1983 and 1984 Metal Albums.
Vinyls I actually have in my collection.
Has it really been forty years?
I was somewhat of a rebellious teenager. I didn't get into too much trouble, as I had my guitar to keep me focused and occupied. I started riding motorcycles when I was 17-years-old. I loved the freedom, the feel and the rhythm of the open road. In 1983, when I was 20-years-old, I began a phase where I was in search of new, different, hard rock music that could sort of become the soundtrack to the way riding a motorcycle made me feel. I was growing older and more independent; and less concerned about conformity and discipline. Even though I was never home, I paid rent to live in my parents house. My parents had long since thrown in the proverbial towel of trying to figure out ways to control me. I needed a certain type of music that would stir the wild side in me, and give me some sort of guiding sense of purpose. That's when I discovered early 80's metal. I was making really good money at the time. I blew a lot of that money on building my monster stereo system, and the purchasing of at least ten new record albums every week. As an audiophile, I had the money, and I wanted to build my collection of albums. Here is my list of albums from 1983 and 1984. They weren't great albums, but they represented more the era of heavy, pop-metal rock, just as the hair-band craze was just getting started. Maybe you'll remember some of these.
Krokus - "Headhunter" (1983)
There were songs off this album that actually made it to the radio and MTV. One of them was "Screaming in the night",
a song by today's standards would be considered kind of ridiculous. Back in 1983, loud guitars was all I wanted to hear. It didn't matter who it was, as long as it rocked. The other song was "Stayed awake all night".
Since I was working the graveyard shift at my job six nights a week, this was my song. The rest of the album - honestly, I haven't listened to it since the 1980's. It was a typical heavy metal rock album for its time.
Saxon - "Crusader" (1984)
Honestly, I have no idea why I bought this album. It might have been because of the ominous album cover. Although, I don't remember listening to this album a lot, I did like one of the songs called "A little bit of what you fancy".
"Yabba Dabba Doo!" It was the kind of song we played really loud while my buddies and I were out driving in my P.O.S. '74 Buick, and drinking beer on our way to Burger King. Ah, the memories.
Ozzy Osbourne - "Bark at the moon" (1983)
I was never a huge Black Sabbath fan. I was into other music back then. Ozzy got fired from Sabbath in the late 1970's. This prompted his solo career. In 1983, I heard "Bark at the moon"
on the local Milwaukee rock station, not knowing that it was Ozzy, and I was floored by the guitarist, Jake E. Lee. This would be the one and only Ozzy album I would ever buy. I used to listen to it all the time when I was a kid.
Iron Maiden - "Powerslave" (1984)
There was only one reason why I bought this album. It was because of the song "2 minutes to midnight".
1984 was a milestone year for me. I had just turned 21 and I bought the fastest production motorcycle on the market as a gift to myself. This song was the absolute perfect soundtrack for that bike. It was fast and crazy, hard driving and out of control - just like my Kawasaki Ninja. A motorcycle that looked like it was doing 160mph standing still.
Rainbow - "Bent out of shape" (1983)
I knew nothing about the history of "Rainbow", prior to buying this vinyl - but I liked the song that was being played on the rock station called "Street of dreams"
In many ways, it was one of the first rock songs that introduced the 80's keyboards in a rock song. "Can't let you go"
also made it to the radio. Man, bands were really into these long keyboard intros back then.
Kick Axe - "Vices" (1984)
"Dreaming about you"
was all over the rock stations back then. "On the road to rock"
was yet another reason to turn it up on the car stereo.
Judas Priest - "Screaming for vengeance" (1982) and "Defenders of the faith" (1984)
The first one, I have on cassette. I bought that album because of the song "You've got another thing coming"
This album had a lot of great songs on it. The second one, I did buy on vinyl. I think I listened to it once. Not sure why I bought it. I guess I had money to burn.
Dio - "Holy diver" (1983)
I was in the midst of self-exile from the conformity of the Catholic church. The cover art alone was enough for me to buy this album. "Holy diver"
was one of those songs that was just dark enough to convey my need to break away from religion. Other than that, I didn't really listen to this album very much.
Fastway - "Fastway" (1983)
I think the only reason I bought this album was because of the guitar lick on "Say what you will"
I think the rest of the album was tolerable enough to crank in your car on a Saturday night.
Kiss - "Lick it up" (1983)
Well, I wasn't a Kiss fan by any stretch of the imagination, but "Lick it up"
was a cool enough song to change my mind. The album was okay for its time. I think there were a few songs on the album that I actually listened to a lot.
Helix - "No rest for the wicked" (1983)
I guess you could say that there's a running theme here. I was really into the whole "rebel without a clue" stage of my early 20's. "Heavy metal love"
was the only good song on this album. It was always about the rock guitar and the ridiculousness of it all.
Y&T - "Mean streak" (1983)
I actually liked this album. My favorite song was "Mean streak"
I guess, I just needed music that I could crank on my car stereo while I was out with my friends. Can't believe we used to sing these songs.
Hard to believe this music is four decades old. It was good stuff way back then. Lot's of memories as I listen to these songs. Were we ever that young?