On the sliding scale of surreal rock collaborations, it isn’t quite up there with Motörhead and The Nolans. All the same, eyebrows were raised in both thrash metal and hip-hop circles when word broke of the 1991 hook-up between the puerile, comic-obsessed party boys of Anthrax, and Chuck D and Flavor Flav of militant rap firebrands Public Enemy.
It was certainly news to Anthrax singer Joey Belladonna. “Scott Ian never even told me,” he says of his guitarist’s under-the-counter approach to Chuck D. “I remember we were rehearsing for Persistence Of Time when he played this riff, and I’m like: ‘Wow. What’s that? That’s pretty cool.’ Scott just says: ‘Ah, that’s just something we’re working on.’ Okay, no problem. But the next thing you know, Chuck D and Flav are in the studio. I was kinda in the dark with it all. That part of it did suck, but the outcome was great.”
