Generally Unknown Bands of the 1980's That Played METAL

Indeed Saxon are a generally unknown quantity in North America - they got a bit of profile in the early '80s but they might as well have broken up in 1986 as far as this continent is concerned.

Also worth noting, maybe: the only people I can recall who knew about Saxon didn't like 'em. I knew one guy who would laugh at the mention of "Denim and Leather".

 

Thread has veered away from the OP. Now we're just mentioning bands that either a) have already been mentioned or b) arguing about the popularity (or lack thereof) of bands being mentioned. Arguing the virtues or not is fine, but throwing out bands that were generally well known back in the day or just repeating what others have already noted is kind of beside the point.

In terms of Saxon, I think it's kind of a middle ground band. They definitely got their shot opening for Iron Maiden and several other bands in the early 80's (I saw them three times as openers for various acts and once as a headliner in a small capacity venue), so they weren't "unknown" if people are going to see them as a headliner, regardless of the size of the theater (this was about a 3,000 person venue). Yet, the band never really broke here in the States all the same. Some videos on MTV, as said, opened for some pretty big bands in the early 80's, but, ultimately, didn't make the cut. However, if you compare Saxon's success in the US to that of say, Helstar, Manilla Road, or Tank, well, that's a different story.

 

Christian metal bands Bloodgood, Barren Cross, and Jerusalem languished in the shadow of Stryper.

 

Then you're missing out out on one of their very best albums in Thundersteel.

 

I could never get past the 80's production values on that record. I had the cassette back in the day. I think it came out in '88.

 

Let him laugh. Everything up to and including Power And The Glory is classic stuff. One of the good things too about Saxon, and Maiden as well, is that they didn't fall prey to the crummy 80's production values that a lot of the bands did. But that kind of stuff really didn't shift into high gear until after Pyromania. Thanks to Mutt Lange a lot of bands thought it was cool to have drums sound like heavily reverbed cannons. By 1986 pretty much just about everything recorded sounded pretty bad. Another bad trend that occurred was guitar players started using solid state Marshalls instead of tube amps. Then they would smiley face EQ their sound so it was all brittle and harsh sounding. Some of the most poorly recorded stuff happened between 1985 and 1989. There were exceptions for sure, but not many. Thankfully Nirvana killed hair metal, and the horrible 80's production values with it.

 

Agree about Saxon. I lost interest around Crusader.

Nothing wrong with "hair metal", IMO. Some of it is quite good: essentially just good, melodic hard rock with the trappings of glam. Obviously, some *really* terrible bands in the subgenre, but that could said of any subgenre, really.

 

I was out there playing clubs when hair metal was peaking. I have a very biased view on the subject. I don't like any of it, except for a few bands that were falsely labeled hair metal. Like Y&T for example. It's about a five year span for music I'd rather forget, even though I have a lot of fond memories.

 

I was playing them, too. Seemed like the thing to do at the time . Heck, I'll admit it: I played in my share of hair metal bands (frankly I hate the term, but that's the moniker that's become attached to the subgenre). But, yeah, I played it.

Like everyone else, grunge took over and then we started playing that. Same story for a lot of musicians around that time; big seismic shift in the hard rock world.

 

Agreed, Keel was very well known if not exactly popular during the era. They were featured multiple times in all the eras magazines.

 

We played too. We actually got into a local studio and recorded a cover of "Born to be Wild" and a couple of are other tunes on a nice 16-track. We got free recording time because we did an a**load of yard work for the owner of the studio. He let us in for a few hours for three days and we cut the demos. Our drummer, by that point had the most experience with mixing boards, so we left that up to him. It had that smiley EQ you were speaking of, bad. It ended up sounding like the original mix of Twisted Sister's Under the Blade. No mid-range at all and we recorded the guitars WAY too hot. He tried to compensate by high passing the hell out of them, which just made them sound buzzy. We went back last year and re-recorded the guitars and the rest was actually salvageable. It ended up sounding semi-decent. Those demos didn't get us anywhere unfortunately. We never had a lot of energy in that studio because we were perfectionists. We were much better live (Y&T's problem). Ahhh.... good times. We were an obscure real metal band.

 

thats the version i have

 

I remember the first Keel album with Malmsteen. The first thing that hit me when I heard it was, "Hey, this guy can't sing!"

 

That was Steeler. If you listened to the first Keel album your thoughts would be "Damn. Is this guy getting tortured? He's screaming his balls out."

 

Yeah you're right that record was Steeler. Other than that, my statement stands as it is.

 

I never heard the first Keel. After Steeler, that was all I had to hear. I also hear this joker is some kind of country singer now. Like that cookie cutter crap isn't bad enough. I hope he's found a home.
Speaking of Malmsteen, has anyone mentioned just what a fantastic album No Parole For Rock And Roll by Alcatrazz is? There's a neoclassical metal classic, with lots of 70's touches. I think it's Malmsteen's best work.

 

I thought Keel was okay on that Steeler album; certainly not terrible. I can't say about his other stuff because I've never cared enough to check it out.

 

The first two Keel albums are WAY better than the first Steeler album and that's coming from a big Yngwie nerd.

 

I can't support Ron, sorry.