Anthrax

New Haven Agora

New Haven, Connecticut

August, 1984

Anthrax followed hot on the heels of Metallica as thrash gained more and more notoriety, but with a rough New York vibe. The band dressed like street toughs and had awful looking camouflage guitars. Scott Ian had long, frizzy hair and Dan Spitz, all 5’4” of him burned up the fret board. Dan Lilker, by contrast, was around 6’ 4” – looked kinda funny to have those two on the same side of the stage! And then there was the incomparable Neil Turbin. With a voice like an air raid siren, he possessed the quintessential metal voice, but several months later he was gone. Anyhow, the gand blew up the stage as they launched in with “Deathrider”, still a killer song. From there, we were pummeled with the likes of “Metal Thrashing Mad”, “Panic”, “Subjugator”, Soldiers of Metal”, and the still immense “Howling Furies” which was written after the guys saw “The Warriors.” I think that all succeeding Anthrax releases paled in comparison to their debut, but I’m sure millions would surely disagree!