Anthrax’s Scott Ian answered fan questions in a recent conversation on Metal Hammer and admitted that he regrets Anthrax’s cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Eighteen.’
‘I’m Eighteen’ is Alice Cooper’s 1970 single, which is considered one of his early breakthroughs since it was his first track to reach the top forty. Besides, ‘I’m Eighteen’s success had convinced Warner Bros. that Cooper was a promising musician and had the potential to release a commercially successful album.
The song was also highly influential for numerous hard rock, punk, and heavy metal acts. For instance, Ramones’ Joey Ramone wrote his first song based on its chords, and John Lydon played the hit during his audition for Sex Pistols. Moreover, Anthrax also covered ‘I’m Eighteen.’
In a recent conversation on Metal Hammer, Anthrax frontman Scott Ian answered some fan questions. One of his fans asked him which Anthrax song he would want to wipe from history if that were possible. Upon seeing this question, Ian remembered the time Anthrax covered Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Eighteen.’
Scott Ian admitted that he never wanted to cover ‘I’m Eighteen‘ although he loves the song, and added that it’s the only Anthrax song where he didn’t play rhythm guitar. Ian revealed that they decided to cover ‘I’m Eighteen’ when Quiet Riot achieved massive success with their cover of Slade’s ‘Cum On Feel The Noize.’ Although he was against this idea, he was outvoted, so he chose not to play on the song.
A fan asked the following question to Scott Ian via Metal Hammer:
“What’s the one Anthrax song you’d wipe from history if you could?”
Ian responded:
“We covered Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Eighteen.’ I love that song, but I never wanted to cover it. It’s the only Anthrax song on which I’m not playing rhythm guitar. Quiet Riot had gone to No.1 with ‘Cum On Feel The Noize,’ so everyone was like, ‘Let’s do a cover song; maybe we’ll get on the radio!’ I was totally against it, but I got outvoted, so I didn’t play guitar on it.”
You can listen to Anthrax’s rendition of Alice Cooper’s song ‘I’m Eighteen’ below.
