9. Run DMCRaising Hell
I don’t think this would surprise people if they know anything about the history of Anthrax or my history. I was into Run–D.M.C. pretty much as long as I was into Iron Maiden. I got into Maiden in 1980 and I got into Run–D.M.C. when I bought their first single. I had already been into rap music since the late ’70s, when I would buy rap records to play at friends’ houses when you’d invite people over and have a party when someone’s parents were away and inevitably somebody would put on Sugarhill Gang because that would get the girls dancing and drinking and then hopefully you’d get to make out with them. Beyond that, I actually loved disco and I loved rap music. I just thought it had great energy. Run–D.M.C., that’s what really nailed it home for me because I thought their energy was as heavy to me as anything I was listening to in rock or metal. Run–D.M.C. moved me in the same way Motörhead and Iron Maiden moved me. To this day, it’s still one of the greatest rap records ever made. It’s pretty much untouchable. Don’t get me wrong, I love ‘Walk This Way’, but that’s the song I would go to last on this record. I’m way more into ‘Peter Piper’ and ‘My Adidas’ or ‘Is It Live’, fucking ‘Raising Hell’, ‘Proud To Be Black’. They were the blueprint for everything that came after, whether it was the Beastie Boys or Public Enemy or whatever. They invented it, as far as I’m concerned. They’re the gods.
