Yes, conspicuous by its absence! Crazy to think early 80’s Priest has an album that doesn’t even rate for the year it’s in. It’s spot for sure, though I love the stronger tracks.
@@Joshb6498 I don’t disagree with you. It was only a top five. Quite a few things could have been mentioned in a more exhaustive look at 1981, Saxon , Praying Mantis, Rainbow, Triumph, Accept, just off the top of my head.
my top albums from 1981 1. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules 2. Holocaust - The Nightcomers 3. Venom - Welcome to Hell 4. Motörhead - No Sleep 'til Hammersmith 5. Riot - Fire Down Under 6. Killer - Ladykiller 7. Saxon - Denim and Leather 8. Raven - Rock Until You Drop 9. Def Leppard - High 'n' Dry 10. Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound 11. Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman 12. Saracen - Heroes, Saints & Fools 13. Iron Maiden - Killers 14. Judas Priest - Point of Entry 15. Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love 16. Samson - Shock Tactics 17. Demon - Night of the Demon 18. Rage (UK) - Out of Control 19. Girlschool - Hit and Run 20. Warning - Warning 21. Budgie - Nightflight 22. Dark Star - Dark Star 23. Heavy Load - Metal Conquest (EP) 24. Praying Mantis - Time Tells No Lies 25. Starfighters - Starfighters
@@roxannestorm2616 Wrong. Nobody mentioned Aldridge, but neither he nor Sarzo played on the original DOAM. It was Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley respectively.
it's great to see venom so high up there. i got introduced to them in the late 90s and they werent for me, but i love that a group with that kind of iconography and style can be remembered so highly. my JW family were highly-highly-HIGHLY against anything like it (yet, somehow I got away with Slayer & Pantera, but not Venom)
I really liked their debut over High N Dry. Even though I specifically went to the record store to pick up High N Dry it was sold out, so I picked up On Through the Night instead. Glad I did.
I always look forward to these best of videos from Banger, it’s one of my favorite things👍, Diary of a Madman was the album I voted for but I love all the albums in your top 5 and you can’t go wrong with Killers as number 1 👍👍🤘🤘
The moment I saw the year, I realized that “Breaker” by Accept won’t be included. Wasn’t a platinum, but it’s a killer. At least Riot were mentioned in the honorable mentions
Bruce Dickinson"s Greatest Vocal Performance, in A Studio Album?, Easily , The Chemical Wedding..., Mind Blowing Vocals..., Book of Thel, Trumpets of Jericho, Machine Men, Title Track..., Every Song ....
To me it's still "Shock Tactics", but "The Chemical Wedding" ist a great one too. A friend told me that he met Bruce some years ago after a Jon Lord memorial concert for dinner and he was absolutely fascinated about his kind manner. Hard to believe that so many years have passed since 1981 ... greetings!
Dear Martin, thanks for this show and backsight on 1981! Samson - also my pick (and yes, Accept has always been a class of its own). This morning I put "Killers" inside my CD-player and started a new day with this great album. What a great experience! I rememberd "Killers" was my first Maiden album on tape I bought. Wow, thank you again for this! :-)
My top 6 of the year:1) Saxon - Denim and Leather, 2) Black Sabbath - Mob Rules, 3) Accept - Breaker, 4) Iron Maiden - Killers, 5) Van Halen - Fair Warning, 6) Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman,
Breaker is probably my favorite Accept album... I would add Cirith Ungol, MSG and Judas Priest (people say Point of Entry was weak but I'll take that over any Def Leppard)... Also contemplating on whether or not Van Halen's Fair Warning would make the cut... Like Moving Pictures I'd normally think of it as hard rock but it's objectively heavier than a LOT of stuff here
Great list as always. I would have had 'High 'n' Dry' in the top 5 with 'Fair Warning' as well. I would have given an honourable mention to 'MSG' because I love to hear him play. Cheers Martin!
I love LOVE, every single album on this list. Every one is 5 💀💀💀💀💀skull masterpiece to me and all the more ironic because I was born in 1981. BOC, Leppard, Riot albums pretty good but super love Crüe and Saxon my favorite of them both and been listening to the Samson and Holocaust albums cause of that Sea of Tranquility NWOBHM episode 🤘🏾✊🏿🤎🖤 And just gotta throw these in cause they are just too too important even if they ain’t Metal. The Exploited “Punks Not Dead” Black Flag “Damaged The Replacements “Sorry Ma Forgot to Take out the Trash” Game changing PUNK ROCK PERFECTION 🏴 🏴☠️
1981 I really became a metalhead. Diary of Madman, Killers, High n Dry etc ...but the one album for me that was pivotal in my life was The Mob Rules. It is my favorite all time album. I still listen to it today. Great great great
Probably my favorite year of the '80s, so strong with many great albums from Maiden to Sabbath, etc. Also that year, loved the new releases from Van Halen, Whitesnake, Tubes, Rainbow, Priest, Journey, Foreigner, Motorhead, even Kiss...
Thanks for doing this. It takes me back. In Southampton I saw, okay, AC/DC, Motörhead, Ozzy, Ted, Scorpions, Saxon, Priest, Diamond Head, Accept, Hawkwind, and many more. Good memories triggered by these shows. Thanks Peter
@@ilcapodeicapi123 Rush were never metal. They were prog rock/hard rock at the most. Some of their songs were so mellow they were borderline hippy-ish.
Just finished listening to Samson's Shock Tactis for the first time after this recommendation....holy shit is it good! Love Bruce Dickinson here....so different and raw. Keep it up, BangerTV
Fair Warning by Van Halen, High N Dry by Def Leppard, Mob Rules by Black Sabbath, Killers by Iron Maiden, and Moving Pictures by Rush are my favorite albums of 1981.
I really enjoy these overkill rewind segments. It bring nice memories and sometimes let's me know of other bands I might have missed. Even though this was my era. Thanks Mr. Popoff!!
1. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules 2. Iron Maiden - Killers 3. Rush - Moving Pictures 4. Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of A Madman 5. Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin 6. Van Halen - Fair Warning 7. Thin Lizzy - Renegade 8. Judas Priest - Point of Entry 9. Riot - Fire Down Under 10. Y&T - Earthshaker
I know right? He says that there was something "nefarious" going on with the votes & speculates on any other reason for them but that many of us consider it a spectacular debut & an essential album within Metal.
@@jaredlesperance6874 Absolutely captured the spirit & bound it for all of those bands who came after, including Venom themselves. By that criteria, looking at Metal in context of it's history to date, 'Welcome To Hell' should be 5 skulls with 'Killers' at 4.5 down to 'Moving Pictures' at a gracious 3.
I'm a Session Guitarist been playing for 40 years and Zakk was definitely refreshing but The Ultimate Sin was Jake E. Lee's Masterpiece in the Metal Genre . Now later with Badlands that was a more blues oriented Hard Rock Killer record !!!
I still have my MXR Distortion+ pedal I bought back in 1983. It was the pedal that gave Randy his signature sound. Didn't know how precious of a gem I was acquiring for $50 that day.
Can't believe Michael Schenker Group and UFO didn't merit a mention. Both bands released my favorite albums of their respective catalogues and rank #5 & #6 in my 1981 Top 10.
Mob Rules is better than Heaven and Hell. Sign of the Southern Cross, Falling off the Edge of the World, and Country Girl just can't be beat by any three on H&H
Absolutely. it's the apotheosis of the Dio era - dark, malevolent, pile-driving (hat tip Vinnie Appice for adding the exactly right percussive heft to the band in this era).
@@dickwhiskey8041 I'm always impressed with Mr. Martin Birch's body of work. But to produce those three classic albums all in the same year is just beyond epic.
I have always felt like those two could have been a double album. Both sound great & I think a lot of the songs would fit in well on either album. They are structured similarly. They both end with utter doom.
Great List! My two cents: 6. Riot - Fire Down Under 5. Iron Maiden - Killers 4. Def Leppard - High n Dry 3. Holocaust - The Nightcomers 2. Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love 1. Venom - Welcome To Hell
Sorry that I missed the vote! Great year for heavy music! Great job as usual Martin! 1. Killers- Iron Maiden 2. Fire of Unknown Origin- Blue Oyster Cult 3. Fair Warning- Van Halen 4. Diary of a Madman- Ozzy 5. Mob Rules- Black Sabbath
Awesome vid Martin, I agree with most of the choices, lots of my favorites were in there. Another honorable mention for me, being Canadian is Anvil's first album, Hard n Heavy, not as classic as Metal On Metal or Forged In Fire but lots of good tunes on the first album too! \m/
John Sykes band at the time ....Tygers of Pan Tang , Spellbound . Well worth a listen 👍 Def Leppard ....High n Dry . The album before they went pop . Black Sabbath ...Mob Rules ....don't need to say a word Iron Maiden ...Killers ..nuff said 🤘 Saxon ...Denim and Leather 👍
That's a smoking top 5, although I never felt that Killers was Maiden's finest hour (some amazing tracks for sure, but also some decidedly un-Maiden-like fare; at points they almost sound Southern Rock). I'm amazed VH's Fair Warning wasn't mentioned - definitely their heaviest, meanest, most accomplished and (IMO) finest platter. Always love these episodes.
I would also include April Wine ' Nature Of The Beast'. Got in early 1981, Brilliant Album and I still have it. Just great. But Tygers of Pan Tang 'Spellbound' is still my favourite Metal Album of all time..
The first 2 Tygers albums are deadly! Too bad what happened with them afterwards. A horrible example of the music industry and or record label controlling a band for a few hits.
@@nowimhigh It's not just that, on an episode of the Contrarians he argues its the best Thin Lizzy album and I remember its in his top 10 albums of the 80s in his 1980s Collector's Guide.
I love Venom's Welcome to Hell, somehow it opened the door to what would later be 'extreme metal'...but I have to go with Maiden - Killers as the best one from that year.
Rush weren't metal, dude, especially on Moving Pictures (some songs on Fly By Night, Caress Of Steel and 2112 are metal-ish) They were progressive heavy rock.
You can argue that Moving Pictures is " not really metal", but back in 1981 Rush were definitely considered a much - loved part of the heavy metal universe. Countless headbangers had Rush patches alongside the likes of Priest and Maiden on the back of their denim jackets. I saw them at Wembley in 83 and, even then, despite the controversy over their apparent change of direction with the Signals album, the crowd was still mainly made up of denim and leather- clad heavy metal fans .
Maiden's first album is the best in my books. Super fast bangers like Running Free and Prowler, just a real raw, almost punky sound, and of course it contains Phantom oc the Opera, my fav Maiden song ever!!!
My favorite Budgie record dropped in 81. Their discography holds up completely, and the first 5 are absolute gems; but Nightflight sortof paved how alot of rock, metal, and pop bands ended up sounding in the mid-80s all the way up to today. I don't think Huey Lewis would have his career in quite the same way if some people in his band didn't obviously love Nightflight's sound. It isn't their grittiest, but it's also far less commercial than it gets credit for (like all post Bando Budgie tbh.)
I love Bruce Dickinson's performances on songs like "Blood Lust" and "Bright Lights". And the album Night of the Demon by Demon is a NWOBHM classic (rise - Rise - RISE!)
Liking the longer pandemic hair Dr Popoff! What a 'killer' year for metal! I would've had Motley and Def Leppard in my top 5 of the year. I'm a fan of Venom and maybe a bit more into the Black Metal album as well
