Isn't the success of retro-thrash more to do with the fact that the majority of the 1980s thrash bands that have survived till the present have grown up and made better music than they might have done previously? Regarding Testament, I only really got into Testament because TFOD was such a good album.

Chuck Billy rightly called Mustaine an asshole because of Mustaine's comments on the Aurora and Wisconsin shootings last year.

The intro riff to "Rise Up" is the only real thrash riff on there. True American Hate is a decent song with a sweet solo section, but fast =/= thrash. If I had to describe it, I would say straightforward heavy metal. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy it I just wouldn't consider it thrash.

That story was from the "Dirt" book. As I recall, Nikki's story was that this woman came to his hotel room and came on to him. He didn't know who she was until the next day or so when he saw her with Bruce (both bands were playing a festival together...maybe Monsters of Rock, I don't remember).

Clive was kicked out due to excessive partying. Steve Harris and Rod Smallwood have no patience for partying when it affects performance and were quick to remove both Paul DiAnno (who had the biggest problem) and Clive Burr over it. Although there isn't any bad blood, Clive was reportedly extremely upset about being fired and, to this day, refuses to speak publicly about his time in Maiden.

I thought Paul was kicked out because he refused to perform in big venues, and wanted to keep Maiden as an underground thing.....

The story, as I read it, was the Paul was the self-sabotaging type. The bigger Maiden got, the more fucked up he'd get and it was clear to the band that they couldn't get to the next level with him. Paul's been pretty open about his partying. He may have wanted to keep it underground, but that's also a good excuse for the self-sabotaging type (and I'm not saying that everyone who wants to stay underground is like that).

I remember reading a really funny interview with Proscriptor (Absu), making fun of the former Dark Funeral guitar player. that shit was make me laught really loud.

if i found the scan of the interview, i will post here.

Im guessing Agent Steel hates Anthrax:

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af3/MercyfulSaint/AgentSteelLyricsheet_zpsb1d3e1de.jpg

It's either that or the "NOT" thing is a joke about how Scott Ian used "NOT" as a nickname. I remember reading an interview with Kerry King in which he said that Anthrax shouldn't go on the Big 4 tour because they'd been in pieces previously (around 2003-2009)

I think it's been pretty well-established that Scott Ian is a douchebag, so it's not hard to imagine that he burned bridges there. Of course, it might also have something to do with John Cyriis being a loon. Who fuckin' knows?

DEz Fafara (DevilDriver) vs Cronos (Venom), apparently there was some dispute because of Venom dropping out om a tour with them for the third time or so...

Dez: Shitty dude!!! I'm wearing a VENOM shirt right now while we're talking. Right now! And now I think everybody that just says they like VENOM just wants to be fucking cool because the guy's a dickhead and I've only seen like two of those in twelve years, I swear to god. Everybody I've ever run into from, like we said, from [Dave] Mustaine to [Philip] Anselmo and to Ozzy have all been the most down to earth, cool guys. But that dude should have never fucking opened his mouth against me and my band. DEVILDRIVER will take that band apart and he should just go….go fucking get a job at Wal-Mart because he's done.

lol @ that shitty mallcore band insulting the guys from Venom, sure Cronos may be a bit terse but I've heard rumors of Dez being just as much of an asshole to the bands that tour with those Hottopic fixtures as well.

Yeah, from what I've gathered it came down to Paul wanting to keep the punk element in Maiden, which was less and less of a factor, and the venues were getting bigger - he wasn't as in to what metal was really about and, as you say, partied really hard to deal with it. He has been very candid about that being precisely why his time in Maiden came to a close - they didn't want him there because of how he was acting, and he didn't want to play the material the band was moving towards.

Cronos' being a dick is common knowledge, and the same is true for Dez. Of the latter, a friend of mine who asked John Gallagher about that one tour that Fetus was on with DevilDriver was told in no uncertain terms that no one in Fetus ever wants to see, be around, or have anything to do with Dez Fafara again. He didn't really elaborate beyond saying that Dez wasn't able to go a minute without acting like an asshole or pissing someone off and that DD got blacklisted by at least one venue because of his behavior.

Wait a minute his name is Fafara?
That just cracks me up a jolly lot when I say it.
What a funny ass name.
Cronos is a dick but we like him. He was very much so back in the early days when Abaddon was still in the band. The only other person I've heard him insult in recent times has been Abaddon.

I looked through my copies of Mega Metal Kerrang #3 and #4 (1986) last night. In MMK #3, Scott Ian stated that John Cyriis tried to start a fight with a road crew member, and then was sarcastic that John Cyriis would return to the planet he came from in 2011. In MMK #4, a female fan defended John Cyriis in a letter. This fan is listed on the Agent Steel thank you list that says "NOT Anthrax." Also, the Fates Warning album "Spectre Within" has Anthrax listed in its "No thanks to" section.

So more or less what I expected. Ian and Belladonna are well-known douchebags, and Cyriis' reputation for being a fucking loon certainly seems like it could extend to his being a dick as well. Not surprised about the Fates Warning liner notes, either, as Anthrax pissed off a lot of people in their time.

Belladonna? Or do you mean Benante? Met Joey once, he seemed nice and I always heard he was a laid back guy.

I've heard nothing but bad things about Belladonna's personality.

I've only heard great things about Belladonna. All the bad shit I've read comes from Benante and Ian, who have tons of people saying they are the douches.

Frank, what exactly have you heard about Joey?
Because I too, have only heard that Scott is the douche el grande of that band.

A few friends of mine who worked the Mayhem Fest all told me that he was a colossal dick. Rude as hell to the staff, arrogant, pushy, obnoxiously demanding, and extremely unpleasant to be around in general, which happened to be the exact same things they said about Ian. Surprisingly enough, they said that Benante was actually pretty chill for the most part, while Caggiano and Bello apparently kept to themselves. I don't know if that was an off night or what (this was at the Mass date), but one of them was friends with someone who worked at the Corfu, NY show and who more or less said the same thing about him.

Frank, not doubting your info. here, but Joey has a pretty solid "good guy" rep in the metal community. During his solo band appearances he's known to mingle with the crowd and hobnob with everyone. Although, that being said, back in 1991 when I went to see Anthrax at a Tower Records store signing event during Clash of the Titans, the only "cool" one was Frankie. The others were all wearing sunglasses acting like celebrities.

Maybe time has changed him. I don't know what he was like then, but it makes sense that jumping back into the limelight has probably both inflated his ego and cut down on his patience for what he sees as trivial matters. It would explain why he was making all sorts of unreasonable demands and acting like a self-entitled jackass to the staff.

When I met Joey he was doing his solo stuff, before the firs reunion with Anthrax, and he was playing a tiny bar. Maybe it humbled him. I don't know. I've honestly not heard a lot bad about him or Benante, actually. The only person who really badmouths Charlie is Billy Milano, so take that for what it's worth. Sucks to hear that Joey was a dick.

Jeff Walker on Pestilence:

" I never thought they were an incredible band, to be honest. They were just some Dutch thrash band. It was obvious from watching them while touring"

"they were too busy copying other people. Even when they got really technical, they were just copying Cynic"

"Martin was a really cool guy, and I still know their old manager Graham"

"Some of them were nice guys"

"Patrick Mameli's going to me, 'hey hey, I heard you two guys got laid. I'm better looking than you - I'll get more chicks', shit like that."

Mameli has definitely made a colossal ass out of himself in quite a few of the press releases, and I know that he was a total dick to Martin Van Drunen back in the day. No clue if there's still bad blood between them or not, but it's pretty likely.

Another thing to contribute: not sure how true this is, but Dave Astor and Kevin Schwartz apparently sort of forced Jonathan Huber to leave. This is friend-of-a-friend shit that I can't confirm or deny, but it was apparently due to his being an asshole in general, and I can absolutely verify that he is a creepy little prick who loves to do things like propositioning people's GFs on Skype and Facebook Chat. Regularly. As such, it's totally conceivable that he pissed them off by way of pulling this shit on a regular basis and got shitcanned for it.

Jon Nödtveidt was not too pleased with some ex-members of Dissection. In one interview while he was in prison, he talked about them being weaklings that tried to do everything possible to make sure he was in prison for the rest of his life and that they were trying to live off of the Dissection name while not being worthy or dedicated. He also referred to IT as a midget that was masturbating in the studio, making pointless noise, and calling it an album when talking about Abruptum.

You should hear the Canadian radio interview Dio gave in 1981 where he called Ozzy "an animal...a stupid human being." I loved RJD, but that was a stretch too far, especially since in the same radio special Ozzy was very polite about Ronnie.

Sorry, it was actually the other way around. Dio said that Clampbell had called him the most despicabe person alive.

Dan Lilker.

on former drummer Scott Lewis : "left the band 'cos he was sick of playing drums and touring, he really just wanted to sprawl on the couch with remote in hand"

on Burzum: "Great music from an idiot"

on Neil Turbin: "(he) had me thrown out 'cos he didn't like me. Seriously, he was angry that I was taller than him and it bothered his ego"

I completely agree with what Lilker said about Burzum.

Definitely agreeing with Lilker on Neil Turbin. Lilker did alright with Nuclear Assault and SOD, but Turbin has kind of dropped off the radar a bit.

Part of Ozzy's stage-show involved the mock execution of a midget by hanging, possibly a (incredibly childish) gibe at RJD's height. Plus, after Ward left Black Sabbath in 1980 (approx), he referred to the Dio-Iommi-Butler-Appice lineup as "Geezer and the Three Wops".

Ozzy threatened Dio with shooting him if he ever sang anything from Osbourne's era (I'll try to find the article where that was written), so fuck that. Ozzy is an asshole.

Actually Ilwhyan, there's a video on YouTube where Dio says some seriously nasty shit about Vivian. You can look it up if you want to.

The video in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwZBo8FQvo

As for the Dio vs Ozzy thing, I think both have said stuff about the other, although by the 00s Ozzy was being very polite when talking about Dio, I know that much - and he was quite respectful about him after he passed away. It seems to be Shannon that stirs the most shit between Ozzy and other bands.

To be fair, Turbin is in a pretty solid band now called the Deathriders. Great band but they've been taking too damn long to get their "new" album finished.

DeGarmo is hotter and more feminine than Jamie Lee Curtis.

Hahaha, what the fuck. And just as I expected, your argument is "riffs". True American Hate being a heavy metal song? This album is almost pure modern thrash.

In the one I was originally referring to, Dio simply said that he hopes Campbell "fucking dies", and that he really is a piece of shit. Dio was angered that Campbell, whom Dio considered to have been "made somebody" by him, had called Dio something like the single most despicable person alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwZBo8FQvo

The Dio clip in question.