1982...the continuing HEAVY METAL ONSLAUGHT!

The Heavy Metal Explosion continued to destroy in 1982. Metal Blade Records releases the ultra-important Metal Massacre series, which would spawn some very big metal bands including Ratt and Metallica. The NWOBHM scene was doing great! The U.S. scene, especially in California was beginning to break out. The following year an LA band called Quiet Riot would help to put heavy metal back on the carts. This is the year that Ozzy Osbourne/Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads dies in an airplane accident on March 19. NWOBHM act Grim Reaper released a very popular demo.

Aerosmith regrouped with two new guitar players and put out one of their most underrated albums "Rock in a Hard Place". Ace Frehley, lead guitarist of Kiss, officially left the band this year and was replaced by Vinnie Vincent. Kiss returned to their heavy metal roots with "Creatures of the Night", whereas Rush went for a more pop-friendly sound with "Signals" and Queen departed from their hard rock legacy with the horrific funk/disco album Hot Space. This would also be the year that Deep Purple/Gillan vocalist Ian Gillan would replace Ronnie James Dio in Black Sabbath. Asia broke the charts with their powerful debut. Night Ranger also broke onto the scene with "Dawn Patrol". Also Nova had a huge hit with "Fantasy" from his debut record. Some say that Bon Jovi copies his formula and style a few years later.

Bands formed this year include Artillery, Armored Saint, Carnivore, C.O.C., Death Angel, Destruction, Dio, D.R.I., Kreator, Napalm Death, Possessed, Sodom, Suicidal Tendencies, Voivod, W.A.S.P., Warlock, Warrior, Watchtower.

Accept - Restless and Wild
Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place
Anvil - Metal on Metal
Axewitch - PRay for metal
Alice Cooper - Zipper Catches Skin
Baron Rojo - Volumen Brutal
Black Sabbath - Live Evil
Blackfoot - Highway Song Live
Blue Öyster Cult - Extraterrestrial Live
Deep Purple - Live in London
Diamond Head - Borrowed Time
Diamond Head - Four Cuts (EP)
Gamma - Gamma 3
Gary Moore - Corridors of Power
Gillan - Magic
Girlschool - Screaming Blue Murder
Hanoi Rocks - Self Destruction Blues
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Jaguar - Power Games
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Kiss - Creatures of the Night
Krokus - One Vice at a Time
Led Zeppelin - Coda
Leviticus - Sta Och Titta Pa - EP
Loudness - Devil Soldier
Mad Max - s/t
Magnum - Chase the Dragon
Manowar - Battle Hymns
Mercyful Fate - Nuns Have No Fun (EP)
Metal Massacre (first Metal Blade compilation featuring Ratt, Metallica, Cirith Ungol, Malice)
Motörhead - Iron Fist
MSG - One Night At Budakon
MSG - Assault Attack
Ozzy Osbourne - Speak of the Devil
Rainbow - Straight Between the Eyes
Raven - Wiped Out
Riot - Riot Live
Riot - Restless Breed
The Rods - To Hot to Stop (EP)
The Rods - Wild Dogs
Sammy Hagar - Three Lock Box
Samson - Before the Storm
Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed
Scorpions - Blackout
Tank - Power of the Hunter
Tank - Filth Hounds from Hades
Ted Nugent - Nugent
Tytan - Blind Men and Fools (EP)
Twisted Sister - Under the Blade
UFO - Mechanix
Van Halen - Diver Down
Venom - Black Metal
Whitesnake - Saints & Sinners
Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
Y&T - Black Tiger

Wow - ANOTHER great year for METAL!!!!!!!! Tough choices - I could have easily picked "Creatures" which is one of KISS' BEST releases ever. Or Priest that debuted their newer, heavier, more metallic production. Or Scorps with the album/tour that started to break them big. Or Twisted Sister with the great "Under The Blade" which in later years would show that Tipper Gore has a gutter mind. Accept's Restless & Wild took the band to a new level, with the speed metal "Fast As A Shark". The final Lemmy/Eddie/Phil album "Iron Fist" deserves mention, a great release and the first Motorhead album I ever bought. But, had to go with Iron Maiden. "The Number Of The Beast", the first album with Bruce replacing Paul is just a fantastic album. Not a single piece of filler on it. This was the album that pushed Maiden over the top. The Paul albums where great, but personally I like Bruce behind the mic better.

Went with Maiden of course,Creatures would be a close second for me.

There's a lot of good choices... but i went with (Scorpions - Blackout)

I'm having a hard time deciding on this one. I'm leaning toward ACCEPT - Restless & Wild or TWISTED SISTER - Under the Blade. Though Maiden's release is certainly epic, and the album I expect to win, there were other albums that consumed me more back then. Accept and Twisted Sister were certainly two of them, as was KISS - Creatures, Anvil - Metal on Metal, Venom - Black Metal and Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place. This was also the first concert I'd get to attend. Aerosmith & Pat Travers at the Spectrum in Philly. Quite the memory. I didn't include Aerosmith on the poll because I didn't figure they would get many votes and because a lot of people here wouldn't consider them heavy metal.

The first Metal Massacre was an important release that year as well. It launched the careers of so many important metal bands.

Dang. '82 was another great year. Gonna have to think this one over cuz there are so many bands/albums I could vote for. It could be CREATURES OF THE NIGHT, it could be UNDER THE BLADE, it could be WIPED OUT, RESTLESS AND WILD, BLACKOUT....aaarrrrrrrrgh!!!

Pretty hard to choose. I'll have to think harder about this one.

Man, you are writing the history of metal here!

Scorpions

Like Jokerman I had a hard time deciding, and these polls are getting harder and harder to choose from, I picked KISS because it was their first album I bought as a new release and also because it kicks so much ass, but then it was the year I bought Judas Priest, Aerosmith, and Scorpions as all new releases, saw my first two concerts that year ( I was 12 saw Journey/Aerosmith/Bryan Adams in Miami at Rock Superbowl and Ozzy with Vandenburg opening) I was really just discovering music and heavy metal was exploding in popularity.

This was the first album I had heard of from Iron Maiden and loved it, Judas Priest 'Screaming..' was in constant rotation but I went with KISS, this album is still one of my favorites

ultmetal wrote:

I'm having a hard time deciding on this one. I'm leaning toward ACCEPT - Restless & Wild or TWISTED SISTER - Under the Blade. Though Maiden's release is certainly epic, and the album I expect to win, there were other albums that consumed me more back then. Accept and Twisted Sister were certainly two of them, as was KISS - Creatures, Anvil - Metal on Metal, Venom - Black Metal and Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place. This was also the first concert I'd get to attend. Aerosmith & Pat Travers at the Spectrum in Philly. Quite the memory. I didn't include Aerosmith on the poll because I didn't figure they would get many votes and because a lot of people here wouldn't consider them heavy metal.

The first Metal Massacre was an important release that year as well. It launched the careers of so many important metal bands.

Dude Aerosmith are heavy metal. As we both know they were called heavy metal by the press and the bible of heavy metal magazines Kerrange gave this album a thumbs up calling it the best American metal album in ages.

Troublezone wrote:

There's a lot of good choices... but i went with (Scorpions - Blackout)

I really wanted to choose this but I had to go with Maiden, with Scorpions a close second, JP third and Accept fourth.

Went with Maiden. Bruce's debut is too big to ignore. Some great stuff on this list though.

My favorite is "One Vice At A Time" by Krokus

Every lp listed in the poll has vital aspects pertaining not only to the evolution of each bands sound and/or song writing skills but the quality of bands overall.

Metal Massacre was very important cause it gave "underground" an outlet aside from the tape trading that was the norm.

Venom BLACK METAL

Changed my life.

For me
1. Maiden
2. Scorps
3. JP
4. Accept
5. Twisted

Tough choice ! KISS's Creatures gets my vote only because I'm such a huge fan. There are others that I could have went with though (Maiden,Scorps, Priest)

Why is the poll titled "Choose! The Heavy Metal Crown 1981" when it's for 1982 albums?

A lot of good candidates but I went with Maiden as well. Priest and Kiss made it a contest though..

OK, I went with TWISTED SISTER - Under the Blade because 1) it's an album that I still listen to quite reguarly, 2) it was a new release that consumed me as a kid 3) they were my local heroes growing up.

I really wanted to vote for ACCEPT - Restless & Wild as well. These two are pretty equal in my book.

manny wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

I'm having a hard time deciding on this one. I'm leaning toward ACCEPT - Restless & Wild or TWISTED SISTER - Under the Blade. Though Maiden's release is certainly epic, and the album I expect to win, there were other albums that consumed me more back then. Accept and Twisted Sister were certainly two of them, as was KISS - Creatures, Anvil - Metal on Metal, Venom - Black Metal and Aerosmith - Rock in a Hard Place. This was also the first concert I'd get to attend. Aerosmith & Pat Travers at the Spectrum in Philly. Quite the memory. I didn't include Aerosmith on the poll because I didn't figure they would get many votes and because a lot of people here wouldn't consider them heavy metal.

The first Metal Massacre was an important release that year as well. It launched the careers of so many important metal bands.

Dude Aerosmith are heavy metal. As we both know they were called heavy metal by the press and the bible of heavy metal magazines Kerrange gave this album a thumbs up calling it the best American metal album in ages.

Oh, I agree with you 100%. Anyone from that era knows the deal, but I just didn't want that debate coming in and undermining the thread. I just had this feeling someone would say, "Aerosmith aren't heavy metal!"

Priest for me. I played that thing about a thousand times when it came out.

lots of good ones here, but once again i'll go with Venom this time around.

Wow, so many great albums, classics actually, to choose from. It was a toss up between Maiden and Priest. I went with Priest. Rob Halfod in his prime was absolutely the best vocalist in heavy metal. By the way, I saw Maiden open for Priest on this tour. That concert was actually my introduction to Iron Maiden. I'll never forget the rush I got when they broke into the chorus of Run To The Hills. It was my first time hearing the song and it was amazing.

No surprise here that Maiden is leading so far. That was my choice, however Venom's BLACK METAL comes in a photo finish for second.

Maiden.... Could have gone with TS or Accept..