In Stephen King’s On Writing, the best selling author talked about how important it is to create an environment where creativity can thrive, and that meant pushing out the outside world.
”I work to loud music,” King wrote. “Hard-rock stuff like AC/DC, Guns n’ Roses, and Metallica have always been particular favorites…”
And recently to The Atlantic, King states he’s still a big fan of metal, although he has to listen to music when rewriting.
“I don’t listen to music when I compose anymore,” King said. “I can’t. I’ve lost the ability to multitask that way! Metallica, Anthrax…I still listen to those guys.”
Scott Ian of Anthrax of course has been a huge fan of King’s forever, and the songs “Among the Living” and “Skeletons In the Closet” were based on the novel The Stand, and the short story “Apt Pupil” respectively.
As Ian recalled in Rip magazine aeons ago, someone at their label, Island, freaked out about the songs being based on King’s work thinking they could get sued, and insisted on getting a signed release from him.
Once Anthrax’s management got in touch with King, they found out he was already an Antrhax fan, had their two previous albums, and was more than happy to have his stories turned into fierce metal classics.
King was supposed to see Anthrax several times over the years, but the timing didn’t work out.
Once when the band was playing up in Maine with Pantera, King was going to drive down, but couldn’t make it because of an ice storm.
“Both times he faxed our office, apologizing that he couldn’t be there,” says Ian. “He’s actually used us in one of his books, it’s in the Dark Tower series, either 2 or 3, where one of the characters is thinking back to when he used to see Anthrax at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.”
Dee Snider of Twisted Sister also says, “His station, WZON in Bagnor, was the first CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) station in the country to add ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.’ I found out that he himself had requested it, and he would tell the radio station what to play so he could listen to it in his house.”
