Slayer, Anthrax and Others Remember Where They Were on 9/11

"I was at home in LA when I first found out what was happening. On September 10th the band had done a midnight in-store signing in El Toro, Calif. for the 9/11 release of our 'God Hates Us All' album. We got home around 4AM from that. I was asleep when Sandra, my wife, was awakened by a phone call that suggested we turn on the television. We then found ourselves watching the first tower on fire and I remember asking Sandra, 'What is this?' We saw the plane hit the second tower and it took a while for everything to register. We were supposed to fly out that day to start a European tour. The whole time we were watching what was unfolding before our eyes I was thinking to myself, "We ain't flying anywhere for a while!"

"I was working doing deliveries for Choice Children's Catering when an announcement came on the radio in the delivery van I was driving. I remember thinking, 'How the hell did planes get past radar detection and end up over a no-fly zone over New York City?' I thought this was too much to have been any kind of accident. I thought if the country was being attacked, wouldn't there be some kind of protocol for this? It was awful watching people jumping out of windows to escape the inferno. The news was relentless and heartless in its reports, almost enjoying the news scoop of the century. It was one of the saddest days in history, alongside the JFK, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations. What a colorful history our world has created!"

"I was in Lincoln, Neb. out on tour, parked outside the venue we were playing, when I first heard the news. I woke up to pee, stumbled out of my bunk to the bathroom on the bus, and the driver was in the front lounge watching television. He said, 'A plane crashed into the WTC and I ought to take a look at what's happening in NYC.' I sat down and finally focused on the TV and saw the first tower smoking and I asked our driver, 'How big of a plane was it?' It was obviously not just a small plane like I had imagined. I sat there stunned, watching the report on CNN when the second plane hit and I ran into the bunk area of the bus yelling for everyone to get up, 'We're under attack, get the f--- up!' or something of that nature. We spent the rest of the day like the rest of the world, glued to the TV on the bus, shocked, horrified and scared s---less by what we were witnessing. Nothing seemed to matter at that point except to get home to our families and we started figuring out how we could all just get home as soon as possible."

"I was at my home in San Francisco, I heard about the attacks as my radio-alarm clock started to wake me up. In disbelief I turned on the TV and watched in horror, then immediately picked up the phone and tried to reach my family in New York. We were all waiting to hear if my sister in law Linda was safe. She made it out of the downtown area and over the Brooklyn Bridge with thousands of others that day. I felt so brokenhearted having to sit my eight year old son down and explain to him what had happened. I was so saddened, angry and disappointed that this was the world we had made for our children."

"I was on coming from tour with a driver named Sarge. I was on LSD. It was strange."

"I was home in Connecticut and I remember having to go pick up my daughter from kindergarten. It's strange since she was so young when the tragedy happened that it's almost like ancient history for her. The impact that has on those of us who were older and more mature at the time is so different from the younger generation."

"I was out on tour and my wife called my cell and was freaking out. I remember wanting to be home with my family in New York. I was so worried about them and my friends who worked down there. I went back to New York some days after and went down to the site. The first thing that hit me was the glow and smell in the area of the attack. It smelled like death."