Thrash Metal’s Big Four: How Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer Survived

When Daniel Bukszpan put on Anthrax’s Among the Living at the record store where he worked in the ’80s, customers asked him to take it off and play Crosby, Stills & Nash. He figured thrash metal’s Big Four wouldn’t even make it to 1989. In 2011, all four bands shared a stage at Yankee Stadium. Daniel joins me on Booked On Rock to talk about how they got there and to share stories from his book, Heavy Metal’s Big Four: How Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer Reshaped Metal.

We get into what happened to Dave Mustaine’s music after Metallica fired him, why Rick Rubin wanted less reverb on Slayer’s Reign in Blood, and what Joey Belladonna sang at his Anthrax audition that nobody would’ve expected. Watch the full interview above or listen to the audio episode below or on your favorite podcast app.