Joey's Facebook status today

[Thrashard]

metal wasn't seen as cool anymore

and Pantera went on to reach #1 chart-positions in USA,Japan,Germany,UK with 'Far Beyond Driven'. Thrash Metal or Metal in general never was the average man's fav. music.

"economic recession, lack of promotion, bad taste of the record-buying public, predominance of Country & Hip Hop in America, bla bla bla" were just lame excuses coming from the band in a time when other metal-bands still sold well and downloads didn't decrease sales. it ABSOLUTELY didn't have to do ANYTHING with the lack of quality of their music (http://www.metal-archives.com).


yes, 'Sound Of White Noise' was a commercial success, it might even be their biggest selling record, unfortunately it's the only Bushthrax-album i can listen to without over-using the skip-button.

 

[Stormwatch]

and Pantera went on to reach #1 chart-positions in USA,Japan,Germany,UK with 'Far Beyond Driven'.

Pantera got to #1 in the UK? Really?

Maybe they did, I don't take any notice of the charts (why would I, or anyone on here?) but if Pantera got to number 1 in the album or singles chart in the UK I'll eat my own arse.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

Gotta disagree on some of those points there.

My friends and I have been diehard old school Anthrax fans since 1988. They never lost us during or after SOWN. Not just us either. I can list a lot of diehard old school Anthrax fans who remained loyal after Joey got fired and John joined and have stayed the course still to this very day.

We bought the albums back in the late 80s and early 90s and still kept buying. For us it was never about Joey v John. It was simply Anthrax and that's why we remained loyal. That's not a shot at anyone either - I respect those that fell out of favour when Joey departed. I can appreciate that point of view.

Having said that though there is no denying their popularity diminished rapidly after SOWN but I also believe that was down to pure economics too.

Well documented that their was a changing of the guard at Electra and that metal wasn't seen as cool anymore by the new suit in charge so Anthrax post SOWN got the arse as far as promotion goes.

I always thought SOWN was a commercial success for them? Correct me if I'm wrong though.

There will always be exceptions, you and your friends being some of them. SOWN was certainly a commercial success. But SOWN could have had an album full of fart noises and it would have still sold a ton of records. Anthrax was huge at the time the touring cycle for POT ended. They did the Clash of the Titans, Iron Maiden tour, and headling tour with Public Enemy all for that record. They built up a huge fan base and those fans (myself included) went out and bought SOWN the day it came out before even hearing anything other than Only on the radio. The key is the lasting power it had. Unfortunately for them it didn't last long. By the end of the SOWN touring cycle most Anthrax fans were turned off by SOWN, they were losing momentum and when they came out with the next album it was all over for them. And they continued on making the same basic type of albums with very little to no success until "Safe Home" caught on in a few markets and got them a bit of exposure again.

I just hope the new album kicks ass and they can regain some of their old school fans while still keeping the newer ones happy!

 

[mrthrax]

Pantera got to #1 in the UK? Really?

Maybe they did, I don't take any notice of the charts (why would I, or anyone on here?) but if Pantera got to number 1 in the album or singles chart in the UK I'll eat my own arse.

it went number 1 in australia usa uk

 

[gerardomosh]

Joey Belladonna
"Great day in the studio yesterday! Song 2 complete and sounds great! Everyone loves it! Looking forward to today and knocking out song #3."

 

[Thrashard]

I just hope the new album kicks ass and they can regain some of their old school fans while still keeping the newer ones happy!

+
the last time they said 'We've come for ya all' but unfortunately forgot about their Oldschool-crowd, i hope that the next record can satisfy both groups of Anthrax-fans, the lumpers and the splitters, probably only the reunion bashers will avoid it, means 300 sales less.

 

[AlexStomp]

There will always be exceptions, you and your friends being some of them. SOWN was certainly a commercial success. But SOWN could have had an album full of fart noises and it would have still sold a ton of records. Anthrax was huge at the time the touring cycle for POT ended. They did the Clash of the Titans, Iron Maiden tour, and headling tour with Public Enemy all for that record. They built up a huge fan base and those fans (myself included) went out and bought SOWN the day it came out before even hearing anything other than Only on the radio. The key is the lasting power it had. Unfortunately for them it didn't last long. By the end of the SOWN touring cycle most Anthrax fans were turned off by SOWN, they were losing momentum and when they came out with the next album it was all over for them. And they continued on making the same basic type of albums with very little to no success until "Safe Home" caught on in a few markets and got them a bit of exposure again.

I just hope the new album kicks ass and they can regain some of their old school fans while still keeping the newer ones happy!

1995/1996 were terrible years for Anthrax. First of all, Stomp 442 received little promotional and tour support. Headbangers ball stopped playing metal. They were playing alot of Green Day and Offspring if I recall. And Pantera and Metallica were basically the only exceptions to the rule that metal was just not selling. It's well documented that the new head of Elektra was not keen on Anthrax whatsoever. She was more interested in R&B if I'm not mistaken. She thought that signing Anthrax was a terrible idea and wanted them off her roster.

I liked SOWN and I still do. It's not like the legions of fans didn't know John Bush had joined the band. It was well known and Only was actually being played on MTV.

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

probably only the reunion bashers will avoid it, means 300 sales less.

Or 1 less record purchase, Johnnie's.

 

[Thrashard]

do you wanna say that Johnnie is the world's only reunion basher? i thought there were a few 100 around.

the last unicorn
the last of the mohicans
the last emperor
the last samurai
the last reunion basher, why not?

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

1995/1996 were terrible years for Anthrax. First of all, Stomp 442 received little promotional and tour support. Headbangers ball stopped playing metal. They were playing alot of Green Day and Offspring if I recall. And Pantera and Metallica were basically the only exceptions to the rule that metal was just not selling. It's well documented that the new head of Elektra was not keen on Anthrax whatsoever. She was more interested in R&B if I'm not mistaken. She thought that signing Anthrax was a terrible idea and wanted them off her roster.

I liked SOWN and I still do. It's not like the legions of fans didn't know John Bush had joined the band. It was well known and Only was actually being played on MTV.

The lack of promotion for Stomp really had nothing to do with why the old school Anthrax fans didn't buy it. They just weren't too keen on the SOWN album and would have had to be convinced Anthrax was back to Thrash. But Stomp was far from Thrash and was even further removed from it than SOWN. I know a few on here like that album for whatever reason. But overall that is a garbage Anthrax album and so is Stomp and WCFYA and that is why not many people accepted those albums not because of lack of promotion.

You could have promoted Stomp or Vol 8 all day and night, played it on the radio, mtv etc and at the end of the day the Anthrax fans just flat out didn't like it.

I know John was the singer for SOWN as Only was on mtv and radio. I couldn't even believe how awful Only was, didn't even recognize it as Anthrax. But I still bought the album in hopes the rest of it may be heavier... but other than a few tunes it really wasn't and the band just changed so much that I wasn't down with them after that album.

None the less I guess it really doesn't matter too much anymore. It's all about the next album and I have some semi high hopes for it

 

[AlexStomp]

The lack of promotion for Stomp really had nothing to do with why the old school Anthrax fans didn't buy it. They just weren't too keen on the SOWN album and would have had to be convinced Anthrax was back to Thrash. But Stomp was far from Thrash and was even further removed from it than SOWN. I know a few on here like that album for whatever reason. But overall that is a garbage Anthrax album and so is Stomp and WCFYA and that is why not many people accepted those albums not because of lack of promotion.

You could have promoted Stomp or Vol 8 all day and night, played it on the radio, mtv etc and at the end of the day the Anthrax fans just flat out didn't like it.

I know John was the singer for SOWN as Only was on mtv and radio. I couldn't even believe how awful Only was, didn't even recognize it as Anthrax. But I still bought the album in hopes the rest of it may be heavier... but other than a few tunes it really wasn't and the band just changed so much that I wasn't down with them after that album.

None the less I guess it really doesn't matter too much anymore. It's all about the next album and I have some semi high hopes for it

You can tell Anthrax was heavily influenced by Pantera when they recorded Stomp 442. Heck, they even had Dimebag play on it. The only song on that album that I don't like is Bare.

But yeah, I have high hopes for this new album. And it looks like it might actually see the light of day. I have a feeling it will live up to it's expectations. They have alot to prove having not put anything out in ages. Furthermore, I'm sure they read these boards from time to time. They gotta know their fanbase is frustrated and weary.

 

[Joecephus]

I was an Anthrax fan well before I even knew who the fuck John Bush was. That being said, I just don't get the disrespect that Stomp 442 gets. Is it a "classic thrash album" fuck no. But its still a heavy and cool fucking album. One of my personal favs.

 

[AlexStomp]

I was an Anthrax fan well before I even knew who the fuck John Bush was. That being said, I just don't get the disrespect that Stomp 442 gets. Is it a "classic thrash album" fuck no. But its still a heavy and cool fucking album. One of my personal favs.

I was an Anthrax fan well before I knew who John Bush was too. Funnily, I had March of the Saint on Vinyl. I just didn't put the two together for a while. I liked the Saint, just not enough to learn everyone's name in the band.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

I was an Anthrax fan well before I even knew who the fuck John Bush was. That being said, I just don't get the disrespect that Stomp 442 gets. Is it a "classic thrash album" fuck no. But its still a heavy and cool fucking album. One of my personal favs.

Well if you take Among The Living, STD, POT and put that next to Stomp I think you would understand why not many old School Anthrax fans would like it. There will always be people who like albums that most don't. There are a lot of people I have me that loved the Blayze Baily era of Iron Maiden. While there are certainly many people who do like that era, the reality is the majority of Iron Maiden fans couldn't stand it.

So it's just a numbers thing. It's great you love Stomp or Vol. 8 etc But the reality is most Old school Thrax fans can't stand it, myself included. And that is why it never did very well and wasn't accepted.

On that album they tried so hard to put some kind of Pantera groove on there. It just didn't work imo, no originality and a very weak attempt at trying to be like Pantera

 

[AlexStomp]

Well if you take Among The Living, STD, POT and put that next to Stomp I think you would understand why not many old School Anthrax fans would like it. There will always be people who like albums that most don't. There are a lot of people I have me that loved the Blayze Baily era of Iron Maiden. While there are certainly many people who do like that era, the reality is the majority of Iron Maiden fans couldn't stand it.

So it's just a numbers thing. It's great you love Stomp or Vol. 8 etc But the reality is most Old school Thrax fans can't stand it, myself included. And that is why it never did very well and wasn't accepted.

On that album they tried so hard to put some kind of Pantera groove on there. It just didn't work imo, no originality and a very weak attempt at trying to be like Pantera

I don't see anything wrong with emulating your peers. No one knocks Cream for trying to sound like Hendrix. Eric Clapton suddenly had an afro and fuzz tone.

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

All the Bush albums tried acting like Pantera IMO.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

I don't see anything wrong with emulating your peers. No one knocks Cream for trying to sound like Hendrix. Eric Clapton suddenly had an afro and fuzz tone.

The fact of the matter is it really doesn't matter. It is what it is. Those albums tanked and it's not just because of some lousy excuse of the labels not supporting them. Personally I find it sick that Anthrax tried going with the trends rather than sticking to their own sound. They tried to go more grunge with the SOWN album and then tried to go more Pantera after that. i wish they would have just kept their own sound and continued on with their own sound and not try to copy other more popular artists.

Hopefully this new album will be more of their own sound, you know the ANTHRASH sound. Not some watered down Pantera wanna-be. I have a good feeling about it

 

[AlexStomp]

The fact of the matter is it really doesn't matter. It is what it is. Those albums tanked and it's not just because of some lousy excuse of the labels not supporting them. Personally I find it sick that Anthrax tried going with the trends rather than sticking to their own sound. They tried to go more grunge with the SOWN album and then tried to go more Pantera after that. i wish they would have just kept their own sound and continued on with their own sound and not try to copy other more popular artists.

Hopefully this new album will be more of their own sound, you know the ANTHRASH sound. Not some watered down Pantera wanna-be. I have a good feeling about it

I can understand not digging the Bush era of Anthrax. I remember way back when Stomp 442 came out that I thought they should have changed their name. They sounded like a different band and not just because of a different vocalist. I happen to like the Bush era of Anthrax.

Look at Audioslave. Same drummer, guitarist, and bassist as Rage against the Machine. Different vocalist, therefore different writing style, therefore different band.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

I can understand not digging the Bush era of Anthrax. I remember way back when Stomp 442 came out that I thought they should have changed their name. They sounded like a different band and not just because of a different vocalist. I happen to like the Bush era of Anthrax.

Look at Audioslave. Same drummer, guitarist, and bassist as Rage against the Machine. Different vocalist, therefore different writing style, therefore different band.

Word. There are always people that will like one era over another. One vocalist over another. I am not sure they should have changed their name, but after Joey and Danny were gone it just wasn't the same band and it is nearly impossible for bands to do such a drastic change in sound and keep any sort of consistency in their fan base. It still baffles me to this day how an innovating band like Anthrax, who basically was the first to do a metal/rap thing went on to be a band that started chasing trends instead of trying to start new ones.

 

[johnnieCzech]

Can you guys name ONE Anthrax song which sounds like Pantera? I can't think of any, maybe besides Killing Box but that's just because Anselmo is on there...