by Anthrax released their single to the Public Enemy song Bring The Noise on July 8, 1991. The song was included on Anthrax’s Attack of the Killer B’s album and on Public Enemy’s own Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black.
By now it is common knowledge that this collaboration wrote music history, since it was the first collaboration to mash rap music with heavy metal. Of course, a few years prior, Run DMC did something similar with the Aerosmith song Walk This Way by covering it with a hip hop twist. This time it went to other way round; from rap to metal.
Chuck D from Public Enemy said on VH1 – Behind The Music, that upon the initial request of Anthrax, he didn’t take them wholehearted seriously, but after the collaboration was done, it made too much sense. The bands went on tour together and even performed the song together on stage.
I remember seeing the video to Bring The Noise on MTV’s Headbangers Ball back in the 90s and finding it one of the coolest things ever. Mixing rap with metal – after that it was okay for me, a very young teenager with mostly metalheads as friends, to admit that I also like rap acts like Public Enemy, Onyx, etc. There’s not much to add here. Bring The Noise is a masterpiece of music history and this single marks a milestone in inter-genre collaboration.
The B-sides don’t need to be disregarded either. Track 2 is a live version of Keep It In The Family recorded at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. The advanced music connaisseur knows what a great live band Anthrax is and was already back then. This is a great live performance with a very good mix. The guitar could have been a bit louder, but that is always a subjective matter.
Track 3 is the 1991 studio version of I Am The Law, a re-recording from Anthrax’s 1987 single release, which was published on their album Among The Living. Same same, but phenomenally different. Metallica – Beyond Magnetic (EP) (2011)
What is there more to say about this single other than, if you come across is and you actually care about music history, buy it and spread the gospel of inter-genre collaboration. Plus, Bring The Noise is simply one of the coolest metal songs to move/dance/be-silly to.
