Scott Ian reveals which song got Anthrax banned from MTV

Scott Ian with Anthrax in 2022 — (Image credit: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has revealed which song got the thrashers banned from MTV.

In a new video interview with Metal Hammer, the New York band’s co-founder says the station objected to the content of their music video for 1985 single Madhouse, to the point Anthrax were banned from making the airwaves.

The clip depicted people in straitjackets moshing around an abandoned mental hospital, and was received as being demeaning to the mentally ill.

“It was submitted to MTV, which was a bit of a long shot anyway for a band named ‘Anthrax’ and playing the music we played,” Ian remembers.

“And MTV came back to us and very politely said, ‘We will never air this. You are banned from MTV, because we feel that you are making fun of the mentally impaired. We were like, ‘What?!’”

Being the anti-establishment thrashers they were, Anthrax wore the rejection as “a badge of honour”. “We were like, ‘Fuck MTV anyway! Who need this shit?!’” Ian continues. “This was before [popular rock and metal programme] Headbangers Ball became a thing in the 80s.

“We were very excited about it. I think the label put out a press release saying we were officially banned from MTV. Of course, that gets people excited.”

MTV changed their stance on Anthrax as they rose to prominence during the mid-to-late 80s. Their cover of Trust track Antisocial became a mainstay on the network and, in 1989, it held a competition where the winner could have their home trashed by the band.

Longtime bassist Frank Bello reflected on the contest in a 2014 Loudwire interview: “It was fun because we could legitimately break things. We broke things and they [MTV] were gonna pay for it. Think about that: ‘Go in there and break stuff.’ ‘Fine!’ I think the owners got a little scared ’cause we were going for it […] but we had a ball, man.”

Anthrax released their latest album, For All Kings, in 2016 and are currently at work on its long-anticipated followup. In September, drummer Charlie Benante told Hammer: “As of right now, we have 13 or 14 songs [recorded]. They’re not all going to make the record, but we know which are.”

Of the album’s musical style, Benante added, “There’s a song which has the same kind of epic feel as In The End [from 2011’s Worship Music] and Blood Eagle Wings [from For All Kings]. It revolves around the journey we’ve been on in the band. And there are three songs that don’t sound like anything we’ve done before. One called The Edge Of Perfection I had way before Covid, and it has just stayed with me – the melody and the chords, but also the aggression.”

Watch the full interview with Ian, where he details the five songs which have defined Anthrax’s career, below.

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.