The 2009 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil unmasked this Toronto band as a real-life Spinal Tap, founded by two polite Jewish boys who never caught a break. Questions of musical worth went mostly unanswered. This comp clears that up: Turns out Anvil raced at thrash tempos before disciples like Metallica did; they also balanced chops, hooks and pervy humor in ways speed metal was too serious for. Monument is a hodgepodge: a few rerecorded songs, a 2007 rendition of the Inquisition-torture depiction "Thumb Hang," written when guitarist-screamer Lips and drummer Robb Reiner were teenagers. But recent tracks – see 2004's class-raging "Bottom Feeder" – sacrifice none of Anvil's youthful power.

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“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.