In late summer/early fall 1986, the Aerosmith/Run DMC version of "Walk This Way" blended rock and rap. But a year later, Anthrax's "I'm The Man," which did indeed riff off of "Hava Nagila," created the whole rap-metal genre, which would dominate in the mid-90s. But "I'm The Man" had a quality which was rare then, just as rare now: humor.

So let us go back to that Fall '87 semester. Along with 2,500 others, I crammed into San Francisco's academic public high school. You can see why and how the academic school loved thrash and progressive metal. Based out of the Bay Area, Metallica were "ours." Because the student body was ethnically diverse, the school appreciated Daly City's Death Angel, consisting of Filipino cousins. The school's D&D/fantasy wing loved the prog metal of Savatage. For those who wanted to turn everything into the stereotype of hell, we had Slayer. All those kids in the orchestra who were good at math revered teh neoclassical metal of Yngwie Malmsteen. But for regular middle class kids, Anthrax made it accessible.

Okay, okay, the school's mascot was the Indian, so Anthrax's "Indians" was our beloved unofficial theme song.

But anyway, among my audiophile friends, one wing argues that 1987 was pop music's finest. Anthrax's rap-metal "I'm The Man" is yet another salvo in the pro-1987 argument.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

• I'm The Man

 RE: Anthrax, "I'm The Man" - fantja 14:33:47 04/09/17 (0)

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 RE: Anthrax, "I'm The Man" - fantja 14:33:47 04/09/17 (0)