Classic Early '80s American Metal (w/Martin Popoff & Rich Catino) 

I could listen to Martin popoff for hours . Really dig his work .

Metal Church! Always loved the self-titled album. 👍

Metal Church Metal Church ... still listen to that while driving my tractor trailer

This channel is constantly showing me how little I know about music lol. But it's given me a lot to look into!

Pete, I really have to thank you and your guests, not just for this episode, but for all of them. I cannot tell you how much new music I have discovered and bought because of your show. I actually thought myself quite widely and deeply versed in music going back to the 1960's, but there isn't a show of yours that I've watched where I haven't found something new. You are the best of what goes on, on RU-vid. Thank you!

Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road, two of metal's most underrated bands.

Twisted Sister - Under the Blade, Riot - Fire Down Under, Rods - Wild Dogs, Y&T - Eartshaker, Wild Dogs s/t

Surprised RIOT wasn't mentioned. Good episode.

Great to see Martin back!! Warlord - Deliver Us!

So glad Metal Church got some love here. Hanging in the Balance was a criminally overlooked masterpiece. Great show guys.

Even though they were Canadian, I have to say "Exciter", "Anvil", and "Razor."

Me and Rich Catino would have gotten along well as I was huge into 80’s Metal Blade bands. I still find myself listening to Fates Warning, Omen, Warlord, Flotsam and Jetsam’s Doomsday For the Deceiver, Lizzy Borden, early Trouble.

This whole episode was like an expose of my youth from 82 to 85. I knew every band bar Attacker and I lived in a small town in Australia.....I guess I had my finger on the pulse of underground American metal....I actually had Helstars demo. Which is actually better than the debut album....Again....great show.

I really missed Virgin Steele. They still released great albums in the 90‘s, when all others took a break.

Deliver Us by Warlord is so good. Every song is well written, and the singers voice is pure clean and very beautiful.

OBSESSION - what a kick ass band! Scarred For Life album I taped 3 times cause I wore them out. That tape never came out of my vehicle. LIZZY BORDEN - another killer band in 80’s and there newer stuff pretty damn good too ATTACKER - Battle at Helm’sDeep Killer debut album, top to bottom. QUEENSRYCHE - you can’t go wrong with any of those early albums. Just absolutely fantastic. ARMORED SAINT - John Bush, need I say more! Him singing with Anthrax are actually my favorite Anthrax albums , well at least 2 of them. Just finished the video and had to come back and say, hats off to Martin for the mention of METAL CHURCH!! I totally forgot about them in my picks. Great band

Riot-Fire Down Under Savatage-Sirens/Dungeons Are Calling Twisted Sister-Under The Blade

Not American-based, but Sword from Montreal and Kick Axe from Saskatchewan are two non-Britsh bands in the 80s I always liked. Canada has had some damn amazing bands, glad I got into them early!

Omen was formed in Los Angeles.

My Top 10 US Metal 1980/5: 1- Manowar - Sign Of The Hammer 2- Savatage - Sirens 3- Helstar - Burning Star 4- Lizzy Borden - Love You To Pieces 5- Riot - Restless Breed 6- Armored Saint - March Of The Saint 7- Cirith Ungol - Frost And Fire 8- Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction 9- Malice - In The Beginning 10- Y&T - Black Tiger HM: Virgin Steele - Guardian Of The Flame Warrior - Fighting For The Earth Leatherwolf - Endangered Species Hawk - Let The Metal Live Great White - s/t Odin - Don't Take No For An Answer EP

I love this channel. I've discovered so many great bands and grown a greater appreciation for things I've dismissed in the past. Thanks.

Fun video! I love the shout out to Lizzy Borden. The album “Master of Disguise” is a true masterpiece. And the title track to “Visual Lies” is one of the classiest and most well-crafted metal songs I know.

I'm not a metal fan, but I really like Manilla Road's debut which is actually a psych hard rock album.

Great show. Riot came to mind immediately when I saw the topic.

Wow!! I enjoyed listening to you guys talk about your Early Classic 80’s American Metal band picks!! Thank you Pete, Martin and Rich!!🎼🎤🎸🎵🥁

3:15 - "Hair Metal" became a thing only when MTV popularised the term in the mid-90s to ridicule 80s Hard Rock Bands so that people wouldn't see it as a legitimate form of music. Dokken is a Melodic Hard Rock/Melodic Metal band, they are not hair metal or any other dumb made-up genre.

Cool episode! Martin and Pete so need to do the album ranking of Metal Church!

On a side note I stumbled upon this channel per chance. Right up my alley very enjoyable. Thank you Pete Pardo for the effort. And now I see Martin Popoff among the ranks. Very cool, I have your one book .

Screaming in the Night - Krokus Best early 80’s power ballad Best music video ever made to date

Maybe the rods are seen as a motorhead /tank style dirty rock n roll band - but metal surely - often forgotten about as early influence on metal - malice get completely forgotten about too

Keep the popoff features comin, guy knows his stuff

The Rods Y &T Trouble Savatage Malice Icon

Anvil never got enough credit. I didn't discover them till their movie came out a few years ago. Definitely underrated.

Manilla Road,Omen,Brocas Helm,Cirith Ungol,The Rods,TKO...

Jag Panzer and Vicious Rumors put out some great early to mid 80s albums with Joey Tafolla and Vinnie Moore on guitar!

Loved this episode pete! I'd love to see a ranking or topic on Raven and Venom if possible Keep up the great work my friend

I would definitely throw Fifth Angel in there. The self-titled and 'Time Will Tell' are both masterpieces. I always felt they should have been huge! They got signed to Epic for a reason! Warlord was awesome as well.

As many commentators already mentioned, Savatage and Riot are missing, Especially Savatage, one of Pete's favorite bands. Their first three albums are an archetype of early 80's American metal.

Thanks guys Many groups mentioned that I am not familiar. I have not heard the NY group The Rods mentioned in any SOT discussions. I have always liked the Wild Dogs album from 1982.

Savatage is missing. They grew into this amazing mix later but early on just metal, minus the fight to rock debacle.

Nice to see Portland's Wild Dogs get a mention! As a Portlander who was a teenager in the early/mid 80's, I used to go see them play often. Even saw them open for Dio on his Holy Diver tour. Drummer Deen Castronovo was always the highlight of the show. He of course went on to play with Bad English, Paul Rogers, Journey and now Dead Daisies.

Cirith Ungol for sure, but am I wrong to say Trouble is always overlooked? They just never quite broke through.

Really great topic!!! Here is my list! Riot, The Rods, Manilla Road, Manowar, Savatage! Also love Cirith Ungol, Omen, Metal Church, Warlord!

Hi Guys. I think Icon’s debut is definitely in there, although at the end of the category being ‘84. And maybe the most radical change to Night of the Crime.

Great quote regarding musical history " It was still just Metal to us" is right. Before the "Hair" label was applied nobody looked down on the artists or music. Also regarding opinions on production values, obviously budget counts for a lot, and just like any other musician some producers are better than others but if the basic good material is not there nobody can polish a turd!!

Thanks Martin, Pete and Rich for this dive into American Metal. Like most of these episodes, now there is some new listening to track down. Entertaining show...thanks again!

Love that Jag Panzer album

Riot- Restless Breed TT Quick- Metal of Honor Wild Dogs- Wild Dogs The Rods- Wild Dogs Lizzy Borden- Giv'em the Axe Hades- Resisting Success Attacker- Battle at Helms Deep Black Lace- Get it While its Hot

1970s US Metal Aerosmith - Round and Round, Amboy Dukes - Prodigal Man, Montrose - Dreamer, Dust - Learning to Die, Sir Lord Baltimore - Kingdom Come, Blue Oyster Cult - 7 Screaming Diz Busters, 1980s US Metal Riot - Altar of the King, Hyksos - the Kings , Arion - Demon Lady, Demon Flight - Dead of the Night, Bitch - Saturdays, Leather Angel - We Came to Kill, Cirith Ungol - I'm Alive, Touch - Don't Know what Love Is , Manilla Road - Cage of Mirrors, Chumbi - US Metal, Van Halen - I'm On Fire, Motley Crue - Live Wire, Americade - On the Prowl , Crysis - Hallsville, Manowar - Dark Avenger, Hawaii - Angels from the Dust, Culprit - Fools, All these songs came out between 1978 and 1983 on my 1980s List. Some were a bit commercial, others devastating in their Heaviness, but all are American and recorded albums consecutive with the same time period as NWOBHM. I noticed most of the bands mentioned on this show released a little later on the scene than the ones I mentioned

here are some of my favorites, love the 80s USA era Manilla Road Helstar Medieval Steel Liege Lord Attacker Sacred Oath Slauter Xstroyes Queensryche Heir Apparent Fates Warning Jag Panzer Savage Grace Manowar Warlord Crimson Glory Agent Steel Omen Lizzy Borden Fifth Angel Cirith Ungol Sanctuary Vicious Rumors Obsession Mystic Force

@Martin Popoff,thank you for mentioning Sign Of The Hammer. Everybody talks about Hail To England and Into Glory Ride but almost no one speaks of S.O.T.H.

The fact that some of these bands didn't hit the superstardom makes them unique to me. Keep it True festival in Germany 🇩🇪 Keeping these bands alive

Manilla Road, first I ever heard of them. Thanks Pete, I like these guys! Inspired a Spotify playlist of American Metal Albums '83 to '88: Manilla Road - Crystal Logic Metal Church - s/t Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad Omen - Warning of Danger Helstar - Remnants of War Crimson Glory - s/t Trouble - Run to the Light Manilla Road - Mystification Crimson Glory - Transcendence

Martin may not be American, but his inclusion of Metal Church makes me want to grant him dual-citizenship. 😁 And, including Dokken is perfectly acceptable. They may have started looking like a hair metal band a little later in their career. They still made solid American metal. Great show guys!

I grew up in Columbia SC and WUSC (University of SC) radio station had Metal Monday night and introduced me to much of that period metal bands. Fates Warning is still one of my favorites but some other bands that came out early/mid 80s, Crimson Glory, Metal Church, Flotsam and Jetsam, Hallows Eve, Warlord (Mark Zonder on drums), Tony Macalpine’s first record. I still have many on vinyl in the garage.

Don't forget Warrior; I think they were from California. Fighting For The Earth was a stone classic.

Great show. Glad to see Martin back in the house. The depth of knowledge displayed by all three gentleman made for a very engaging listen. A must view for all fans of this site. P.S. more Martin!!!! LOL

Kenny Powell of Omen hailed from Oklahoma; I think the bassist Jody Henry and drummer Steve Wittig were from there too. Henrietta, Oklahoma as I remember reading. The original vocalist J.D. Kimball hooked up with them in LA and joined the band. J.D. was an incredible power metal vocalist. Perfect voice for Omen's brand of gritty, dungeon-deep, medievalesque, mystical, sword & sorcery themed songwriting.

37:00 Actually, the Manowar song that is based on the composition "Flight of the Bumblebee" is called "Sting of the Bumblebee" and it's an instrumental featuring an extensive bass solo.

Great Epic-sode. The 3M's-Manilla Road, Metal Church, Manowar.

The Rods! Were one of those early East Coast Metal bands!

Another terrific episode. Popoff is always on point and has a encyclopedic knowledge on rock n metal. Kudos to Catino for the nod to Helstar, a fine metal outfit hailing from Houston Texas. I never thought I would ever hear them mentioned in any show ever, anywhere. Mr. Pardo I will save my humble suggestion for the Graveyard album ranking, as I think there was some fine points made about us older heads discovering and actually listening to new music. Up the Irons !!

Tremendous show! Between you 3 guys & the listeners tons of great choices. I’ll throw one ☝️ out there. 1984 GRIFFIN / THE FLIGHT OF THE GRIFFIN.

Malice is another great one! Armored Saint of course! Does Savatage count?

Obsession - Methods of Madness

THE RODS!

Pete, this episode is bringing back scores of childhood and adolescent memories for me. Thanks for this one. Have you guys ever done an episode on the old metal magazines of this era? Metal Mania (not metal Maniacs--different title entirely), Aardschok America, Metal Rendezvous, RIP, Creem Metal, (including their Power Metal specials and also issues that were simply collections of fan letters, which were PRICELESS funny reading), Faces, (I think Faces put out some thrash/speed special issues), Kerrang, Circus, Hit Parader, Rock Fever and then along with that, all the various fanzines that came and went. When I was really delving into the underground as a kid circa 1985-1986, mags like Metal Mania and Aardschock opened up entire new worlds for me. Every local stationery and drugstore had metal mags on the racks. I still have some of my old ones up in the attic, though others sadly fell apart over the years! Something to think about if you've never addressed it before. Also, anyone of a certain age from the tri-state area will most likely fondly recall the U-68 Power Hour on UHF Channel 68!!! An early Merry Christmas to you and all of yours. Safe, healthy and happy. \m/ \m/

Lizzy Borden was phenomenal...✌

Europe has some great mid 80s bands like 220v, Oz, Heavy Load, Torch.. etc.. Martin turned me on to them with his books. Could be an idea for future show?

Solid episode. Really enjoyed it. Will watch it again at some point. 👍

Amazing videos once again fellas thank you so much ! I was surprised that I didn’t hear a word about Virgin Steele. I think they would have fitted nicely somewhere here, since they are probably among the more famous American “not-exactly heavy but not quite power but not quite progressive metal either” bands, compared to Omen or Manilla Road. But I am pleasantly surprised that Warlord got mentioned honorably Keep making cool videos and stay safe! Cheers to all

Great show. This is one of the best you guys have ever done.

Savatage Armored Saint Queensryche Manowar Overkill Fates Warning Riot Metal Church Omen Flotsam and Jetsam

Never heard Omen and Attacker before so cudos to Rich. I'd like to add Savatage, Riot, Virgin Steele, Vicious Rumours, Warlord, Liege Lord, Leather Nunn and Canadian bands Sword and Exciter.

I stopped at '83 cuz that's where they left off for the NWOBHM. (alphabetically): 1. Manowar 2. Queensryche 3. Riot (they included Motorhead, so fair play) 4. Savatage 5. Van Halen (they included Gillan so VH is fair play)

I love this episode, most of these bands are my heroes.

Savatage and Riot, definitely and Icon Warrior Vicious Rumors Obsession Malice Vyper ("Prepared to strike") Virgin Steele Impelliteri

Good stuff. Love the channel and hearing you guys talk about music.

Abattoir, Omen, Thrust, Helstar...love them hungry underdogs!

Great to hear Martin's love for Metal Church. I enjoyed The Dark and Blessing In Disguise back in the day, but then I dropped off until the 2 most recent albums, which are great. Recently been catching up with rest of their discography and realised how underrated they are. Hoping for an album ranking show soon.

Lizzy Borden - Menace to Society & Visual eyes Ratt - Out of the Cellar & Invasion of your privacy Malice - License to Kill TT Quick - Metal of honor ....

the rods had some pretty cool albums,first one and wild dogs

Attacker is one of the most obscure things I listen to, I wish they'd had more stuff come out in their earlier time. Loved their first two albums.

I love this episode. I’ve already watched three times. Great job guys!

Very cool of you to bring up Jag Panzer, Rich. But it sounded like you didn’t know about their later carreer? Yes they disbanded in 88, but re-emerged in 94. They’ve released a bunch of really good albums since then, you should really check out albums like The Fourth Judgement, The Age og Mastery, Thane to the Throne, Mechanized Warfare, Casting Stones and The Scourge of Light. Excellent band! I saw them live on the Mechanized Warfare tour, and they were amazing. Harry «The Tyrant» Conklin was singing in a band called Satan’s Host in the years when Jag Panzer was on ice, by the way.

Why did Martin Popoff say 'Lars Ulrich created Hair Metal'? Does anybody know the rationale behind that? Putting aside the caricaturization of 80s Hard Rock/Glam bands as 'hair bands' (as if other metal bands looked like marine recruits), I don't see the connection. If we are talking about early 80s LA Hard Rock scene, Van Halen and Quiet Riot created that scene in the late 70s.

Very great show, guys! I have all the band you’re talking about here in my collection with the exception of Attacker, which I never really got into. I used to have a few albums by them, but whatever. Cool that you mention bands like Lizzy Borden, Jag Panzer, Omen, Manilla Road, Malice etc. And I was afraid you were forgetting Vicious Rumors, but you mentioned them right at the end. But how about those early Savatage albums? And also, no band says «American NWOBHM» more than Riot, in my opinion 🙂 But as always, great show! Love your discussions. Keep up the good work!

Awesome segment thank you Pete! 👍🏼👍🏼

IMO the best exemplification of what 80s US metal is all about is Nasty Savage. They're Power, they're Prog, they're Speed, and they're Thrash all at the same time. You can say they were sort of Coroner before Coroner, and you can hear a great deal of their influence on the later Florida Death Metal Scene.

Great show guys!

Attacker rips it up!! Great band. They're still going strong. Bobby Lucas is singing now. I remember about 1987 hearing Attacker interviewed on 93.5 WRTN Midnite Metal out of New Rochelle, NY.

Awesome lists gentlemen!!! I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Shelton in Nov 17’ the show was incredible and Mark was a cool guy. The metal world truly has lost a musical genius. My top 10 list in no particular order. 1. Jag Panzer 2. Cirith Ungol 3. Manilla Road 4. Omen 5. Helstar 6. Crimson Glory 7. Malice 8. Fates Warning 9. Attacker 10. Leatherwolf

I missed the boat on Cirith Ungol in the 80s,but yeah good band.

Pete your choices are awesome And Virgin Steele please

Martin, you’re killing me man. My copy of Hail to England is10,000 miles away. Love that album, and would absolutely love to be spinning it right now. Anyone that can listen to Bridge of Death and not get it is literally dead to me!!😂

Thanks for talking about Lizzy and Fates!

Exceptional early 80’s metal/HR songs- Run For Your Life (Riot) Stoking Up The Fires Of Hell (Quartz) Stand Up And Shout (Dio) Can’t Live Without You (Scorpions) Now Your Ships Are Burned (Yngwie Malmsteen) Easy Livin’ (Fastway) Brain Shake (AC/DC) You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll (Twisted Sister) Death Alley Driver (Rainbow) Black Metal (Venom) Back At The Funny Farm (Motörhead) Don’t Need Your Money (Raven) Princess Of The Night (Saxon) Flash Rockin’ Man (Accept) Under The Gun (Deep Purple) Over The Mountain (Ozzy Osbourne) Black Blade (Blue Oyster Cult) Wrathchild (Iron Maiden) Forearm Smash (Budgie) Metal Health (Quiet Riot) Mean Street (Van Halen) Spirit Of Radio (Rush) Child Of Babylon (Whitesnake) Four Horsemen (Metallica) Riding With The Angels (Samson) School Daze (W.A.S.P.) Bite The Bullet (Gillan) We Can’t Be Beaten (Rose Tattoo) Armed & Ready (MSG) Into Crypts of Rays (Celtic Frost) Forever (Y&T) Nuns Have No Fun (Mercyful Fate) Mob Rules (Black Sabbath) Angel Witch (Angel Witch) Headhunter (Krokus) Photograph (Def Leppard) Metal Thrashing Mad (Anthrax) I Love It Loud (KISS) Wango Tango (Ted Nugent) Live Wire (Motley Crüe) Solar Angels (Judas Priest)

This is an awesome video!! I love the early 80's American Heavy Metal bands big time. Bands like Fates Warning, Metal Church, Armored Saint, Queensryche, Savatage, Riot, Dokken, Twisted Sister, Obsession, Crimson Glory, Warrior, Lizzy Borden, Great White, Sanctuary, and many others have amazing albums in the beginning of their careers. Some of them ended up being classified as Hair Metal, but they were real Heavy Metal in the beginning. In the 90's Iced Earth is the greatest American Heavy Metal band in my opinion. All of their albums are MASTERPIECES to me. Great topic!!

I don't know why but I just gives me such delight and euphoria listening to the production on the early Cirith Ungol albums. The bass guitar is almost as loud if not just as loud as the guitar parts and it works really well since Vujea is such a phenomenal bass guitarist.

Omen is from L.A...Great sight about early American 80s metal bands; Jag Panzer great choice. Beside they started between 60' and 70's, Pentagram (85) could be a great example and maybe Hellion (83)