Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian recently discussed the band’s role in uniting rap and rock, thanks in part to their 1987 track “I’m The Man” and their 1991 teaming with Public Enemy on “Bring The Noise“. Speaking with EMP Live TV in the below interview, Ian offered:
“We weren’t the first ones to do rap and metal. There were other bands dicking around with that before us too. Faith No More was doing it around the same time as us. There were other people involved. I can’t say that what we did… certainly not ‘I’m The Man‘, but maybe more so with ‘Bring The Noise‘… you know, I think that did influence a lot of people, but we certainly don’t take credit for what came after.
“I really don’t think a lot of those bands that you mentioned [Limp Bizkit and Korn] were sitting around, listening to ‘Bring The Noise‘ and then they became bands…”
“I had one of the dudes from I can’t remember the band name now… Linkin Park, a long time ago, one of them told me he was at the Anthrax/Public Enemy show in Los Angeles on the tour, and he loved it, and it was a very important night for him. So that was nice to hear.”
When told by the interviewer earlier in the chat that the band’s experiments with hip hop and metal opened the doors for the likes of Korn and Limp Bizkit, Ian quickly denied it, dryly joking, “I would never have opened that door.” Anthrax will release their new album “For All Kings” on February 26th.
