Spreading the Disease was a very successful album and sold about 100,000 copies in the U.S. In November of ‘86, Anthrax went south to record their third LP, Among the Living. Eddie Kramer was the new producer, who worked well with Anthrax. Scott had learnt a lot about album production from the S.O.D. record, so a producer to just help them along was all that was needed. A single for the song "I am the Law" was released in February of ‘87 for the U.K., Europe and Japan. The song was about the comic book character Judge Dredd, which was a favorite of Anthrax. (Batman being their second favorite.) Brian Bolland, who draws Dredd, designed the cover for the single. The B-side contained two odd tracks, including a rap/metal song called "I'm the Man," which came from a quote by Rodney Dangerfield in the movie Fast Money. Among the Living was released a month later, and was a big success. The album had a wide variety of lyrical topics. N.F.L. (Efilnikufesin) was about drug use ruining a person's life, while the title track was inspired by the Stephen King novel The Stand. Another King inspired song was "Skeleton in the Closet," from the novella "Apt Pupil," from the book Different Seasons. This album is considered a classic thrash metal album by many people.

In June of ‘87, a single was released for the song "Indians." A live performance video was also made. Much moshing went on in the video. Joey, who is a native American, wore an Indian headdress for part of the video, which became a mandatory part of concerts.

The "I am the Law" single was selling quite well in Europe, but surprisingly partially due to the rap/metal song "I'm the Man." It reached the top ten in the U.K. Because of increasing demand, "I'm the Man" was released in the U.S. as a mini album with a few other tracks including a cover of the Black Sabbath classic "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." A video was made for the song. The mini album went gold and was Anthrax's first gold-certified release in the U.S. Both "I am the Law" and "I'm the Man" became live favorites, with Scott, Frankie, and Charlie singing, Joey on drums, and Danny staying on guitar for "I'm the Man." They supported Kiss on arena tours. They headlined sold out tours in the U.S. (with Metal Church as openers), Japan, and Europe.

They played at sold out European festivals including Castle Donnington's Monsters of Rock. The night before that, they played a secret show under the name Satan's Lounge Band at the Dynamo Club. The idea was inspired by the lounge singer Bill Murray portrayed on the T.V. comedy Saturday Night Live. The name for the band came from the joke song "Bud E. Luvbomb and Satan's Lounge Band" which was a b-side to the "I am The Law" single, along with "I'm the Man." "The idea behind the name was to have this lounge singer backed by an extremely heavy thrash band. Joey was Bud E. Luvbomb; the rest of us were his lounge band," explains Scott.

Scott took a few days off to co-produce M.O.D.'s debut (the band of former S.O.D. vocalist Billy Milano) U.S.A. for M.O.D. Scott described it as "very heavy." He even played acoustic guitar on it!

Anthrax recorded their first live video, N.F.V. (Oedivnikufesin) at the Hammersmith Odeon and released in late 1988.