Metal Hurlant

Though its not a metal video check this dude’s site out… he’s a metal logo master!

Ozzy Osbourne: Ultimate Sin

Nowadays if you’re starting a journey into metal it’s easy to find out what you should be listening to, what the classic albums and bands are. You can hunt on the the Internet, Amazon recommends albums you might like, there are 1000 forums you can turn to for advice, music TV everywhere and hundreds of magazines. Consider now my dilemma in the mid 80s: no Internet, no forums, only one MTV and only a choice of two magazines Kerrang or Metal Hammer (and the odd magazine a friend would bring back from the US), very little shared knowledge available! So I had to rely on what I read in magazines and saw on the odd TV documentary, me and my friends were all starting this epic journey together so their recommendations were not much help either. And in magazines people were always banging on about Ozzy and Black Sabbath so I though this might be an avenue to explore.

So I troop off to Our Price determined to expand my knowledge. Quite a range of Ozzy stuff in the O cassette section but what on earth do I buy? Cost of course was a determining factor, that meant that the double play cassette version of Tribute was out of my price range but how else could I decide which Ozzy album would be the best? As per usual I turned to the tried and trusted method and chose by which had the best cover. Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary of a Madman had pretty ghoulish covers but it was Ultimate Sin that really stood out for me, first it was hand drawn (I was big into Boris Vallejo at the time) and not only did it have Ozzy depicted as a kick ass dragon but it had one of those pneumatic chicks that only seem to exist in fantasy artists’s imaginations. Per-fucking-fect. Needless to say this was one of Ozzy’s weaker albums but what the heck I still love it especially this song and Shot In The Dark. RAWSOME! (copyright PMH)

Also this video is properly hilarious, if only for Ozzy’s awesome hair.

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Abe’s note: I’ve always referred to this as ozzy’s “pillpopping housewife” period. Doesn’t he look like an 80’s mom whose out of her head on presription painkillers?

Mordred: Falling Away

I know Abe is going to chew me out over this one beacuase of the scratching and faux rapping but Mordred have a very special place in my heart. When I first began buying metal it was in the good old days of cassette tapes, you could pop into the local Our Price and swap the inlays from one cassette case to another making your choices dramatically cheaper, however when I reached sweet 16 my parents treated me to a CD player and the first CD I got? A CD replacement for my tape copy of Mordred’s In This Life and Falling Away is my favourite song on the album so here it is.

Now don’t give me any of that this is nu metal bullshit. This was realeased in 1991, 15 years ago when having a DJ with your band was exciting and innovative and not a sure fire route to the cover of Kerrang. Anyways I think this band are kick ass and a whole heap better than the dross of funk metal that they got lumped in with. However whilst they were flavour of the month they toured heavily in Europe (perhaps because they were signed to Noise Records) and seemed to play the Marquee on Charring Cross road every six weeks. Needless to say me and my friends would be there as often as we could.

Well enjoy this and try to imagine how fresh it would have sounded over 15 years ago.

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Black Sabbath: War Pigs

So there’s a LOT of Sabbath on youtube, unfortunately, most of it is from the early 2000’s, or kids home videos of them playing paranoid or the video/sound quality is crap. I’d hoped to find another song by Sabbath but this is one of the best videos on there. Enjoy it’s a classic.

Metallica: For Whom the Bell Tolls

The clip is incomplete but damn remember when Metallica didn’t suck? To be fair, I got free tickets to the Black Album tour. My best friend used to be buddies with Cliff Burton’s girlfriend and we got into the Snake Pit. The super backstage under the stage thing so they could do Metal in the Round. Even with Jason from Flotsam and Jetsom on Bass, that put on one of the best shows I’d ever seen. I was fully prepared to hate every minute of it, but I’ll be damned if they didnt bust their ass to put on a killer show. Now they’re like the Stone Temple Pilots or something…

Anyways here’s Metallica with Cliff at Day on the Green in San Francisco. The line up for that concert was Scorpions, Ratt, Y&T, Metallica, Rising Force, Victory… can you believe they opened for Y&T?

Anthrax: Metal Thrashing Mad

I remember getting ahold of this record when it came out and we used get stoned and play this song over and over and just bust a gut laughing. NY Speed Metal holds up as well as NY Hardcore compared to its California counterparts. (Oh no I didn’t!) That said, it’s a definite turning point in metal where it’s leaving the falsetto wail behind and cutting loose with thrash. Not dissin Anthrax mind you I always dug em but this track in particular IS kinda funny.

Testament: Over the Wall

I’m not sure how much it’s acknowledged but the SF Bay Area was a breeding ground for metal in the 80’s. Not just Y&T but its really where American speed metal took root first. I mean we all know what was happening in L.A. at the time…Testament was another sick metal band from the Bay Area. Although they sound similar to Metallica, they were definiteyl peers and not just a knockoff. Over the Wall is, apparently, a song about bustin out of Alcatraz. It’s definitely sick!

Tank: Heavy Artillery

Algy Mackie played bass with UK Punk bands the Saints and the Damned (Machine Gun Ettiqette, no less) and left the band to start Tank. Lemmy was a big influence on him and they joined the N.W.O.B.H.M. They’ve got 2 great records for sure and I’m not sure after that. Not only that they have the best fucking band logo ever!