Heavy metal, a brand of music as well as a lifestyle for millions of people across the globe, is somewhat of a confusing entity. Its often dark trappings and rebellious nature can be a little daunting for some, as can the sheer aural brutality of its skilled performers. Therefore, people tend to take this healthy, natural outlet for aggression or hyperactivity and blame it for everything under the sun. Teen suicide. Animal abuse. Devil worship. And now, biological warfare.

But the name of metal patriarch Scott Ian (Rosenfeld)’s band Anthrax has been raising eyebrows over twenty years before the post 9/11 white powder scare.
Scott explains, “Generally, when someone who is completely outside the world of this type of music hears the name, you get this look of ‘Huh, Anthrax?’�

So he tells people, “Oh, we’ve had (the name) since 1981� when he founded the band with several classmates in Flushing, Queens. Scott, a shiny headed, goateed, tattooed 5 foot 7 wiry Tazmanian devil of a guitarist/lyricist/producer/Mel Brooks fan chose the name after hearing it in a high school biology class.

And since its conception, Anthrax has been established as one of the premier metal bands of all time. They are responsible for influencing myriads of bands and musicians from international legends to school-age air-guitar virtuosos. They even had a street named after them in Texas (though some of the residents are trying to get the name changed because of its unsavory connotations). On their latest critically acclaimed release, “We’ve Come For You All,� the CD’s inlay depicts the band standing after a show together in overalls with the words “We Are Not Changing Our Name.�

Anthrax, who once shared living quarters with anti-Napster activists Metallica in Yonkers (Scott’s a rabid Yankees fan but that wasn’t why he lived there) when both bands were rising to fame, has nine full studio albums and countless other releases.

Though many of their other lesser-known releases are considered to be of better quality and more influential in the metal world, commercially and in a cross-genre sense they are most noted for their 1985 old school hip-hop influenced “I Am The Man� and groundbreaking collaboration with rap artists Public Enemy on that group’s “Bring the Noise.� These songs helped initiate what is now one of the top-selling breeds of music at this time, a sort of rap/metal hybrid that the record companies seem to fawn over at the expense of musical integrity.

Born December 31st, 1963 to Jewish but unaffiliated parents who stressed the importance of open-mindedness, freedom and good family communication, Scott grew up a couple of miles from Hollis, Queens where the whole rap scene was breaking out.
He recalls, “At the time “I Am The Man� was a basically very good reflection of the music we were listening to – when we wrote that we were just doing that out of our love for music. Our label wanted us to do another rap song but we weren’t into it.�

“I Am The Man� went gold, made the UK Top Ten and during this time, Anthrax headlined sold out tours in the States, Europe and Japan (they had toured most of the world on countless occasions before, either headlining or in support of bands like KISS). Anthrax’s other foray into the rap genre was also pretty lucrative but Scott asserts that “I’m not going to do something halfassed to try and get some of that rap money.

“When we did the Public Enemy song, leaving Island and going to Elektra, a lot of it was based on the song with Public Enemy. But that was the peak in ‘91 and ‘92. There was nothing we could have done better than that. It’s been 12 years. If I would have had an idea I thought was anywhere near what we did with Bring the Noise I would do it. Believe me, I wish I had a head full of ideas for that stuff but it’s not where I come from creatively.�

In any case, Anthrax is doing better business than it has in ten years and their tour to promote “We Have Come For You All,� which Scott describes as a combination of the records Anthrax has made up until this point,� has been successful beyond their expectations. “It’s a better time for this music now.� They’ve been there since the beginning of the metal era and though their sound has become less focused on speed and more on groove, their musical prowess refuses to be denied.

That’s because Anthrax has “the same attitude going into every record. We try to make the best record we can make, to be excited about playing the songs ‘till we’re sick of them, trying to come up with ideas that will give us a big kick in the ass. We’re the biggest fans of this kind of music and we’re the biggest Anthrax fans. The whole challenge of creating music and lyrics is that every time we finish a record I’m like ‘What if the well’s dry?’ but a year will go by, we’ll start working and realize, ‘Wow, we’ve got something really cool here.’

“On “We Have Come For You All,� we knew really quickly we had something good. Usually we write more than we need. This time, there wasn’t one song we felt didn’t belong on the record.�

Anthrax’s metal mastery was partly forged in the fire breathed from Gene Simmons’ mouth. KISS, whose songs Anthrax regularly covers (one of which they produced themselves for the tribute album Kiss My Ass), was the catalyst for it all. When Scott saw KISS in 1977 at Madison Square Garden – “everything changed. I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life.� He also remembers seeing the Who on TV at age 11 or 12 and thinking it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. His uncle was also a major influence, getting Scott into comic books (which are an integral part of Anthrax paraphernalia and lyrical content), Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa.

Scott didn’t really have any Jewish education though he definitely identifies – he’s known to sometimes sign his e-mails as “The Jew.� Says he, “I’m Jewish, it’s a part of my life, it’s part of my upbringing, but I wasn’t raised obviously Jewish.� He never really had to do anything he didn’t want to do so when a lot of his friends started going to Jew school he opted out.

He remembers going down to Florida to visit his Orthodox grandfather. “He would take us to synagogue with him once or twice. We would stand there with yarmulkes on and be really bored and want go back to the swimming pool.� And he recalls that he only got his bar mitzvah to make his grandfather happy and that “it made him really happy.� But “I’m not involved in any way with any organized religion. I’m sure it’s a part of my makeup and there are traditions I respect and enjoy but on a day-to-day basis…I’m open-minded. I don’t know a lot of that stuff.�

Scott and his girlfriend Pearl now live in a religious LA neighborhood. “Safe Home,� which at the time this article is being written is the number one request on 94.7 in Chicago, is dedicated to her.

And speaking of safe homes, Scott has what to say on the whole terror situation in regards to his role as an entertainer.

“We give people an outlet to have fun. We give people and opportunity just to enjoy themselves, put away cares and responsibilities for an hour and a half. That’s what it’s always been about for me. What we do as bands is such a small little dot in the grand scheme of things but when (terror attacks happen at concerts)….Last time we went to South America and Venezuela the promoters called and said “We cannot guarantee the band’s safety.� I hate that. We as entertainers should be able to bring what we do everywhere and we can’t and it pisses me off.�

A lot of his lyrics in songs such as “Refuse To Be Denied� address the fact that he won’t change his life or give up his freedoms. “Proud and free, that’s American to me, that’s a human thing. Freedom is every human’s birthright and there are people trying to give that away. Because I don’t subscribe to Osama Bin Laden’s believe as far as he’s concerned I’m an infidel and I should die. I don’t live in his world and I don’t believe. I wish people could find other motivations than ‘this is the word of G-d telling them this is the right and only way.’ G-d is personal to me. It has nothing to do with the way other people think. To me, being in love is my G-d. That’s what drives me. If He/She/It put this
in my life then thank You and praise all day long.�

And thank You for Anthrax, too.