Stomp 442 appreciation thread!

It all went downhill for Anthrax after Stomp 442 came out. What was it about this album as to why it flopped so hard? Was it that it was a very different sounding record to SOWN and turned a lot of fans off, was it because of the heavy music scene at the time, was it lack of promotion from Elektra dropping them from the label just as the album came out and fans didnt know it was out or was it partly due to all of those reasons?

Anyway whatever it was, i still like Stomp and still listen to it. I like the energy in the production of it and still a good album to listen to when your walking.

They were dropped by Elektra as heavy music as we knew it was at an all time low at the time. Some people has this notion they were dropped because of the "Bush" factor. Well they are guessing, when we all know the FACT that heavy music was unpopular at the time, the "Tredkill" album notwithstanding........
 
I remember buying this album the weekend after meeting my future wife. I had just gotten home from my Tour of Duty in Saudi Arabia and immediately picked this up and Belladonna's CD at the time. Also picked up a few others, including the Black Lodge Maxi Single.

I still love this album to this very day. It doesn't sound dated at all as far as im concerned. just one rocking track after another. Amongst all my friends they all associated Anthrax with me. That was Ian's band. I always had Anthrax playing back in the day. Wore out numerous tapes and discs. :D

Thank you for your service. :worship:
 
They were dropped by Elektra as heavy music as we knew it was at an all time low at the time. Some people has this notion they were dropped because of the "Bush" factor. Well they are guessing, when we all know the FACT that heavy music was unpopular at the time, the "Tredkill" album notwithstanding........

It was not just the Bush factor it was also the SUCK factor and change factor. Stomp for Anthraxs standards was by far the worst album they have ever put out up to this point. Yes labels were not so fired up about metal music. But if it was good and had some marketing potential they would have at minimum put it out and somewhat promoted it. But the album STOMP was not only a boring repetitive rock album it didn't sound anything like "Anthrax". They were now a band that was on the downfall of their career because they completely abandoned the line up and sound that sold the labels all of those records in prior years. Not many bands can change their lead singer and core sound in the height of their popularity and continue to be successful. They lost almost their entire original fan base after SOWN. The label invested a ton of money into the band up to this point and it didn't pan out so they were done.

I can promise you if they never got rid of Joey and kept putting out quality metal music to the standards of POT they would have not gotten dropped and would have persevered through the tough metal times just like Slayer, Megadeth, Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, and many others did. Sure they wouldn't have probably been huge, but would have continued to have a label and support and their original fans would have continued to support them.

The label put a ton of money into SOWN thinking it was going to turn Anthrax into the next metallica. But it just didn't happen. They sure as fuck weren't going to put money into STOMP which was not even half as good as SOWN. If SOWN didn't take them to the next level there was no way in hell STOMP was going to.

Despite what a select few on here think. STOMP is laughable to most Old School Anthrax fans, and even more so was Volume 8.

Even a handful of Iron Maiden fans love the Blaze Bayley years. But the majority of the bands followers can't stand those albums. You can see what happened. Maiden one of the biggest metal bands of all time were almost extinct because of their loss of singer. It's almost the same story with Anthrax. Sure John Bush is a great singer, but Anthrax just didn't sound like Anthrax anymore and the majority of the fans stopped buying their music and supporting them, same with their record labels.
 
It was not just the Bush factor it was also the SUCK factor and change factor. Stomp for Anthraxs standards was by far the worst album they have ever put out up to this point. Yes labels were not so fired up about metal music. But if it was good and had some marketing potential they would have at minimum put it out and somewhat promoted it. But the album STOMP was not only a boring repetitive rock album it didn't sound anything like "Anthrax". They were now a band that was on the downfall of their career because they completely abandoned the line up and sound that sold the labels all of those records in prior years. Not many bands can change their lead singer and core sound in the height of their popularity and continue to be successful. They lost almost their entire original fan base after SOWN. The label invested a ton of money into the band up to this point and it didn't pan out so they were done.

I can promise you if they never got rid of Joey and kept putting out quality metal music to the standards of POT they would have not gotten dropped and would have persevered through the tough metal times just like Slayer, Megadeth, Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, and many others did. Sure they wouldn't have probably been huge, but would have continued to have a label and support and their original fans would have continued to support them.

The label put a ton of money into SOWN thinking it was going to turn Anthrax into the next metallica. But it just didn't happen. They sure as fuck weren't going to put money into STOMP which was not even half as good as SOWN. If SOWN didn't take them to the next level there was no way in hell STOMP was going to.

Despite what a select few on here think. STOMP is laughable to most Old School Anthrax fans, and even more so was Volume 8.

Even a handful of Iron Maiden fans love the Blaze Bayley years. But the majority of the bands followers can't stand those albums. You can see what happened. Maiden one of the biggest metal bands of all time were almost extinct because of their loss of singer. It's almost the same story with Anthrax. Sure John Bush is a great singer, but Anthrax just didn't sound like Anthrax anymore and the majority of the fans stopped buying their music and supporting them, same with their record labels.

Did you read the opening post? This was a Stomp Appreciation thread. Douche..........

Yeah right, Elektra dropped them because they were run by old school thrash heads, they didn't like it that Anthrax wasn't playing 200bpms anymore LOL...........

Build a bridge..............more people here like it than dislike it............
 
...I can promise you if they never got rid of Joey and kept putting out quality metal music to the standards of POT they would have not gotten dropped and would have persevered through the tough metal times just like Slayer, Megadeth, Maiden, Metallica, Pantera, and many others did. Sure they wouldn't have probably been huge, but would have continued to have a label and support and their original fans would have continued to support them...

How can you promise what you can't deliver, you stupid mouth you?

I gave myself a promise not to argue with you anymore because ... it's just not fare to pick on you. Plus, now and then you don't seem to be a fool saying some thoughtful things. Then why would you, IMF09, throw the ugliness of your dark side into this wonderful celebration of music and spirit? Just... you know... shutta fuck up...
 
...Even a handful of Iron Maiden fans love the Blaze Bayley years. But the majority of the bands followers can't stand those albums. You can see what happened. Maiden one of the biggest metal bands of all time were almost extinct because of their loss of singer. It's almost the same story with Anthrax. Sure John Bush is a great singer, but Anthrax just didn't sound like Anthrax anymore and the majority of the fans stopped buying their music and supporting them, same with their record labels.

I very much liked the X Factor. To me it sounded darker than a usual Maiden's album, and Blaze's seemingly flat voice was a part of the reason. I don't know why, but Blaze for some reason reminded me of Ozzy circa 72-75... It sounded differently.
May be, that's why they still sometimes include a song or two from Blaze period into their live shows.
 
Yeah I always liked the Blaze albums. He has a strong, unique voice that cracked a lot in Maiden when he was trying to hit the high notes, but who gives a shit? If you want perfect, overproduced vocals listen to Lady Gaga.

I really like the guitar sound on Stomp, and of course Bush is great, I still feel that the songwriting itself declined with his albums though. Even with amazing label support this album was destined to fail though, it doesn't sound like what people had come to expect from Anthrax, and nothing on here was going to be a 'hit'.
 
I really like the guitar sound on Stomp, and of course Bush is great, I still feel that the songwriting itself declined with his albums though. Even with amazing label support this album was destined to fail though, it doesn't sound like what people had come to expect from Anthrax, and nothing on here was going to be a 'hit'.

Exactly!
 
Yeah I always liked the Blaze albums. He has a strong, unique voice that cracked a lot in Maiden when he was trying to hit the high notes, but who gives a shit? If you want perfect, overproduced vocals listen to Lady Gaga.

I really like the guitar sound on Stomp, and of course Bush is great, I still feel that the songwriting itself declined with his albums though. Even with amazing label support this album was destined to fail though, it doesn't sound like what people had come to expect from Anthrax, and nothing on here was going to be a 'hit'.

Nothing wrong with this post, IMFAN can take lessons from Shadow. At least he's not bashing the album..........
 
First off, those Bayley IM albums weren't that bad. I enjoyed them at the time, and still find some of the tracks enjoyable. Musically speaking, nothing really changed that much on The X Factor & Virtual XI; the big difference was Blayze.

And as for the awesome Stomp, why the fuck can't we have an appreciation thread without the bullshit? I listened to both Stomp & V8 today, and I still don't know why there is so much bitching; they are great albums. Volume 8 has lyrics that seemed to be very personal and introspective to the band. Catharsis is not only one of my favorite Anthrax songs, but one of my favorite songs, PERIOD. And yet I'm certain I'll hear from someone that it's "shit, bad, etcetcetcbrokenrecord."