State of Euphoria

Album information

The album was produced by Anthrax and Mark Dodson, with Alex Perialas engineering. The album reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart in late 1988 and was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 8, 1989. The songs "Who Cares Wins", dealing with the plight of the homeless, and "Antisocial" were released as singles with accompanying music videos.

The song "Misery Loves Company" is based on the Stephen King novel Misery, while "Now It's Dark" was inspired by the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, specifically the behavior of the sexually depraved, self-asphyxiating, murderous sociopath Frank Booth, as played by Dennis Hopper. The song was years later made into simlish for the radio on the The Sims PC game. The song "Make Me Laugh" is critical of Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker and Televangelism in general, a popular target of thrash metal bands of that period. The song specifically mentioned minutiae such as the air-conditioned doghouse and Christian amusement park. The majority of the album's music was composed by drummer Charlie Benante while lyrics were composed by rhythm guitarist Scott Ian.

The back cover of the album contains a parody picture of the band drawn by Mort Drucker, a caricaturist best known for his artwork in the magazine Mad.

Reception

Although the album contains some of what would become Anthrax's best known songs such as "Antisocial", "Finale", and "Be All, End All", critical reception was lukewarm. The album failed to live up to the expectations, commercial and otherwise, set by the band's previous releases, Spreading the Disease, Among the Living and the I'm the Man EP.

Touring and promotion

Anthrax spent nearly a year touring in support of State of Euphoria. Prior to the album's release, the band supported Iron Maiden on their Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour in Europe, and opened for Ozzy Osbourne on his No Rest for the Wicked tour in the United States from November 1988 to January 1989. The band also opened for Metallica on their Damaged Justice tour.

Anthrax continued touring in 1989, playing six shows in the UK with Living Colour in March, and headlining the Headbangers Ball Tour (with support from Helloween and Exodus) in April–May. Following the Headbangers Ball tour, Anthrax toured Europe with Suicidal Tendencies, King's X and M.O.D., which took place in June–July 1989.

Track listing

All tracks written by Anthrax, except "Antisocial" by Bernie Bonvoisin and Norbert Krief.

Personnel