1981...THE HEAVY METAL EXPLOSION ERUPTS

Killers, no question about it. The first real metal record I owned. An album that completely changed my life, and is just damn heavy!

Saxon for me, classic album, love it.

manny wrote:

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

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock We Salute You
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (finally released in the US in 1981)
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
Blue Öyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
Def Leppard - High 'n' Dry
Iron Maiden - Killers
Judas Priest - Point of Entry
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Rush - Moving Pictures
Sammy Hagar - Standing Hampton
Saxon - Denim and Leather
Thin Lizzy - Renegade
Van Halen - Fair Warning


yes, all of these rule, with Iron Maiden winning out.

I figured Maiden would eventually win out but I'm surprised Leppard gave them some competition.

Just reinforces my opinion that High N Dry is one of my 10 desert isle albums.

You Listen to Fools, the MOB RULES!!

Once again I've gotta go with Saxon

tohostudios wrote:

I figured Maiden would eventually win out but I'm surprised Leppard gave them some competition.

Just reinforces my opinion that High N Dry is one of my 10 desert isle albums.

It is a good album and one I need to listen to again.

On the poll I picked Riot -Fire Down Under. Over all, UFO - The Wild The Willing And The Innocent. My favourite post Schenker release.

Wow, that was quite the year when you look at it historically. Of the list that Ult made up, I think the only ones I did not hear in 1981 were Demon, Electric Sun, Kix, Loudness, Samson and Motley Crue. I have heard them, but later on.

This was the year I lost track of the Frank Marino catalog for whatever reason and have not picked up any of his music since.

Welcome to Hell... i still love that album, although i technically never heard it until around 87. Too Fast for Love was also great! Crue has never sounded that hungry again.

Ozzy and Randy finally get a vote. This was seriously a tough decision to make, but the majority of these albums I didn't even here until the mid - to late 80's. DIARY OF A MADMAN I've spent the most time with.

Killers for me.

I woulda put Birthday Eve down, but it wasn't really an explosion for the Japanese metal scene.

No one mentioned The Rods-s/t debut?

Ohhhh, good one Vexer. Forgot about The Rods.

I figured Maiden would run away with this but at least one of my favorite albums of all time (HnD) gave them a run for a while.

hey, lets face it, Iron Maiden is gonna win or be second just about every year, well until thrash metal makes an appearance in 1983 on.

I kind of felt like "Killers" would be the winner, but I just never had the attachment to this album like I did with the first one. One great thing about this album, was the emergence of Adrian Smith (even w/out any writing credits), the bad, Di'Anno didn't have the influence on this album like he did with the initial album. Don't get me wrong, I like "Killers", but I love the self-titled album.

My vote went with Def Leppard, as I don't believe they ever put out a better album then that of "High 'N Dry", and I love "Pyromania". Second, would be Motley's "Too Fast for Love", an unbelievable groundbreaking album. The aforementioned and "Shout at the Devil" are pure brilliance, unfortunately everything after that, not so much. Third, was Ozzy's "Diary of a Madman", which I believe was Ozzy's best with Randy Rhoads. Diary is probably my favorite Ozzy album to date. Fourth, the unheralded "Point of Entry" by Judas Priest. I know this album gets a lot of flack, but I thought it was a ballsy move by the band, and songs like "Solar Angels" are absolutely killer. Fifth, would be a tie between "Mob Rules" and "Killers". I like the second installment from Dio w/the boys from Sabbath, but in many ways "Mob Rules" is like "Killers", a really good album, but not the greatness of the first.

1. Def Leppard - High 'N Dry
2. Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love
3. Ozzy - Diary of a Madman
4. Judas Priest - Point of Entry
5. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules tied w/Iron Maiden - Killers

Tough one!

So many great releases that year. I wish i was older enough to live the vibe at the time.
My vote went to RIOT.

Definitely was Iron Maiden's "Killers" taking the top spot for me. Ozzy Osbourne's "Diary of a Madman" and Def Leppard's "High N Dry" easily tied for a close second.

Never owned Loudness 'Birthday Eve' and like most everybody else did not hear about them til they released 'Thunder in the East'

Never owned any Tygers of Pang Tang just knew of them, I think because of the John Sykes connection to them.

Still do not own Krokus-Hardware but I like these guys but I felt their next two albums where stronger

It was only last year that bought Riot's album, which I loved growing up and it was nice to get on CD finally, but the first time I heard Riot was there 'Born in America' album

Riot should have been bigger than they were. We should be sick to death of them from classic rock radio by now.

Ozzy - Diary of a Madman

Motley Crue, without a doubt.

High N' Dry is great as well, but Motley hit me like a ton of bricks.

It's funny, I just redid the write-up for Iron Maiden - Killers (for the next Metal Metropolis update), and I still say this is a weaker album then s/t and Number of the Beast.

I voted Ozzy!

Weak? What's weak about it?
Wratchild. Murders in the Rue Morgue, Innocent Exile, Purgatory, Drifter...It's a solid album from beginning to end IMO.

ultmetal wrote:

Weak? What's weak about it?
Wratchild. Murders in the Rue Morgue, Innocent Exile, Purgatory, Drifter...It's a solid album from beginning to end IMO.

I know most people think that, just look at the poll results. But to me, this album contains more fillers then killers (pun intended).