1982
1982 is the year probably best remembered as the metal avalanche that was known as Iron Maiden now with Bruce Dickinson on board and for Judas Priest releasing one of their most iconic albums. Before 1982 Iron Maiden had been one of the biggest metal acts around, but now with Bruce Dickinson in the line-up they would now take the next step upto superstar status, a level reserved largely just for the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to name just a couple. Def Leppard would also be the other NWOBHM band to achieve this level of status, but would have to wait till the following year to do so with
Pyromania. Arena style metal was still the dominant metal stance for a lot of metal bands and others aspired to this type of posturing as well, as that was by and large metal's principal commercial outlet. Of the established acts who had put out strong albums in 1981 the year was largely an extension of what they’d done the previous year, but as already said 1982 luckily saw a return to form for some of metal’s principal bands like Judas Priest, who had mis-fired on
Point of Entry but came back full blast on
Screaming for Vengeance. Kiss finally came in from the cold after their less than successful tampering with pop on several disappointing albums. But most interestingly, the year saw a couple of bright albums from newish bands that would help make the ‘glam metal’ genre explode commercially in the USA the very following year, as these bands were now adding fuel to the fire already started by Motley Crue. The faster end of the metal spectrum was kept alive by speed metal acts like Anvil and Tank, but largely these bands were just keeping the speed seat warm for the even meaner thrash movement that would burst onto the metal scene very shortly. Also in just a few short years, the NWOBHM had firmly established itself as a label for the vast majority of British metal bands and most of these bands were very much the established new guard now, despite the fact that a number of new British metal bands were still constantly fighting for that elusive record deal. The year saw things as fast moving as ever and again it caught a number of bands out, as bands like Saxon seemed hesitant in what they were doing and Diamond Head read the script wrong yet again, despite the fact they were most talented metal band around! The early 1980s also proved that you didn’t have to release an album every year to maintain your status as a major metal act, as bands like Def Leppard and the now veteran Scorpions (who did release an album in 1982) showed that constant touring especially in the USA, was just as good as releasing a platinum album for maximum exposure. One thing was for certain anyway and that was that the immediate future of metal was centred around the USA regardless the origin of the band, as the next two metal revolutions in the next few years would largely be on American soil.