It's a no-brainer that 1970 was a key year mainly for the release of the very first Black Sabbath album. This self-titled debut gave us the raw elements that would become key to music in the heavy metal genre. Songs of horror, fantasy, doom, and dread, full of atmospherics, the drums' pounding heartbeat, the often distorted and sometimes melodic guitar and bass riffs, the thick wall of sound that signified the power of the band... and the genre.
Later that same year, Sabbath released their second album, Paranoid, to even greater acclaim. This is the best-known of their recordings, with massive, timeless hits like the title track, Iron Man, and War Pigs. It's stronger on radio songs, yet I lean toward the more gothic gloom of Sab's first album.
1970 also spewed out the legendary In Rock, by Deep Purple. A milestone album, for sure, though not a favourite of mine. The year was perhaps significant for its smattering of proto-metal, music that wasn't quite of the genre in question, but was pioneering in sounds and styles that would help form metal-proper in about a decade. Bands like Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, and UFO offered up early hard rock that laid the foundations for what was to come.
A year that truly stands out for me is one that I relished as a teenaged rock fan - 1980. I was already into heavier music like Zeppelin, Triumph, Rush, and some Sabbath, so when I found myself frequently picking up new albums that year, it became clear this was a great time for bone-rattling music. Maybe I wasn't conscious of it being a "special" year at the time, or even during the decade that followed, but today it's easy to look back and recognize 1980 as an important one for metal.
The album I loved - and still love - most from that year was Heaven and Hell, by a revitalized Black Sabbath line-up. With newcomer Ronnie James Dio on vocals and the rest of the original band, Sabbath pummeled us with a powerful and polished sound that we had not witnessed until this recording. And this was the record that clinched my loyalty to these guys, especially the Iommi-Butler-Dio grouping.
Another high point of 1980 was the comeback of AC/DC, who had suffered the loss of singer Bon Scott. They roared back with Back in Black, a blistering metallic history-maker in honour of the fallen Scott. New man on the mic Brian Johnson brought something new and yet familiar to the band with his powerful screech.
It's hard to forget good ol' Ozzy's contribution to the music world in '80. His debut solo album Blizzard of Ozz took the world by storm thanks largely to guitar wiz-kid Randy Rhoads. The songs mostly stand the test of time and you can hear how Rhoads' new approach to guitar has influenced rockers during that decade and beyond. Crazy Train was playing on every boombox within earshot back during my youthful years. Good times.
Blue Oyster Cult played a type of hard rock that could sometimes be mistaken for heavy metal, and I became aware of their quirky riff mastery via radio airplay. Yet the album that hit the streets in '80 didn't exactly get that kind of attention. Cultosaurus Erectus was that record, and I only learned of it while skimming through a friend's albums. He recorded it to tape for me and I've been a fan ever since. Black Blade is the standout track among many great tunes on Cultosaurus.
I recall first seeing On Through the Night, the debut disc by some little UK outfit called Def Leppard, in my best friend's record crate. These guys were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal... and after a couple of albums of refining their sound, they invaded and dominated North America - and the world, selling records by the boatload, with maximum radio and MTV airplay.
Speaking of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the movement brought to North American shores even more young and inventive musicians to entertain metal-heads in the making. Like me. There was Iron Maiden, with their self-titled first recording... a bit rough and punky, but definitely cool and unique. I was on board almost immediately, and became a huge Maiden fan for years, finally catching their ear-bleeding horror-show live onstage a bit later in the decade.
Another NWOBHM export was the punk-metal hybrid Motorhead, who won some of my affection with their raw Ace of Spades album. I was particularly fond of the title track, The Chase Is Better Than the Catch, and Love Me Like a Reptile. They were all attitude and volume. Perfect!
American didn't take this invasion lying down, as Ted Nugent shredded brains with his Scream Dream album. I wasn't a huge fan of that record, but lead-off track Wango Tango has remained a fun and rowdy tune to crank when the mood strikes.
A band that sort of rode on the new wave of UK exports was the German metal band Scorpions. They had already paid their dues, touring and recording for much of the 70's, and by 1980 were coming into their own with the hot and heavy Animal Magnetism album. Around this time, I took notice of these shred-meisters from the Continent and within a few years, I was a major fan. Packed with powerhouse twin guitar songs, there is no lack of melody among the massive riffs.
Another veteran band who were able to hitch a ride to international attention via the British wave was Judas Priest. Like the Scorps, these guys had worked hard through the 70's and with their 1980 album British Steel, forged something just commercial enough to win them a whole new audience overseas. Though I'm a fan of Priest music before and after this record, I have long had an aversion to British Steel. It just feels so stripped down, dumbed down, and I never want to hear Living After Midnite again. Yet this was the tipping point for Priest; British Steel launched them toward big things, some way better than this album. Ah well, it served its purpose.
While not strictly metal, Rush has their moments, and certainly pioneered some of the more technical and progressive aspects that would creep into the music of artists like Maiden and Voivod, just to name a couple. Their heavy prog-rock was still strong on Permanent Waves, which I snapped up the moment it hit store shelves back in 1980. I was already a Rush fan, but this one helped cement my loyalty to the Canadian rock trio. The Spirit of Radio... yeah, we all know that song. And it's still excellent.
Van Halen was already a big thing, with their rockin' party-hearty tunes all over the radio. I loved everything I heard by the Halens, and was hankering for more when their '80 release Women and Children First dropped. It was the first Van Halen album I ever bought... and it was on vinyl (with that creepy David Lee Roth poster inside). This was even heavier than their first two albums, both in sound and lyrical themes. Dark and menacing, very metallic, yet still embellished by Eddie's guitar and songwriting wizardry, plus those trademark VH vocal harmonies.
I know I'm only scraping the surface here, but these are the high points of the year 1980 for me. These were records that I either owned or knew very well at the time. It was easy to get a feel for albums you didn't own back then (pre-internet) by just hanging with like-minded people, and listening to their stuff that you didn't have yourself. And it was nice when album-oriented radio stations (R.I.P.) played record sides or even whole albums... another cool way to get a taste of something new.
There's no denying the importance of albums like Heaven and Hell, Blizzard of Ozz, Back in Black, Ace of Spades, Iron Maiden, and British Steel. Countless musicians since have cited these as major influences and inspiration. While 1970 beheld major milestones, there were only a few, really. 1980, on the other hand, was awash in historically significant music by both emerging and established (if not yet internationally successful) bands. And that, my friends, is why I consider 1980 to be a major year - if not THE best year - in heavy metal.
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