Any thrash metal fan in the ‘80s knew that they were going to have to enter the mosh pit at their own risk.
It might be a blast to throw down in the pit when you wanted to, but when it comes to metal bands like Anthrax, you weren’t going to come out of that mosh pit without either a huge bruise or a bloody nose by the end of things.
And from the band’s perspective, that’s just scratching the surface of how wild it could get at the best of times.
When talking about some of the most legendary stage experiences that he ever had, former guitarist Paul Crook talked about seeing one of the fans walking out of the pit with something missing saying:
“This kid got his ear bitten off in the pit…loses his ear, comes back an hour later and he’s in the pit again…best thing I ever saw.”
If you ask Charlie Benante though, that’s just a fraction of what Anthrax was like in the early days saying:
“when the youth caught on to that, it just went. They wanted to thrash and the kids would go absolutely nuts.”
The first mosh pits that they had were a little too much for Joey Belladonna to take in at first, with Frank Bello later saying that “When Joey saw that first crowd, he was almost {frozen}, like ‘Oh My God’.”
That wasn’t too far from the truth either, with Joey saying “I wasn’t sure if it was something that was going to erupt into a fight or if that was just the way it was. It was a little scary at first.”
Compared to what metal was becoming in the ‘80s though, this wasn’t just lashing out for the hell of it anymore. This was the kind of anger that needed to be let out, and if you end up losing body parts in the process, it’s almost like wearing war wounds.
Watch Paul Crook and gang talk about the incident below: