Enough with being somber

Communication World, Dec, 2001

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani got to deliver the punch line. When "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels asked if it was OK to be funny again, Guiliani replied: "Why start now?" The long-running television show, "live from New York," gave people permission to laugh.

So how else to deal with the irony of owning the Internet URL www.anthrax.com--other than with humor? The heavy-metal rook band Anthrax apparently has a talented public relations practitioner hiding somewhere in the background. In a letter to site visitors, band members joke, "In light of current events, we are changing the name of the band to something more friendly, 'Basket Full of Puppies."' Not.

The Anthrax press release continues, "In the 20 years we've been known as Anthrax, we never thought the day would come that our name would actually mean what it really means.... Everyone in my neighborhood had a band with an 'er' name, like 'Ripper' or Deceiver,' or 'Killers,' and I wanted to be different. 'Anthrax' sounded cool, aggressive, and nobody knew what it was." Not anymore.

"Before the tragedy of Sept. 11, the only thing scary about Anthrax was our bad hair in the 80s.... Suddenly our name is not so cool. To be associated with these things we are against is a strange and stressful situation."

So fans voted online for new name suggestions. Like "Mad Cow Disease." Or "Britney Spearsthrax."