From Guitar World · · 1m 20s
Anthrax's riffs came from the drum stool
For 40 years Charlie Benante wrote a huge chunk of Anthrax's riffs, and wasn't allowed to say so.
In brief
For 40 years Charlie Benante wrote a huge chunk of Anthrax's riffs, and wasn't allowed to say so. Credit withheld doesn't stop the work, but it costs the person doing it more than the band ever realises. Originally reported by Guitar World.
The riff writer nobody named
Scott Ian has been Anthrax's public face since 1981, but drummer Charlie Benante has written a large share of their material on guitar for decades.
Not a secret, just unsayable
People inside the band's orbit knew. Benante simply wasn't cleared to mention it when a journalist put a recorder in front of him.
“Insiders knew, but on the outside, I wasn't really allowed to talk about it in the interviews.”
A drummer writing songs stung
Some bandmates felt discredited that the guy behind the kit was writing the songs. Benante says Scott Ian had no part in the silence.
“I don't think it ever dawned on them the effect that it had on me.”
He rewatches the Go-Go's every year
In the 2020 documentary, the band pushes its two main writers to split credit evenly. Benante watches it annually because it lands exactly on his own bruise.
“That's exactly how I feel.”
Taking the backseat anyway
He vents at the TV once a year, then gets back to work. His loyalty to Anthrax outranks his claim on the credits.
“If I have to take a backseat for it, I'm doing it for the betterment of the band itself.”
Recognition, 40 years late
With 12th album Cursum Perficio out next week, Benante finally gets his due in print. Ian called him a great riff writer back in a 2014 Guitar World studio report.
“It's so weird that 40-something years later I'm starting to get recognized for it.”
The headline
Credit withheld doesn't stop the work, but it costs the person doing it more than the band ever realises.
