Look, if you spent the first three minutes of Monday Night Football from Lumen Field clutching your pearls instead of throwing up the horns, you’re the problem.
Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna — the 66-year-old thrash legend who has been screaming for decades and still looks like he could out-drink half the building — stepped out in a Seahawks jersey and delivered the National Anthem the only way a metal guy knows how: raw, unpolished, and with zero interest in sounding like the next TikTok country-pop crossover act. No Auto-Tune. No Broadway runs. Just a guy who’s been belting it out in front of real crowds for 40 years standing alone on the field while the military color guard and a giant flag did their thing behind him.
The Seahawks themselves posted it with the rock-on emoji and a tag to Anthrax. That’s the correct response.
The wrong response came from a bunch of NFL Twitter accounts who apparently think the anthem is supposed to sound like a soft-launch open mic night. The hits came fast:
“Tonight’s National Anthem on Monday night football was awful!”
“I don’t know who did the National Anthem but damn he sucked shit hurt my ears.”
“This is the worst anthem I’ve heard in awhile.”
“Dude who sang the National Anthem sounded like Mark Wahlberg in Rockstar. That’s not a compliment.”
And the winner: “Seattle brought out one of the worst National Anthem singer I have ever heard. This dude is trash.”
Some guy even called it a “national atrocity.” Brother, it’s the anthem, not the Super Bowl halftime show. Joey has done this before at sporting events. He’s said himself he likes keeping it traditional and just wings it once the nerves hit. That’s more honest than half the polished performances we get that sound like they were recorded in a bedroom the night before.
Metal fans got it immediately. The people who grew up on Among the Living or still crank Persistence of Time when they need to get hyped didn’t need an explanation. This is the same voice that helped define American thrash. Putting it on the biggest stage in football for a couple of minutes is the kind of crossover that actually rules. The Seahawks leaned into it. The building was loud. Helicopters flew over. It looked and felt like an event instead of another forgettable pregame ritual.
The people melting down are the same ones who lose their minds any time the NFL doesn’t hand the mic to a safe, radio-friendly singer. They wanted the anthem to sound like a commercial. They got a thrash metal icon who still has the long hair and the pipes. One of those is cool. The other is what we already get every single week.
Joey did his job. He respected the anthem, stepped out in the home jersey, and gave the crowd something they don’t hear every Sunday. If that offended your ears, the problem isn’t the 66-year-old metal singer. The problem is that your idea of a good anthem is whatever doesn’t interrupt your second beer.
Rock on, Joey. The rest of you can go back to arguing about the broadcast booth.
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