Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, 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... series, Heavy: The Story of Metal, and SuperGroup.
Early life Scott Ian Rosenfeld (his name has since been legally changed to drop his birth surname) was born to a Jewish familyTablet Magazine: "Q&A: SCOTT IAN - Before the “Big Four” thrash metal show at Yankee Stadium, the Anthrax guitarist and lyricist talks Queens, Jews, and Louis Farrakhan" By David Samuels September 13, 2011 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) and a half-brother named Sean. Ian attended Bayside High School, with classmates (and future Anthrax bandmates) Dan Lilker and Neil Turbin, graduating in 1981.
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. He learned how to play guitar by listening to AC/DC records such as Powerage and Highway to Hell, he would sit in his room and learn how to play every song on the albums.
Career
Anthrax
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. During his tenure Anthrax has sold over 10 million albums worldwide and have been nominated for six Grammy Awards.
Stormtroopers of Death In 1985, Scott Ian co-founded the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death as a satirical take on hardcore punk, recruiting Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante, former Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker, and vocalist Billy Milano. After releasing one album Speak English or Die that same year the band went on a hiatus before briefly coming back from 1997 till 2002.
A Stormtroopers of Death tribute set headlined the Milwaukee Metal Fest on May 16, 2025, with Ian on guitar, Dan Lilker on bass, Ian's son Revel Ian on drums and Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta on vocals.
Other ventures 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 2006, Ian joined the supergroup Damnocracy, however the band did not release any albums and disbanded in 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.
From 2007 to 2013, Ian hosted / cohosted the annual Kerrang! Awards.
In 2008, Ian signed with UltimateBet, the third largest internet gaming site in the world, as one of their online professional players. 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.
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.
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.
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.
He also toured Europe and North American with a solo spoken word storytelling act called "Speaking Words" that year.
In 2015, Da Capo Press published Ian's memoir titled I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax.
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. 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.
In 2018, he toured Australia on another spoken word act called "'Spoken Word Stories by Scottie'" also known as "One Man Riot".
In 2019, he contributed the foreword to the book King's X: The Oral History by Greg Prato, published by Jawbone Press.
In 2020, Ian joined Mr. Bungle for their series of reunion shows where they performed their 1986 demo album The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny. He then played on the re-recording of the album which was released later that year.
Appearances in films Ian has appeared as himself in the 2003 comedy Calendar Girls and representing the character Kevin's conscience, in the 2022 American teen comedy-drama Metal Lords. Ian played a zombie in the Walking Dead appearing in the 2015 episode "Remember." In 2023, he voiced an Elite Tribunal Soldier animated musical fantasy film Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar.
Personal life Ian was formerly married to his high school girlfriend, Marge Ginsburg, in the 1980s; the marriage ended in divorce.
In 2011, he married singer Pearl Aday, adopted daughter of singer Meat Loaf. They have one child.
Ian is a New York Yankees fan and enjoys snowboarding. 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. 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.
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).
Discography
With Anthrax
With Stormtroopers of Death Date of releaseTitleLabelChart positionsUS salesDecember 1985Speak English or DieMegaforce RecordsOctober 24, 1992Live at BudokanMegaforce RecordsMay 22, 1999Bigger than the DevilNuclear Blast RecordsAugust 21, 2007Rise of the InfidelsMegaforce Records
Stormtroopers of Death videos Date of releaseTitleLabelChart positionsUS salesJanuary 23, 2001Kill Yourself: The Movie (DVD or VHS)Nuclear Blast RecordsSeptember 25, 2001Speak English or Live (DVD)Nuclear Blast RecordsJuly 26, 200520 Years of DysfunctionNuclear Blast Records
With Mr. Bungle Date of releaseTitleLabelChart positionsUS salesOctober 30, 2020The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny DemoIpecacJune 11, 2021The Night They Came HomeIpecac
Collaborations Performed with Public Enemy during the Rock the Bells 2007 tour. Comedian Brian Posehn's music video "Metal By Numbers". Wrote the DC 2-part comic Lobo: Highway to Hell (2-part series, illustrated by Sam Kieth) Played guitar on "Apocalypse (Theme from The Plan)", a track on Bear McCreary's Razor/The Plan soundtrack. Performed guitar on "Evil Rules" by rapper Necro on his 2007 album, "Death Rap". Played guitar on all tracks on Pearl's "Little Immaculate White Fox" (2010). Played guitar on Cut-throat on Sepultura's album SepulQuarta, album of quarantine collaborations (2021).
Television Married... with Children 1992 NewsRadio (as himself) VH1's Rock Show (as host) 1999–2002 VH1's Hip-Hop Honors – performer along with Anthrax & Public Enemy for "Bring Tha Noise". VH1's Supergroup 2006 VH1's "I Love The..." series specials VH1's "40 Greatest Metal Songs" VH1's "100 Most Metal Moments" VH1's "40 Least Metal Moments" VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" VH1's "100 Most Shocking Music Moments" VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" VH1's Rock Honors Kiss. Performers: Rob Zombie (Rob Zombie, White Zombie), Scott Ian, Gilby Clarke (ex-Guns N' Roses, The Starfuckers, Rock Star Supernova), Slash (ex-Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Ace Frehley (ex-Kiss), Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe, Rock Star Supernova). VH1 Classic's "Rock 'n Roll Celebrity Poker Tournament" – Scott won the tournament and played against Sully Erna (Godsmack), Vinnie Paul (ex-Pantera), Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) and Ace Frehley. NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice Metalocalypse – "RenovationKlok" (voice only) Metalocalypse – "TributeKlok" (voice only) That Metal Show – Season 4, Episode 3, along with wife Pearl Aday. That Metal Show – Season 8, Episode 5, along with bandmate Charlie Benante, and Dave Sabo of Skid Row. That Metal Show – Season 14, Episode 2, along with bandmates Charlie Benante and Frank Bello AMC's Talking Dead, panel member. The Walking Dead Webisodes: "Torn Apart", walker. The Walking Dead - "Remember", as a walker. The Nerdist Industries Blood and Guts with Scott Ian 2012
Equipment