Heavy Metal & Hard Rock thread

[kpic]

Reading the 'Old People thread' and the posts by Stryker & Dark Horse got me thinking that we need an official Heavy Metal thread (we can also add in 'Hard Rock' in here as there may be some crossing-over) - Depending on your age, I suppose some Punk cross-over would apply and though it's not really my thing, the Metal variations like Death\Black Metal and Glam if you like...

My introduction to Heavy Metal was through my older sister who took me to my first concert at some point around 1976 (Alice Cooper), I have no memory of the actual music other than being on peoples shoulders so I could watch (I would have been about 8) but I definitely remember the 'show'!

I got more into the music by 1982\1983 when I discovered Manowar, Judas Priest & Iron Maiden, thinking back I suppose that year (1982-1983) was a huge push for Metal with pivotal albums (yes I had the albums) by those bands, throw in Venom that had some wild Punk-Metal cross-over thing happening called 'Black Metal' and some 'new' sound from a band called Metallica.

Thanks to my sister and her friends I had a wide exposure to concert going, later on I had friends more around my age and more importantly driving age so we were able to hit numerous concerts.

I suppose it was helpful that we were in the central NJ area with so many venues around us...

We had NYC for a long haul if needed; L'Amour, Ritz\Studio54 & MSG (I went to CBGB but not for a concert), but Philly & NJ was our main-stay.

In Philly you had the Spectrum for the big shows, the Tower Theater for the mid-range shows\bands and then clubs like The Empire, Theater of the Living Arts (TLA) on South Street (still open!) and some others that I can't recall.

In NJ it was all clubs; the Satellite club was near us so that was our regular spot, City Gardens was in Trenton so not too far away, it was mostly a Punk club but had Metal there at times as well and though at that time there was a clear spilt from Punk to Metal music I had friends in both camps so I didn't care who I went with and who we saw (though oddly the only real Punk band I can recall seeing live was the Cro-Mags) I can't remember any of the others. The thing about City Gardens is that it was smack deep in an African-American neighborhood, the Metal crowd was a bit more subdued but when going with the Punk crowd, they were definitely more confrontational and I can remember several big fights in the parking lot with the locals, after it was over everyone would just go back to what they were doing and we'd head into the club! Oh yeah there was a club in Asbury Park as well but I can't remember what it was called.

Thinking back when I thought about writing this I went through my head thinking about the shows I've seen and yeah, it's a lot but here are some of my favorite memories;

These would be in no particular order but I suppose these first three are my favorite bands given I've seen them most often;

#1 is Manowar - I saw them for the Fighting the World tour, twice for the Kings of Metal tour and twice for the Triumph of Steel tour, but my best memory is during the KOM tour and in Philly (I think it was the Empire club), me and my friends got there early and on the billboard was 'Man-O-War', we saw a guy outside and told him about how it should just be one word and he thanks us and tells us the band is inside rehearsing why don't you just go in early and hang a bit - didn't have to tell us again - we head in and sure enough they are up on stage rehearsing and just some people milling around, afterwards it was very casual and so we went up and talked to Scott & Ross, they were way cool! Joey and Eric were doing their own thing so I never got to meet them but I was a member of their fan-club and on night Joey and Eric called me out of the blue just to say 'hey' and we talked for about 15 minutes, I told them about that story, they thought it was funny but they said they were more interested if I had any pictures of my girlfriend naked that I could mail them. So that connection there will always keep them #1 to me - As far as them being the 'loudest band in the world', yeah they definitely were in my book, I mean we're talking about 2-3 days after the concerts of just hearing a low hum. Now days when my wife when she tells me that my hearing is going bad, I just remind her how many Metal shows I've been to and five of those were Manowar, so yeah, of course it's bad!

#2 is Iron Maiden - Hearing Number of the Beast & Piece of Mind albums back to back (1982\1983), I mean they were just on another level! I saw them first for Piece of Mind tour, then again for Powerslave (this tour became the Live After Death album), Somewhere in Time, No Prayer for Dying and then there were a few co-headlining tours. These were all at the Spectum as expected for a band of their stature except for the last time I saw them in 2005 (maybe 2006?) was in Camden NJ at the Camden Waterfront.

#3 is Judas Priest - British Steel\POE was ok to me (I didn't like any of their earlier rock stuff) but Screaming for Vengeance was like a hit to the head! I wasn't able to see them on that tour but I did see them for Defenders of the Faith, Turbo (and yes I absolutely loved this album I don't care what anyone said at the time), Ram it Down & Painkiller twice + a later tour they were co-headlining with Alice Cooper. As with Maiden these were all at the Spectrum\NYC (MSG) as expected of a band their stature.

The rest of the bands I've seen & enjoyed (there are some I like and I am probably forgetting a lot I saw and not mentioning as I wasn't really there to see them but they were 'there')

Helloween, Armored Saint, Megadeth, Doro, WASP, Metal Church, King Diamond, The Mentors (uh, absolutely hilarious and totally offensive!), oh yeah GWAR too, though I remember more of the show than of the music

Motorhead - Oddly I likely have seen them a lot as they opened for a lot of the bands I listed.

Metallica - I saw them open - yes open - for Raven on the "Kill Em' All for One" tour in 1983 (I was there to see Raven LOL!) but yeah Metallica were noticeably on another level. Never saw them live again (though I did end up seeing Raven again as an opener at a later concert!), I liked RTL and MOP a lot but the next one (And Justice??) I thought lost a lot of the sound I liked on the earlier stuff.

Slayer - Saw them a few times as opener\mid-cards and though I can't say it's really my taste, I do like a few early songs, I will say the crowd was wild for them and they shred for sure!

Venom - I liked their raw cross-over sound (though probably the least talented group on this list) they were outstanding live though, saw them twice in NYC (the Ritz\Studio 54) and once again later in 1990 in Philly with the revamped band line-up.

Hellion - Regrettably I only saw them once, I suppose as they were more an LA band - but my goodness, not only did I like them musically but Ann Boleyn was a total smoke-show, I'll never forget being right up against the stage looking up at her the whole time as she's singing, that's literally the only thing I remember about that night, I was completely ga-ga over her.

A couple I never saw but really wished I had; Exciter (sad, sad face on this one, though shockingly they still tour occasionally so who knows) & Accept\UDO!

[Spott]

Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush

Damn, you've seen a lot of kick-ass shows.

Back in 1986, some of my friends were going on and on about seeing Metallica live. They had opened for Ozzy Osborne.

I decided to go to a local record store and pick out 3 random heavy metal albums (cassettes), just to see what the fuss was about. Prior to that, that hardest music I listened to was AC/DC.

One of my choices had to be Metallica, so I picked "Master of Puppets" because it was their newest release. Right next to that was another metal album with cool cover art from a band with an awesome name. It turned out to be "Peace Sells" by Megadeth. Sticking with the 'M' section, I grabbed "The Dark" by Metal Church, again based solely on the cover art and band name. I still enjoy those albums to this day.

Those choices were pure ****ing luck, but I was hooked after that. A couple weeks later, i bought "Reign In Blood" by Slayer.

Was 86 the year they also toured with Anthrax? I wasn’t old enough to to drive back then so I couldn’t go, but I ended up seeing them in 88 with Queensryche and in 89 with the Cult at Sandstone, which is still my favorite of all the ones I went to. I also saw them 91 and then again last fall in Pittsburgh.

Back in the day, I saw Anthrax open for Iron Maiden, AIC Slayer Anthrax and Megadeth at Clash of the Titans in 92, Soundgarden with Danzig and again opening for some glam band. Also saw Pantera and White Zombie and a host of punk/metal bands at the old Outhouse in Lawrence.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Cheater5

About 11 years ago The Poz started a Stoner / Doom Metal thread that was imo, excellent, and people posted up a lot of awesome music over the years -- and then it just stopped.

https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=258536

Hope this thread kicks off another good run.

**** that was a great thread

Talk about missing posters, The Poz and Quicksurfer are 2 that jump off the first page immediately

Anyway, within the context of that thread I'm 47 and have been rocking the same Primitive Man shirt all week

No coast, no hope

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Jake E. Lee is way underrated IMO. His work with Ozzy is brilliant and he's done some great stuff recently as well. Too bad so much of his career was consumed by the fallout from Sharon being a raging bitch.

Ozzy - Bark at the Moon

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by kpic

Now I know why Stryker was posting in the 'Old People' thread, that tour with Priest & Maiden together would have been 1981\1982!

I wasn't really fair in my original post regarding the band Hellion & its lead singer Ann Boleyn, I made it sound like she was just some hot female singer (I mean she was) but in reality she started her own band label (New Renaissance Records) when they couldn't get a major label deal (this at that time don't forget was in a heavy male dominated field) but vocally she was also right up there with the best of them.

Prior to seeing them live, this was one of the times I figured there was no way she could match belting out the songs live compared to what was on tape but she way exceeded that by a large margin. Its not even fair to label her 'for a woman singer' I'd put her right on top along with the other all-time outstanding singers from my live list; Eric Adams (Manowar), Bruce, Rob & King Diamond.

The only other time I was unexpectedly surprised like that was with Bobby Blitz (Overkill) another time I thought no way he could match singing live to what was on tape but was proven wrong.

You are correct!

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

An often-overlooked but legit great album.

As well as Iron Maiden - Killers

[Stryker]

FASTWAY - Stand Up



Volbeat - Mary Ann's Place



Judas Priest - I'm a Rocker



Judas Priest - The Sentinel

[Stryker]

Iron Maiden - Still Life



Pantera - Domination



Jackyl - Dirty Little Mind



Lillian Axe - Show A Little Love

[Stryker]

Def Leppard - Gods of War



Motorhead - Orgasmatron




ICON - Taking My Breath Away



RUSH - Witch Hunt



Accept - Metal Heart



Metallica - Seek & Destroy

[Stryker]

LOUDNESS - Rock This Way

[Fishpicker]

this was my jam BITD. this performance specifically, Kansas City MO. April 28 1986.

nobody played the slow part of I Dont Know like Jake E Lee

Ozzy cracks me up. in '86 he had the same wig and wore the same sequined gowns as Bette Midler.



I kinda miss Autograph. Ozzy once said that Autograph was his favorite band (out of all his contemporaries)



true story. Rick James claimed in his autobiography that he sailed his yacht to S. America and back to supply all the biggest rockers with yayo. he also claimed that since his clientele were willing to pay premium prices, he made more money off large coke sales than he did in his entire music career.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by Stryker

Jackyl - Dirty Little Mind

Can't say I was a huge Jackyl fan, but they put on a hell of a live show. Bruce Dickinson opened and was fantastic as well.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush

I think "Rust In Peace" is better than any Metallica album, although neither band is exactly getting better with age. Both are nearly unlistenable at this point, imo.

New Megadeth, while not fantastic, is worlds better than anything Metallica has put out in 30ish years.

[Fishpicker]

name the 4 singers you put on the Mt. Rushmore of Rock

Roy Orbison
Freddie Mercury
Glenn Hughes
Dio

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by Fishpicker

name the 4 singers you put on the Mt. Rushmore of Rock

Roy Orbison
Freddie Mercury
Glenn Hughes
Dio

Dio and Freddie are no brainers.

I'm probably going with Chris Cornell and Mike Patton for the other two spots.

[lawrenceRaider]

Had a long thought about sticking Geoff Tate in place of Cornell or Patton.