Britain which had its own force of early Metal which I covered earlier had been hit full force with the punk movement, as well as rising pop acts. As such it seemed like Metal was dying. In this post on Metal Tree I will continue the journey that I began with the original post starting the series by revealing what actually was happening.
My entire series is inspired by the Metal Evolution documentary series by Sam Dunn and Banger Films. He covered NWOBHM very excellently as usual in an episode of Metal Evolution. It turns out metal was not dying. It was not getting much coverage, but it was evolving in the murky back alleys. It was becoming something new. The acts were having to vie for attention from the venues primarily catering to punk acts. They seemed to be losing if it were not for the efforts of a single man, a club, and his eventual metal columns. With his assistance the metal scene was kept alive and eventually exploded back onto the scene and spread its seeds of a new sound across the world with some massive repercussions. The new DNA it injected into the scene went on to become a crucial part of some of my favorite sub-genres of metal. The man I am speaking of that kept it alive was Neal Kay, the club was The Bandwagon.
Sam Dunn visits places, speaks with people, and covers this in a video fashion far better than I can.
My goal with this series is not to redo what Sam Dunn already did, but to fill in the holes that he obviously did not have time to do, and to cover the parts of the Metal Tree from his poster that he never has an episode on. I am also adding my own findings, and will potentially explore some branches of the trees not listed on his tree.
Let Us Begin
Exploration of new metal sounds was vibrant and spreading in the United Kingdoms. With one exception the nationality of all bands in this post is within the United Kingdoms. The sole exception is AC/DC which is also included here, because they are on this branch on Sam Dunn's chart. Since they are from Australia I wouldn't actually consider them British Heavy Metal. I did cover them in some detail in my previous post on Early UK and Australian Metal.
AC/DC
Band First Released: 1975
As mentioned above this band was covered in detail in an earlier post. I will only link to one video for them here, and if you would like to know more about AC/DC I recommend referring to the earlier post.
The Story of AC/DC Dirty Deeds 2013
Motörhead
Band First Started: 1977
Motörhead is a big name from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. They were lead by bass guitarist and vocalist Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister. There has been a differing line up of musicians other than Lemmy, but Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor is also credited for creating the distinct Double Bass drum sound that will go on to influence so much future music. He used it in the song Overkill. This band and Lemmy will certainly be mentioned in future posts in this series.
Per Wikipedia "Their lyrics typically covered such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, promiscuous sex, substance abuse, and, most famously, gambling." The documentary below mentions that Guinness Book of World Records lists this band as the Loudest Band Ever which is a title that moves around.
Motörhead: Live Fast Die Öld (Döcumentary)
Orgasmatron with Subtitles
Ace of Spaces (Official Video)
Overkill
Quartz
Band First Released: 1977
This band can be confused with other things not related to them if you try to research them. I had never heard of them before, but you can find the wikipedia page on them here. They were listed on Sam Dunn's Metal Evolution poster so I had to go look them up to find out who they are.
Stand Up And Fight (Complete Album)
Mainline Riders
Against All Odds 1983 Full Album
Back in the Band
Saxon
Band First Released: 1979
During the 1980s Saxon was one of Europe's biggest metal acts with numerous chart topping albums, and singles.
Saxon-Heavy Metal Thunder-Live 2012 (FULL: 2 hours and 40 minutes)
Rock The Nations(Official Music Video)
Battering Ram (Official Video)
And The Bands Played On
Def Leppard
Band First Released: 1980
This band went on to great commercial success, though to many they fit the term "sold out" when going on to do this. They also are one of those bands that do not like to be labeled as Heavy Metal as though the term is a derogatory term. They got their start in the NWOBM era. They are also known for their drummer being injured in a car crash and losing his arm, but going on to keep playing for them using foot pedals. It is a good thing they hadn't gone as crazy with the drums as some bands at the time or this would not have been possible. (EDIT: Listening to it again they actually had a very traditional very simple drum line, so it explains why it could be done with foot pedals. Other than as eye candy for females the drums in this band were not at all special.)
PERSONAL: I liked the album Pyromania a lot when I was in Junior High School. I remember getting into a physical fight with one of my friends over what the lyrics at the beginning of the song Rock of Ages say. Yes, it is stupid, but we were very young. I also bought High and Dry after hearing Pyromania and I like it as well. Then Hysteria came out and took them to great heights with songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me. I hated that album. I never bought another Def Leppard album, and I disliked some of the songs on Hysteria enough that I found myself not enjoying Pyromania as much anymore, because it made me think about what they had gone on to do. This was my personal opinion, and I find that it still makes me cringe a little bit some 30+ years later.
The Def Leppard Story
Rock of Ages
High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)
Pour Some Sugar On Me
Iron Maiden
Band First Released: 1980
Arguably one of the best touring acts of all time. Considered perhaps one of the best live shows you can ever see. Unlike many bands they have not had sales decline as they age. They've gotten stronger and they are an extremely popular band around the globe. They have a distinctive bass guitar style by Steve Harris who also writes most of their music. They have the awesome guitar duos and melodies that at times hearkens back to an early Judas Priest type approach. Then they have the amazing drummer Nicko McBrain. Their initial vocalist Paul Di'Anno left the band before the release of their album The Number Of The Beast which launched them to international stardom. At that point they had the amazing frontman and vocalist Bruce Dickinson. They are without a doubt the most successful act to arise from the NWOBHM movement and they are still going strong today. No Iron Maiden coverage would be complete without also mentioning the marketing genius behind their mascot Eddie.
Iron Maiden Behind The Beast
I also recommend checking out Sam Dunn and Banger Films documentary Flight 666. It is an amazing documentary.
Flight 666 - Full Movie - Also available for purchase from Banger Films here on DVD or Blu-ray.
World Tour HD - Live - Full Concert
Rime of the Ancient Mariner[Rock in Rio, 1985]
Tygers of Pan Tang
Band First Released: 1980
I first heard about this band when I was asking someone visiting my small home town if they'd heard any good metal. One person mentioned the Tygers of Pan Tang and gave me a cassette tape that obviously had been duplicated many of times due to the quality. It was someone in this same conversation that mentioned I should check out Metallica, but that is a tale for another day. I did enjoy Tygers quite a bit, but Metallica tended to absorb my attention for years after that. They apparently are still putting out a lot of material I haven't heard as evidenced by some of the newness of some of the videos I found. It sounds pretty good and I'm going to have to check them out again.
Love Don't Stay (Live TV 1981)
The Tube (C4 1982) Original Broadcast
Love Potion No. 9 (Official Video 1982)
Only The Brave (Official Video)
Diamond Head
Band First Released: 1980 (actually released a single in 1979)
I kept hearing about this band from Metallica and many Metallica songs I really liked such as Am I Evil, The Prince, and Helpless were actually Metallica doing covers of Diamond Head songs. I am surprised these guys did not get a bigger name, as they were great song writers and have some really catchy tunes. I suspect something else must have been at play. Their presentation and how they do things reminds me a bit of Metallica before there was a Metallica. It is pretty apparent how much of an influence this band had on them. If I had heard of these guys prior to Metallica I would have been a huge fan, and it is a shame they didn't get as much attention in the United States as some of the other acts.
Helpless - Live - 1980
Am I Evil
The Prince
To The Devil His Due (Full Concert)
Angel Witch
Band First Released: 1980
This is another one of those bands I'd never heard of in the U.S. until watching the Metallica documentary Cliff 'Em All. The name this band chose for the band is so METAL. It is a label full of contradictions. The contrast in words is something us metal fans often like.
Angel Witch
Angel Witch - Angel Witch (1980) - Full Album
Girlschool
Band First Released: 1980
This is a rarity in the scene. This is an all female band. I had never heard about them before, other than I vaguely remember hearing the name and thinking "Who is that?" and planning to check it out and then forgetting about it simply because I didn't actually hear any songs to go along with it. Just the name. Then I saw some interviews with "Lemmy" or Motorhead talking about touring with them and how bad ass they were. In the interview he mentions another guitarist from a band saying "They are pretty good for girls" which Lemmy basically replied "They are better than you are".
Girlschool - Play At Home - Documentary
Girlschool - C'mon Let's Go<
Don't Call It Love (1982) - This video is FUNNY. It has near nude Muscle builder guys flexing on stage for this all girl band. It seems to be an answer to all of the traditional metal videos with scantily clad women dancing around.
Motorhead & Girlschool - Please Don't Touch
Fist
Band First Released: 1980
I had never heard of this band before. Wikipedia is also pretty slim when it comes to information about them.
Fist - Turn the Hell on
Fist - Thunder In Rock
Holocaust
Band First Released: 1980
This band based out of Scotland is another one of those that is a bit skimpy on music on wikipedia, but they are at least a little bit more informative than Fist. Though an interesting thing is the song The Small Hours is another one of those songs that Metallica would go on to cover. This means I actually listened to a Cover of one of their songs MANY times. They also self call themselves a Progressive band which from some of the sound stylings and experimentation they do I can agree with that.
The Small Hours - Live
Death or Glory
No Nonsense - Live Harelbeke 2013
Tank
Band First Released: 1981
I actually have never heard of this band before. Though they seem to have a pretty big presence compared to some of the other acts I have heard of. I really dig the sound of the vocalist in the War Nation video I link below. He is quite good.
Filth Hounds of Hades (Full Album)
War Nation (Video)
Tank - War Machine Live 2012 - Full DVD
Raven
Band First Released: 1981
I actually owned some of this bands music. I discovered them likely through MTV. I know that Metallica toured with them, but I didn't know that until much later. I also suspect I may have first heard and bought this band before then. This is one of the NWOBHM bands that got some decent releases over here in The United States and a lot of the other great acts like Diamond Head did not get a similar treatment. It is too bad, as I suspect they would have done quite well.
Lay Down the Law
Rock Until You Drop - BBCTV - pretty sure this is the song that first brought them to my notice.
All For One (1983) - Full Album
Raven 'John Gallagher' interview - 2013 - The Metal Voice
Closing
This music gave metal a much needed kick in the ass. There were people listening. We heard it all the way over in The United States and we were inspired. Thank you UK for keeping the metal alive. It bloomed like never before thanks to your safe keeping.
Steem On!