what's your favorite era of Anthrax?

[Thrashard]

the question is not who your favorite singer is, it's about the music during the singer's time in the band.

 

[Thrashard]

no Turbin-fans around?

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

I am sure on this forum there will be some people that will say the John Bush years. However if you were to put this poll on a major metal website of fans of all heavy metal bands I can garuntee it would be at least 75 percent in favor of the Joey era.

You just can't deny that Among The Living, Spreading the Disease, State Of Euphoria, Persistence of Time, and the Attack of the Killer B's. No matter which voice you like better those albums will go down as some of the best Thrash albums of all time.

There are no 4 Bush era albums that can stack up against those 4 Joey era studio albums

 

[Matt Bello]

Yes, SOWN

 

[antwax]

Hi,
I've been following this band since the day I bought Fistful of Metal vinyl from record store called Mikkis in small southern Finnish town called Hyvinkää back in 1984... got some Venom EPs - remember those Assaults? - on the same day...
Didn't get Armed and Dangerous till Spreading The Disease was released...at that time you just did NOT get/find all the albums - You know - the only source for information about metal music was German edition of Metal Hammer. (there were some fanzines that were popular amongst tape traders...some of my (older) friends read those... - same guys were the first ones to tell me about bands like Exodus, Celtic Frost etc...)

I saw Metal Hammer Roadshow from TV... got into Agent Steel and Overkill... but Madhouse video was something special! Fastforward to Among The Living...I started to look like them... Baseball cap, shorts etc. Didn't get into skateboarding though.. I sort of absorbed everything they did...bought everything they released... was "lucky" to get Indians 12" with Adi/Horror Of It All instead of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Taint...
...rented their video - at that time VHS tapes cost fortunes! Copied it and watched it over and over again...
It was nice to grow up listening to Joey era... I was the LAW when it came to music that was played at the parties! Had to buy every album that was on Metal Hammer's chart...they were all pretty good! Metal was great back then...

...SOE was released and my then girlfriend liked me enough to come with me to see Anthrax at Giants of Rock festival in a town called Hämeenlinna. I was in euphoria! Suicidal Tendencies were supporting. I'm still cyco after all these years! Robert Trujillo was warming up on stage before the show and was hit by the bottle thrown by some idiot...I still remember how Mike Muir went and beat the shit out of that asshole...
I bought Penikufesin EP from there...instead of buying something to eat to my missus...Well that summer romance ended pretty soon after that trip...

More fastforward...come Persistence of Time... I was totally into Rush at that time! (and ST and Exodus and Slayer and Megadeth...and...)... anyway that album did NOT work for me like the previous ones. Music had become sort of quadrangular and a bit repetitive. It lacked the freshness of the previous material. Saw them supporting Iron Maiden...and didn't like that show as much as I had expected - remember I was still a huge fan! Scott was losing his hair...and Charlie lied about that on video compilation!

Then I went to army and wore all my Anthrax t-shirts out...I refused to use army's spunk tainted underwear and t-shirts...
...after army I was jobless, without place to study...without money to buy rock magazines...I sort of forgot Anthrax.

...Yet another fastforward...1993 I was living in my own flat in Helsinki...there used to be a radio program called Metalliliitto. They played Anthrax's show from 1993's Roskilde festival. (also Testament's show was played) I taped that program...still have it somewhere! Versions of Got The Time and Keep It In The Family were GREAT - may use F-word here? They were FUCKING AWESOME! Only and Room For One More crushed! I had to get Sound Of White Noise! I got it and was hooked! I still am!

Came reunion...couldn't stand it! Still can't. I sort of accepted Dan Nelson...I still like his voice but like I've said before I think his stage presence lacks something...perhaps experience?

...Favourite era? It is from that 1993 Roskilde show to WCFYA-show I saw in Helsinki...

Sorry if I bored you...

T

 

[Anthrax_Mosher]

Armed and Dangerous EP era !!

 

[Thrashard]

@antwax: interesting story

 

[spacebeer]

Hi,
I've been following this band since the day I bought Fistful of Metal vinyl from record store called Mikkis in small southern Finnish town called Hyvinkää
T

A friend of mine lives there....

 

[spacebeer]

I am sure on this forum there will be some people that will say the John Bush years. However if you were to put this poll on a major metal website of fans of all heavy metal bands I can garuntee it would be at least 75 percent in favor of the Joey era.

Yeah same on the Dutch metal forums, Belladonna outranks Bush by at least 3:1

 

[antwax]

Oddly enough on Anthrax forum - where the fans are - Bush is the winner...

T

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

Oddly enough on Anthrax forum - where the fans are - Bush is the winner...

T

LOL where all 13 'fans' are? Give me a break kid

 

[antwax]

LOL where all 13 'fans' are? Give me a break kid

Sad but true...Anthrax's fanbase has grown quite small since 2005 reunion...
I do NOT know why? Do you have any ideas - your own - Maidenboy?

T

 

[xentrix]

In the grand scheme of things, i can count as many good songs from the Bush era as I can the Belladonna era.

Both eras had some classics and had some right fucking kak, and the kak outweighs the classics.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

Sad but true...Anthrax's fanbase has grown quite small since 2005 reunion...
I do NOT know why? Do you have any ideas - your own - Maidenboy?

T

Yes. It's quite simple. The band got momentum with the reunion. Most of those shows were sold out. They got peoples hopes up. Then they fired Joey again. Hired some other guy. Fired him, Then tried to hire Bush back, and then went with Joey when Bush turned them down. The business decisions they have made have been terrible. There was even the rumor they wanted Corey Taylor to sing for them. Its quite comical.

The Bush era of Anthrax all but killed Anthrax. Why do you think they had to do the reunion tour? They had to sell some tickets and make some $$$ so they could continue on and survive.

There was a buzz when SOWN came out. After that the audiences and interest in the band went steadily downhill.

Hopefully now that Joey is back and they will be doing some large festivals people will start to see that the band is back. However given their recent history nobody knows who will be singing for them or even playing guitar for them in a week from now.

This band has to build their reputation back up and do something steady for a long while before any Anthrax fans will start to actually pay attention to them again.

 

[Social Distortion]

I still remember when I first heard Poison My Eyes on Last Action Hero soundtrack. It was my first contact with Anthrax, so I'll have to say 1993.

 

[quickstop]

The Bush era of Anthrax all but killed Anthrax. QUOTE]

It is quite an assumption that Anthrax would have maintained a high level of popularity if Joey would have never left the band.

 

[ironmaidenfan09]

The Bush era of Anthrax all but killed Anthrax. QUOTE]

It is quite an assumption that Anthrax would have maintained a high level of popularity if Joey would have never left the band.

You are right. They wouldn't have. However bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera, Testament, Iron Maiden etc kept on doing it. Now those bands are still as large as they were back then. They didn't give a fuck about musical trends Why is it that you think Anthrax is now almost insignificant in the metal world? It's because they tried to change to conform to a more 'grungy' modern sound. It has now backfired and they lost a majority of their original fan base. Scott Ian's head got too big and he couldn't stand not being the center of attention. Bad business decision after bad business decision. The only thing they ever did that was a good business decision was the Reunion tour. They should have ran with that momentum, but instead fucked shit up with Joey again and almost had to disband themselves. Hopefully this time they get it right

 

[EyeballKid]

The argument is always which singer is better/which singer ruined the band/etc. Why? Does anyone else think it's just a matter of songwriting?

The Joey years had some brilliant, classic material. Also some mediocre material, and some crap. I personally don't love Joey's voice, but the songs can't be denied. The Bush years had brilliant, classic material and also some average and also some garbage. John Bush didn't kill Anthrax's popularity, mediocre songwriting did. SOWN was amazing, Stomp and Volume 8 couldn't keep up. WCFYA was amazing, but the seeds of destruction (re: first "reunion" tour) had been sown and it was all downhill from there.

bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera, Testament, Iron Maiden etc kept on doing it. Now those bands are still as large as they were back then. They didn't give a fuck about musical trends.

Witness:

Megadeth - The style of Countdown to Extinction is DRASTICALLY different from Rust in Peace. Lest we forget Cryptic Writings and Risk?

Iron Maiden - We are apparently forgetting about the Blaze years? Also, they're the AC/DC of metal.

Pantera were, in and of themselves, a musical trend. They didn't change, they emerged from change and capitalized on it.

Testament - Kept on chugging in the same vein, and could now fill a club with the same attendance as an Armored Saint show (who release an album every 10 years and tour just about as frequently).

Slayer - Probably the only band who never changed much, but it's not like the fan base grew. People who liked Slayer never stopped listening to Slayer because the sound changed, they stopped listening to Slayer because they turned 40 and were sick of hurting their ears.

The 90's killed thrash metal, and weak songwriting contributed to it. Only Metallica thrived by successfully riding the trends. In Anthrax's case, they would have lost fans regardless of who was singing for them. At least Bush kept them relevant.

 

[Thrashard]

i don't know why my post disappeared, i wrote that POISON MY EYES and SOWN turned me into a fan

 

[Damaged71]

I bought Spreading when it first came out while I was in highschool, and as much as I like the Bush era, the Belladonna era is what got me into Anthrax in the first place.