Heavy Metal History

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April 1980 Jan 23, 2017

Show notes

Welcome to this weeks episode of Heavy Metal History.

We move into April of 1980 to discuss the rise of the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) scene with two of the most now well known bands putting out records in the same month on the same day. The timing of those two records couldn’t have been at a better time as the scouring and dueling leads of both those band would begin to change and shape the sound of bands to come for years.

While Iron Maiden was releasing their maiden (pun intended) record, the flip side of that is that Judas Priest was on their 6th album by this time and had already been a band for almost 6 years. And yet the two bands are synonymous with each other as are the release of these records respectively.

I touch on the Ronnie James Dio era Black Sabbath album that was ALSO released in the same month, but I have already covered the making of that album in our part 2 episode of Black Sabbath. The Los Angeles based punk rock band X also puts out one of the genres most well known and memorable records during this time.

The albums discussed on this episode were:

X- “Los Angeles”
Iron Maiden - "Iron Maiden"
Judas Priest - "British Steel"
Black Sabbath - “Heaven and Hell” (Also released but previously talked about on our Black Sabbath episode)

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January-March 1980 Jan 16, 2017

Show notes

Welcome to this weeks episode of The Heavy Metal History Podcast we move ahead in the wake of Black Sabbath to January through March of 1980.

The early days of metal, especially in 1980, the album releases weren’t as extensive as the later years would become. And the inclusion of punk rock and some of those early bands and releases are an equally imperative piece of the genre to talk about as it would later go on to fuse with metal and form Hardcore and Thrash Metal.

With Punk rock coming to the forefront almost 5 years earlier, 1980 would see some of the most iconic and well known albums from the genre to be released. The Clash would go on to have massive success with “London Calling” and later in the year with “Sandanista” due to a late release date in the U.S. Between the months of January and March we also see the beginnings of the Blackened Thrash genre with Witchfynde who would also release 2 albums in the same year. The Ramones put out their most successful and highest selling album of their discography. German band Scorpions continue along their already broad path or Rock/Metal with Animal Magnetism and Van Halen continues to storm the scene with their 3rd album, an album that has a song that possibly later inspired and heavily influenced Slayer’s “Seasons in the Abyss”

The albums discussed on this episode:

The Clash - "London Calling"

Girl - “Sheer Greed”
Witchfynde - "Give Em' Hell"
Ramones - "End of the Century"
Scorpions - “Animal Magnetism”
Van Halen - "Women and Children First"

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Black Sabbath Pt. 2 (1975-1980) Jan 09, 2017

Show notes

Welcome to this weeks episode of Heavy Metal History. This week we pick up where we left off in the history of the progenitors of the genre.
We go through the years 1976-1980 of Black Sabbath’s storied career discussing the drug fueled creations of Black Sabbath during a completely toxic and almost un inspired part of their career. A time that was mired by excessive drug use, lawsuits, divorce and a growing disolvement between original members of the band. This was during “Technical Ecstasy” and Never Say Die”.

These albums are a fascinating tale of excess and the inevitable toll it takes on creativity. And we finish of the bands history with a massive shake up in its original long lasting line-up that lead to a resurgence and one of the best albums of their career with addition of the legendary Ronnie James Dio taking over lead vocal duties after the departure of Ozzy Osborne.

Albums I discussed this week:

Black Sabbath - "Technical Ecstasy"
Black Sabbath - "Never Say Die!"
Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell"

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Black Sabbath Pt. 1 (1970-1975) Dec 28, 2016

Show notes

EDITORS NOTE: As of 2026 I have updated and made a new episode about the history of Black Sabbath for the 10th anniversary of the podcast. Its available to watch on YouTube HERE or stream wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to the first episode of the Heavy Metal History Podcast!

In our first episode we talk about the band that started it all, Black Sabbath! We go in depth of the bands start of their career between the years 1970-1975, their recording process for each album as well as interesting and little known facts about the band.

While maybe not the exact beginnings of Heavy Metal, Black Sabbath truly pushed the sonic boundaries of sound and shaped the way the genre would evolve and grow. Throughout the 70’s the band was an absolute power house in terms of writing, recording and touring. This cemented their legacy long before anyone in the band would realize it. Their output in the bands first 5 years see’s easily the some of the bands most well known and prolific work. I attempt to dissect and go behind the scenes of the making of each one of these albums, with various stories, audio clips and facts to tell the history of the Metal genres biggest fore fathers.

Albums I discussed this week: