# 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.
- Title: Anthrax's riffs came from the drum stool · Guitar World
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: anthrax, thrash metal, songwriting, credit, charlie benante, Anthrax's, riffs, came, drum, stool, Guitar World
- Source: Guitar World — https://guitarworld.com/artists/bands/charlie-benantes-anthrax-riff-frustration
- Published: 2026-09-13T18:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: anthrax, thrash metal, songwriting, credit, charlie benante
## 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.
## Key takeaway

Credit withheld doesn't stop the work, but it costs the person doing it more than the band ever realises.