Hard Rock And Heavy Metal Artists Look Back On 9/11

This Sunday (September 11) marks the 10th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that brought down the Twin Towers, killed 3,000 people and forever changed both the future of the United States and the course of history. Below is a short series of remarks made by hard rock/metal acts during the ensuing 10 years on 9/11, how it affected them and what it still means.

FILTER singer/guitarist Richard Patrick told The Pulse Of Radio how he and his fellow Chicago residents felt immediately after the attacks took place. "In Chicago, we just got pissed," he said. "I mean, I wasn't there. In New York. I'm sure it was a whole gamut of gigantic . . . But the first three days I was just fuckin' mad. And then I got really sad. I wept for like a couple of days. I just couldn't control it."

AEROSMITH bassist Tom Hamilton told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that he has mixed feelings about how the day should be observed. "You know, it's hard for me to say that it should be a day where everybody remembers it and talks about it, and is, you know, keeps it as the Number One subject of the day; whether it should be a day of mourning and a day of silence and not doing anything; or whether it should be a day where we go out and be defiant and show that we're not gonna change our lives for these people," he said. "I'm not sure I kinda go back and forth. I think everybody should really reflect on that day, but I don't... I wouldn't want to satisfy the criminals who did that by going too far into a fearful feeling."

Tom Araya (SLAYER): "I was at home in L.A. when I first found out what was happening. On September 10th the band had done a midnight in-store signing in El Toro, Calif. for the 9/11 release of our 'God Hates Us All' album. We got home around 4 a.m. from that. I was asleep when Sandra, my wife, was awakened by a phone call that suggested we turn on the television. We then found ourselves watching the first tower on fire and I remember asking Sandra, 'What is this?' We saw the plane hit the second tower and it took a while for everything to register. We were supposed to fly out that day to start a European tour. The whole time we were watching what was unfolding before our eyes I was thinking to myself, 'We ain't flying anywhere for a while!'" (via AOL's Noisecreep)

Steve "Lips" Kudlow (ANVIL): "I was working doing deliveries for Choice Children's Catering when an announcement came on the radio in the delivery van I was driving. I remember thinking, 'How the hell did planes get past radar detection and end up over a no-fly zone over New York City?' I thought this was too much to have been any kind of accident. I thought if the country was being attacked, wouldn't there be some kind of protocol for this? It was awful watching people jumping out of windows to escape the inferno. The news was relentless and heartless in its reports, almost enjoying the news scoop of the century. It was one of the saddest days in history, alongside the JFK, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations. What a colorful history our world has created!" (via AOL's Noisecreep)

Scott Ian (ANTHRAX): "I was in Lincoln, Neb. out on tour, parked outside the venue we were playing, when I first heard the news. I woke up to pee, stumbled out of my bunk to the bathroom on the bus, and the driver was in the front lounge watching television. He said, 'A plane crashed into the WTC and I ought to take a look at what's happening in NYC.' I sat down and finally focused on the TV and saw the first tower smoking and I asked our driver, 'How big of a plane was it?' It was obviously not just a small plane like I had imagined. I sat there stunned, watching the report on CNN when the second plane hit and I ran into the bunk area of the bus yelling for everyone to get up, 'We're under attack, get the fuck up!' or something of that nature. We spent the rest of the day like the rest of the world, glued to the TV on the bus, shocked, horrified and scared shitless by what we were witnessing. Nothing seemed to matter at that point except to get home to our families and we started figuring out how we could all just get home as soon as possible." (via AOL's Noisecreep)

Joe Satriani (CHICKENFOOT): "I was at my home in San Francisco, I heard about the attacks as my radio-alarm clock started to wake me up. In disbelief I turned on the TV and watched in horror, then immediately picked up the phone and tried to reach my family in New York. We were all waiting to hear if my sister-in-law Linda was safe. She made it out of the downtown area and over the Brooklyn Bridge with thousands of others that day. I felt so brokenhearted having to sit my eight-year-old son down and explain to him what had happened. I was so saddened, angry and disappointed that this was the world we had made for our children." (via AOL's Noisecreep)

Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX): "I was out on tour and my wife called my cell and was freaking out. I remember wanting to be home with my family in New York. I was so worried about them and my friends who worked down there. I went back to New York some days after and went down to the site. The first thing that hit me was the glow and smell in the area of the attack. It smelled like death." (via AOL's Noisecreep)