anthrax thread

[YtseJam]

What does 604 Katrina mean? I always wondered...

It's about a seriously obese woman who reached 604 lbs in weight, I think.

Volume 8 is seriously underrated, imo.

I love Volume 8, probably my fave of the JB era 

[Kwyjibo]

JB? I thought, wait a minute, Joey Belladonna isn't on Volume 8, then I realized, John Bush is also a JB. 

[RodrigoAltaf]

What does 604 Katrina mean? I always wondered...

It's about a seriously obese woman who reached 604 lbs in weight, I think.

Volume 8 is seriously underrated, imo.

I love Volume 8, probably my fave of the JB era 

I find that the high points of Volume 8 are great, but there are too many joke songs which harm the flow of the album.

[cfmoran13]

I find that the high points of Volume 8 are great, but there are too many joke songs which harm the flow of the album.

604 and Cupajoe could've definitely been left off.  Toast To The Extras isn't horrible.  But, it definitely doesn't fit with the rest of the album.

[jammindude]

I LOVE CUPAJOE!!!!

[DoctorAction]

I LOVE CUPAJOE!!!!

I'M WITH YOU, JAMMINDUDE!!

I love the presence of fun songs. Killing Box is the only one I skip, mainly due to the head-scratching lyrics and Anselmo's wall of screaming in the background. The rest of it works great for me. I wish there was MORE fun in metal, generally.

[RodrigoAltaf]

 I'm all for more humour in metal, but in Volume 8's particular case, it gives me the impression that they wanted to fill the gas between songs and had nothing to place there, so "hey, here's this internal joke we have, let's put it there".

[TAC]

I rank Vol 8 third of the 4 Bush Era albums, although Catharsis might be the best track of all four albums.



There's an MP sighting in in Episode 6!

[cfmoran13]

I rank Vol 8 third of the 4 Bush Era albums, although Catharsis might be the best track of all four albums.

There's an MP sighting in in Episode 6!

Your ranking made me think about it.  Is Stomp #4 for you?  Looking at the albums, I think I would rank them:
1. SoWN - Even the cover tunes from this time kicked ass - Thin Lizzy's "Cowboy Song" and KISS' "Love Her All I Can".
2. WCFYA   
3. V8   
4. Stomp

That CD room of Portnoy's is fucking amazing!  I'd love to see the whole thing.

[TAC]

I go:

1. Stomp
2. SoWN
3. V8
4. WCGYA


Their cover of The Cowboy Song is killer!

[cfmoran13]

I got to see them on the SoWN tour.  It was Anthrax with White Zombie and Quicksand opening.  What a show!  It was at an equestrian center in MD.  And, every time the pit would start up, the dust would kick up making it tough to breathe at times.  But, all three bands put on a killer show.

[TAC]

I saw that tour as well. White Zombie fucking crushed it! They were INCREDIBLE and I wasn't even a fan.

They also did a short club tour. I think 3 shows on the East Coast and 3 on the West Coast. Headbanger's Ball was tagging along. I saw the show at Axis in Boston. It was incredible.

[Kwyjibo]

Ranking:

1. Stomp
2. WCFYA
3. V8
4. SOWN

[DoctorAction]

I don't think I can rate the Bush era. I dig em all. They're all a bit different in tone too.

I do know that the song I play the most when I want a quick hit of awesomeness is the Greater Of Two Evils version of Metal Thrashing Mad. Just perfect!

[cfmoran13]

I had tix to see the NJ show on the tour where both Bush and Belladonna were supposed to be singing.  Unfortunately, Belladonna bowed out of the tour.  Could've been a lot of fun.  Instead, it was a Bush tour supporting 'Attack Of The Killer A's'. 

[TAC]

The last time I saw Anthrax was the Stomp tour in January of '96.

[cfmoran13]

The last time I saw them with John Bush was at the NY Steel 9-11 benefit show with Sebastian Bach, Ace Frehley, Overkill and Twisted Sister.  Because of the big "Anthrax in the mail scare" going on in 2001, they came out like this for the show...


The last time I saw them with Belladonna was the Yankee Stadium Big Four show.

[jammindude]

1. SOWN (my #1 all time Anthrax album period)
2. Vol 8
3. Stomp
4. WCFYA

Last time I saw Anthrax was summer of 2000. The Bush lineup was opening for Motley Crue (Megadeth also opened).

It was at a huge amphitheater in central Washington and I thought about leaving early. But MC did ok. I still think they are grossly overrated. The only thing that saved it was that they played a LOT of SATD material (which I still maintain is their only top to bottom “all killer no filler” fantastic album)

[Grappler]

I'm surprised at how many of you have WCFYA ranked last.  That's my #1 John Bush-era album - so many awesome songs on that one.

1.  WCFYA
2.  SOWN
3.  Stomp 442
4.  Volume 8

[YtseJam]

TAC, you've been to the New Haven Colosseum right? Did Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden play on the same venue do you know? I'm trying to remember if that was the lineup for that show going way back...

[TAC]

TAC, you've been to the New Haven Colosseum right? Did Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden play on the same venue do you know? I'm trying to remember if that was the lineup for that show going way back...

I've never been to the New Haven Coliseum. I did see Metallica at the Hartford Civic Center on March 17, 1989.

Anthrax opened Iron Maiden's No Prayer tour in January of 1991. I saw that tour at the Brendan Byrne and the Providence Civic Center. Pretty sure they also played New Haven as well.


If they opened for Judas Priest, it would've been much later. I can't recall if they did or not, but they didn't in the northeast during my concert going prime.

[TAC]

I'm surprised at how many of you have WCFYA ranked last. 

I'm guilty. I love John Bush and I love Anthrax, but that album never did anything for me. And we waited so damn long for that one too.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I'm surprised at how many of you have WCFYA ranked last.  That's my #1 John Bush-era album - so many awesome songs on that one.

1.  WCFYA
2.  SOWN
3.  Stomp 442
4.  Volume 8

My ranking exactly.

[cfmoran13]

TAC, you've been to the New Haven Colosseum right? Did Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden play on the same venue do you know? I'm trying to remember if that was the lineup for that show going way back...

Anthrax has opened for both the Ripper- (2002) and Rob-fronted (2011) Priests.

[ProfessorPeart]

I saw Anthrax open for Priest on the Demolition tour. Was only going to stay for Anthrax, but Priest and Ripper slayed it. Also blew out my ears for almost a week. That was the show that made me go with earplugs from then on.

[TAC]

Really enjoying the 40th Anniversary clips. I've been watching some old shows on youtube and I ran through the original Belladonna albums over the last couple of days.

I know they are generally regarded as The Big 4's little brother, but I always really enjoyed Anthrax.
They were way ahead of their time with their social messaging and anti racism lyrics. I always thought that was cool. Plus their style would include some hard core elements and I thought it meshed well with what they were doing.

I always thought they easily had the best rhythm section of The Big 4 and Scott Ian is incredibly underrated as a rhythm player. The other thing I really noticed was just how good Joey sounded live.

[cfmoran13]

Frankie may be the most underrated part of that band.  I especially love his playing on Persistence.  Some really "in your face" stuff.

[DoctorAction]

Yeah, his bass rattling away under the guitars is a really core part of the sound.

[YtseJam]

TAC, you've been to the New Haven Colosseum right? Did Anthrax, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden play on the same venue do you know? I'm trying to remember if that was the lineup for that show going way back...

I've never been to the New Haven Coliseum. I did see Metallica at the Hartford Civic Center on March 17, 1989.

Anthrax opened Iron Maiden's No Prayer tour in January of 1991. I saw that tour at the Brendan Byrne and the Providence Civic Center. Pretty sure they also played New Haven as well.


If they opened for Judas Priest, it would've been much later. I can't recall if they did or not, but they didn't in the northeast during my concert going prime.

Yes, you are right! It was Anthrax and Iron Maiden. The Painkiller tour was Testament, Megadeth and Judas Priest. It's all a blur lol I was at that show at the Civic Center. I remember my head feeling like it was going to snap off of my neck from all of the thrashing. I have the bootleg of that show still.

[TAC]

I saw the Priest/Megadeth/Testament show in Worcester and holy shit it was amazing!

[TAC]

So over the last two days, I ran through Sound Of White Noise and Volume 8.

I was a huge Armored Saint fan when John joined Anthrax, and I think I just had unrealistic expectations, but I distinctly remember being somewhat disappointed by it.

Only is an excellent song, and I always loved Hi Pro Glo and Invisible. And I thought This Is Not An Exit was really cool. The rest of the album was kinda meh. Now it's aged pretty well though. I also think that vocally, it might be John's best album of his career.

Volume 8 is heavy AF and it has a couple of great tunes, notably Catharsis and Inside Out.
But there's a number of tracks that just don't do anything for me..Born Again Idiot, Big Fat, Alpha Male. They really lose me in the second half of the album.


Gonna spin WCFYA. But I never cared for it, and I'm not expecting a big change. Been easily a dozen or so years since I've checked it out.


OK, here's my thoughts on WCFYA..

1. It sounds like a band out of ideas
2. It's tuned way too low
3. Monotonous mid tempo
4. Total lack of melody and harmony


The only song I'd consider putting on my Best Of The Bush Era would be Anyplace But Here. Safe Home is OK as is Refuse To Be Denied.

[coz]

Excellent episode added today. Cool that Caught in a Mosh was named after an incident in my hometown!

Organized my Thrax collection recently. And though I knew they recorded a lot of covers, didn't realize HOW MANY it's been. I have 40 (official releases) in my library and I'm thinking there could be more.

[cfmoran13]

Organized my Thrax collection recently. And though I knew they recorded a lot of covers, didn't realize HOW MANY it's been. I have 40 (official releases) in my library and I'm thinking there could be more.

I found a list that shows 42 cover songs by Anthrax.  I have all but the Anthems album.  I never picked that up for some reason.  They usually do a really good version of whatever song they cover.

[billboy73]

I'm surprised at how many of you have WCFYA ranked last.  That's my #1 John Bush-era album - so many awesome songs on that one.

1.  WCFYA
2.  SOWN
3.  Stomp 442
4.  Volume 8

I agree with this ranking too.  Love the Bush era, and WCFYA is solid overall.  Each of the Bushthrax albums have a few clunkers, but I enjoy all 4 of them.

[coz]

Organized my Thrax collection recently. And though I knew they recorded a lot of covers, didn't realize HOW MANY it's been. I have 40 (official releases) in my library and I'm thinking there could be more.

I found a list that shows 42 cover songs by Anthrax.  I have all but the Anthems album.  I never picked that up for some reason.  They usually do a really good version of whatever song they cover.

  I agree they do a good job on the covers too. I really like the Kiss ones and Auf Wiedersehen is pretty cool.  Pick up Anthems!