Anthrax

Queens

Anthrax formed in Queens, New York City, on 18 July 1981, when guitarists Scott Ian and Dan Lilker started a band with Ian's friend Dave Weiss on drums. Ian took the name from a disease he saw in a biology textbook, because it sounded sufficiently evil. Singer Neil Turbin joined in late August 1982, and Charlie Benante replaced the drummer Greg D'Angelo in September 1983. Jon Zazula, whose Megaforce Records had just released Metallica's first album, agreed to sign them, and the debut, Fistful of Metal, came out in January 1984.

Lilker's place on bass went to Benante's nephew and roadie Frank Bello. Turbin and the band parted in August 1984, and Joey Belladonna became the singer. Spreading the Disease followed in October 1985 and was the first Anthrax record to reach the Billboard 200, at number 113. Ian, Benante and Lilker also formed Stormtroopers of Death with Billy Milano and recorded Speak English or Die in three days.

Among the Living

In September 1986 Anthrax toured Europe with Metallica. The tour ended in Sweden on 26 September, and the next day a bus accident killed Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Anthrax dedicated their third album to him, and in 2012 Ian said that part of the reason the album sounds so angry "is because Cliff died. We'd lost our friend, and it was so wrong and unfair."

Among the Living was produced by Eddie Kramer, recorded in Miami and mixed in the Bahamas, and released in March 1987. The live sound Kramer had captured on Kiss's Alive! had impressed Ian and Benante when they were young. In Nassau the band rejected Kramer's reverb-heavy first mix and wanted a dry sound. The songs took in Judge Dredd, Stephen King, Native American reservations and the death of John Belushi, and the singles were I Am the Law and Indians. The album reached number 62 on the Billboard 200 without radio play and was certified gold in 1990. Caught in a Mosh became its best-known track.

On 22 August 1987 the band played Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington to 80,000 people, and in 1988 the writer Don Kaye named them in print with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer as the Big Four of thrash. Ian later said the album "gave us a career".

The Belladonna years

State of Euphoria (September 1988) reached number 30 and went gold, and its cover of Trust's Antisocial became an MTV staple. Persistence of Time (August 1990) was made through a fire that destroyed more than $100,000 of gear and their Yonkers rehearsal studio. The album brought a first Grammy nomination, and its single was a cover of Joe Jackson's Got the Time.

In 1991 the band recorded a version of Public Enemy's Bring the Noise with Chuck D and toured with that group. In 1992 Belladonna was replaced by John Bush of Armored Saint.

Bush, reunions and now

Sound of White Noise (1993) was the first record with Bush and the last with Dan Spitz. It debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200, their highest position at that time. Later albums with Bush met with less critical and commercial success, and the band left Elektra after Stomp 442 in 1995. In October 2001, as the anthrax attacks sent people to the band's website, they joked about becoming Basket Full of Puppies, then took the stage at a New York benefit in November in boiler suits that spelled out that they were not changing their name.

In 2005 the Among the Living lineup reformed. Belladonna and Spitz left again by 2007, Dan Nelson sang for a time, and Belladonna rejoined in 2010. That June Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer shared a bill for the first time, at Sonisphere. Worship Music (2011) debuted at number 12 and For All Kings (2016) at number 9. Jon Donais, who joined as lead guitarist in 2013, is in the current lineup. The band has sold ten million records worldwide.