HEAVY
METAL
 As far as the British rock press was concerned, Heavy Metal died in
1980 because Punk had been specially invented
to kick out the bloated corpses of dinosaurs like Yes,
Styx, Foreigner and Journey.
Fine in principal, but not quite in practice; The Heavy Metal crowd
consistently ruled much of the 80's, which is why there was 'alternative
music' back then.
The new bands took the rock posturing of KISS
but left the humour behind and the ageing arena bands slunk out from
under their rocks and carried on as though nothing had ever changed. But
the young and hungry bands with stamina, attitude and very tight pants,
gathered under the banner NWOBHM - New Wave Of
British Heavy Metal.
At the start of 1980, EMI Records in Britain released Metal For
Muthas (a compilation of new bands like Iron
Maiden, Samson, Sledgehammer
and Angelwitch). MCA returned fire with its
own collection, Brute Force.
Metal Mothers II, Metal Explosion, Heavy Duty
and The New Electric Warriors' compilations all followed within
the space of a year, and Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album was
hailed as the hottest metal album of the year, and went Top 5 in
Britain.
Iron Maiden also toured extensively with oldWOHM-ers Judas
Priest, KISS and Def Leppard (who also
made it into the charts with their debut album On Through The Night).
In August 1980, in the middle of a Leicestershire race course,
Britain's annual Metal mud bath - The Castle Donington Monsters of Rock
festival - was born. It was fathered by ex-Deep
Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who wanted an appropriate
outdoor event for his band Rainbow to play
that summer. Evidently Blackmore had lived abroad so long that he'd
forgotten what English summers were like - A week of torrential rain
turned the site into a giant swamp.
Rainbow were joined on the bill by Judas Priest, The
Scorpions, Saxon
and April Wine. Reviews
of the Heavy Metal festival were dreadful, but it still went ahead the
following year, and every other throughout the Eighties, with audiences
ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 - Except for 1989 when it was cancelled
after the deaths by crushing of two fans during the Guns
'n' Roses set the year before.
The Los Angeles Glam Metal scene started as an underground movement
with Mötley Crüe and Ratt
releasing albums as indie bands - They did not stay that way for long
(unfortunately). Meanwhile, Thrash Metal bands like Metallica,
Slayer and Anthrax
found new ways to play faster AND louder.
Throughout the decade, Heavy Metal inspired headbangers, suicides,
and the kids who occasionally went feral and shot up their high school
class.
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