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American guitarist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld,[1] December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist, lyricist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax, of which he is the sole continuous member. Ian is also the guitarist, lyricist, and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death, and is the rhythm guitarist for the metal bands the Damned Things and Mr. Bungle. He has hosted The Rock Show on VH1 and has appeared on VH1's I Love the...[broken anchor] series, Heavy: The Story of Metal, and SuperGroup.
Scott Ian | |
|---|---|
_(Cropped).jpg) Ian performing with Anthrax in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Scott Ian Rosenfeld |
| Born | December 31, 1963 New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Member of |
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| Formerly of | |
Scott Ian Rosenfeld (his name has since been legally changed to drop his birth surname) was born to a Jewish family[2] in the Bayside section of the New York City borough of Queens; he has a younger brother named Jason (who was the lead vocalist of Anthrax for a brief period in the early 1980s)[3] and a half-brother named Sean. Ian attended Bayside High School, with classmates (and future Anthrax bandmates) Dan Lilker and Neil Turbin.[4]
Witnessing KISS live at Madison Square Garden in 1977 made a huge impact on Ian, who has been vocal about his love for the band (Ian appeared on an episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, in which he visited Simmons' home and spoke about the impact KISS has had on his life). Ian went on to be influenced by British heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Judas Priest, as well as the punk rock band Ramones. The musical style of his playing and songwriting including fast alternate picking was also largely influenced by the German metal band Accept.
Ian states that Malcolm Young, Rudolf Schenker, and Johnny Ramone were his biggest influences to pursue rhythm guitar.[5]
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As a founding member of Anthrax, Ian helped to create thrash metal in the mid-1980s alongside Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica. He came up with the idea to collaborate with the rap group Public Enemy, covering their song "Bring the Noise" in 1991. This has been considered a foundational recording of the rap/rock genre. In 2005, Ian was invited by Chuck D of Public Enemy to perform "Bring the Noise" with them as part of their induction into VH1's Hip Hop Honors Hall of Fame. He also joined Public Enemy on the Rock the Bells tour in 2007.[6][7]
Ian began working with music television channel VH1 in 2001, when he was asked to host the program Rock Show. During his 48 episodes as host, he interviewed guests including Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Ted Nugent, Stone Temple Pilots, Megadeth, 3 Doors Down, Sevendust, Tenacious D, and the Cult. Ian was a regular commentator on various VH1 shows including the I Love the... series, 100 Most Metal Moments, Awesomely Bad Number One Songs, When Metallica Ruled the World, and episodes of VH1's Behind the Music featuring Metallica, Pantera and Anthrax. Ian was prominently featured in VH1's History of Heavy Metal. In June 2006, he starred in the VH1 reality series SuperGroup with Ted Nugent, Sebastian Bach, Jason Bonham and Evan Seinfeld.
Ian plays guitar in the group Pearl (with his wife, Pearl Aday), who toured with Velvet Revolver and Meat Loaf. Pearl's debut album was released on January 19, 2010, through Megaforce Records. Ian performed with Pearl on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 20, 2010.
In 2008, DC Comics asked Ian to write a two-issue prestige-format comics series for the character Lobo. Books one and two of Lobo: Highway to Hell were released in November and December 2009.
In 2008, Ian signed with UltimateBet, the third largest internet gaming site in the world, as one of their online professional players.[8] He joined professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke as one of Ultimate Bet's star pros. He won Ultimate Bet's premier Sunday 200K tournament and cashed in in 2010's WSOP main event by finishing 634th out of 6494 players.[citation needed]
In 2010, Ian joined the metal supergroup the Damned Things, which released their first album on December 14, 2010. On June 21, 2011, his wife gave birth to the couple's first child, thus forcing Ian to briefly depart from Anthrax's tour. Andreas Kisser of Sepultura filled in for Scott on guitar during Scott's absence.[9]
Ian provided voice work for the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, as the character "Some Guy Who Snuck Into Dethklok's Trunk Last Night When They Were Pretty Hammered" in the "Season III: The Dead Man" opening episode "Renovationklok", as well as providing guest voices in the episode "Tributeklok".
Ian did a spoken word tour entitled Speaking Words, starting in May 2013, in the UK.[10]
In 2014, he and his wife joined former members of Mother Superior to form Motor Sister. They released their debut album, Ride, on March 9, 2015.[11]
He also toured Europe and North American with a solo spoken word storytelling act called "Speaking Words" that year.[12]
In 2015, Da Capo Press published Ian's memoir titled I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax.[13][14][15]
On December 12, 2017, Ian released his book Access All Areas: Stories from a Hard Rock Life, which is a follow-up to his first autobiographical book I'm the Man, published November 24, 2015.[16] The book features stories about his life including not only his adventures with Anthrax, but also with other musical celebrities such as Madonna and David Lee Roth.[17][18]
In 2018, he toured Australia on another spoken word act called "'Spoken Word Stories by Scottie'"[19] also known as "One Man Riot".[20]
In 2019, he contributed the foreword to the book King's X: The Oral History by Greg Prato, published by Jawbone Press.[21]
Ian has appeared as himself, representing the character Kevin's conscience, in the 2022 American teen comedy-drama Metal Lords.[22]
Ian was formerly married to his high school girlfriend, Marge Ginsburg, in the 1980s;[1] the marriage ended in divorce.[citation needed]
In 2011, he married singer Pearl Aday, adopted daughter of singer Meat Loaf.[23][24] They have one child.[25]
Ian is a New York Yankees fan[26] and enjoys snowboarding.[citation needed] He plays poker and is an online pro at UltimateBet; he finished 637th in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, taking home $21,365.[27] He is also a Battlestar Galactica fan and has posted numerous blogs about the show, even making an appearance for the red carpet series finale; he also played guitar on the soundtrack of The Plan, a made-for-DVD Battlestar Galactica film. He is a fan of the television series Doctor Who, as seen in "The Best of the Doctor", which aired August 13, 2011 on BBC America (numbered episode 166). Ian is a fan of hip hop and rap music, particularly Public Enemy and Run-DMC. He was known to wear Public Enemy shirts while performing gigs in the late 1980s. He has also said Run-DMC came out with the same aggression that metal bands played with (that he was listening to at the time), and that Run-DMC was the group that put rap on the map.
He co-owned a hard rock bar called Dead Man's Hand in Las Vegas with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.[28]
Ian is an avid fan of Stephen King and has collected first and limited editions of his books. A number of Anthrax's songs were inspired by King's stories such as "Among the Living" (based on The Stand), "A Skeleton In The Closet" (Apt Pupil), "Lone Justice" and "Breathing Lightning" (the Dark Tower series).[29]
| Date of release | Title | Label | Chart positions | US sales |
| December 1985 | Speak English or Die | Megaforce Records | ||
| October 24, 1992 | Live at Budokan | Megaforce Records | ||
| May 22, 1999 | Bigger than the Devil | Nuclear Blast Records | ||
| August 21, 2007 | Rise of the Infidels | Megaforce Records |
| Date of release | Title | Label | Chart positions | US sales |
| January 23, 2001 | Kill Yourself: The Movie (DVD or VHS) | Nuclear Blast Records | ||
| September 25, 2001 | Speak English or Live (DVD) | Nuclear Blast Records | ||
| July 26, 2005 | 20 Years of Dysfunction | Nuclear Blast Records |
| Date of release | Title | Label | Chart positions | US sales |
| October 30, 2020 | The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo | Ipecac | ||
| June 11, 2021 | The Night They Came Home | Ipecac | ||
Scott Ian uses his signature Jackson guitars and signature Randall MTS Series heads and cabinets. He is known to use Dimebag Darrell tribute Deans and previously endorsed Washburn.[31][32][33] During the mid-1980s, he used ESP guitars for a while, also getting Kirk Hammett his ESP endorsement. Scott uses a DigiTech signature Black 13 distortion pedal, and a DigiTech chorus pedal for his clean sounds.[34] Many of his guitars have been equipped with custom made Seymour Duncan "El Diablo" pickups,[35] but can also be seen using standard Seymour Duncan SH-4's and '59 pickups on several guitars, including his newest signature Jackson. He also recently began endorsing Evertune bridges.[36]
In late 2009, Ian ended his endorsement with Washburn and went back to Jackson guitars. He was seen using custom made Soloist and Randy Rhoads guitars during the 2009 Sonisphere Festival. On March 27, 2010, Ian announced the production of a new signature guitar by Jackson via Twitter and YouTube. He said it would be based on his Soloist from 1987. It has a silverburst finish, a single Seymour Duncan J.B. humbucker, lightning bolt inlays, and a string-thru/tune-o-matic bridge. A dual-humbucker version with a Floyd Rose tremolo will also be released. He stated, "I am so stoked to be back with Jackson." He was seen using this guitar while playing with Brian Posehn at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards and with the Damned Things at the 2011 Download Festival.
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