80’s Metal/Hair Bands
Welcome to a Monday. We’re those old fuckers that play those old heavy metal songs. METAL SHOP rolls out kick ass 80’s metal and hard rock 24/7.
All your favorites are always in the mix, including IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, METALLICA, DIO, MÖTLEY CRÜE, MEGADETH, QUEENSRŸCHE, SCORPIONS, RATT, SLAYER, and more.
Listen also for the new ANTHRAX… ‘Evil Twin’ is coming up soon. The new album ‘For All Kings’ is excellent and cracked the U.S. Top 10 in its first week of release to land at position No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart.
In a recent interview with vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS, he said “we’re not considered one of the [so-called] “Big Four” [of 1980s thrash metal, which consists of METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX], and I hate that phrase. METALLICA is by far the biggest band in the world, so to put the other three in that category? No disrespect to MEGADETH, ANTHRAX or SLAYER; I love all of those bands, but I lived in the Bay Area when metal was being born, and everybody wanted to be like EXODUS. That goes from POSSESSED, LEGACY, DEATH ANGEL. It was not necessarily METALLICA, it was EXODUS. So, to me, that was the band that innovated and started it out.”
Checkout this video an IRON MAIDEN fan uploaded of the official and bootleg merchandise stands at the band’s March 3rd concert at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City. METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel noted that in Las Vegas, the official merchandise booth was out of control. In Mexico though, not a soul is buying a t-shirt inside the venue but if you go outside it’s a whole different story.
Former ACCEPT singer Udo Dirkschneider is currently on tour where he is performing ACCEPT songs one last time before he closes the chapter for good, saying “I wanna close, like a book, and say, ‘Okay, that’s it. I read it.’ Sometimes you have to come to an end with something. I wanna close up everything with ACCEPT. Click Here to read more and see video footage from Friday’s show in Jyväskylä, Finland.
Happy Birthday to Linda Jarota listening to METAL SHOP in Pennsylvania, Chris Hiles listening in Washington State, Tony Nicholl listening in the U.K., and Jorge Zorrilla Diaz listening in Peru.
Have a good one all and stay dry out there.
Yes, it’s Friday and time to ‘March Fourth’ to the weekend… think about that one if you need to 
Seems everyone today is talking about Donald Trump defending the size of his willie during last night’s Republican presidential debate. Just for the record, I have small hands, which I have been told means I am a creative person, and if something else must be small, “I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”
According to The Pulse Of Radio, OZZY OSBOURNE’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, was discussing recent scandals involving nannies on “The Talk” earlier this week when she revealed that she had caught Ozzy in bed with a couple of them in the past, saying she had caught two nannies in compromising positions with the Prince Of Darkness at “different times,” and adding that Ozzy was “out of his mind” on drugs at the time. Sharon said she finally hired a “manny” named “Big Dave.” Poor Ozzy.
METALLICA Drummer Lars Ulrich held an event, titled ‘A night with Lars Ulrich and Friends’ at UC Berkeley in California the other night. Not much to report there, but some of the comments on Facebook were a little nuts, including this one “metallica you disappointed fans long enough your keep letting fans think you are working on on new music and fail us. megadeth is miles ahead of you I bet dave mustaine is laughing to the bank,” and this one “Jassons new band Newsted is way better than Meatllica .. They get of all there good players. And keep what they have right now , that stinks.” My head is spinning, but ‘Meatllica’ sounds delicious.
Happy Birthday to former Metallica Bassist Jason Newsted. He turns 53 today. Click Here for this great video of Newsted singing ‘Seek and Destroy’ live in 1992.
ACCEPT released their 6th studio album “Metal Heart” today in 1985. Although critically panned at the time, today Metal Heart is often considered by fans as one of the band’s best records. Former singer Udo Dirkschneider remembers the Breaker through Metal Heart era as the time when the band got along best together.
Today in 1983, THIN LIZZY released their final studio album, “Thunder and Lightning.” Two years earlier, band leader Phil Lynott brought in guitarist John Sykes to give the band a heavier sound (ie, “Cold Sweat”). Lynott’s drug problems were too much though to keep Thin Lizzy going and he died three years later, but oh, what might have been.
That’s a wrap. Crank the 80’s metal with METAL SHOP and have a kick ass weekend.
Hello again 80’s Metal lovin’ friends. Today is a big-time landmark day because today in 1986, METALLICA released what many consider the greatest metal record of the 80’s and maybe of all-time, ‘Master of Puppets.’
Rolling Stone notes the album still sounds as powerful today as it does fearless. It was also written in only eight weeks. The first song Metallica wrote for the LP was “Battery,” followed by “Disposable Heroes.” The only songs that weren’t complete by the time they got to the studio were “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “Orion.” Originally, they’d hoped Rush singer Geddy Lee would produce the LP, but he was unavailable due to time constraints.
The title track is so popular it surprises Lars Ulrich, saying “when I listen to ‘Master of Puppets’ now, I just sit there and go, ‘What the fuck? How do you do that?’ It’s very gutsy music.” Former bassist Cliff Burton said in 1986 that it was Metallica’s “best song yet.”
Did you know Lars used another band’s drum on ‘Master of Puppets’? Def Leppard’s Rick Allen had been in an accident that resulted in him losing his left arm and wasn’t using his snare at the time, so Lars asked, “Can you send it over? They just overnighted it.”
Ex-JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing says he would be open to reuniting with his former bandmates on the occasion of a hypothetical Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction. Even better he said “is to schedule a massive tour featuring of BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN and PRIEST. I think we would all love to see that. “It would be something I would have to be part of,” Downing said. “Only because I’d like to see the greatest heavy-metal tour happen because it’s never happened. And it’s never gonna happen. Unfortunately, that chapter of history won’t be there forever, which is kind of sad.”
SLAYER guitarist Kerry King may have temporarily lost his mind or may be a little delusional when he said in a recent interview that Iron Maiden and Metallica are ‘living on past success’. Although he did admit that Slayer is, to some degree, resting on its laurels. Not sure what to make of this.
SAVATAGE Guitarist CHRIS CAFFERY is joining METAL CHURCH for their upcoming tour.
That’s it for now. Find out the latest by visiting the METAL SHOP website or follow on Facebook or Twitter.
If you enjoy these daily posts and/or listen to the station, please share with your 80’s metal lovin’ friends.
Oh, it’s good to be back from the dead. Less than 24 hours ago, a major Internet outage knocked thousands of radio stations off the air, including METAL SHOP and HAIR BAND RADIO. All are back now, so your days and nights can again be filled with 80’s metal and hard rock.
It appears the outage may have effected everything else as well because it’s been a slow news day. However, I did come across this interesting interview from last month with SLAYER and EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt, who was asked about how he previously admitted he was a fan of RATT with thrash and glam metal being enemies in the ’80s. When asked why Ratt in particular stood out as opposed to other bands from the genre, Holt said: “The talent! Warren DeMartini is one of the best guitar players on Earth, with some of the best riffs. His solos are incredible. So I mean, I think that’s where it starts. A guy like me, who was raised since the birth of thrash metal and hair bands were like our common mutual enemies, we all secretly coveted all of George Lynch and Warren’s licks! They’re both phenomenal guitar players. And the bands are great because they had those guys writing such awesome stuff and they had the chops to play it. And you know, the guitar tone…everything like that was just killer. it was some super good stuff that I didn’t appreciate till later in life. I always appreciated the soloing aspect. But you know, now, you listen to the opening riff of ‘Lay It Down’, and it’s just brilliant.”
Regarding his current gig with Slayer, Holt says, “I Still Come Out On Stage Trying To Make Jeff Hanneman Proud; It’s Still His Band Now”.
Happy Birthday to Anvil singer and guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow. He turns 60 today. The band’s documentary film ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ revealed “Lips” often had other jobs during Anvil’s career due to the band’s continual lack of success since the late eighties and the lack of income it had produced. He has worked as a truck driver for a catering business and despite it being often physically demanding and ‘backbreaking’ work, he has spoken positively of his job and lifestyle, saying “I’ve raised a family, I own a home, I’ve lead a great, “normal” life, which is something that you just can’t do if you’re a monster star your entire life. Working the other jobs allowed me to go out and play across the world and do whatever I like, but when I come home, I get to be normal again.”
Former AC/DC Bassist Mark Evans is also turning 60 today. He quit the band in 1977 after becoming tired of touring.
On this date in 1981, IRON MAIDEN released the single “Twilight Zone” from the album “Killers” and today in 1984, the classic mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” was released. Probably no surprise that much of the dialouge in that film was ad libbed.
That’s all for now. The metal is flowing on a Wednesday, so it’s off to a good start. Rock on brothers and sisters.
Hi there! Back for another merry round of what’s up in 80’s Metal.
Photos, video and stories are coming from the big weekend of live metal in Las Vegas.
METAL SHOP listener Bianca Trujillo attended the MEGADETH concert last Friday (Feb. 26th). Check out her recap and photos at this location – Click Here
METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel attended the IRON MAIDEN concert on Sunday (Feb. 28th). Check out his recap and photos – Click Here
A new Twitter account purportedly belonging to former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Izzy Stradlin has appeared on the social media site, according to The Pulse Of Radio. Two sources have apparently confirmed to The Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Shah that the account is real, with Stradlin himself — or the person behind the account claiming to be Stradlin — tweeting a video of himself playing guitar. But more importantly, the first tweet from the @IzzyStradlin999 account on Feb. 22nd read, “At this point in time, I’ve no involvement in the upcoming April 2016 GNR shows.”
Former DIO and current DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2013 and is continues to battle the disease, saying recently, “It keeps coming back. I’ve done three rounds of chemo, stem cell transplant and I really thought would be it with the stem cell transplant, but no, it came back, so I’m kind of resigned to the fact that I’ll probably deal with the rest of my life. But I’m really not at all concerned with it; it’s just maintenance. I put it on par with going to the dentist. It’s a little bit more involved than that, but it’s just something that I got to keep doing.”
Today in 1997, a MÖTLEY CRÜE fan who claimed his hearing had been irreparably damaged after a show in New Jersey had his lawsuit thrown out of court. The judge told Clifford Goldberg who had sat near the front of the stage, knew the risk he was taking.
Happy Birthday to original SKID ROW drummer Rob Affuso. He turns 53 today.
On this date in 1982, KROKUS released their sixth album “One Vice at a Time”, featuring the single “Long Stick Goes Boom” and today in 2005, JUDAS PRIEST released the album “Angel of Retribution”, their first album since 1990’s ‘Painkiller’ to feature Rob Halford.
That’s all I’ve got so far. Check in, chime in….and thank you!
Metal Monday is on and it’s Leap Day, which means we get an extra day of February this year. It also means most of us are essentially working an extra day for free. If you look at it that way, we also get a free day of cable, internet and electricity, so there’s that.
IRON MAIDEN played Las Vegas last Night (Feb. 28th). METAL SHOP’s Ralph Cartel was there and was able to get only a few photos before his phone died, but he had killer seats – see photo below. Stay tuned for his recap coming later today or tomorrow.
It was a great weekend for live 80’s metal and hard rock from many of our favorites… MEGADETH performed in L.A. last night, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was in San Antonio on Saturday (Feb. 27), and BLACK SABBATH played its last-ever concert in New York City at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Checkout fan-filmed video footage at this location – Click Here
In a recent interview, MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine was asked what it would take for another ‘Big Four’ concert to happen? He responded, “if it happens again, that would be great. If it doesn’t, the people who got to see it got to see something really remarkable. Am I supposed to doing it? You know, it would have to be the right thing. I think that, you know, Megadeth is at a place right now where we’re successful to a degree where we would be happy continuing to do what we do on our own. So if we’re gonna do another ‘Big Four’ thing, I would want it to be something where we walk away as content as METALLICA does from something like that. It’s not Metallica and three other dudes.”
You may have heard there are competing touring versions of RATT out there. Former bassist Juan Croucier fronts RATT’S JUAN CROUCIER and former drummer Bobby Blotzer is touring as RATT, but he is the only original member in that group. This has obviously created a lot of tension for everyone, including former Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini, who in September filed a lawsuit against Blotzer, claiming that the drummer was falsely advertising his “tribute band” as the real thing… you think? Stephen Pearcy has checked out of all of this and is performing some solo shows. Croucier was quoted last week saying “There is no single person in the band Ratt who’s by themselves Ratt.’
I didn’t watch the Academy Awards last night but PANTERA was mentioned in the short clip introducing each of the nominated films in the category before the winner was announced. Actor Christian Bale learned to play double-bass drums for a short scene in “The Big Short” where his character, the hedge fund manager Michael Burry, bangs on his kit in his basement to Pantera’s ‘By Demons Be Driven.’ https://t.co/pbMJu6N6r3
Any Leaplings out there? Happy birthday! If you turned 50 today, you would actually still not be a teenager, so act your age and headbang all day while you work. You’re not getting paid anyway
Oh yeah! It’s Friday. Now read that again in James Hetfield’s voice – “Oh yeah!”
Here we go…
Like any good celebrity memoir, Lita Ford’s new book ‘Living Like a Runaway’ has its share of surprising all-star revelations — like her memories of the night Robert Plant asked her if she wanted to join Led Zeppelin. Their encounter, as recalled in an excerpt published by the New York Post, took place in 1975 after the Runaways’ first headlining gig in Los Angeles. After posing for photos with the band, Plant took Ford aside and asked if she could play bass. When she wondered who she’d be playing bass for, Plant retorted, “Led Zep.” “He might have been drinking or pulling my leg,” wrote Ford, “but he seemed to be dead serious in the moment.”
The IRON MAIDEN ‘The Book of Souls Tour’ resumes tonight (Feb. 26) in Tulsa, Oklahoma after opening in Florida this week. Maiden will be in Vegas on Sunday and then off to Mexico. Kind of a strange tour route in North America, but maybe pilot Bruce Dickinson is not interested in short flights Checkout the IRON MAIDEN facebook page to view photos from Wednesday’s tour kickoff show in Florida.
Whitesnake has announced a Greatest Hits tour for this summer. The group’s release last year, ‘The Purple Album’ was meant to be singer David Coverdale’s last work, but he admitted it gave him a new lease of life. “I have no desire to hang up my rock’n’roll sneakers just yet,” he said.
Today in 1981, JUDAS PRIEST released their 7th album “Point of Entry.” Following the instant classic “British Steel,” Priest wasn’t content to simply fast-track a quick carbon copy for their next effort. The problem was, they couldn’t agree on their next step, according to frontman Rob Halford. “The band wanted to do something different, but the record company had seen we could deliver hit singles and wanted more of the same. We were not so sure, so I think Point of Entry suffers from too many people pulling in too many directions.” Can you believe their record label rejected the vaguely futuristic album cover design chosen overseas and replaced it with an arguably more abstract interpretation of the title?
ANTHRAX’s long-awaited new album, “For All Kings”, is out today (Feb. 26). A review in The Guardian calls the new record “crowd-pleasing destruction from the thrash masters.” Listen for the single “Breathing Lightning” now playing on METAL SHOP.
Happy Friday and let’s raise a toast to 80’s metal this weekend. Cheers!
Welcome to a Thursday. Metal music is good for the soul and the colon and there is plenty to keep you in tiptop shape here.
IRON MAIDEN is back! ‘The Book of Souls Tour’ opened last night in Sunrise, Florida and the first two songs were from the new album. There were also plenty of the great oldies we know and love, but with a new album, Maiden has always devoted a fair amount of time to their latest offering.
The 15 song setlist included “Children Of The Damned” (performed for the first time in seven years), “The Trooper”, “Powerslave”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “The Number Of The Beast”, “Wasted Years”, and six tracks from the new album.
The biggest question mark going into this tour were concerns about the strength of Bruce Dickinson’s voice after rounds of chemoterapy to combat his throat cancer last year. The word is the Air Raid Siren sounded in fine form. Click Here for the first review.
MÖTLEY CRÜE’s final interviews as a band during their last shows at the end of December, reveal the “drama and pain” of being in an outfit that had run out of creativity, says Nikki Sixx. “I want to write music because it’s real. There’s not a relationship there (with Motley Crue). Let it die gracefully. We couldn’t be creative as a band, so how the hell can we continue?” Read more.
SLAYER frontman Tom Araya has admitted he was worried about guitarist Kerry King writing Slayer’s 11th album on his own and feared the album might fail without co-founder Jeff Hanneman, who’d always co-written the band’s material. His replacement, Exodus axeman Gary Holt, did not write for the new record. You can read the entire interview at this location – Click Here.
Happy Birthday to Trent Riley listening to METAL SHOP in Kentucky and Aaron Santana listening in California.
Have a kick ass day!
Hello, you! Time to crank up METAL SHOP on a Wednesday.
IRON MAIDEN kicks off ‘The Book of Souls World Tour’ tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They are the rulers of my 80’s metal world and seem to be for many others as well… check out this great comment on the Maiden Facebook page, “Iron Maiden is everything that is right about metal. Iron Maiden was my childhood. Iron Maiden is my present. And now I can give this astounding gift to my son as we are going to the show together. \m/”
AC/DC currently tops ‘Billboard’s Hot Tours’ chart. For their last three shows in the midwestern U.S., they were seen by nearly 50,000 fans. The lads from down under will next be in Houston, Texas on Friday (2/26).
Have you heard of the ‘Hair Metal Awards’? I hadn’t either, but this is a thing and the first annual will take place May 15th in Las Vegas. SCORPIONS will make an appearance to receive the “Classic Rock Outstanding Lifetime Achievement” award and German metal queen Doro Pesch will be presented with the “Metal Goddess” award. The first part of the show will be artists from the Sunset Strip era and the second half will feature more of the metal genre of national artists. QUIET RIOT and TWISTED SISTER will perform and there will be a tribute to MOTÖRHEAD’s Lemmy Kilmister, which will include a performance by major metal stars.
LITA FORD has a new tell-all book out, where she describes an abusive relationship with BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi. In a recent interview though, she says “Tony Iommi was my idol, him and Ritchie Blackmore. When I was growing up, the first concert I ever saw was BLACK SABBATH, when I was 13, and Tony Iommi was just like a God in my eyes; he was a hero to me, and still is. Even though… You have to read the book, but he was abusive, and that almost killed me — literally. And I didn’t expect that from my superhero.”
Today in 2003, bassist Robert Trujillo joined METALLICA, replacing Jason Newsted. Trujillo first gained prominence as the bassist for California thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. He was also a member of OZZY OSBOURNE’s band for a number of years starting in the late 1990s.
Lee Aaron released the album “Metal Queen” today in 1984. Two years earlier, she posed topless for the men’s magazine OUI, but later concluded in an interview that it damaged her musical credibility; she regretted the decision and assigned blame for it to pressure from her manager.
RONNIE JAMES DIO released the album “Inferno:Last In Live” today in 1998.
That’s your morning 80’s metal menu. Off to the radio factory now; see you there, and here. Thanks for being part of this!
Hello 80’s metalheads, lurkers, and surfers! There is word again of a possible DOKKEN reunion, this time from former bassist, Jeff Pilson, who says “we’re actually working really hard to try and pull something together right now. It has to fall in spaces where there is time off [from my gig with Foreigner], so I don’t know for sure whether it’s gonna happen. So let’s just say we’re all friendly now, we’re all past all the decades-old crap, and we all talk and everything’s great. Now it really is just down to scheduling and trying to figure it out. Because, you know, you’ve gotta do it right, if you’re gonna do it. We all feel that way. Pilson continued; “We shared something very special together. I think we’re all at the point in life where we kind of appreciate it now. And if we ever get a chance to do some more with it, I think… It would be very interesting, because we’ve never been in a situation where there wasn’t animosity, so I don’t know. [Laughs] Maybe it won’t work. I don’t know. [Laughs]”
In case you missed it, Sammy Hagar (The Red Rocker) made some interesting claims in this Dan Rather interview clip released over the weekend, saying “I was really as big as VAN HALEN.” Click Here to watch the video.
Man, I love the rockumentaries coming out now on some of the 80’s metal and hard rocks bands and how they really capture the hunger of the early days. The QUIET RIOT one was really good and now TWISTED SISTER is out today. Check out a clip of ‘We Are Twisted F***ing Sister’ at this location – Click Here.
Happy Birthday to QUEENSRŸCHE Guitarist Michael Wilton. He turns 54 today. Did you know he is also known as ‘The Whip,’ for how fast his fingers “whip” around the guitar fretboard? After original Queensrÿche guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band in 1998, Wilton gradually began performing most of the songs that previously featured DeGarmo doing the main solo live, including “Silent Lucidity”, “The Mission”, “En Force”, “I Am I”, “Take Hold of the Flame”, “Best I Can”, “The Killing Words”, “Bridge”, “The Lady Wore Black” and “Anybody Listening?”, amongst others.
Happy Birthday to Andres Moreno listening to METAL SHOP in Bogotá, Colombia and Jacob Kulhanek listening in Houston, Texas.
Have a terrific Tuesday and never stop rockin’!
