Were these bands ever big?

I was out of the metal loop for a while, never quit listening but out of the mainstream; so I was wondering if these bands ever got big:
Raven
Rough Cutt
Black N' Blue
Armored Saint

I had their cassettes back in the 80's. Good stuff.

All didn't make it big, but all were excellent.

SpectreFate wrote:

All didn't make it big, but all were excellent.

Thanks, how about:
Helix
Grim Reaper
Kick Axe
Lizzy Borden?

I really miss all of these tapes. If you read in the Forced Entry post, these are some of the stuff that I got rid of

Depends on wat you call big. All are pretty much household names in the metal curcuits, but only Raven recorded for a major label, as far as I know.

I'd say Armored Saint had moderate success and Raven a little too.

Same for those other 4 you listed.

No they had a bit of occult following but none of those bands got big as a matter a fact to alot of fans they are more known for being starting ground of some of these guys careers for example;

Rough Cutt: Paul Shortino sang on one Quiet Riot and Amir Dekk went to form Orgy
Black N Blue: Tommy Thayer is now in KISS
and Armored Saint's John Bush of course went on to join Anthrax.

Raven had a minor radio hit with 'On and On', Rough Cutt had a minor hit with their cover of Janis Joplin's 'Piece of My Heart' and Black n Blue with a few more hits such as "Miss Mystery' and "Hold on to 18, and Armored Saint a very minor radio hit with 'Can U Deliver' but none of these albums went gold but I believe Black n Blue came the closest to reaching that status.

Helix also signed with a major company, I think. Not the others.

Quote :

nig

Troublezone wrote:

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nig

That's more like it!

RimShot wrote:

SpectreFate wrote:

All didn't make it big, but all were excellent.

Thanks, how about:
Helix
Grim Reaper
Kick Axe
Lizzy Borden?

I really miss all of these tapes. If you read in the Forced Entry post, these are some of the stuff that I got rid of

Helix was on Capital Records and had a few minor radio hits like 'Heavy Metal Love', Grim Reaper was on MCA and they got nowhere as matter a fact Nick Bowcot is a respected writer for Guitar World now, Kick AXe was also on a major label and Lizzy Borden I believe where on Enigma for an album or two.

Quote :

Armored Saint a very minor radio hit with 'Can U Deliver'

That's not true, they also had Reign of Fire and Last Train Home as hits.

OK, thanks all. I'd like to try and find some of this stuff again. Some of it seems a little harder to get a hold of but they are all some of my favorite older stuff. Thanks again.

No to all of them.

Troublezone wrote:

Quote :

Armored Saint a very minor radio hit with 'Can U Deliver'

That's not true, they also had Reign of Fire and Last Train Home as hits.

That could be true but where I lived at the time, 'Can U Deliever' was the only song that got any radio play.

It did seem like Raven put out an album every six months. My fav is "Stay Hard"

RimShot wrote:

It did seem like Raven put out an album every six months. My fav is "Stay Hard"

Check out 'All for One' and I am sure you'll have a new favorite Raven album.

Raven came close. They were getting hugely popular around 84 - 85. They had a minor hit with "Break the Chains". Unfortunately once they signed to a major label, they were forced into a direction that their fan base didn't like and they sort of dropped in popularity quick. They had another minor hit with "On and On", but it was a far cry from the "athletic rock" and speed metal of their first three albums. (However, they have since returned with some killer albums since those days with Atlantic Records.)

Armored Saint too were on a major label as well, and were HUGELY popular in California. As a matter of fact, when AS and Metallica toured together, Metallica were the headliners except in California because Armored Saint were more popular there.

Black N' Blue were one of the more popular band of that early 80's explosion out of Los Angeles. They were expected to become hugely popular, but unfortunately never really became the arena band they were predicted to be.

Lizzy Borden, like Armored Saint, were hugely popular in California, but have always been somewhat of an underground favorite.

Grim Reaper were a NWOBHM favorite at first. They gained some instant popularity with their first album, but never really gained any momentum after that. They did do a successful tour of the U.S. in the 80's.

ultmetal wrote:

Raven came close. They were getting hugely popular around 84 - 85. They had a minor hit with "Break the Chains". Unfortunately once they signed to a major label, they were forced into a direction that their fan base didn't like and they sort of dropped in popularity quick. They had another minor hit with "On and On", but it was a far cry from the "athletic rock" and speed metal of their first three albums. (However, they have since returned with some killer albums since those days with Atlantic Records.)

Armored Saint too were on a major label as well, and were HUGELY popular in California. As a matter of fact, when AS and Metallica toured together, Metallica were the headliners except in California because Armored Saint were more popular there.

Black N' Blue were one of the more popular band of that early 80's explosion out of Los Angeles. They were expected to become hugely popular, but unfortunately never really became the arena band they were predicted to be.

Lizzy Borden, like Armored Saint, were hugely popular in California, but have always been somewhat of an underground favorite.

Grim Reaper were a NWOBHM favorite at first. They gained some instant popularity with their first album, but never really gained any momentum after that. They did do a successful tour of the U.S. in the 80's.

Ult, you are like the Einstein of metal....You rock my friend!!!

manny wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Quote :

Armored Saint a very minor radio hit with 'Can U Deliver'

That's not true, they also had Reign of Fire and Last Train Home as hits.

That could be true but where I lived at the time, 'Can U Deliever' was the only song that got any radio play.

And it was a different year and record.

SpectreFate wrote:

All didn't make it big, but all were excellent.

I agree. They all deserved to make it big.

They were all big with me and deserved more recognition. Both Rough Cutt and Grim Reaper have great 2-fer sets combining albums that can be found fairly cheap.

I remember when someone would ask, "Is Armored Saint a Christian band?" Haha!

Same thing with Testament.

^^^^ Yeah I was wearing a Testament tour shirt back around 1990 or 91 (from the tour with Megadeth and Priest) and my grandmother said " oh yes Testament just played our church basement last weekend! " Maybe so but I'm sure it wasn't the same one!!!!

On the "east coast" (where I spent most of my life), of the bands mentioned the most popular were Helix & Armored Saint. They played that damn "GIVE ME AN R!" cheer leading Helix song every 30 seconds on DC101 back when it first came out...and I remember hearing quite a few Armored Saint tunes during that era as well, especially Long Before I Die and Can U Deliver.

Raven were underground, I think there was myself and 2 other guys I knew that had even heard of them. Black N Blue, Rough Cutt, Grim Reaper (who were popular for about a month), Kick Axe and Lizzy Borden weren't even blips on the radar. That Kick Axe album Vices seemed to be in every cut out bin I ever looked in.