Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #3 Slayer - Reign In Blood

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #3 Slayer - Reign In Blood

In 1986 Slayer signed to Def Jam records. Def Jam at the time were almost exclusively a Hip Hop label and the band swapped from their Metal Blade record label mostly due to Rick Rubin's enthusiasm for the band.

Rubin had previous success with heavy metal stalwarts Run DMC and LL Cool J so Slayer were naturally the next step for the talented producer. What he and Slayer produced is probably the most exciting 29 minutes in recorded history. It fitted onto one side of C60 cassette perfectly, mine had it recorded twice on the same tape so when I finished I could turn it over and listen again.

  People listening to reign in blood now would think it was good but maybe miss how momentous this release was. There was nothing like this out at the time and it blew our tiny teenage minds, listening in 1986/7, sharing the tape out to your mates to try and convince them they needed this in their lives. Europe were number 1 in the UK charts and long shaggy hair was on top of the pops. Your mum was singing along to the final countdown and Bon Jovi hits and it turned out she quite liked some of your Iron Maiden records too.  She would secretly sing along downstairs as you played them in your bedroom. Not this though. Your Mum didn't like this. She fucking hated this. She also thought you were becoming a Satanist and told you not to leave it out or play it when your Nana was round. 
Probably one of the most influential Metal albums of it's time, it's legacy can be heard from Tori Amos (honestly) to the Grindcore/Death Metal bands that followed. I never heard anything else by Slayer that I found as exciting, the follow up South of Heaven was a deliberately slower album. They are still going strong although like all of us they are a little greyer and flabbier.

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #4 Iron Maiden - Killers

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #4 Iron Maiden - Killers

Iron Maiden were the British heavy metal band that dominated the 1980's in the UK and half the world. Although they were absolutely huge they were probably not as well recognised as their mascot Eddie the Ed whose evolution from spiky -haired zombie to menacing mascot was complete on the cover of Killers in 1981. 


They had come on the scene with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM as it was catchily called then. Other bands breaking through on this wave were Samson and Def Leppard. In 1981 Bruce Dickinson of Samson would take over vocal duties in late 1981 and the band would record their no 1 Number of the Beast album. World domination would follow.
Before the bombastic vocals of Dickinson, mainstream success and the spandex of the Powerslave tour. Iron Maiden would record two spiky, low budget sounding albums. Their eponymous début and Killers. The latter is my favourite Iron Maiden album and one that I still return to today. I always found Paul Di'Anno's vocals more edgy than Dickinsons and although in my teenage years this would have not got as much turntable time as live after death, looking back this is the controversial favourite.

The opening track is an instrumental(the first of two) followed by the familiar bass lines of Wrathcild. a live favourite that I think they still play today. An early version of this was recorded for the NWOBHM (remember your acronyms kids) seminal compilation Metal for Muthas.

Twilight Zone, Metal For Muthas and Purgatory Record Sleeves

The single Twilight zone wasn't on the album, a source of never ending annoyance on my part that was rectified on the 1998 remastered CD. The second single purgatory was a track that never really should have been released. If the title track or Wrathchild had been in its place it may have been a different story and Iron Maidens commercial break would have come sooner.

The following Killers world tour would introduce 'Maiden' to the world including Japan and the USA but would unfortunately spell the end of Di'Anno's stint as front man for the band. Cocaine and alcohol had left Di'Anno unreliable for gigs and a liability for the band, as the tours and commitments mounted up he was sacked and Dickinson brought in.

The final tracks recorded with Di'Anno would be released in the UK as the 4 track  Mini Album/12"  Maiden Japan. A full setlist of this concert is available in Japan and the available on the internet and features the originally discarded cover of Eddy the Ed holding the severed head of Di'Anno. 

Maiden Japan cover featuring the severed head of sacked singer Paul Di'Anno

As the 1980's progressed, the tours would get bigger and bigger. By the time I was old enough to go and see them in 1988 they had huge pyrotechnic explosions and animatronics the size of your house featuring Eddy the Ed. One thing that this next video of them on the BBC's Jim'll fix it in 1987 (which I remember watching at the time) was that they were genuinely nice guys who had a lot of time for the fans. 

Paul Di Anno went on to front bands Battlezone, Praying Matis and Killers with some success.

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #5 Anthrax - Among the Living

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #5 Anthrax - Among the Living (1987)

Anthrax released their third album in 1987, catipulting them into the big four of Thrash of the 1980's (the other four being  Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth). They had already had an underground hit album with their previous effort - Spreading the disease and expectations were high for this by the New York outfit. We were not disapointed. It was preceded by the single I am the law, an ode to Judge Dredd from 2000AD, music didn't get any better than this and to top it off you could get 7" picture discs like this:

The sound on this is clean and straight up avoiding all the eighties production clichés, probably why it has aged so well. The singles (I am the Law and Indians) sound great and the opening title track still sounds epic. Caught in the Mosh captures the intensity of what it was like in those mosh pits when those thrash bands were playing. What Anthrax had that the other bands of the time didn't was a sense of melody. They could swing sharply from a hardcore shouty scream to quite a melodic chorus and back again and still sound sincere in their delivery. A real hard trick to pull off.

They would be accused of selling out the metal fraternity with how they looked, dressed and championed hip hop acts, they wore Bermuda shorts, def jam t-shirts and baseball caps no studs or bullet belts. They would invent Rap-rock on the throw away in-joke  B side of I'm the Man (later released on its own merit) and go on to set the standard with their collaboration with Public enemy on Bring the Noise. Leading the young and impressionable away from the metal road and into new areas of music.

Anthrax and Public Enemy

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #6 Judas Priest - British Steel

The Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #6 Judas Priest -British Steel (1980)

There are many albums by Judas Priest that could have been included in this list. I'm particularly partial to Turbo which I know everyone else hates but I bought it when it came out and loved it. It came between Screaming for Vengeance and British Steel, I opted for this one as its more solid as an album and represents a point where I think Heavy Metal tried to go a bit mainstream and get the commercial hooks into the songs.

Living After Midnight was their first single with a video directed by Julien Temple (Great rock n roll swindle, Absolute Beginners).




Breaking the Law, the second single is probably their most recognisable song. Simple riff, easy to play and simple chorus. Even the Mighty Boosh covered it (albeit a folk version for their Glam Folk episode). Also featuring another Temple video.

  

The final single was United. Here is a live version from the BBC in 1980

Of course now Rob Halford is openly gay and he has spoke at length about how it was a challenge hiding his sexuality through his time with Judas Priest. Although I sincerely doubt that anyone was actually surprised when he came out in the 90's. If anyone was they seriously need their Gaydar recalibrating.

 

 

Bad Heavy Metal Cover Versions

Cover versions are rarely good, every band or artist puts their own twist on it and it either works or it doesn't. This post was inspired by a chat in the pub on Saturday regarding the pure awfulness of the Metallica cover at the end.

Twisted Sister covering the Leader of the Pack will brighten anyones day. Its campness amplified through a wonderfully cheesy eighties video:



When Chuck Berry recorded Johnny B Goode in the Fifties it is a well known fact that the sound he wanted for it was not possible with the technology available. This would only become available in the late 1980's and it would fall to Judas Priest to record a definitive version that Berry himself would be happy with:



Back in the 80's, before they sued their fans, before they tried to be Bon Jovi and before they took a Therapist on Tour with them. Metallica recorded some kick ass covers. Am I Evil, Blitzkrieg and the Garage Days Ep were all fantastic. The best tunes from the Justice for all period were not the album tracks produced by the Drummer where funnily enough all you could hear were the drums, they were the covers on the B sides. Their version of Budgie's Breadfan is immense. So when it was announced in the late nineties they would re-release all these tracks on a double album fronted by an entire album of brand new covers it sounded a credible prospect. What follows is probably the worst cover version ever ( and there is version of smells like teen spirit by Miley Cyrus on the internet)

Midlife Metal Crisis - Top Ten Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #7 The Scorpions - World Wide Live

CALIFORNIAAAARRRR!!!!!!  THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOUUUUUUU!!!





Heavy metal live album checklist:


Double album....check
Gatefold sleeve....check
List of tour dates...check
list of road crew....check
Inside picture of playing before ridiculously large crowd....check
Heavily weighted towards last album....check
Some tracks recorded in California...check
Features extended instrumental guitar solo....check
Extensive call and return crowd participation....check
Live pictures with loads of spandex....check
Lets Rock!!!

The double live album was a Metal institution in the eighties and if you didn't have one out you weren't really classed as a heavy weight. This was the Scorpions second one, the first being the Tokyo Tapes which featured all the songs I didn't know so I never ended up buying it. The Scorpions are to my knowledge the largest Heavy Rock band to come out of Germany and have been around in some form or other for as long as the Rolling Stones.

World Wide Live was compiled from the huge 'Love at first sting' tour and didn't have as many wishy washy ballads they were keen on peppering their albums with. In case your not familiar with the scorpions they made songs called 'Rock you like a hurricane' which featured lyrics like this:

The bitch is hungry
She needs to tell
So give her inches
And feed her well

Which gave them the image of hard rockin, hard lovin ladies men. Incidentally, they looked like this:

   I love this album, its ridiculously camp and fantastic for it, I can't understand what he's saying in between the songs and just make up my own stuff about being alright and being ready to PAAAARTYY!!

The Scorpions would unfathomably go on to single handedly bring down the Iron Curtain with their whistle-athon hit Wind of Change in 1991. You don't believe me but its true. They even recorded a Russian version of it and it is now international law that all stock footage of the Berlin Wall being torn down to have Wind of change playing in the background. Although this is the best use I have seen for a long time in the Black Ops trailer.

Midlife Metal Crisis- top 10 Heavy Metal albums of the 1980's #8 OzzyOsbourne - The Blizzard of Ozz

The Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #8 Ozzy Osbourne - The Blizzard of Ozz (1980)

In 1979 Ozzy was sacked from Black Sabbath, the band stated issues with substance abuse being the main reason for his departure but an ongoing feud with Guitarist Tony Iommi was generally linked to the sacking.
In hindsight both would go on to do their best records in years, the last couple of Sabbath albums were nothing spectacular and the last tour they did had them accused of being tired and uninspiring compared to their support act Van Halen.
Black Sabbath would recruit Ronnie James Dio and Produce Heaven and Hell to great acclaim. Ozzy hired experienced pros in Lee Kerslake (Uriah Heep) on drums, Bob Daisley (Rainbow) on Bass and Guitarist Randy Roads (Quiet Riot). The resulting album Blizzard of Ozz would go on to sell over 6 million copies and cement Ozzy's comeback as one of the biggest rock stars in the world. I Don't know, Crazy Train, Suicide solution and Mr Crowley would go on to become permanent fixtures in Ozzy's live set and millions of budding young guitarists would attempt the Crazy Train riff.





The line up would go on to produce another great album in Diary of a Madman before the rhythm section was sacked and replaced. The resulting lawsuits and counter suits about song writing credits and royalties by Kerslake and Daisley over the years would lead to the ultra petty replacement of their bass and drum parts on the 2002 reissues of the albums.

Daisley and Kerlake (left)  would be airburshed out of 2002 re-release

Star of Osbournes fist two albums and genuine guitar hero Randy Rhoads' career was tragically cut short when he died at the young age of 25 years old in a plane crash whilst on tour in early 1982. Afraid of flying he agreed to go up in the plane with the tour bus driver and hair stylist to take a few photos. The pilot started to buzz the tour bus which the rest of the band were on and misjudged the manoeuvre, clipping the wing on the bus and crashing the plane killing everyone on board.




 Ozzy would go on to produce a series of lacklustre follow ups throughout the eighties that never really hit the same heights as his debut. I finally got to see him live in the nineties supporting the truly woeful album Ozzmosis which featured a track called 'Old LA tonight' an album he suspiciously played no tracks off. He would finally become less famous as a rock star than he was for being the shambling idiot shouting SHARON and picking up dog shit in the reality TV show The Osbournes.

Ozzy was always a target for the ridiculous religious groups which seemed to dominate the US politics of the 1980's with his pantomime horror movie imagery, drunken antics and songs called 'suicide solution'. Osbourne has been unsuccessfully sued twice for people supposedly committing suicide due to the song. It never had that effect on me, although I might be persuaded if someone tried to put Ozzmosis on again.

Midlife Metal Crisis- top 10 Heavy Metal albums of the 1980's #9 Faith No More - The Real Thing

The Story so far...
A CD player failure has left me with the choice between sitting in silence or playing my eighties heavy metal records. The top ten of which I am revisiting, only albums from the eighties will be considered.

The Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #9 The Real Thing - Faith No more (1989)

'The Real Thing' was Faith No More's third album, they had previously released 'We care a lot' and 'Introduce yourself' with vocalist Chuck Mosley. Interestingly Courtney Love was in the band briefly in the early eighties, but it was when they replaced Chuck Mosely with Mike Patton the band really began to up their game. The previous album was ok but only really had a couple of stand out tracks (the title track and a re-recording of We care a lot). That was all to change in the summer of 1989 when the Real Thing was released. The first single released was 'From out of nowhere'. Pattons voice, the heavy stomp and prominent keyboards made a new and exciting sound that blasted away the hairspray and make up of the Glam metal bands such as Poison and Warrant that seemed to be everywhere at the time.






The album was well recieved by the music press and was selling well, then in January 1990 'Epic' was released and the band just took off. Top ten in the US, Top thirty in the UK and number 1 in Australia. It is still their most recognisable track and standard staple on Rock compilations ever since. With Epic, Faith No More have been accused of creating the Rock/Rap monstrosity of Nu Metal but to blame them for Limp Bizkit is unjust and unfair, Epic rocked the sound of scary rock discos worldwide and deserves it's place in Rock history.



  The last single from the album was Falling to pieces.   

The singles apart, the album races along at a heavy pace. Finishing with Woodpecker from Mars, a stonking instrumental that would get live outings. If you were posh and had a CD player you were treated to a couple of extra tracks. The most interesting of which was a perfect cover version of Black Sabbaths Warpigs. I never had a CD player at the time so would listen in envy as my friends album continued for an extra ten minutes. Warpigs was played live for years, this version is from Live at Brixton which followed the Real Thing.





Faith No More would go on to produce more fantastic albums throughout the nineties until finally the back stabbing and in-fighting got to much and they called it a day in 1998. Their biggest hit in the Uk would be an "ironic" cover version of the Commodores I'm Easy, which they had been playing live for while and I fucking hate. They recently reformed for a lucrative festival tour last year featuring the final not original line-up. There are also approximately 25 best of compilations of varying quality available. Stick with the albums they are cheap enough.

Midlife Metal Crisis- top 10 Heavy Metal albums of the 1980's #10 Hear'n' Aid

Due to a CD transport failure on my old Rotel CD player (it only works if it's been switched on or an hour) I've been playing records a lot lately. The problem is I stopped buying records in around 1990 when I switched briefly to cassettes for my Walkman as worked away at the time and then on to Cd's
So barring some twisted nerve vinyl and stuff I've found in charity shops most of my records are eighties heavy metal. Or to more accurate, the heavy metal I couldn't bear to part with when I unforgivably donated most of my vinyl to the cancer research shop in the mod nineties. Don't judge me, at least it was a good cause.

So the stuff I have left is what I thought was irreplaceable at the time and as a rule it does stand up. So to celebrate what I am calling my midlife metal crisis I am going to revisit my top ten metal albums from my eighties hey day. I'm not getting into arguments about what is metal and what isn't or what types. Also most of these are in the mid to late eighties period when I was most rock. I assume there are pictures somewhere of me with Iron Maiden T-shirts, bullet belts and Mullets but thankfully the Internet wasn't around then and they will stay safely stashed in the my Mums big box of photos.

The Best Heavy Metal Albums of the 1980's #10 Hear 'n' Aid - Various Artists

This starts the list not as an actual favourite top ten album but out of respect for it's existence. It's release was instrumental in showcasing to the 12 year old me the bands out there. Also there is not enough written about heavy metals very own Band Aid charity record - Stars.

Heavy Metal pioneer, the late great Elf himself Ronnie James Dio's self named band at the time looked on as Sir Bob led the pop world in raising money for famine relief in Africa and set about uniting the Heavy Metal scene for the power of Good. Ronnie James Dio, Guitarist Vivian Campbell and Bassist Jimmy Bain wrote the song Stars, the word went out and the Heavy Metal Heavy weights turned up in their droves.

Members of Dio, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, Twisted Sister, Dokken, Journey, WASP and many others entered the studio in May 1985 to record the lengthy epic.

Fuck Bono and his "tonight thank god it's them..." line this thing had Iron Maiden's twin guitars as a rhythm section and no less than 12 fucking lead guitar players banging out 6 guitar solos, all trying to outdo each other with more and more ridiculous licks. Reports suggest there was enough spandex in the room to cover a herd of African Elephants and that the hairspray bill ran into thousands.

Stars was released almost a year later due to record company legal wrangles reaching the dizzy heights of #26 in the UK charts.

There are few versions of this on Youtube but I thought this was the best, plus it has the lyrics so you can sing along.






The subsequent compilation album that was released featured the full extended version of Stars and 8 other tracks donated by bands that barring Dio and Y&T didn't perform on the charity record. These were Accept, The Scorpions, Kiss, Motorhead, Rush and Jimi Hendrix ( although to be fair he couldn't really be expected to have heeded the call to perform on the record). I didn't hear the Hendrix track for a couple of years as my friend who the album belonged to hated it so much he physically scratched it out of existence so I could never tape it. When I finally got the vinyl a couple of years later this so-so track was like a revelation.

The rest of the compilation is standard eighties heavy metal fair with mostly exclusive live tracks from Dio, Rush, Motorhead, Kiss and the Scorpions. Heavens on fire was my introduction to Kiss and although I can appreciate the attraction to their seventies make up clad hey-day I still have a soft spot for the ropey eighties years that most Kiss fans disown. Destroyer does Rock but give me Animalize or Lick it up any day.





The Scorpions will feature later in the top ten but The Zoo live is awesome:
i
Motorhead's On the Road.




Dio's contribution was a live track from his Sacred Heart album:


And don't forget the merchandise available to JOIN YOUR FAVOURITE HARD ROCK HEROES IN THE FIGHT TO END WORLD HUNGER!

Above all things I wanted and still want a Hear'n'Aid Bandanna. I've tasked Shelley with getting me one for my Fortieth Birthday.If anyone has one of these send me a pic and I'll post it.

So in at number ten is the Heavy Metal charity album that never got the recognition outside the heavy metal community. Although it was covered in the heavy metal press, looking back I'm not really sure what to make of the Kerrang cover at the time, they probably meant well:

The 1980's was the defining decade for heavy metal although it was destined to be it's final days. Grunge was on its way to destroy the genre, its spandex trousers, hair spray and leather. In its final days would produce its greatest moments. The next few posts will go into them.