SCOTT IAN (Anthrax)
Most Shorts-Wearing Guitarist
FACTOID! His father-in-law is Meat Loaf.
Thrash metal is all about supertight, super-damped speed-picking, achieved by extremely fast strumming of a power chord or a single string with judicious palm-muting – the core sound of all extreme metal to this day. Some bands can’t do it, and sound terrible at high speed as a result. Those that can, however, sound amazing – and Anthrax combined this sound (courtesy of fun-sized beard-wearer Scott Ian) with excellent songwriting, making themselves one of the biggest extreme metal bands of the 80s as a result.
Check it out: 'I Am The Law'
Pic: Andy Buchanan