Anthrax

The band's true breakthrough arrived with their third album. Among the Living is the third studio album by heavy metal band Anthrax, released on March 16, 1987, and Anthrax members described it as their breakthrough, marking the progression from playing small clubs to arenas and stadiums. The album was critically acclaimed and promoted the band among the "Big Four" of thrash metal, and became the band's second gold record, certified by the RIAA in 1990. By this point the classic lineup, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, guitarist Dan Spitz, and singer Joey Belladonna, had come together, and Charlie Benante's punchy double bass drumming and Dan Spitz's soaring solos anchored an album fans still quote today. The group became one of the leaders of the thrash metal scene from the 1980s and part of the "Big Four" of the genre, along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, and one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the East Coast. Anthrax's career arc has been defined by both bold experimentation and near-constant lineup change. In 1991 they made genre history by teaming with Public Enemy. In June 1991, the Anthrax-Public Enemy collaboration of "Bring The Noise" was released on Anthrax's B-sides/rarities album Attack of the Killer B's, and then on Public Enemy's Apocalypse 91 album , a track that blew up and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance." Vocalist John Bush fronted the band through the 1990s, a period that also brought a Grammy nomination for Persistence of Time and cemented the band's place among thrash metal's elite while expanding their fanbase beyond metal. Key changes included the replacement of original vocalist Neil Turbin with Joey Belladonna in 1984, who fronted the band during its commercial peak before departing in 1992; John Bush then served as singer from 1992 to 2005, followed by brief stints from Dan Nelson and others, until Belladonna's return in 2010. Across four decades Anthrax has released 11 studio albums and achieved multiple certifications, marked by frequent lineup shifts, with Scott Ian as the sole constant member throughout. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Anthrax sold 2.5 million records in the United States from 1991 to 2004, with worldwide sales of 10 million, and four of their studio albums achieved gold certification by the RIAA. The band remains active and, remarkably, still creatively vital. The current lineup consists of Scott Ian, drummer Charlie Benante, bassist Frank Bello, vocalist Joey Belladonna and lead guitarist Jonathan Donais. Their twelfth studio album, Cursum Perficio, is expected on September 18, 2026, marking the band's first studio album in ten years since For All Kings and the longest gap between albums in their career. Anthrax stands as one of the legendary "big four" of thrash, a band whose breakneck riffs and mosh-pit anthems have shaped heavy music for over four decades, and the group has sold over 10 million albums in a highly distinguished career. Their legacy as pioneers who fused thrash aggression with humor, hardcore punk energy, and hip hop crossover ambition remains a touchstone for heavy music.

For this archive, Anthrax holds a modest but meaningful place. Wayne Dennon photographed the band just once, in 2005, but the resulting images have found a devoted audience, with the 22 photographs from that show drawing 18,438 views from visitors over the years. It stands as a small but treasured piece of the archive, a single night captured by Wayne's lens that continues to connect fans to one of thrash metal's defining bands.