Anthrax’s Scott Ian says his controversial 80s side-project Stormtroopers Of Death would fall victim to ‘cancel culture’ if they emerged today.
In an interview in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, the guitarist is asked if people would try to ‘cancel’ S.O.D if they released their 1985 debut album, Speak English Or Die, in 2022.
“If it had never existed in 1985 and we tried to put that out today, no matter how hard we tried to explain the joke or the humour, yes, certain sections of people would cancel it,” he says. “It would have a much harder time now. We didn’t have Internet back then.”
The ‘crossover’ thrash band - who also featured Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, original Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker and singer Billy Milano – caused controversy with songs such as Fuck The Middle East and Pussy Whipped.
“If people don’t know, Sergeant D is a character that I created, because I wanted to try and make a comic book,” Ian tells Metal Hammer. “I didn’t know how to write a comic book, so I wrote songs about this character, who’s dead! He’s unliving, and therefore he hates anything alive. We explained it a few times in interviews back then, but either people want to hear it or they don’t.”
In the same interview, Ian pays tribute to his late father-in-law Meat Loaf, who died in January 2022.
“I saw him when I was 14 on the Bat Out Of Hell tour, at a place called the Calderone Concert Hall in Long Island,” says the guitarist, who is married to Meat Loaf’s daughter, Pearl Aday. I was a fan of his for my whole life, and then suddenly I’m walking into the house to take his daughter on a date and I’m practically shitting myself.
“I understood the pecking order. Who is the biggest rock star in the room? It’s Meat! But you know what? He was a great, great guy. Having someone like that as a touchstone and as family? Everything about it was fantastic. He was an incredible human being.”
Read the full interview with Scott Ian in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, featuring Five Finger Death Punch on the cover. Order your copy here.
