Attack Of The Killer B's

Among all the big thrash groups, Anthrax had the best sense of humor and the most diverse taste in music, qualities evinced on *Attack of the Killer B’s*. Consisting of outtakes, B-sides, and live tracks recorded between 1989 and 1991, the compilation ended up being one of Anthrax’s most popular releases—mostly due to the runaway success of “Bring the Noise,” their collaboration with Public Enemy. Aerosmith and Run-DMC may have melded rock and rap for the pop market, but this remake was more crucial because it showed that ferocity—not playfulness—was the true unifying force between the hip-hop and metal cultures. For Anthrax, music went hand in hand with rabble-rousing. In spite of an often close-minded metal fanbase, they openly embraced hip-hop (“I’m the Man ’91”), often returned to their punk roots (“Chromatic Death,” “Milk \[Ode to Billy\]”), and set fire to unlikely covers (Kiss’ “Parasite” and the surf standard “Pipeline”). Apathy would become a theme of rock music in the \'90s, but Anthrax stuck to their principles with messages like “Protest and Survive” and the tongue-in-cheek “Startin’ Up a Posse,” an assault on the censorship tactics of the Parents\' Music Resource Center.

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