Welcome one and all to the latest episode of
Signals from Mars. This is episode 446 for those
keeping score. I'm your host Victor and this
is the 1980 episode where listeners and viewers
of the show submitted their 10 favorite albums
from 1980 and this is the countdown show. Did
your favorites make the top 10? We'll find out
next. Quick reminder that in addition to hosting
Signals from Mars, I've also worked behind the
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Weltman, Mike Jones, Brad Dahl, Mark Striegel,
Gabriel Ruiz, Chris Vaglio, Metal Dan, Johan
Edestrum, Ed Ferguson, Anthony Mackey, Tony Espin,
and Sean Richman. Thank you guys for all of your
support. It is greatly appreciated if you want
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one of these countdown episodes. You can do so
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It is patreon .com forward slash signals from
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just want to follow or subscribe to the show.
I do want to remind you guys to go to your favorite
podcasting platform and subscribe and like the
show and leave your comments. We've got some
trolls out there trolling it up in the comment
section. uh, for various different platforms
and people are bored. People want attention.
Uh, all I'm saying is go there and let your true
feelings be known and let's push some of these
dopes aside. How about that? Um, yeah. So back
to this episode, it is 1980. The way that it
works, same as it ever was. Your number one gets
10 points. Your number two gets nine points all
the way down to number 10, which gets one point.
I added up all the points associated to each
album. And from there, we got the results that
you'll be hearing during this episode. There's
a lot of different albums that were voted on.
The great majority that got voted on were in
the top 10. I mean, that should come as no surprise
to anyone. But the next countdown show that we're
going to be doing will be our Hall of Fame episode.
It will be year two for this. Keep an eye out
for that. And I'll be sending around information
with the list of bands that are already in the
Hall of Fame and which ones you can vote for.
Well, actually not which ones you can vote for.
This isn't the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not
what those trolls do and get everyone all riled
up every year. I'm not limiting it to whatever
I think is eligible. I think you guys are knowledgeable
enough with their music, with your music, to
pick your 10 favorite bands that aren't in the
Hall of Fame. But that episode will come later
this month. In any event, let's get on with our
1980 episode. Who ended up on top? Welcome one
and all to the latest episode of Signals from
Mars. I'm your host, Victor, and joining us is
Jeremy in the UK, Ed in Kentucky, Brad Dahl in
Idaho, and we have Metal Dan out in California.
How's everyone doing tonight? Good, thanks. This
afternoon. Well, tonight for me. afternoon for
everyone else except for jeremy jeremy is is
in the tonight zone as well but i'm doing better
than usual because metal dan showed up well anytime
shows up listening to me man they need some metal
dan that's it death angel beer there you go that's
awesome so it is is the beer actually death angel
or is it uh just the glass The beer's from Hawaii.
It's just a glass. Okay. But they have that,
I think, too. Yeah, not sure. Anyway, we'll strike
that and say that's apple juice, just in case
if that messes with the algorithm. You know,
you got to be careful. I'm finally getting some
traction, and then something like that will end
up. Hey, you use this word and drinking water.
There you go. Yeah. Bubbly water. So anyway,
so we're starting an hour early because I expect
this to go late later than usual. And I think
this will be an interesting discussion being
that we do have a little extra time. I will run
through 20 through 11 quickly before we get into
the meat and potatoes. of the show. In total,
there were 51 albums that were voted on. Let's
see. Your internet's still working, people. All
right, so we've tied with the most amount of
votes for any of these shows. So that's kind
of cool. Yeah. From the last one where it was
like some of the worst turnout we get to this
being the best. Well, in all fairness, I did
start working on kind of rattling people's cages
a few weeks back because I realized that unless
you start bugging people that they don't take
notice. Hey, look at that. We've got Anthony
Mackie in the chat as well. Anthony, hope you're
doing great. Rock on, man. Hey, I have a theory
about why this is so popular, Victor. Why? Because
1980? Incredible. I mean, the music that was
released then. I mean, so many of these albums
are just iconic and a huge part of all of our
lives. Uh, I, I know at least my top 10, those
are all albums that I had the vinyl and, um,
yeah, I didn't have much money, but I still bought
those records back then. Uh, you guys, you guys
being a bit younger than me, who, who, who bought
these albums in 1980? Yeah. Quite a few. Yeah.
There you go. Yeah. Retire right there. In 1980
or have we gotten... In 1980. I'm just saying
when they were out. I remember going on the bus
to buy one of them. I won't say which one yet
because it might be in the top 10. So let's get
on with it. And a lot of tape trading and a lot
of borrowing. And that's the way it was back
in that day. Yeah. We bought singles, of course,
as well. We were buying a lot of singles off
albums. Yeah. There's plenty of stuff that's
on here. Well, not plenty. There's a few that
we were lucky enough, and they were my brother's
album. They weren't mine. I wasn't buying albums
yet. Hey, Gabriel's a patron, so I don't know
if I'm saying that right. A patron. Gabriel's
a patron, so he counts. So if he bought them,
good job, Gabe. Gabriel's my cousin, but that's
all right. Oh, is he? Yes. Oh, wait, your brother.
Wait a second. Starts with an A. Arturo. Oh,
crap. I'm so sorry, but Gabriel's still a good
guy. Absolutely. So we're starting to get the
junk filtering in from kick already. Come to
us. Yeah, okay, sure. Goodbye. That's a lyric.
All right. So, yeah, so 51 albums voted on. Let
me do 20 to 11 quickly. This is where we miss
Johan to get all the frowns and annoyed faces.
How could this not be in the top 10? We got Dan
here to raise hell, so we don't need Johan. We
ask we do. There's no doubt in my mind that maybe
more than one of these people will chime in and
say, why isn't that in the top 10? I'm trying
to be nice today. Okay. Well, all right. So let's
do, let's do. All right. So 20 is Alice Cooper
with flush. The fashion 19 is except with I'm
a rebel. 18 is an album that I had in 1980 that
my brother had, uh, Pat Benatar's crimes of passion.
Wow. 17. Whitesnake with Ready and Willing. Sixteen.
Diamondhead with Lightning to the Nations. Oh,
that's a good one. Fifteen. Rush with Permanent
Waves. Waves is not in the top two. You sound
more like Boris. I'm more winkle than you are
there, Brad. Must get Moose Hens rush. Watch
me pull this rabbit out of my hat. All right.
14, Finn Lizzy with Chinatown. That was in the
top 10 and was going in and out of the top 10.
At 13, Saxon with wheels of steel. What? What?
How is that not in the top 10? I was going to
do the fashion show here. The wheels of steel
shirt, man. So subconsciously, you knew not to
wear it. No, I got five shirts here that I was
hoping to be able to throw on. But this one obviously
not going to happen. No? Okay. Unless another
Saxon album gets in the air. You're going to
be what? Michael Stipe from that year in the
Video Music Awards, MTV Awards, where he was
peeling off T -shirts between every award they
were winning? All right. So at number 12, we
have Jeff Leppard with On Through the Night.
And at 11, I am so surprised that this got to
11. But I will say this, from numbers 16 through
11, actually 16 through 10, there's one point
separating each album. Whoa. That's crazy. So
it was very highly contested, 16 through 10.
At number 11, it's Kiss with Unmasked. Wow, it
made it that high. It made it that high. And
it's funny because people were voting for it
and they were telling me, yeah, I really like
that album. I know that, you know, you're going
to laugh at me. And I said, no, a lot of people
voted for it. I'm laughing at all of them. It's
got a couple of catchy tunes on there. A couple
of catchy tunes shouldn't put you in the top
20. It shouldn't be a great... All these great
albums. Great albums. I mean, a couple of catchy
tunes shouldn't... Mackie's upset it wasn't higher
up on the list. Yeah, it seems like that, right?
Yeah, so... Anyway, so let's get on into – go
ahead. So in your – the 11 through 20, so one
of those albums is the Pat Benatar album. Yes.
Which at the time, man, it was – I mean, I don't
know how many platinum or whatever, but it was
a huge record in that – think about this is before
Metallica. You had the song Hellos for Children.
That was kind of considered heavy where that
riff comes in and does all that. At the time,
that was a really major, in my opinion, release
of something different that hadn't come along.
It was an important album. The curious thing
about these 1980s is you have two albums released
in one year. The good old days. You still had
it up until then. This album, the Pat Benatar
album, as you mentioned, I remember hit me with
your best shot was the song that was played on
the radio all the time. And I remember thinking,
but hell is for children. That's the best song.
It's got this super heavy guitar part. And, you
know, and the way that she sings towards the
end of the album as well, or towards the end
of the song, I'm sorry. It was to me, it was
heavy as hell. Yeah. And. The thing there was
such an important album for, you know, being
that she was a female artist and being that it
was up there with a lot of, you know, big time
rock albums. And we were mixing it up with all
the stuff that we had at home. So, I mean, we
would have the old vinyl with that long. You
know, I don't remember what what that's called,
what the center. of the turntable is called,
but you could stack vinyls up and we would stack,
we would go like seven vinyls deep and just let
them play side A or side one on all of those
albums. We'd listen to them all. We'd flip them
all over and then listen to the other side. So
it was one of the things that I've mentioned
with the struck a nerve album was one of the
things that I mentioned with the Wilhelm scream
album is that Those albums are around 30 minutes
long. And I remember there were so many albums
back then that were like that. You know, the
first few Van Halen albums are 28 minutes, 29,
31 minutes, things like that. So you could listen
to them in one sitting and flip them over and
then flip them over again. You know, it wasn't
you weren't just listening to. the one side because
it was so long you just gave up on the album
in the middle no you wanted to hear it again
and it was so short that you got to listen to
it again somebody on youtube commented no that's
that's an ep because it's so short no it's an
album you know an ep the maidens live in japan
is an ep two songs on each side four songs that
to me is an ep so so you know some of these doom
and sludge metal albums that are Four songs,
74 minutes. You can call that an EP because it's
just four songs and each song is 20 some odd
minutes long. Anyway, let's get on into the top
10 here. And I will say that it's interesting
looking at these lists, especially depending
on where the votes are coming from geographically.
Because of what bands are voted for. There are
certain bands that stick out more in certain
countries or areas where maybe they don't in
others. I do think that. I'm not sure if there
are really any surprises for anybody in the top
10. Maybe the order is going to be a surprise.
But number 10 sure as shit wasn't there. Earlier
on this week, but as votes started coming in,
uh, it, it rose through the ranks. It's actually
an album that I voted for. So it is in my top
10. Um, all right. So number 10, and I didn't
do sound bites this time around. I, I just didn't
have time to do it, but, um, all right. This
album was released August. 29th, 1980 was recorded
between May and July of 80. Wow. It was, it was
recorded two months before and released the following
month. That's crazy. Yeah. Uh, recorded Wessex
in London, UK, uh, clocking in at a little under
49 minutes, 39, 28 on Chrysalis produced by Roger
Glover. Two singles were released. Armed and
ready and cry for the nations. At number 10,
it is. Oh, why is it coming up as a background,
not as an overlay? I messed it up. This is why
we shouldn't have self -driving cars. This is
why you should, regardless of how much you prepare,
you still end up. Screwing things up somehow.
All right. So this album, by the way, while you're,
while you're, Michael Shanker group, Michael
group, this had Shanker and Gary Barden, Simon
Phillips, Mo Foster, Don Airy on keyboards. And,
oh, wow. They had a, 2009 reissue with demos
and Denny Carmasi played drums on it. And then
the reissue also has the classic lineup with
Chris Glenn and Paul Raymond. And of course,
cozy pal on drums, but go ahead, Brad. Sorry.
No, no, no, no. You're good. This album, this
album was huge for me. I mean, just flat out
huge. Not only is it just a great album, but
it was a time of my life. where I'd been laid
up in a hospital for almost a month and couldn't
hardly do anything. And I can't remember how
I got the album, because obviously I didn't go
out and get it. But I remember sitting there,
where I was staying had a swimming pool. And
I remember sitting out there with my Walkman
cassette thing, those little crappy foam headphones,
and my feet in the pool just listening to this
album over and over. What a fantastic album.
Just, I mean, from the get go, just the, the,
the opening riff, um, cry for the nations. I
love that song. I was always disappointed. They
never played it with the intro. Um, Oh yeah.
Well, Oh, with the, yeah, with the steel drums
and all that. Yeah. With the little, little octobons,
I think there, but, um, those are steel drums.
Are you sure? Okay. Yeah. Simon Phillips is playing
drums on this and he's just killing it. Well,
there's drums that are overdubbed. So it's possible
that he's using octobons, but there's steel drums
in there as well. Yeah. Yeah. So 1980, and I
can't remember when they toured. It must've been
81, maybe. Played at the Country Club. You ever
go there, Dan? Country Club? Yes, yes, yes, yes,
yes. Love the place. Yes. Yeah. Fantastic. Till
the end. It died because they lost their liquor
license of selling to minors. And not cool. And
it was a hike. It's a delay. It's way out there.
But, man, some legendary shows there. Except
Saxon, Manowar, Roxanne. I didn't get to see
Metallica there. I was pissed that I didn't.
But, yeah. Yeah. Great place. But anyway, so
this this is also interesting thing was happening
this year. This is when metal was becoming more
of a fashion scene. You know, it's like you go
to concerts in the 70s and hard, you know, Black
Sabbath or whatever. People just wearing their
T -shirts, jeans, whatever. But now you got people
wearing leather, a lot of leather. I remember
at this show was like, wow, this is really different.
These people look like they're here for the fashion
more than they are for the music. And the warm
-up band was the Rubber City Rebels. You remember
those guys at all? No, they're from Akron, Ohio,
but they were basically playing all the clubs,
and they'd moved to L .A. and were playing all
the clubs there. So they got the warm -up slot,
and they were kind of new wave -ish, I guess.
They weren't hard rock. These poor guys, they
got on stage, and I've never seen more people
spitting at a band than that. And it was just
disgusting. I remember some guy threw his drink,
because they had the drink in glasses, because
they had a bar there, you know, and you get a
glass. Somebody threw their drink at him, luckily
missed the singer, but hit Cozy Pal's drums.
Yeah, I was like, what the hell is wrong with
these people, man? I mean, you know, back in
the old days, we would boo warm -up bands just
because that was the thing to do. wouldn't throw
crap at him. And it's like, this is, yeah, this
is getting weird. So yeah, heavy metal was getting
to be kind of a, uh, more of a club than a, uh,
I don't know what you would call it, but, uh,
anyway, it was, you had, yeah, I'm surprised
that they didn't want to beat me up cause I wasn't
wearing leather, but it was a great show. Great
show. Great album. Definitely deserves to be
in the top 10, right? Johan. Anyone else want
to talk about this album? Yeah, I mean, I've
still got my original copy of it, which says
a lot, and I still play it quite a bit. So I
like that one and I like the follow -up album.
But I mean, this was amazing because obviously
he was branching out on his own and I'd got used
to him playing in the Scorpions and UFO before
that. So I knew Michael Schenker quite well and
I was very intrigued to hear what he was going
to do. on a solo basis and to go into your local
record store and pick up the album and not ever,
you know, never heard a song off it and take
it home and put it on and realize that this guy
can play. I mean, there's some songs on there
that are just amazing. Production -wise, maybe
could have done with a little bit extra, a little
bit of oomph on there. I don't know. Maybe it's
just because it's an old album. But there's a
lot of great songs on there, and it really showcases
what a fantastic, melodic metal guitarist he
was, Michael Schenker, and still is. But I don't
think he's ever really playing now or recording
the same sort of tracks that he was recording
then. They were real classic songs that he was
putting out on that album. Yeah, this album was
huge for me, especially as a kid learning to
play the drums. Armed and Ready, Cry for the
Nation, Victims of Illusion, Feels Like a Good
Thing, Into the Arena. And I'm pretty sure that
I've tried to play Lost Horizons in the past
as well. This was just a huge, huge album for
me. Simon Phillips was just such a big deal because
his playing on this is so different to a lot
of other rock drummers. There are different rudiments
and fills that he used that were probably a lot
closer to... What I was doing in, you know, concert
band or even marching band, a lot of his fills,
a lot of his roles was very similar to that.
So I would try different things out based on
what I heard on this. The beginning of feels
like a good thing is a very loose snare roll
was totally different to anything that. you know,
I had done before. So it was cool to try that
and do it. And, and I mean, into the arena, which
is, that's tailor -made for cozy pal to play
live. I mean, just the beat is a very cozy pal
-ish beat. It seemed like he was in mind when
they wrote that and recorded it. I mean, that's,
he's done that sort of beat so many times before.
And it's something that I've always kind of copied.
um, as a player. So just, just a really cool
album. I'm so happy this made the, uh, top 10.
I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't my number one, but
it was, it was in my list. That's for sure. It
was, um, how was it? Five, I believe five or
five or six anyways. Yeah. Oh, cool. Great performances.
That, that album just had the whole thing. I'll,
I'll differ a little bit with Jeremy. I thought
the production was actually okay for the time.
I do like the production on the second album
better, but yeah, but this, I never, I'm never
disappointed by this album, putting it on it.
Just of course, time of your life too, you know?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think the second album
overall, though, is this album is really good.
I prefer the second album over this one. I do
think that he's never come close to these first
two albums ever again. As good as what he's put
out afterwards, and he's got some good albums
that he has released, they don't touch these
first two albums. It's just not. And that second
album, I think a lot of it also has to do with,
again, that band that I mentioned that was playing
this stuff live. Cozy Pal, Paul Raymond, and
Chris Glenn. They had been out on tour. They
wrote all those songs together. Ron Nevison did
not make a Ron Nevison album, which is mostly
known for having over -the -top keys and hoax
and very pop -ish. That second album just does
not have that. Anyway, we're getting off of 1980.
Let's let's move on to number nine. All right.
So this album came out in November of 1980, was
recorded between May and August, recorded at
Ramport Studios in London. It is 38 minutes long.
was produced by Peter Hinton and the band. And
there is only one single that was released off
of this, and it is the title track. And because
I'm not a huge fan of this band, I was shocked
that this ended up at number nine. It is Saxon
with Strong Arm. Of the law. I always thought
that Wheels of Steel was the bigger album of
the two. But as the fans are saying, no, that's
not the case. Here we go. That's Wheels of Steel.
That's not Strong Arm of the Law. That's all
right. It's still Saxon. Oh, but the wheels of
steel is number... I don't have a strong arm
of the law. I'm a loser. It's so available. Well,
you better have that by Monday. I only have like
20 section shirts. So, you know, I didn't remember
that Saxon had two albums in one year, but I
did look at back and forth. And in my opinion,
I weighed the songs and put this one higher.
So where do you put it at, Brad? I put it one
higher than Wheels of Steel. I think mostly the
songs I thought were. And it was a better sounding
album. Yeah, I probably listened to the album
a lot more than Wheels of Steel. The funny thing
is that I was living in Fresno at this time,
I believe. And, I mean, you know, California
back then, at least there especially, you couldn't
find a Saxon album. I mean, it took me forever
to find Wheels of Steel. And so this album never
showed up in any record store. And then Denim
and Leather showed up. And so I thought Denim
and Leather was the follow -up album to Wheels
of Steel. And then I went and saw them live at
the Whiskey with Metallica warming up. Wow. 81,
82 was right there in the winter. But they're
playing all these songs off of A Strong Arm of
the Law. And I'm like, I don't know these songs.
This must be a new album that's coming out. Yeah,
I had no idea that Strong Armor of the Law even
existed. And when I did finally get it, I was
like, oh, this album's just great. And yeah,
cool stuff. Great album. Way to go, Saxon. That
this album has one of the songs that Eddie Trunk
would play the most by Saxon. He would play Dallas
1PM. Oh, what a song. Great song. That's a great
opener, man. I played that today, actually. Great
song. Dan, I cut you off. What were you going
to say? No, just Lars would follow the band around.
He was worshiping all these, you know, Saxon
and all these British. metal and set the stage
for what their career is now. And it's just,
I don't, I look back and like, I wish I could
have been there and I was too young. I have the
albums, but I was too young to go to these shows.
Just that he set his career up by doing all this
is, I just, it's great. I embellished it that
he did that and he pulled it all off. So for
Brad to be there at that whiskey show, I guess
you're not a loser after all. All right. So,
so yeah, when that show, by the way, I mean,
I was there with a young lady and we were, we
were down there trying to get up to the stage
the best we could. And just rocking and rocking.
And they played a long show. Near the end of
the set, it kind of thinned out a bit. And I'm
like, man, we couldn't stand anymore. So there's
a booth in the back of the floor area there.
So we went back there and sat on the top of the
seat in the booth. And I just remember sitting
back there singing along with Wheels of Steel,
you know, because they do the sing -along thing.
And my voice was totally shot at that point and
just yelling as loud as I could. Wheels, wheels
of steel. Oh, man, one of the best nights of
my life. Just incredible. I got to see Saxon
later at the country club, but I didn't. But
that was years later. And I thought I was pretty
special for that to come through. You are special,
man. I wish I could have been there, but I was
gone from L .A. at that point. So, yeah, yeah,
it's pretty neat. Yeah. Yeah. Life is good, man.
Life is good when you like metal fans. I'm just
telling you, you get all these great memories.
You get to hang out with all these great people.
There's a there's no downside to being a metal
fan, is there? Other than you spend a lot of
money. And if you had at the time knew you could
have gone back around the back of the building
and met Lars and, you know, he was totally accessible
then. And it's amazing to you. That's great.
Yeah, if you had any kind of inkling what Metallica
was going to be, I would have given them more
attention. I was there for their full set, but
they were teenagers. They looked like little
kids. They all had acne, and they all had all
their Iron Maiden swag on. And I thought, oh,
these guys are just trying to be Iron Maiden,
but they need a singer. That was my thought.
That as well. Yeah. Sorry to eat up all the time
on that one. No problem. Jeremy. Yeah. Just quickly.
Yeah. I mean, I remember coming back on the bus
with a copy of Strong on Mother Law, Gatefold
Sleeve. I was really excited to bring it home.
Had a free patch with it as well. A free Saxon
patch, which was a real. drawer at the time and
uh but i got home and i'll be perfectly honest
with you i was a little bit disappointed because
it wasn't wheels of steel bear in mind six months
before i had this uh we were listening to wheels
of steel and we were listening to 747 strangers
in the night and those were really really good
songs by saxon i felt that on this album they
didn't quite have a song that was up to that
at the time. But as I've got older and I've listened
to it again and again, I do like this album.
It's a really good album. And I love that song,
Dallas 1PM. I think it's amazing. I mean, I listened
to it again today. It's got that lovely bass
beat to it. Um, and it's just incredible. And
it's got obviously a real, uh, a little bit of
the, uh, sound of the actual day when, uh, Kennedy
got shot as well. So, I mean, it's, it's, um,
you know, it's, it's a great, it's just a great
thing that they released two albums in one year
and they weren't really follower. It wasn't really
a, you know, linked in any way. There were very,
very separate albums. It wasn't like wheels of
steel too. They were, you know, it was a, they
moved on a little bit and that was great. So
yeah, really, really enjoy it. And, you know,
it's sort of built up the Saxon brand, as you'd
say. They still play half of these songs almost
every show. Yeah. Half of the songs off this
album. It's pretty – it's really – Yeah, Heavy
Metal Thunder. Heavy Metal Thunder, 20 ,000 Feet,
Strong Arm of the Law, and Dallas 1PM. Yeah,
there you go. And Metallica covers Saxon. It
all comes around. And now Saxon covers Metallica.
Wow. Again, it's a beautiful world we live in
where us metal fans can live together in harmony.
Ed, anything on Saxon? No. I listened to Saxon
back when I was 14, 15 and had a collection of
hard rock and heavy metal tapes. But as I got
into Metallica and Anthrax and such, I haven't
listened to them that much over the years since
then. But I do recognize how great they are,
very revered. They deserve all the honor they
get. And it's awesome to see how they're still
in the game and rocking and rolling after all
these decades. That's the real amazing thing
is that they're still doing it and doing it at
a high level. They, they still perform. I mean,
you don't go to the show and go, yeah, these
guys are, you know, they're just barely getting
it done. No, they're still getting it done. And
their albums are still really, really good. Yeah.
I thought the last tour was one of the best.
I agree. I agree. I love that album. Yeah. And
I think, I think Biff, right. He's quite the
icon now as far as a rock and heavy metal vocalist.
He's definitely one to be in the history books.
Yeah, I met him on the cruise and he was standoffish
as he should be because he doesn't need to deal
with my bullshit. And it was awkward, but we
got a photo for my wife with him. It's fine,
Biff. You're allowed to be. It was a bit like
that with me, but he's a typical Yorkshireman.
Yorkshiremen are like that. Yeah. They take a
while. You have to crack them. It's all good.
Do they have a specific accent, Jeremy? Yeah,
Yorkshire. Barnsley. All right. So moving on.
Number eight. Number eight. is an album that
was released the 31st of March, 1980, recorded
between October 79 and February 80. Amongst the
studio was recorded. Yeah. I think it is. Amongst
the studios that were used was Mantis Sound in
Toronto, Canada. Not going to say the other studio
because it would be a dead giveaway. 3910 is
what it clocked in at. It was on multiple labels
depending on whether it was the US or Europe.
Produced by... This is going to be the dead giveaway.
Dieter Dirks, Singles Are, Ladies Starlight,
Make It Real, and The Zoo. The album is, of course,
Animal Magnetism by Scorpions. One of the best
album covers ever. By album cover, you bought
the album, but you bought the record. That's
how you sell back in the day. Yeah. The one that
preceded this love drive, that's when I kind
of had to, I didn't want to leave it out on full
display for my mom. We might've had an issue
with that. Yeah. That cover is a bit awkward
when you grow up and you have a daughter, you
gotta keep that one hidden. I'm not sure many
of these covers would get out. Every time you
choose a whole show on the ScorePants album cover,
it's good. But it's the music. It's the music
that's important. Yeah. The music on this album
is great. Who wants to talk about it? Let's go.
Who's first up? Ed, talk about the music on Animal
Magnetism. This is a solid album I listen to
on a regular basis. You know, this Blackout,
Love at First Sting, you know, that's a pretty
great trio of records, beginning with this one.
And The Zoo, of course, is probably one of their
most popular songs, even with non -metalheads,
I would think. But aside from that song, too,
though, I mean, the whole record's great. Definitely
one that you have to have in your collection
if you're a collector of vinyl and such. Yeah,
absolutely. Who else wants to talk about this
one? It's still listenable today. The only thing
is, is I've overplayed The Zoo. I've heard it
too many times. So, you know, skip it. But it
still stands up. And that shows why it's in the
top 10 that it is. Okay. Anyone else? Yeah, I'd
like to just sort of say, I think just generally,
there's a bit of a difference between bands where
we're talking about their debut albums and bands
that have been around the block a little bit.
And we'll probably get to this with a few other
albums of higher up as well. But you can definitely
tell this is a band that is well progressed in
their career. So, you know, you've got great
production, but you've got great songs and they've
thought about what they're doing a little bit
more. And it's not as raw as some of the, I mean,
we've gone past Def Leppard already. You know,
that was their debut album. We'll probably mention
another one a bit later, which might be higher
up because we love the band. But, you know, you
can just tell with certain bands that they're
further along in their, in their history and
their career and that they, you know, they know
what they're doing. Uh, and there's some good
songs on there, you know, really good songs.
I mean, yeah, like, like Dan just said, the zoo,
you know, it's a bit overplayed song, but it's,
it's fantastic. And I really liked it at the
time. I just thought, wow, this is, this is amazing.
I, uh, I'm forgetting though about love drive
before that. Actually, it was a great, you know,
four album run. Yeah. When I look at the track
listing on, Love Drive, there's more kind of
hit Scorpion songs on that one. I'm thinking
I probably enjoy Love Drive more than Animal
Magnetism, but it was still an album that hung
right in there with it. And like I said, all
four of those records were solid. There's nothing
boring on any of those records that I can remember.
Yeah, Make It Real is actually like the first
single to break them in America. That was the
first thing that got them on radio in the States.
Was it? I didn't know that. Yeah, because before
this, even up to Love Drive, this was the first
album, if I'm not mistaken, that was released
by the label. They were on what, Mercury? Yeah,
this was the first album that you didn't have
to get on import or that it wasn't released later
on. In the States. And this, I mean, like you're
saying with each album, they, they got bigger.
I mean, blackout, you got no one like you on
the radio all the time. You still hear that on
the radio in the States. But then, I mean, obviously
love at first thing took them to a completely
different level. I often bring this up. People
forget that at that point in time, they were
possibly the biggest metal act in the world when
Love at First Thing came out because that album
was just so tremendous. And they were definitely
on the same level of Priest and Maiden and probably
bigger because Maiden was still playing. For
example, in New York, they were playing Rock
Radio City Music Hall. while Scorpions were already
playing Madison Square Garden. So although Maiden
probably overtook them a few years later, Scorpions
on U .S. radio has more hits than Maiden or Priest.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So they've always kind of made
it. They kind of like changed, you know, their
sound on Love Drive, right? Yeah. That's where
they kind of. Yeah. And they kept going strong
on this one. Yeah. Of course, kept refining that
sound until they came out with Love at First
Sting. And then it was just, you know, they kept
going all the way through. I remember 85, 86,
listening to that Worldwide Live all the time.
That was a great live record. Yeah. They were.
Me and my friends were listening to them just
as much as Maiden or anything else. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely. I mean, I'll, well, again, we're
getting beyond 1980 here, but for a very long
time in my youth, every time that you walked
down the strip or all the bars and stuff were
in the next town over, you were hearing. one
of the big songs off of uh love at first thing
at least when you were passing a bar you know
you were either hearing big city nights or bad
boys running wild and that's without even counting
on still loving you being played every single
day and every single night at the bar so The
interesting thing, Victor, about this album as
well is that the production is so amazing. I
mean, there are very few albums of 1980 that
have a production like this, I think. Yeah, and
that's why with the Shanker album, I checked
who the producer was, especially for the second
album, because we often talk about the amazing
production that Priest and Maiden have during
this time period. Dieter Dirks did a lot of good
work with Scorpions. I mean, you listen to those
albums, and I don't know if he did Savage Amusement
or not, but that's like the first. He did? He
did, yeah. Okay, but that's kind of the first
one there where you realize that, okay, well,
they're kind of going away from that sound. If
you really listen to the band's sound. Those
four albums that Ed mentioned all more or less
have the same sound. I think maybe Love Drive
isn't as lively as the others maybe, but definitely
Animal Magnetism through Love at First Thing
have a definite sound to them. And that's so
important to making these songs not sound dated.
I mean, we've heard a lot of these songs a million
times, like Dan said, The Zoo. But even still,
if you turn it on from time to time, If you play
this for somebody that isn't as knowledgeable
in all this stuff and isn't a nerd like we are
with all this stuff, they wouldn't be able to
tell you, oh, yeah, that, you know, the zoo came
out in 1980. No, that's true. So we have Sean
Richmond joining us in the chat as well. Sean,
hope you're having a great night. Also in the
UK. Let's move on here. Sean, Sean, you watching
this in bed? We're going there again. Number
seven. All right. Number seven. I was released
in October of 1980, recorded between August and
September of 1980 in studios in. All right. Get
ready for Jeremy to yell at me. Rickmansworth,
England. Oh, that sounded good. It was good.
All right. Awesome. Sean, we hope that our lovely
voices help you get a full night's sleep and
that it makes your work tomorrow more pleasurable.
The album clocks in at 36 minutes, 42 seconds.
The label was bronze. It's probably going to
be a giveaway with that. Producer is Vic male.
One single off of this, which is the band's biggest
claim to fame. But this album has so many songs
off of it that just got stuck in your head. It's
just got that mix of dirtiness and melody and
just so many things that make this band. As legendary
as they are. Is it Kansas? Yeah. By Motorhead.
Ed, you were saying yes while I was describing
this. You obviously knew what it was. Yeah. Oh,
yeah. What are your thoughts on this album? Well,
it's the mighty Motorhead and Father Lemmy. Man.
So this is the record that has, you know, the
title track Ace of Spades, which is one of the
most iconic songs, period. Not just in the hard
rock and metal world, but I think period. Everybody
knows this tune. You know, when I, of course,
with a lot of these years that we're discussing,
I was being, you know, sheltered by my parents
from all this music. So for me, my introduction
to a lot of this music was in my earlier teen
years when I was finally getting my hands on
some cassettes that I snuck in the house or hearing
things at friends' homes. And so it was me listening
back on things that I had missed. Motorhead being
one of them, I remember being at the mall one
day and finding the No Life Till leather, and
it had a leather cover for the cassette that
you slip it into. So I bought that and snuck
it home. And it had, you know, all those great
tracks that you were talking about on that compilation.
So I was listening to most of these songs on
that compilation for years. Now that I've got,
you know, my vinyl collection going, I've got
those records that I can listen to in full now.
And pretty much, I mean, any of these Motorhead
records you put on, not only are they great,
but they're also... You'll hear the inspiration
for all the thrash metal bands that we grew up
with. Even though, I mean, Lemmy didn't even
like being called a heavy metal band from what
I understand. But like it or not, he was heavy
metal and he influenced thrash metal just as
much as a band like Discharge did. Yeah, probably
more. Yeah. Yeah, he was always good at saying.
We are Motorhead and we play rock and roll. But
again, what a trio of records, you know, with
Overkill and Bomber and Ace of Spades. I mean,
man, they really knocked it out of the park there.
Absolutely. Yeah. Anthony's saying no remorse.
No remorse. Someone actually voted for that.
It actually came out in 84. It was half new tracks
and half greatest hits. Yeah, this is on my top
10 as well. Obviously, everyone knows the title
track, but I mean, for me... What were you going
to say, Ed? He just corrected me. That compilation
is No Remorse, right? But No Life to Leather
was one of the live albums. No Life to Leather
is Metallica. What am I saying? Yeah. Good thing
you guys are here to set me straight. At least
you know what I'm talking about. That compilation
from 1984 that had the leather cover. Yeah. That
was it. Yeah. The live albums are No Sleep Till
Hammersmith, No Sleep At All. That's what I'm
trying to say. Hammersmith. That's right. Yeah.
Yeah. I knew it was in there somewhere. I actually
went past the Hammersmith. limo driver that drove
us into London pointed it out to me. He said,
yeah, we're in Hammersmith. I'm like, oh, is
the Odeon on the way? And he's like, yeah, it's
over there, but it's called the whatever. It's
not Hammersmith Odeon anymore. It's Hammersmith
something else. I forget. Anyway, so yeah, so
outside of the title track. There's so many songs
that I've played off of this over the years.
Love Me Like a Reptile, Shoot You in the Back,
Fast and Loose, We Are the Road Crew, Jailbait,
and The Chase is Better Than the Catch, which
is the longest song on the album at 4 minutes
18. Most of these songs aren't even three minutes
and a half. The majority are, you know, Ace of
Spades isn't even three minutes. So it was a
short album, short, short album. Absolutely.
36 minutes, 42 seconds. I mean, none of these
songs are making it on Sinjitsu or, uh, book
of book of souls, because, you know, you could
fit one of these, you could fit the entire album
on one of those. So one of those vinyl sides,
but anyway, anyone else? Hey, ask Sean Richmond,
does he still have that? He said he had the Motorhead
No Remorse double vinyl, and apparently his had
a leather cover too. So let us know if you still
have that. I do. All right, cool. All right,
so he's telling us that is the Labatt's Apollo.
Is that Labatt's beer like it is in Canada? So
I like Motorhead, but this album is not in my
top 10. It's something that I don't listen to
a lot. I listen to selective songs. It's not
a perfect album. I can't win any fans with this.
My opinion is different. I don't love Motorhead.
I appreciate Motorhead. I've seen Motorhead.
I have a Lemmy pick. I've been up front. They've
supported many shows that I've been to. I don't
think I've ever been to a headline Motorhead
show. So that shows my status or my appreciation
of them. So this album for me is a skip. Okay.
I've seen them once. I've seen them with Saxon
and Judas Priest. Wow. Great gig. So. Anyone
else want to discuss this album? All right. Let
us move along then. So at number... Number six.
This album I have on vinyl twice. And having
said that, it didn't make my top ten out of it.
It was a difficult choice. It was funny because
Jeremy asked me, no, it isn't my top 10. Okay.
You know, just because an album doesn't make
your top 10 for this year doesn't mean it's not
a great album because there's so many great albums.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was one of those where
I'm like, do I like this as much as the Shankar
album, for example? You know, that to me is an
album that I've listened to a lot. And this next
album, I really like. I've listened to it a lot.
but is it one of their albums that I still reach
for now? It isn't. Is it one that I listened
to a lot when my brother brought the original
vinyl home? We listened to it, but I still listened
to another album by the band more than this album.
So anyway, this was released March 26th, 1980,
was recorded between December 79 and February
of 80. Recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California.
Clocking in at 33 minutes, 35 seconds. The producer
will give this away. Fred Templeman. And it says
that there was only one single release, which
is and the cradle will rock. But everybody wants
some gets played just as much on the radio, at
least in the States. It does. I'd say more. You
think? Well, here. In the West, yeah, definitely.
How much does the movie Better Off Dead have
to do with that? Ooh, yeah. That's great. That's
a great part of the movie. Van Halen, Women and
Children first. Great album cover. Fucking iconic
photo. Badass. Whoever figured that out to do
that. Genius. How do you do that? Eddie with
the shark. Damn. Toratora. Loss of control. Take
your whiskey home. See, this is a perfect album.
This is my difference between this and Motorhead.
This is what I'm, you know, and it still sounds
great today as it did back in the day. Still
play it today all the way through. So I'm a different
type of listener. It's a really good album. I'm
not going to say it isn't. Just that I think
with me, I love Fair Warning so much that if
I'm ever in the mood to listen to anything Van
Halen -ish, I'm going for either Van Halen 2
or Fair Warning personally. But this album is
great. I remember my brother getting this and
I was like, what is this? This is completely
different to anything that we were listening
to. And then he got fair warning on cassette,
and that just kind of took me away. So, again,
as we mentioned before, just place and time and
just memories and connections with certain things.
Summertime, California, this is what goes on.
When it's warm weather like it is today, this
is what we listen to. That's where I came from.
That's where I grew up. Difference to Motorhead,
I didn't grow up in England. In a simple rhyme,
could this be magic? It's all there. Perfect.
Romeo, Delight is a great song as well. I've
often watched these last few years after Eddie
has passed away, Mr. Bungle's cover of Loss of
Control, which I've always thought was just ridiculously
good. Hearing Dave Lombardo play Alex Van Halen's
parts. And then just having them pull the rest
of the song off, I think it's great. Anyone else
want to talk about Women and Children first?
All right. Edgar Winterson. How dare you start
an hour early? He didn't get the memo. He didn't
get the memo. I was going to say that, Edgar.
I did publish it. See? Another reason for you
to become a patron is. Yeah. And you could be,
you could be right here in this box, right here,
Edgar, right next, right next to me. Yeah. So
let's recap 10 through five or 10 through six
before jumping on into the top five, just for
you, Edgar. Yeah, that movie is what I mentioned
before, Anthony, is Better Off Dead is the movie
with John Cusack. I actually bought that on DVD
just so my kids could watch it. It's great. Yeah,
I have it. But it didn't have Spanish subtitles,
so I had to find it with subtitles so my wife
could watch it. Anyway. All right. So number
10 was Michael Shanker Group with Michael Shanker
Group. Number nine, Saxon with Strong Arm of
the Law. Number eight, Scorpions with Animal
Magnetism. Seven, Motorhead with Ace of Spades.
Six, Van Halen with Women and Children First.
And at number five. Number five. Let's see. Number
five. Released in April of 1980. So it's going
to be, what, 46 in two months? Yeah. Recorded
between December and January, 79, 80. Recorded
at Kingsway, London. Locking in at 37 minutes.
39 seconds. Producer Will Malone. Oh, it's an
album cover. There were two singles, and this
came out on EMI. I'm going to give it away in
a second anyway. The two singles were Running
Free and Sanctuary. I have both behind me. It's
not. You had me fooled there for a second. Yeah.
With Iron Maiden. Dan, what did you think it
was? I thought it was Heaven and Hell. It was
Heaven and Hell. You did? I thought it was Judas
Priest. Because that came out in April. The albums
wouldn't surprise you guys, but maybe The Order
would. The order is, yeah, you know, I love Maiden,
obviously. They have a lot of albums. It's not
in my top 10. I didn't have room for it. Probably
because I listened to it over and over, and as
Victor said earlier, it's not one of my favorites,
and there's only room for 10. Yeah. And it just
needs to be re -recorded again or something.
They've redone what? Prowler, Charlotte the Harlot.
Yeah, absolutely. Hearing the songs live when
I'm going to go see them later this year at the
stadium with Anthrax. Absolutely. Play those
songs. They're still great. But they didn't make
my 10. They do have re -records, though, with
Bruce singing those. Yeah, they're great, too.
What you just said, Dan, this is my least favorite
out of the original Maiden run between Iron Maiden
and Seventh Son. This is the my least favorite
out of all of them. And that's not saying that
the album isn't great. I mentioned it today when
recording the my Patreon podcast where I thought
the song Burning Ambition was a cover. I didn't
realize that that was a Steve Harris original.
I'd actually prefer that on the album over some
of the other tracks. And I know that this is.
sacrilegious to some people, but part of the
reason why I don't listen to this album as much
as the others is I don't really care for the
instrumental. Strange World never did it for
me. And quite honestly, this is the one that
most people are going to probably crap on me
for. I've been a fan of Remember Tomorrow. The
live version of that on EP is fantastic. So much
better than this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,
I just think it slows everything down because
you go from Prowler to Remember Tomorrow and
then Running Free. It just, I don't know, to
me, you're stumbling between those three tracks.
Just my opinion. And I know, again, some people
are probably shaking their fists at that comment,
but that's my opinion. Anyone else want to talk
about Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden? I feel the
opposite of you. Yeah. My opinion is different.
I love this record and I like all the songs.
I love the whole vibe and kind of like with ride
the lightning, you know, it's just got a certain
kind of sound and vibe that just cannot be captured
again. And I actually like, I know most people
like killers better, but I've always liked this
one the most. And unfortunately, yeah, the songs
that you don't like, they're some of my favorites.
I love Remember Tomorrow. I like the dynamics
that it adds to that record, you know, by taking
it down and bringing me back up. I get what you're
saying because they threw that in as the second
song. Yep. But yeah, it doesn't bother me. This
is definitely not my, you were saying it's your
least favorite of the seven. It's definitely
not my least favorite. But it's definitely not,
you know, better, of course, than like Number
of the Bees, Peace of Mind, that kind of thing.
You know, they're going to do Phantom of the
Opera and I'm going to go crazy for it. I've
heard him do it before. I've been to pretty much
every tour. But if you're standing behind me
and when the song Iron Maiden comes on, you're
going to say, what's wrong with that guy? Because
I lose my shit. Every time when I hear that opening
riff, I go crazy. It's phenomenal. Love it. Jeremy,
your opinion on this one? Yeah, well, first of
all, just to say that I actually bought this
album the day before my birthday. I was 13 years
old the following day. So the day before it came
out. And in those days, you would get vouchers
from your aunties in the post. And I was probably
armed with a five pound voucher, went down to
my local record store and I bought the album.
I thought it was amazing at the time because
they were obviously a brand new band I'd heard
running free before I even bought it. And they
were just something a bit different at the time.
You know, looking back on it now, do I think
it's a great album? No, I don't, because it's
a debut album. And I saw last week, in fact,
on Top of the Pops, they put a lot of the old
programs here. they put them out again every
friday night and uh the band were playing live
they played running free live but they were so
young i mean you have no idea how young they
looked i mean in your mind you think they were
young but you have to actually see what they
were like uh so yeah it's as i said to you before
there's a difference between the bands playing
their debut albums and those who are a little
bit further on in their careers and i just think
Also, you've got to remember there was a lot
of punk music going on in the UK at the time.
And it's a very punky sounding album. It's that
sort of bridge between punk and heavy metal.
And in that respect, it's great because it kind
of brought us through into the new metal music.
But, you know, they became world superstars,
as we know. And this is just the very, very beginnings
of them. And that's what I think separates it
some from Killers. Killers got a little more.
On the heavy metal sound. Yeah. And so that punkier
vibe, you know, it just gives that album a different
feel that you don't hear again afterwards. And
it's kind of cool to see him or listen to him
working all of that out on that album. Yeah.
I personally think that the song Purgatory is
more punk than anything on this album. Okay.
And that's on Killers. Yeah. But they were slowly
losing it. No, no, no. Without a doubt. I mean,
once Bruce joined the band, they obviously wanted
to shed all that. And I mean, if you think about
their trajectory afterwards, how many, like,
three -minute songs did they record after Number
of the Beast? you know they're they're really
not there maybe sun and steel on peace of mind
and flash of the blade maybe now flash of the
blade has like those dueling solos going back
and forth but i you're right ed i mean for the
most part it was all gone that that rawness was
gone but also um you had martin birch on board
so it was somebody completely different that
was you know producing producing those albums.
Those albums are fantastic, sonically still.
It's much like what I mentioned with the Dieter
Dirks produced album. Before, I think Dieter
Dirks, Martin Birch, and Tom Allum at the time
with Judas Priest just recorded some timeless
songs that could be kind of dropped in different
eras where later on you listen to Somewhere in
Time and Turbo and you listen to savage amusement.
And you're like, okay, this is eighties. Whereas
I think a lot of the albums leading up to that,
you really, they didn't have that same feel though.
Ed, anything or not at Brad, anything you want
to add on this? Self -titled Iron Maiden. Yeah.
How in the hell is this signals from Mars where
Iron Maiden is eligible and doesn't get first
place? It's the second time. What is going on
here? A second time, yeah. It is the second time.
And I will say this. I mentioned before that
16 through 10 had one point separating each one
of them. After you get to 10, between Shanker
and Saxon, there's almost 15 points difference.
Between Saxon and Scorpions, there's 10 points
difference. Between Scorpions and Motorhead,
there's almost 25 points. Yeah. I want to say
that as much as I love Maiden, this album, once
again, in the U .S., I never even saw this album
until years after it came out. Yeah. I mean,
the very first album that I ever saw was Killers.
And the only reason I knew about it was in one
of the magazines that I got. I don't know if
it was Hit Parade or Circus or whatever. They
took an ad out in there. And I looked at the
album cover and I'm like, what the hell is this?
I mean, what is this music going to be like?
And of course, I bought the album because why
wouldn't you? And I was just totally blown away.
And then it was years later that I found out,
wait, there is an album before this one? And
after listening to Killers. like 500 times. And
then I put this on, it was, it would, I'm going
to be honest. It was a bit of a letdown because
the production wasn't as great. I mean, it just,
it just sounded like, you know, how some of the
bands like Judas priest, their first album. Yeah.
It is a, it's a band just trying to figure out
what they're doing at this point. And they, I
think they figured it out. And of course they
got a good producer that helped that the second
album is where the band really came together
for me. So that's why this band, as much as I
love Maiden, it didn't make my top 10. Okay.
All right. The other thing I did want to mention
is that, what else? Between Ace of Spades and
Van Halen, there's a huge jump. And then there's
a huge jump between Van Halen and Iron Maiden.
And then from Iron Maiden to the next album.
There's also a huge jump. The big dogfight I
will mention later on. There's two spots that
flip -flopped and were determined by one point
in the end. It was determined by somebody who
sent in their votes late today. So anyway. All
right. So at... Number four. This album released,
again, April of 1980. This is the one. You jumped
the gun before there, Dan. You know which one
it is this time around. Recorded between December
79, February of 80. Recorded at Tintinhurst Park
in Ascot. I'm sure there were plenty of nice
kerchiefs and ascots going on at the time there.
Clocked in at 36 minutes, 10 seconds. The label
is Columbia. The producer is Tom Allum. You are
totally off, Brad. This is our living after midnight.
Breaking the law and uniting. I'm confident putting
on his Black Sabbath t -shirt. The metal gods.
Rob did sing in Black Sabbath, so come on. It
is British Steel Judas Priest. Great. Brad was
celebrating as somebody sprinted alongside of
him and passed him for the win. I'm going to
keep this shirt on because I think it's very
relevant. Yeah. Two times it's going to be relevant.
So that's interesting, though, that Priest went
up higher than Maiden, which might be a first
for this show. Yeah. I agree. It's just the album.
Somebody actually voted on the album rather than
the band. Yeah. Sound quality might be better.
Yes. So much better album. Yeah. And I'm a bigger
Maiden fan, but I have to say that Sidemen is
perfect on this. I think outside of like the
last two tracks off of this album, I've listened
to the rest a million times. I mean, being lucky
to grow up where a college station like WSOU
was a... mostly a metal station um we got to
hear rapid fire and metal gods and grinder and
you don't have to you don't have to be old to
be wise was probably the song that they played
most off of this good for them yeah um i remember
hearing you know breaking the law and living
after midnight on the you know that you're the
typical rock station but for the most part you'd
You didn't get to hear these songs until like
after 10 p .m. You know, because it was, oh,
it's heavy metal. It's not, you know, it's not
Springsteen. It's not Steve Wynwood. It's not,
you know, Bob Dylan. So this couldn't fit in
there. It was funny because they could weave
Chaka Khan in there and Prince, but they couldn't
bring Judas Priest in there. It didn't make sense
at the time to me. So it's so interesting that.
how rock radio evolved in the States where those
songs are staples on, on rock radio and their
staples in stadiums and movies and, and so many
different things. I mean, the, the songs off
of this album have really traversed and gone
beyond as being metal classics. That's why I
think that more people voted for this over iron
maiden and Also, this album, for a lot of people,
for a lot of people, Priest's big three albums
are this. Screaming. Defenders, Defenders of
the Faith, and Screaming. With the damn bird
on it. Screaming for Vengeance. Screaming for
Vengeance. Those three albums, yes, Old Man Brain.
Those three albums for a lot of people are the
big three for Priest. I know that there are people
out there that will say, no, Stained Class is
in my top three or Painkiller is in my top three.
But for a lot of people, it's those three. Jeremy,
British Steel. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it meant a
huge amount to me at the time. And it still does.
I mean, they were the biggest band that I got
into at that particular time. And those singles,
I mean, they had three singles off this album
that were all on top of the pop. So all massive
hits. They probably sold so many copies that,
you know, you have no idea how many they sold
at the time compared to today. They were just
incredible. And again, it's another band that
were well along on their career. So they were
able to morph from a 70s rock, classic rock band
into a new wave of British heavy metal band that
did commercial stuff. This was the most commercial
album that Judas Priest ever did. And it was
probably their best seller. It was certainly
the one that all British people will remember.
It was named after the national steel company
in the UK, British Steel. And it meant a lot
because it chimed with the working class. It
chimed with the people who were getting into
metal at the time, were the working classes of
the UK. You know, that's how metal originated.
And it spread out from Birmingham, where they
were from, and they became legends, absolute
legends with this album. And like you say, Victor,
the side one is amazing. But there's a load of
songs on this album. It's incredible. And, you
know, a lot of people don't like metal albums
to be so commercial sometimes because we're all
metal nerds. We like to get deep. We like to
deep dive and we like all their other albums.
We like all the very metal -y albums. But you've
got to remember that a commercial album sells
to the non -metal public so that they become...
very well known, and it also sells metal more
widely and gets people into the music that we
love. And that's kind of what this album did,
really. And even today, you will hear, just to
finish, Living After Midnight and Breaking the
Law on the radio, even today, here. So, Jeremy,
do you feel like I do? I feel like when this
album was released, there was a change. and what
was becoming heavy metal it's almost like this
was kind of a pinnacle moment where you know
heavy metal the sound the image it was all being
worked out and then this kind of became you know
the template for what became after it i think
like you can tell uh especially like you're saying
with the more commercial sound of it i think
and from what i understand you know those were
heavy metals biggest years commercially and i
think albums like this really helped push that
you know the commercial side of heavy metal along
for those first few years until you know the
hair metals thing kind of took over yeah exactly
because there was a big uh explosion of the u
.s scene that came slowly after you know well
quite quickly really after this. So yeah, I agree
that, you know, the commerciality of rock and
metal began in this sort of time. And these sort
of bands like Judas Priest were pushing that.
Probably didn't fully realize it at the time,
but no, yeah, that was, that was what was happening.
And then it allowed those bands from America
to take over and really push the scene, you know,
much further, I think. Yeah. Yeah. British boys
are showing us how it's done. There, weren't
you? Yeah. As you did in 1970. I either don't
remember or never knew that it was named after
the British Steel, so that was nice to hear.
Steeler is probably my favorite pre -song, maybe
of all of them out of the whole catalog. That
is a great one. Yeah, to end with, which so...
I want to say it's been about 10 years when they
did the album from start to finish as a tour
was a great tour. And then to be able to say,
you know, you're going to hear the rage for the
first time ever and Steeler for the first time,
all this, it was worth it. So it was good to
not miss on that tour. That was a worth it. One
thing that does always throw me off when I listen
to this record. I listen to it more now that
I'm older and have the vinyl, is the song United
sounds like an album closer. Yes. And it always
feels to me like it's in the wrong place. And
actually, when I look at the track listings here
on the screen, you could almost flip those sides,
A and B, and it might even work a little better,
the flow of some of those songs. Because Breaking
the Law and Living After Midnight, either one
of those were good first or second side openers.
Yeah. But United, you're listening to United
and you feel like you're ending the record because
it's got that, you know, that kind of sing -along
chorus, you know, let's all get together and
have a sing -along before it ends, you know?
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Do you hear
these guys when they did this stuff back in the
day, it's so much faster, it's heavier. it's
raw. And then they hear them do it. Now it's
slowed down. It's not the same. And that's my
take on a priest right now. And it's sad to say,
but thankfully I got to hear, you know, rapid
fire back in the day when it was heavy and fast
and, and raw. When it was actually rapid, it's
now what medium fire. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good
times. Yeah. I, surprisingly enough, I'm remembering
as I'm reading the listing here, I can actually
play more than one of the songs on guitar off
of this. It's usually I can play songs on the
drums easily, but Breaking the Lawn Grinder,
two songs that I've learned to play over the
years. So anyway. You can actually, you can hear.
So on the release of the bonus disc. they have
the Long Beach from 84 of doing songs. And then
you can hear the songs today. So I'm, you know,
if I'm lying, I'm dying, but there sounds a little
bit different years ago versus now. So you can,
I mean, you can just see the, the DVDs they've
released, you know, where they've gone back and
they did like that 82 show that was released.
Yeah. 10, 15 years ago. And it's completely different.
It's seeing what, with so much energy and edge
and rawness and they, they look like a dangerous
band, you know, they're, they're up there and
goosebumps. Yeah. And, and you're, you're seeing
some really good music, you know? Um, and just
seeing this stuff played live is just ridiculous.
It's, it's unfortunate that You know, it's still
cool that they're still around, that they're
still putting out good music. But yeah, I get
what you're saying. You know, a lot of these
songs, they're playing them a lot slower. They're
playing them detuned as well. After three years,
much like Miss Nain, they were like, oh, no,
we don't have to detune. They detuned when Ripper
joined the band. And then they said, oh, we're
never detuning again. And that lasted like one
tour. They were back to detuning after that.
Brad, anything on this album? Yeah, I mean, this
album was a huge change for Judas Priest. I remember
listening to this album and my mom comes into
the room. I was expecting for her to tell me
to turn it down because, of course, when I listen
to music, everybody in the house listen to it.
But she comes in and she says, this is a really
good album. I like this album. Whoa. So, yeah,
something different was going on here. I mean,
Brad, put your hand, take your hands out of your
pants. I didn't expect to hear a mom story. That's
awesome. Yeah. Yeah. No mom. Yeah. Yeah. I did.
I didn't lock my door. Sorry. But, but yeah.
And seeing them on this tour, this is of course,
right after hell bent for leather. where they
were headlining the Starwood for Hellbent for
Leather. Wow, that's small. And so this moved
them to the Santa Monica Civic, which is still
not a big venue, but it was for this type of
music, for them to be headlining there, it was
a huge change. Boy, I wish I could remember who
warmed up for them. It was like, obviously, nobody's.
But my big disappointment was the new drummer,
Dave Holland. He could not play those. songs
from the albums before this. He just, he really
struggled through them. And I was like, oh man,
why'd they, why, you know, why'd they get rid
of Les Binks? He was so awesome. But this is
just a great, great album. And it crosses, it
crosses barriers. It's not just for metalheads,
although it is for metalheads, but just, it crosses
over barriers. And I mean, that's, if you can
do that with our kind of music, well done. So.
So good job, Judas Priest. Isn't it weird that
Dave Holland lasted so long in the band, though?
I mean, if you really listen to what Les Binks
did before and what Scott Travis did after, he's
such a vanilla player in comparison. I mean,
he fits into the songs. And obviously, you know,
he was playing what they were telling him to
play. Yeah. My theory at the time, I mean, cause
you know, I've, I've saw him twice with less
banks. And then of course this is the first show
with Adam is that it felt like, okay, all of
a sudden now this band is about three people
and that's where we want all the attention to
be. We don't want a drummer that's taking attention
away from the singer and the two guitar players.
And that's what it felt like to me. I don't know
if that was a conscious thing. It's like, we
don't want a flashy drummer anymore. We want
things to be really just four on the floor. And,
you know, just he stays back there or up there
as he began. You know, he was back there at this
time. And then the next tour, he was up there
like miles high up ahead of, you know, above
everybody. You know, no drum solo. He's never
going to get a drum solo. And yeah, it just felt
like there was a real change in the band. It's
like, yeah, this is a three person band now.
And. So that's why they scratched Carmine's name
first off of the list for people to bring in.
Yeah, yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Yeah,
I was kind of devastated. I'm like, because I
love Les Banks, man. He was so fun to watch.
And I thought his drumming was so important in
those two albums that he did. And I mean, this
all of a sudden, it's like, nope, it's going
to be up, the songs and the three guys. So there
you go. But it's a great, great album. So well
done. Well done, Priest. You deserve to be in
the top 10. All right. So one thing real quick
that was kind of weird when I was compiling the
final countdown today, I thought of how many
of these bands have members that are no longer
with us. Priest? There's people that have passed
away. Maiden does. Van Halen, obviously. Motorhead,
that classic trio's gone. Scorpion. You know,
Prince. Just passed away. Saxon have anyone who's
passed away? The drummer. Didn't P. Gill go?
Jeremy? I'm just trying to think. Did he die
or did he leave? I think he... I'll have to do
some research on that. I don't think he died.
Dobby, he's still... Dawson, he's still alive.
Yeah, yeah. Just his hair died. Yeah. I think
they're all still alive, but... Yeah. A lot of
our favorites have gone. Maybe they're the exception.
Michael Shanker had Cozy Pal. Kisses had several
numbers pass away. Def Leppard, obviously. And
Lizzy, obviously, Rush. So there's a lot of our
favorite bands and records have people that are
no longer with us anymore. These albums are 46
years old, kids. I think that Whitesnake album,
there's about three that have died. Because there's
Bernie Marsden's died, Cozy Powell. Yeah. And
John Lord. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Think about
it though. When you were, let's see, what, what,
what year was it when you were 16, Victor? 89.
Okay. So let's go back 46 years from 89 to 1943.
How many songs from 1943 were you people talking
about? And here we are, here we are for 46 years
later, we're still talking about these albums
and they're, they're like making us feel like
kids again and just making us feel the love of
this music. And, and it's, it is, it's not just
us. The Andrew sisters didn't have good PR people
behind them. You know, maybe if I was out to
dinner, Brad, I had the same conversation. If
I saw somebody like you, maybe you weren't wearing
that shirt. I'd go, I bet you that person does
not listen to metal or whatever. I look at the
people that are my age, I think they all look
like they're old and they don't listen to that.
Yet they grew up with the same time I did. They
had the same chance. I think they still listen
to the 1946 music, people of my age. That's how
I see it, or country. All right, so number three.
Oh, number two and three were a dog fight. They're
separated by one point. And at one point today,
they were tied. All right. So this album came
out in April of 80 recorded between 79 and 80
recorded between. Criteria in Miami and Ferber
in Paris. On Vertigo, it says. Producer Martin
Birch. Singles. Neon Knights. Lady Evil. And
Die Young. This is the one, the only. Black Sabbath
with Heaven and Hell. What an album. This was
my number one. This is an album that in 1980,
I had no idea that this even existed. The first
song I ever heard off of this was the title track.
I don't remember how many years later. I was
too young to give a crap about the whole Ozzy
Dio thing. All I knew was that song was just
so damn good. I think it was on a compilation
that either I had or one of my cousins had. And
I was like, what's this? And this is just beyond
great. And then years later, hearing Lady Evil
for the first time, Neon Knights for the first
time, Children of the Sea for the first time.
Wishing Well, Die Young, Walk Away, and Lonely
is the Word. This album is, you know, slightly
under 40 minutes. And this to me is, if it's
not a perfect album, it's damn well near close
to it. So this was my introduction to Ronnie
James Dio as well. So I had no idea what a rainbow
was before this or anything like that. So that
the title track of this is the first time I ever
heard Ronnie James deal. And what a way to hear
him. So, um, you like this one better than mob
rules being that high on your list. Sound quality.
Yes, because, and I love mob rules. It's funny.
Out of the three Dio albums, Dehumanizer is my
favorite. I know that I'm odd with that. That
is odd. But it has everything to do with the
fact that the album is heavy as hell. The drums
are heavy as hell. And I was a senior in high
school. This was the first. No, that's a lie.
Tear was the first album that I bought when it
first came out. And this was the follow -up to
that. So I remember getting this and hearing
how, or getting Dehumanizer and hearing how heavy
and punishing it was. And I was like, that's
me. This is, this is my sound. That's why I prefer
it. But I mean, I'm looking at Mob Rules now.
Mob Rules also has great songs on it. I think
that, Heaven and Hell is slightly better. Yeah,
I think it probably is. Yeah. And it's not to
say that Mob Rules is bad. It's just that one
is just a little bit better. You know, one is
a 10, the other one's a 9, for lack of a better
comparison. You know, what always stands out
about this album the most to me is that album
cover. Having grown up in such a sheltered Christian
environment. I remember that album cover more
than most others from when you go to the mall,
go to the record store and you're flipping around,
checking everything out. And yeah, just seeing
those angels smoking cigarettes was very interesting
to look at. And I just never forget seeing that
as, you know, back then I was 10 years old, so
I was probably seeing it 10, 11, 12 years old
at the mall. But yeah, great. Great album. What
an interesting year having Ozzy go solo and Dio
come in and start fronting Sabbath and they put
out those records, right? A few months from each
other. Yeah. I had to weigh the two, right? So
that's where the next discussion is, is which
one is higher? And I put Blizzard higher. So
I guess that's going to come in still. Yeah,
the album cover is fantastic. It was sacrilegious,
they said at the time, to call this Black Sabbath
because Ronnie joined, but suck it. This is a
Black Sabbath album. It was just the next level.
It sucks that it happened with Oz, but that's
how life goes, man. He threw it away a little
bit. I've never wanted to hear Ozzy sing these
songs, though, have you? No, I don't think so.
No, just Ronnie. Yeah, good observation. True.
Wouldn't work. You're right. Whereas Ronnie can
do a very good job singing Ozzy's tunes. I agree.
Because he shows a lot of respect to the way
you remember them being sung. Yes. Ronnie can
sing anything. Yeah. Yeah, Ronnie was very respectful
in spite of their differences with each other.
And the way he would sing Ozzy's songs, I'm saying.
Yeah, I was. always curious to see what Ozzy
would have sounded like, what his spin on say
the title track would have been. I always thought
that that would, and especially when you grow
up listening to like Maiden and hearing Bruce
do his interpretation of the Paul D 'Anno stuff,
the Blaise Bailey stuff. So obviously that's
something that always, you know, stuck in my
head. Apparently Children of the Sea was written
for Ozzy, wasn't it? And I think he actually
sang it at first before they recorded it on the
album. Could be. I'm sure I've read that in one
of the books or heard it from one of the band
before, yeah. I'll have to listen to that and
see if I could hear that in my head, but it might
work. The funny thing there, though, I think,
well, the lyrics would have been completely different
because Ronnie wrote all the lyrics on this album.
And let's not forget, Geezer kind of came into
the fold late on this because he was dealing
with substance and he was in detox and he apparently
wasn't going to Jeff Nichols, I believe, plays
some bass, or at least that was rumored, or maybe
on the demos he played. Yeah, I think there's
a recording of him playing the title track. Yeah,
and let's not forget, Ronnie was a bass player
as well. He played bass in Elf. Yeah, he's actually
a very, very decent bass player. Yeah. The interesting
thing about this album for me was it was kind
of a bit of a, what's it going to be like? Because
obviously we'd heard Black Sabbath with Ozzy
and then Ozzy had gone. And then you're kind
of thinking, well, is it going to be any good?
You know, because you're kind of used to all
that sort of, you know, what Black Sabbath were
beforehand, which was kind of a slower 70s sort
of almost bluesy influence, demonized sort of,
you know, that sort of stuff going on. And then
suddenly you heard. I heard Neon Knights. I went
around to a friend of mine and he had the single
Neon Knights and he put it on his little record
player, which we all had in our bedrooms, and
he stuck it on and I just looked and I think
my jaw dropped and I thought, what the hell?
I couldn't imagine that Black Sabbath were doing
this kind of full -on production and this amazing...
Well, it was quite commercial as well, but it
was just... an amazing sound very very different
as well to what came before but just very welcome
at the time you know that's interesting because
you've said almost the same thing for priest
and this yeah they're released very close to
one another obviously the same year so i wonder
what other albums like in 79 were really kind
of pushing them To go in that direction. You
can say the same thing about the number one pick
in this 1980s list. I have a feeling. Yes. We'll
get to that. We'll get to that soon. I think
so. All right. Maybe we'll have to visit 79 somewhere
down the road, Victor. Yeah, well, that's the
plans. Don't worry. Final thing about Heaven
and Hell, just a final thing, very quickly. The
bass sounded amazing. Yes. I mean, the bass was,
that was the first time I noticed a bass on an
album. True. I just want to. You know, you're
right. Geezer is amazing on this album. He's
all over it. It doesn't be the same without him
doing that and playing like that. Yeah. Perfect
example is Lady Evil. There's a compilation that
I have, which is where I was introduced to some
of the other tracks off of this for the first
time. And Lady Evil kicks it off. And you hear
just that thunderous bass at the beginning. And
it's like, wow, what is this? That's awesome.
Just that whole low end, that whole groove there.
Makes someone like Brad want to pick up a bass
and put on red pants. We need to see that again
today. Yeah. All right. So are we ready for number
two? Yeah. Do you need us to tell you what it
is? You may be surprised at what it is. Yeah,
maybe. I'm feeling like I'm ready for number
two. Let's see here. So released the 12th of
September, 1980. Recorded between March and April
of 80 at Ridge Farm Studios in Respert, England.
Clocking in at 39 minutes, 31 seconds. Produced
by Robert John Mutt -Lang. Fucking with you guys.
Wait a minute. That would have been interesting
though. Sharon did not approve of that. Label
is jet produced by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes,
Bob Daisley, and Lee Kerslake singles, crazy
train. And Mr. Crowley, obviously. The number
two album is Blizzard of Oz by Ozzy Osbourne.
Say the same thing about the bass. It stands
out on this album just as well. It was what was
in the water at the time. Good question. But
I mean, this is funny because I was looking at
when I was figuring out where I was going to
place this on my list. This was my number two.
And only because I've listened to these songs
so much, similar to what you said, Dan, about
the zoo. I've listened to this album so much
over the years that it's one of those albums
that I can listen to once and say, okay, I'll
put it away until next year. You know, outside
of a revelation, mother earth and steal away
the night, like the rest of the album. I've listened
to it so much. I mean, I don't know, Crazy Train,
Goodbye to Romance, Suicide Solution, and Mr.
Crowley are on U .S. radio or were on U .S. radio
every single day when I still lived in the States.
No Bone Movies is something that I did to myself
because once I got tribute, that was the first
time that I heard that track. And I played it
over and over and over again because it was just
new to me. It was so different. That and Flying
High again was the first times I had ever heard
those songs. So I played them to death. But this
album is huge. I mean, you talk, Ed, you talk
about how Motorhead was such a big influence
on thrash, but without Revelation Mother Earth.
You don't have battery. You don't have blackened.
You don't have countless other thrash songs with
those acoustic intros that just kick into full
on just metal. And even I would even say that
fade the black comes out of revelation mother
earth. I think that, you know, yeah. And, and
I mentioned this to Charlie Bonante years ago,
who who's had a bigger influence. on metal music
from a guitar standpoint. I said, Tony, I owe
me or Randy Rhodes. And he said, Oh, Randy Rhodes
without a doubt, or I'm sorry, Tony, I owe me
without a doubt. And I said, you can't, okay,
but you can't discount Randy Rhodes importance
because before, and even diary of a madman diary
of a madman is kind of similar to revelation
mother earth with that classic nylon string guitar
going into the full on electric. so many bands
copied that i mean i don't think that there's
any denying and how important this album is for
metal and people can talk about how commercial
you know crazy train is because it became commercial
how commercial some of the other tracks off of
this became but at the time you know it was huge
i remember requesting crazy train at my uh roller
skating rink And they were like, yeah, I'm not
sure we can play that or not. Okay, we'll squeeze
it in here for you. They would play it. And now
we're all like, please stop playing that song.
Yeah. Well, I would request this and Dirty Deeds
all the time. Anyway, Blizzard of Oz. Go ahead,
Dan. You're getting close to the mic. We didn't
know what a bone movie is in the States. That
wasn't a term. And then we got to hear Ozzy talk
about that. Somebody interviewed, and I don't
remember where. Say, what's that? And he got
to explain it. And that was fun. So that was
a fun clip. It's out there somewhere. Who else
wants to talk Blizzard of Oz? Well, again, this
was another album which came in, you know, after
Black Sabbath. And we were sort of wondering
whether Ozzy could do it on his own. And, you
know, he only had to put on the first track.
And I don't know. It was just amazing. But it
wouldn't have been the same without Randy Rhodes
because Randy Rhodes was, you know, he brought
on Aussie sound and made it into something a
little bit different. And it was just incredible.
I really liked Mr. Crowley. I thought that was
an amazing song. Obviously, at the time, I liked
Crazy Train. Now I've kind of heard it to death.
But even so, you know, I still play it and enjoy
it. But at the time when you first heard it,
it was such an amazing track. And it is an amazing
collection of songs. I would think that there's
a few songs he did late in his career that could
have probably improved this album. I mean, there's
a few songs along the way that I like, which
could have made it a little bit better. But at
the time, it was one of the great albums that
came out in that year. And it brought Ozzy back
onto the scene. It put him back into number one
status again. And that's where we wanted him.
The other thing that I want to add real quickly,
kind of touching upon what you said, that we
couldn't have had this without Randy Rhodes.
Listening to any of the live albums that they've
released with Randy, I mean, I've listened to
Tribute so much, but when they released the box
set, which I actually have behind me, and they
released that Ozzy Live album, which was another
live recording with Randy without all of the
overdubs like they did with Tribute, where they
cleaned up a lot of that album. I still put that
on and I get goosebumps just hearing Randy just
slide on the fret board without it being perfect
and just different things that he was doing with
his playing. Even when he plays the Sabbath stuff.
Yeah. Okay. It's not Tony Iommi. It's tuned different,
but there was just something special to his playing
that brought a different life out of those songs.
Yeah. Ed, you have Blizzard behind you. I sure
do. By the time that I was able to start collecting
records or tapes that I would buy at the mall,
probably Bark at the Moon was out. I pretty much
bought every Ozzy album that I could right away
and listened to all of them equally. Yeah, we've
talked about this album quite a bit in the past,
and there's not a whole lot more to say than
what we've covered before. And I just echo everything
you all have said about the great songs on here,
especially Revelation, Mother Earth. What an
epic tune. And I agree with you. I think that
my favorite thrash metal are bands like Metallica
and Megadeth, where after they came out with
their first records, where they thrashed it out
as much as they could, and then they're looking
into what directions they can go with their music.
Like with Ride the Lightning, that album, songs
like Fade to Black and Battery, you're starting
to see the virtuosity of guitar players and such
being inspired by guitarists like Brandy. And
these albums creating, you know, New albums,
new songs like Fade to Black that had both that
hardcore and punk sound, but also a lot of that
classic heavy metal sound. Even coming from some
of the bands that were starting to become more
commercial, like Judas Priest and Ozzy were on
this record. And that's what I've always loved
with my favorite thrash metal bands is hearing
those mix of sounds that I've always... you know,
appreciated in music that I listened to. Yeah.
Cool. Brad, anything on this one? Uh, this was
my number one, uh, for just the simple reason
that I couldn't believe how good this was when
I first dropped the needle. I was like, Oh my
gosh, I, I really didn't expect much out of Ozzy,
uh, after all this stuff he'd been through. And,
and, uh, um, This album is just, it's just, it's
just so good. And that's, that's all I can say.
Luckily I got to see him with Randy Rhodes twice.
Wow. Where they played most of this album, but
it pretty much did the same set both times. He
did the same set for 40 years. Yeah, that's true.
That's true. I was, I was real disappointed that
after Diary of a Madman came out, they still
only played. I mean, before that album came out,
they played three songs off of it. And they played
the same three songs the second time I saw them.
I was like, come on, Ozzy, you know, get some
more of these songs off this album in here. But
anyway, this album is just, and I think it did
so much for music, period. I mean, this album
just built so much. And I think the number one
album we're going to talk about also just gave
a, just putting metal hard rock music so much
higher into the, everybody, everybody knew it,
you know, cross the, again, crossed lines. This
album crossed, uh, crossed over outside of our
group into other people. Everybody heard this
stuff. Everybody still, still hears these songs.
Yep. What three songs did they play off of diary
of a mad man? Um, let's see flying high again.
Um, believer. Yeah. Yeah. Or the mountains. So
those are, those are the only three I ever heard
him play. Yeah. And I thought, I thought that
was weird. Of course, finding out that they'd
recorded that second album before that they even
toured in the U S was, you know, then they didn't
release it. They just had recorded it. That all
just was nuts. It was such a different world
before the Internet, kids. We had to actually
go to a show to find out who's in the band. Who's
that guy? Who was in the band when you saw them
live? It was the touring band. I mean, those
guys, Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, they only
toured the UK, right, Jeremy? The only shows
they played were over there before they got sacked.
And that was, again, after they did the second
album. which I just thought was bizarre. I thought,
Oh, the guy did they record them like at the
same time, but they didn't. Yeah. Yeah. Just
weird, weird stuff going on. Yeah. So yeah, you
go to a concert and you don't know who's in the
band till the lights hit the stage. And like,
who's that guy? Yeah. I, I, I, I love Rudy Sarzo
now, but at the time I hated him. I thought his
his shenanigans, you know, playing over the top
of the neck and everything is like, what? You
know, dude, this isn't. Yeah, but he I love him
now. He's he's an incredible bass player in spite
of his posturing and his shenanigans back then.
Yeah, he was kind of like a baby Yannick Gers.
But this album is undeniable. I got off track
and. If there's anybody out there who hasn't
heard this album, you need to listen to it. Do
it now. Well, after the show, after you've finished
this show, then go listen to it. All right. So
let's recap these really quickly. So at number
10, Michael Shanker Group with Michael Shanker
Group. Outstanding. Saxon, Wrong Arm of the Law
at number nine. Completely brilliant. Scorpions,
Animal Magnetism at eight. Octoon. Motorhead
with Ace of Spades, number seven. Number six,
Van Halen, Women and Children First. Number five,
Iron Maiden with Iron Maiden. Number four, Judas
Priest, British Steel. Number three, Black Sabbath,
Heaven and Hell. Number two, Ozzy Osbourne with
Blizzard of Oz. And. Number one. As many people
have said, the greatest hard rock band to ever
come out of America, Kansas. No, actually, this
album was recorded. April to May 1980. Was released
in July of 1980. Recorded at Campus Point in
Nassau, Bahamas. 42 minutes, 11 seconds. Released
on Atlantic Records. Produced by Mutt Lang. Singles,
You Shoot All Night Long, Hell's Bells, Rock
and Roll A Noise Pollution, and Back in Black.
It is obviously Back in Black by ACDC. So there's
always been the controversy of which is the bigger
ACDC album, Back in Black or Highway to Hell.
And it's funny because when we did the countdown,
ACDC won, or obviously ACDC won, but Back in
Black. was number one. And I remember that a
lot of people were kind of up in arms with, what
do you mean it was number one? This is one of
the biggest selling albums of all time. If we
talk about an album transcending genres, Hell's
Bells, Shoot the Thrill, what do you do? What
do you do for money, honey? Giving the dog a
bone? Let me put my love into you. Back in black,
you shook me all night long. Have a drink on
me, shake a leg. Rock and roll ain't noise pollution.
Charlie Benante once told me that ACDC didn't
need a Greatest Hits album because it was called
Back in Black. So much of this album has been
sampled by rap artists. by different genres it's
been used in movies it's been used all over the
place again like i said it's one of the biggest
selling albums of all time i think outside of
metallica's black album this is like the second
or third most sold album of the sound scan era
in the states um i've had this album since 1980
i've been lucky to have it i have an original
Copy from 1980 behind me. Nice. I've played the
ever living crap out of this. It is my brother's
favorite band and his favorite album of all time.
Um, so I've been listening to this since I was
seven years old. It came out. Uh, what month
did I say it came out in July? Yeah. I hadn't
even turned seven yet. I was six and I knew,
what AC's Back in Black was. So, Ed, you've got
it behind you as well. It took me a while to
figure out because of the glare. It's harder
to see. I also got Brad's copy right here whenever
he comes to visit. Oh, okay. And then after he's
had this for a while, it'll be his number one.
This was probably, I think it was my first, like,
besides Joan Jett. I love rock and roll. I think
Back in Black was the first hard rock record
I got smuggled into the house, probably from
a friend of mine. Yeah, I would go to one of
my best friend's house and I'd see this. And
I always loved this, too. Oh, yeah. Seeing this
picture of Angus and just the black cover. I
mean, just everything about this made me want
to listen to it. From the first time I heard
it, it was like a drug to me. I was instantly
addicted to it. I probably had this album taken
away from me more than any other record, especially
because the bell gives you away if you're playing
it and your mom hears it. I've bought so many
copies of this record over the years. I love
every bit of it. It's probably my desert island
rock and roll. album too okay if this was the
only one i could take with me this would be it
it is hard though to decide because i'm i'm a
much bigger fan of bon scott and the song let
there be rock is probably my favorite song of
all but this album is my favorite record of all
not just from ac dc but most any rock band period
And especially Hell's Bells. I just think it's
almost hard for me to say whether I like that
better or Let There Be Rock. And I also remember,
too, when I would listen to The Metal Shop on
Thursday nights at midnight, they would always
have a bit where they would have a musical artist
give a countdown of their top five favorite records.
And because that was the early, mid -80s, often,
Hell's Bells would be their number one song,
and I just would always think that was cool as
hell. And also, we talked about this before,
I think this album is just perfectly produced.
I don't know of a record that I've heard that
sounds better to me than when I listen to this
album. I feel closer to the music by the way,
this is produced than most any album I've heard.
You know, it's, it's on, you know, it's on this
vinyl, but when I'm listening to it, it feels
like I'm in the room with them. Right. And everything's
just so clear. You know, every instrument is,
is clear. Every guitar solo just feels like it
just came out naturally and, you know, sings
a song all on its own within the songs. Uh, every
song is groovy, uh, from start to finish. It's
just a good time. I'll let you all take over
from here. I could go on. Brad back in black.
Yeah. Um, yeah, just the cells alone tells you,
uh, the power of this album, the power of this
band. And to, to do that after changing singers,
I mean, unlike black Sabbath, where there was
a huge musical difference between the last album
with Ozzy and the first album with Ronnie, this
just picked up. I think it stayed true to what
ACDC was all about. I think Jeremy's going to
probably have something to say about that because
I know he's a real lover of the first era of
ACDC. And Brian Johnson's certainly, I mean,
not... Not the sole singer of, you know, that
you got before. But, yeah, it's just, again,
a band that has crossed all barriers. I mean,
way outside of the music we listen to. Everybody,
you can play one of the two big songs off of
this album for anybody walking down the street
and they wouldn't know the song. How many Iron
Maiden songs can you do that with? Yeah. You
know, a country artist would still listen to
ACDC, maybe even jazz, but it goes across all
genres. The album has never aged. It's as good
then as it is now. It's perfect. And I think
if you put in all the years, 80 through the whole
decade, this would be it. The top dog. So if
you broke down all your ones, Victor, from all
the years you've done this, I think this is the
overall winner as well. Amen, Metal Dan. I agree.
We may have to find out. Ooh. We may have to
do a favorite album of the 80s. If you took your
one through fives of the decade that you've done
and threw them in the pot. And say, okay, everybody,
now pick out of this. I think so. Yeah. Let's
hear what Jeremy's got to say. Come on, Jeremy.
Yeah, but I think that this album wasn't created
overnight. It was created on the back of at least
three amazing albums. You had Parage, Let There
Be Rock, and Highway to Hell. And so the band
were building up to this. And a lot of the songs
were written for Bon Scott. I mean, Bon Scott
was going to sing these songs and then obviously,
sadly, he died and they had to get in another
singer. And the only thing I would say is that
I always thought that Back in Black was the first
track on the album because I always put it on
and suddenly Back in Black comes on because I
might have flipped it over the wrong side. And
I'm thinking, yeah, this is the first track.
Oh, no, I forgot. It's Hell's Bells. So I think
Back in Black should have been the first song.
I agree. And I think that Hell's Bell should
have been the last song on the album because
it sounds kind of slow with the bells. Anyway,
that's a minor gripe because in the old days,
you know, they must have agonized over what the
order of the songs they were going to put. But
there was obviously a number of hit singles on
here. But there's a reason why ACDC is so popular.
And scientists have actually discovered it. They've
discovered it because, yeah, they're in line
with the heartbeat. It's in line with the heartbeat.
And every human loves a heartbeat because they
love to hear the baby heartbeat. And so that's
why they are so successful. That's why they have
so much mass appeal. But, you know, they have
great songs that we can all sing along to. You
know, they have those great choruses. And they
peaked on this album. There's no doubt about
it. They peaked. did produce some good stuff
after, but they never produced anything as good
as this. So I think we can all agree on that.
And it sold so many copies because it reaches
out to so many people who may not even like heavy
metal. They just like a bit of rock music with
their disco or with their new wave music. They
just know ACDC as one of those famous bands of
the time. And they like ACDC. been to an ACDC
concert with someone who just likes ACDC and
doesn't like any other heavy metal music at all.
And it's weird, but that's the way it is. And
it is an incredible album. Is it my favorite
album by them? Possibly not, but that doesn't
demean it because I still love it. Like I love
both of my daughters. Yeah. Here's the power
of ACDC. OK, I think of all the concerts I've
been to and you're waiting for the headlining
band to come on and they're playing music over
the PA. Everybody's chatting and blah, blah,
blah. And then an ACDC song comes on. Everybody
stops talking and everybody starts rocking and
starts singing with them. And it's almost it's
just unbelievable the power that their music
has. over the masses of the people. It's just
incredible. I can never stop moving my left foot.
So whenever an ACDC track comes on, my foot's
moving in time to the beat. And your whole body
moves in time. It's like when you go to a disco
and there's a bit of disco music on it. Everyone
feels that disco music, even if you're not that
keen on disco music. And it's kind of like the
same with ACDC. It comes on and your body is
moving in time to it. Yeah, it's just amazing.
So this deserves to be number one. And yeah.
What a great list. Yeah, the show they're doing
right now was worthwhile seeing. They're in the
States. They're playing Vegas again. It's still
good. It's just a massive production, you know,
so getting up close is expensive and all that,
but it was still worthwhile to see them last
year. I enjoyed it for what it was worth, even
with Malcolm gone, and I'm practically in tears
without Malcolm there, but it's good. The weird
thing about this is none of us have actually
mentioned the words Angus Young yet. I mean,
I mean, it's just, I mean, he's just amazing.
I mean, what a guitarist. Yeah. And his own style
and his own, the way he delivers it, the way
his persona and the shorts and the, you know,
the, the school uniform that he's adopted, but
he was still doing it on this album. And, and,
you know, the solos are there and the riffs are
there. And that's what that's, he's the backbone
of ACDC. Yeah, he was my guitar hero growing
up because of all that energy he had on stage.
Yeah, easy. I mean, that's a lot of people, I
think, loved him because of that. I remember
seeing them for the first time and my brother
saying to me, you know, just wait, wait to see
his solo because he's not going to stop moving
and he's still going to be playing all these
notes. Awesome. So ACDC Back in Black is our
number one. Next month, we will be back with
year two of the Signals from Mars Hall of Fame.
I want to thank Jeremy, Ed, Brad, Metal Dan,
Anthony Mackey, Sean Richman. Who else was here?
Oh, Edgar Winterson, who joined us late. And
if anyone else, we've had some steady watchers
throughout the show who haven't pronounced themselves.
Hope everyone enjoyed the episode as much as
I enjoyed discussing all of these great albums.
It was a difficult year to pick albums because
there's so much good music. We talked about the
top 20. You go back and listen to the beginning.
But there are 51 albums that people voted on.
And there's a lot of top quality things. I mean,
for example, an album that made my list that
didn't make a whole heck of a lot of other people's
lists, a few people's lists was the queen album,
the game. So many good songs on it, but yet a
lot of people didn't vote for it because there
was so much good music here. And there are others
on here that, Should have probably, you know,
if they were if they'd come out other years,
could have possibly been number one for that
year. But they came out in 1980. They came out
in a magical year. So, again, thanks, everyone,
for watching or listening to this. If you didn't
vote this time around, vote next month when we
do the Hall of Fame. And that is it, folks. Thank
you so much for joining us. We will see you next
time right here on Signals from Mars. See you,
folks. Subscribe to the show on all your favorite
podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Google Podcasts, Amazon, and more. Go to signalsfrommars
.com for more information. This concludes our
show.