1:13 mark.
As I sit here with the sound of Scott Ian's most recent dad rock offering, Motor Sister, reverberating through my ear canal, I am left with that all too familiar feeling that one gets when one of your favorite musicians puts out something truly embarrassing. Granted it could be worse, everyone seems to have forgotten the existence of The Damned Things which featured Mr. Ian and 2 members each from Fall Out Boy and Everytime I Die and sounded like Maylene and The Sons of Disaster.
Rather than subject myself to this drivel, I am reminded of a time when a Scott Ian side project actually broke new ground in metal and hardcore. Recorded on spare studio time during Anthrax' Spreading The Disease sessions, Speak English or Die is a tour de force of crossover thrash genius that happened at just the right time. Released 5 months after D.R.I.'s Dealing With It and 2 months before Corrosion of Conformity's Animosity, the record became a corner stone of the crossover thrash sub-genre that blended the speed of thrash metal with the politically charged lyrics and churning mosh parts of hardcore.
The band also pioneered the less than 10 second song, several years before "You Suffer" was written, their debut record featured 4 tracks shorter than 8 seconds, one of which clocks in at 2 seconds. These tracks are referred to on wikipedia with the ridiculous revisionist history genre name of "blipcore", a term I promise was never used by anyone prior to the widespread usage of the internet by music nerds.
Speak English or Die has sold over a million copies worldwide which not only makes it pretty much the most successful release of its genre, it is also equally impressive considering the offensive lyrics the band employed to piss people off. Misogyny, xenophobia and general toilet humor are the bread and butter on this release, although the band goes to great lengths to assure the public that they are purely satirical.
It's my general opinion that the invention of crossover was the best thing that could have happened to thrash metal in the 80's as it helped stave off stagnation for a few more years and it also helped hardcore by helping to force the 1980-1985 sound which had run its course to move to the side and make way for the youth crew movement of the mid to late 80's.
S.O.D. did not play a lot of shows, as Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were comitted to Anthrax and Dan Lilker to Nuclear Assault. Singer Billy Milano started M.O.D. and carried on in a similar style. Sporadic reunions and releases would continue until 2003 when Milano and Ian's relationship soured and the two decided not to work together anymore.
Rather than subject myself to this drivel, I am reminded of a time when a Scott Ian side project actually broke new ground in metal and hardcore. Recorded on spare studio time during Anthrax' Spreading The Disease sessions, Speak English or Die is a tour de force of crossover thrash genius that happened at just the right time. Released 5 months after D.R.I.'s Dealing With It and 2 months before Corrosion of Conformity's Animosity, the record became a corner stone of the crossover thrash sub-genre that blended the speed of thrash metal with the politically charged lyrics and churning mosh parts of hardcore.
The band also pioneered the less than 10 second song, several years before "You Suffer" was written, their debut record featured 4 tracks shorter than 8 seconds, one of which clocks in at 2 seconds. These tracks are referred to on wikipedia with the ridiculous revisionist history genre name of "blipcore", a term I promise was never used by anyone prior to the widespread usage of the internet by music nerds.
Speak English or Die has sold over a million copies worldwide which not only makes it pretty much the most successful release of its genre, it is also equally impressive considering the offensive lyrics the band employed to piss people off. Misogyny, xenophobia and general toilet humor are the bread and butter on this release, although the band goes to great lengths to assure the public that they are purely satirical.
It's my general opinion that the invention of crossover was the best thing that could have happened to thrash metal in the 80's as it helped stave off stagnation for a few more years and it also helped hardcore by helping to force the 1980-1985 sound which had run its course to move to the side and make way for the youth crew movement of the mid to late 80's.
S.O.D. did not play a lot of shows, as Scott Ian and Charlie Benante were comitted to Anthrax and Dan Lilker to Nuclear Assault. Singer Billy Milano started M.O.D. and carried on in a similar style. Sporadic reunions and releases would continue until 2003 when Milano and Ian's relationship soured and the two decided not to work together anymore.
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