Sometimes you get more than you bargained for at a live show, like when Anthrax bring out Public Enemy emcee Chuck D to perform their crossover hit, “Bring the Noise.”
Fans at the thrash legends’ show at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles last night, July 29, were treated to the surprise performance. Guitarist Scott Ian referred to a “collaboration we did a few years back” before asking the crowd to “yell so loud it would fucking conjure Chuck D on this stage.” Anthrax then launched into the song while Chuck D jumped on stage.
Anthrax and Public Enemy—consistently Chuck D and Flavor Flav, with rotating other members—originally recorded the song in 1991 and released it the same year on Anthrax’s rarities comp Attack Of The Killer B’s and again that same year on Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black.
Public Enemy recorded the original version of “Bring the Noise” in 1987, when it was included on the soundtrack for the movie Less Than Zero and then as the lead single for their debut album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
In 2013, Ian told The National Student that he doesn’t think the ’91 collaboration inspired nü-metal.
“I never thought we invented it. It certainly opened a door, even just a window for people to jump out of. I truly believe that Rage Against the Machine were the band that drove a train through that door; they took the influences in their individuals and came together to make a band out of it.
“Whereas with us and Public Enemy, it’s not like Anthrax became a rap group and it’s not like Public Enemy became a metal group, we just collaborated together and did something great. We didn’t then become one unit and continue to make music like that. Whereas, Rage Against were that unit and this is the music that they were creating from their souls which blew up massively on a worldwide level.”
Chuck D and Public Enemy’s DJ Lord, plus Cypress Hill rapper B-Real, formed Prophets of Rage in 2016 with Rage Against the Machine’s instrumental section. The group played together until 2019, when Rage Against the Machine reformed.