1981
1981 as a year could hardly eclipse the brilliance of 1980, but what it did do was consolidate all the in-roads that had already been established by the NWOBHM bands the previous year. Big NWOBHM guns such as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard all released great albums in 1981, while the likes of Diamond Head and Angel Witch didn’t release follow-up albums to their classic debuts, a factor which almost immediately doomed both bands as future commercial metal giants in a fast moving metal world. It was also an odd year in many ways for metal as well, quite simply because it was the most ordered year of an ever changing decade. A revolution had taken place the previous year with the NWOBHM and now the storm of that movement had died down and the seas were settling on a new hierarchy. But like any gentle sea there was no guaranteee on which way the wind would blow when it actually came. Indicators of course suggested that the future lay with the NWOBHM and any related acts both new and established, as these bands had created the biggest ‘metal identity’ to date. The UK market proved vital for their development and growth, but the US market was where the true future lay and where these bands would ultimately flourish as commercial giants in the metal world, and from the new bands it was Iron Maiden and Def Leppard who would be the two to lead the way. Despite the establishment of the NWOBHM, other NWOBHM artists were still struggling though to get an album deal and would still have to wait a number of years before achieveing that deal, while other bargain basement dwellers like Venom actually did get that all important deal. As for the established artists they turned out to be a very mixed bag in 1981 and the likes of the new look Black Sabbath and Motorhead (albeit with a live release) were both on top form that year and also UFO briefly got their act back together as well. But it was disappointment for both AC/DC and Judas Priest, two bands that fired duds that year. AC/DC on
For Those About to Rock, We Salute You quite simply failed to press the ignition switch on that album and on Judas Priest’s
Point of Entry the songs just weren’t there. Elder statesmen like Thin Lizzy had lost their edge if not their popularity, but both Phil Lynott and Scott Gorham were in the depths of heroin addiction and their creativity had nosedived, but their 1981 album featuring Snowy White
Renegade, was still nowhere near as poor as it’s made out to be and I actually think it’s a decent album (but still not good enough for the top 20 though) Stateside Van Halen were very much the order the day with their grittiest release to date and there was a return to form for New York metal act Riot, who released one of the best metal albums of the year. But the most interesting US release would come in the shape of the hedonistic Motley Crue and much like the Venom debut which would be at the other end of the metal spectrum, it would shape much of the metal scene for the rest of the decade!