Ah yes the summer of 2001. So many good movies came out that year. You had the first Shrek, the first Fast And The Furious, Legally Blonde, Swordfish, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, and American Pie 2 among others. One such film to come out in August was the John Carpenter movie Ghosts Of Mars and he needed a metal band to score the film. Now who would be a great choice?? Why Anthrax of course so let’s take a look…..
John Carpenter is known for many great films including the original Halloween, Halloween 2, The Thing remake, They Live, Prince Of Darkness, and Escape From New York among others. Ghosts Of Mars would be his first movie of the millennium and for those who have never seen Ghosts Of Mars, it’s a sci-fi horror film set on a colonized Mars in the 22nd century. It’s about a squad of police officers and a convicted criminal who fight against the residents of a mining colony who have been possessed by the ghosts of the planet’s original inhabitants. I remember renting this on dvd from Blockbuster and really enjoyed it however, it didn’t do well in theaters and was considered a flop. Ghosts Of Mars stars Natasha Henstridge, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Ice Cube, and Clea Duvall.
Now we get to how Anthrax is involved and well John Carpenter directly reached out to Scott Ian and said he needed a heavy metal band for his next movie. It’s really that simple. He needed a high energy, guitar driven metal band for this one instead of his usual just synthesizer score. Of course he did include synthesizers but it was paired with Anthrax’s heavy sound. Of course he didn’t just have Anthrax and he also brought in Steve Vai, Buckethead, Elliot Easton of The Cars, and Robin Finck of Nine Inch Nails. Anthrax are featured on 6 songs including “Love Siege (includes Buckethead and Robin Finck),” “Fight Train (with Robin Finck),” “Kick Ass (with Buckethead),” “Power Station (with Robin Finck),” “Pam Grier’s Head (with Elliot Easton),” and “Ghost Poppin’ (with Steve Vai and Robin Finck).” Most may think the movie isn’t that good and when it comes to John Carpenter films, it’s not really mentioned but the soundtrack is pretty damn cool. It’s definitely something a little different for a band like Anthrax and if you want to listen to it, you’ll pretty much have to YouTube it or find it on physical media.
