Bring The Noise

I enter the lobby of Sirius Radio headquarters and politely decline to sign a release for the video cameras. This isn't because I'm ashamed to be there. I just think everyone should do their part to dissuade the creation of more boring DVD extras. That's how I end up in the back of the room where writers have gathered "36 floors high above New York City"-to quote José of Sirius' "Hard Attack" channel, who adds, "Ha-ha, get that reference?"

José has nicely lowered the bar on expectations for satellite radio. Still, the heavy metal DJ is hosting what the press release calls "the biggest event in heavy music." That's presumably the biggest event today in heavy music, as the original members of Anthrax gather to announce their reunion tour.

That's about all the Anthrax info that I'm willing to treat as news. I'm mainly here for what turns out to be the final 20 minutes of their live broadcast. As announced, the band is using their reunion as a platform to protest the U.S. government's Project BioShield.

That may initially sound more like Anthrax is taking on Queensryche, but this new mission is personal. It seems the band originally meant to pay tribute to that rockin' goodtime anthrax we all enjoyed prior to 9/11. They don't like the recent connotations of anthrax as a chemical weapon. "The negativism surrounding the band," states guitarist Scott Ian, "wasn't anything we wanted to do with."

It would make more sense for Iron Maiden to be declaiming the use of their namesake. Anthrax, however, is protesting U.S. soldiers' being forced to take a controversial anthrax vaccine. They're getting out the word with a poster that revamps the original album art from 1985's Spreading the Disease. The detached gas-masked figure hovering over a screaming young man is now menacingly holding a syringe.

This is "basically depicting what can happen," according to Ian. He says this with the same assurance with which he earlier claimed that "metal fucking rules."

The poster would more truthfully depict a drawn-out process of negotiations and appeal, but that wouldn't be nearly bitchin' enough. Still, I can't goof too much on the various alarmists who then take over the Sirius channel to read long texts. To their credit, Anthrax has mostly aligned with anti-vaccine advocates instead of certain questionable "anti-war" groups.

Personally, I figure the activists continue to lack the facts or the numbers to back up their claims. There's a reason they need Anthrax to donate time that's free of any rebuttal. The whole event remains harmless enough. Maybe the audience of "Hard Attack" is the equivalent of speaking into a vacuum. Or maybe this proves metal isn't dumb, after all. Like most of rock 'n' roll, it's simply gullible and good-intentioned.

-J.R. Taylor