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!