The trash metal band Anthrax never reached the commercial heights of its contemporaries such as Metallica or Megadeth, but the band’s influence on the metal scene is significant enough to include them along with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer as one of the “Big Four” of 1980s thrash metal.

While not a household name, there is a good chance you have seen Scott Ian somewhere. The bald, colorful-goateed guitarist is one of the standard-bearers of heavy metal music to this day and is a frequent talking head on VH1 and VH1 Classic. Ian--along with music journalist Jon Wiederhorn--chronicles his life with the same breakneck speed of Anthrax in full heavy-metal flight. In the difficult music business, Anthrax has a unique story of survival despite setbacks that would have crushed most bands.

Ian reflects on it all with a depth befitting a kiddie pool, yet still comes across as a charming survivor of the music business wars. His “aw, shucks” attitude is approachable, but his failure to dig into anything deeper makes him appear like merely another dude in a band.

There are many rock and rollers who have released biographies recently, where they reveal themselves to the bone. I'm the Man is lightweight in comparison. Ian lacks in self-awareness and self-reflection. He rarely digs deeper than “that sucked” or “that was cool.” A tawdry tell-all is unnecessary, but a touch of personal reflection would have gone a long way.