1981...THE HEAVY METAL EXPLOSION ERUPTS

The NWOBHM continues to grow in Europe, while many US bands, and some longtime European bands struggle with their identity. Kiss releases a prog-rock album, Queen records the soundtrack to "Flash Gordon", Alice Cooper begins to regain some sense of his sound after exploring new wave, Uli Roth leaves the Scorpions to form his own band Electric Sun.

Many new bands form this year including Anthrax, Metallica, Dark Angel, Slayer, Steeler, Motley Crue, Pantera, Loudness, etc. American and European music magazines finally awake to the fact that Heavy Metal is not only still alive but thriving.

Some of the biggest non-metal releases that year were Kings of the Wild Frontier- Adam and the Ants; Double Fantasy- John Lennon &Yoko Ono; Tattoo You - The Rolling Stones; Escape - Journey, 4 - Foreigner; Ghost in the Machine - The Police & Hi-Fidelity - REO Speedwagon.

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock We Salute You
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (finally released in the US in 1981)
Accept - Breaker
Alice Cooper - Special Forces
Anvil - Hard 'N' Heavy
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Blue Öyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
Def Leppard - High 'n' Dry
Demon - Night of the Demon
Electric Sun - Fire Wind (Uli Roth solo)
Frank Marino - The Power of Rock 'n' Roll
Gillan - Future Shock
Gillan - Double Trouble
Girlschool - Hit and Run
Hanoi Rocks - Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks
Helix - White Lace & Black Leather
Holocaust - The Nightcomers
Iron Maiden - Killers
Joe Perry Project - I've Got the Rock and Rolls Again
Judas Priest - Point of Entry
Kiss - Music from "The Elder"
Kix - Kix
Krokus - Hardware
Loudness - Birthday Eve
Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love
Motörhead - No Sleep 'til Hammersmith
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Riot - Fire Down Under
The Rods - s/t
Rush - Moving Pictures
Sammy Hagar - Standing Hampton
Rainbow - Difficult to Cure
Raven - Rock Until You Drop
Samson - Shock Tactics
Saxon - Denim and Leather
Ted Nugent - Intensities in 10 Cities
Thin Lizzy - Renegade
Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound
UFO - The Wild The Willing and the Innocent
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Venom - In League With Satan (their first 7" single)
Venom - Welcome to Hell
Whitesnake - Come an' Get It
Y&T - Earthshaker

F.ucking hard. I go for SAXON:DENIM AND LEATHER.

I voted for Iron Maiden 'Killers' but my vote could have easily gone to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, and Van Halen.

High N Dry. One of my alltime favorite albums.

This is probably my FAVORITE year.


Venom - Welcome to Hell (I really love this record, I didn't hear it until 86 though....thought I was putting my moral soul in danger by doing so)



That is funny you say this, I did not hear this album til around 1984/85 and I felt the same way!!! I still love the album.

It was a toss up for me between Raven, Maiden and Motley Crue. Those albums consumed me in 1981. I voted for Raven...no real reason why. I could have voted for any of those. Saxon - Denim & Leather is another I could have voted for. It's a calling card for any metal fan from that era.

Lots of great albums that year again. Several that aren't in the poll are phenomenal. Gillan are a WAY underrated heavy metal band from the early 80's. Their music was dark and heavy with a cleverly sinister lyrical approach, and of course, the unmistakable vocals of Ian Gillan.

Anvil's Hard 'n' Heavy is a good record but I didn't discover them until the next album.

The second Joe Perry Project album is great too, though not quite up to the same level as the first album.

Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound is an out and out classic. I just wasn't really aware of them until a few years later.

Accept Breaker is the band finally discovering their sound. A classic in it's own right, though their next album would be THE ONE!

manny wrote:

I voted for Iron Maiden 'Killers' but my vote could have easily gone to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, and Van Halen.

I went Killers too but Mob rules was in the running. This is one of my fav maiden albums.

Something weird happend. Just about all the text I'd written for my above post has been lost. darn.

I sort of figured Maiden would run away with this one. Why not? It's an amazing album! They blew Priest out of the water. Though I like Point of Entry, few fans would say it was their best, and most would say it was their weakest album to date.

Went with the Crue. Great Debut,they were young and hungry.

ultmetal wrote:

I sort of figured Maiden would run away with this one. Why not? It's an amazing album! They blew Priest out of the water. Though I like Point of Entry, few fans would say it was their best, and most would say it was their weakest album to date.

I think it is the strongest album of the year. The tracklisting became a veritable staple of songs that they play live even all this time later...

I never even bothered buying point of entry.

Maiden passes Priest for the throne with this record.

I really believe Priest's trail blazing years were 76-79....and trailblaze they did. They went for more mainstream appeal in the 80s. which is alright....they paid their dues, and laid the groundwork for others.

Killers for me too. What a great year though. All were fantastic releases making it for a difficult choice.

Sinistar wrote:

Something weird happend. Just about all the text I'd written for my above post has been lost. darn.

That was my fault I was responding to your message when I got a load of work to do and I hit edit instead of quote my apologies bro.

manny wrote:

Sinistar wrote:

Something weird happend. Just about all the text I'd written for my above post has been lost. darn.

That was my fault I was responding to your message when I got a load of work to do and I hit edit instead of quote my apologies bro.

Thanks for letting me know.

Apology accepted.

Gaaack! Man, this is tough. 1981 was the year I really started exploring the world of popular music (I was 11 years old at the time).

My sentimental favorite would have to be Judas Priest's POINT OF ENTRY (first Priest song I ever heard -- "Headin' out to the Highway" -- was off that album).

However, on sheer strength of the material, I'd have to give Def Leppard's HIGH N DRY my vote. That thing still sounds great today.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Gaaack! Man, this is tough. 1981 was the year I really started exploring the world of popular music (I was 11 years old at the time).

My sentimental favorite would have to be Judas Priest's POINT OF ENTRY (first Priest song I ever heard -- "Headin' out to the Highway" -- was off that album).

However, on sheer strength of the material, I'd have to give Def Leppard's HIGH N DRY my vote. That thing still sounds great today.

Did you forget to actually vote FF? Def Leppard still only has my one vote.

Condensed version of what I wrote...

Love many of those records.

Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love
Riot - Fire Down Under
Saxon - Denim and Leather
Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound
Venom - Welcome to Hell


Saw KILLERS in a mall record store.....the cover scared me.....HAD to have it.

It was between

Raven and Maiden for me.....

Picked Maiden for the history, being that I didn't explore Raven until many years later, and KILLERS is my fav Maiden record by far.

Mob Rules is a runner up....bought that when it came out as well.

tohostudios wrote:

Did you forget to actually vote FF? Def Leppard still only has my one vote.

Whoops. Now I done did.

Sinistar wrote:

Condensed version of what I wrote...

Love many of those records.

Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love

Probably my fav MC. This one really stands the test of time.

Went DL as a sentimental favorite but so many great ones. Still play that Riot a lot, Killers, D&L, man, almost all of them.

Venom.

exact33 wrote:

Sinistar wrote:

Condensed version of what I wrote...

Love many of those records.

Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love

Probably my fav MC. This one really stands the test of time.

Yea, MC's best record. I like Shout....it's not on the same level with this one though.

Riot was not a band I discovered til 'Born in America' album which was released in 1983/84, and this was when I first started getting into metal but it would not be til 1988/89 til I heard 'Fire Down Under'

Even though they deny their roots in Heavy metal, I still voted for Leppard's High n' Dry. I almost voted for Motley though. Love that album as well.