Mr Perceptive
Perceptive Member
Slapped a CD on in the car today that sent me back in time and thinking - The CD - Diamond Head - Greatest Hits, still sounded good today and some of the riff work would give good competition to Tony Iommi (especially Am I Evil)
Anyway it cast me back to 1980, the old guard Black Sabbath relaunched with Ronnie James Dio, Rainbow were brought Down To Earth (especially after the dismal Donington set televised on BBC2 after which Cozy Powell left the band), Whitesnake were Ready'n'Willing, Gillan was Mr Universe, Ozzy was in a Blizzard, and EMI were releasing Deep Purple compilation after compilation (whats new) when....
Out of the East End came Iron Maiden strorming into the charts with Running Free (there one and onlt TOTP performance and the first band to play live for many years). From Barnsley came the tea drinkers Saxon (comfortably one of the worst concerts I've ever been to, fortuanately after they played 747 Strangers in The Night, the pubs were still open to rescue the evening!). From Sheffield came Def Leppard, relatively unknown in the UK but hit it big time later in the states.
Many others also appeared often guesting as support acts on the old guard tours, More, Samson, Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, AIIZ, Praying Mantis, Girlschool (whose Motorhead connections made them famous), etc. What happened to them all?
My favourite (along with Iron Maiden) was Diamond Head who had an indie album Lightning to The Nations, difficult to get hold of even in 1980, followed up by Borrowed Time (1982) and Canterbury (1983). hailed by the press as the new Led Zeppelin the third album had shades of Led Zep II about it, then it all went wrong with a failed contract/management issue.
Meanwhile Iron Maiden went from strength to strength, replacing the unwilling tour lead singer with Bruce Dickinson from Samson (the band with the masked drummer). Heavily backed by EMI from the first LP, EMI were desperate for e new Deep Purple and even used Purple's engineer Martin Birch from the off. Even their live EP was a play on Purple's Made in Japan - Maiden Japan.
Across the water the Americans were getting ready Van Halen already had been stateside headliners and bands such as Twisted Sister were getting ready (scary thought!). Michael Schenker got on the wagon and launched his own post-UFO band and the Aussies (AC/DC) were regrouping with Brian Johnson to replace the late Bon Scott.
In 1980 many of these heavy rock acts got chart entries and the Reading Festival was a celebration of all things metal!
So do any of the PFMers have concert/gig memories (or even LP) from this period when Sounds and Kerrang were the publications to have?
What happened to many of these bands?
Some of you probably don't care, but it was an important part of my late teenage years.
Anyway it cast me back to 1980, the old guard Black Sabbath relaunched with Ronnie James Dio, Rainbow were brought Down To Earth (especially after the dismal Donington set televised on BBC2 after which Cozy Powell left the band), Whitesnake were Ready'n'Willing, Gillan was Mr Universe, Ozzy was in a Blizzard, and EMI were releasing Deep Purple compilation after compilation (whats new) when....
Out of the East End came Iron Maiden strorming into the charts with Running Free (there one and onlt TOTP performance and the first band to play live for many years). From Barnsley came the tea drinkers Saxon (comfortably one of the worst concerts I've ever been to, fortuanately after they played 747 Strangers in The Night, the pubs were still open to rescue the evening!). From Sheffield came Def Leppard, relatively unknown in the UK but hit it big time later in the states.
Many others also appeared often guesting as support acts on the old guard tours, More, Samson, Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, AIIZ, Praying Mantis, Girlschool (whose Motorhead connections made them famous), etc. What happened to them all?
My favourite (along with Iron Maiden) was Diamond Head who had an indie album Lightning to The Nations, difficult to get hold of even in 1980, followed up by Borrowed Time (1982) and Canterbury (1983). hailed by the press as the new Led Zeppelin the third album had shades of Led Zep II about it, then it all went wrong with a failed contract/management issue.
Meanwhile Iron Maiden went from strength to strength, replacing the unwilling tour lead singer with Bruce Dickinson from Samson (the band with the masked drummer). Heavily backed by EMI from the first LP, EMI were desperate for e new Deep Purple and even used Purple's engineer Martin Birch from the off. Even their live EP was a play on Purple's Made in Japan - Maiden Japan.
Across the water the Americans were getting ready Van Halen already had been stateside headliners and bands such as Twisted Sister were getting ready (scary thought!). Michael Schenker got on the wagon and launched his own post-UFO band and the Aussies (AC/DC) were regrouping with Brian Johnson to replace the late Bon Scott.
In 1980 many of these heavy rock acts got chart entries and the Reading Festival was a celebration of all things metal!
So do any of the PFMers have concert/gig memories (or even LP) from this period when Sounds and Kerrang were the publications to have?
What happened to many of these bands?
Some of you probably don't care, but it was an important part of my late teenage years.
) on the back panel of our Cut-off denim jackets. 
