thehistoryofthrashpart3

 



PART III.
THE EARLY EIGHTIES (1980-1982)

As the eighties began, heavy music shifted into a new era. The blues‑rooted hard rock of the seventies gave way to a sharper, louder, and faster sound. Heavy metal and its turbocharged cousin, speed metal, surged across the airwaves and quickly became more popular than ever before. For the first time, metal wasn’t just a rebellious underground movement. It was a dominant cultural force.

THE NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL

By 1980, punk’s initial shock had begun to fade, and a new musical uprising took shape across the United Kingdom. Young bands embraced a DIY attitude, pressing their own singles, forming independent labels, and playing anywhere that would have them. At the same time, the old titans Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin had disbanded and Black Sabbath fought an uphill battle after Ozzy was fired from the band. So there was a gap to fill for new and upcoming bands.

Motörhead and Judas Priest had already laid much of the groundwork, but they stood slightly outside the movement, having established themselves before the wave truly hit. When the New Wave of British Heavy Metal erupted around 1979, it brought with it a new identity: raw guitars, fantasy and horror themes, street‑level realism, and a visual style built on leather, denim, studs, spandex, and bullet belts. This new aesthetic, both musical and visual, came roaring out of England and reshaped the entire genre.

The movement produced a flood of bands that would define the era. Groups like Diamond Head, Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Holocaust, Jaguar, Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Blitzkrieg, Samson, Witchfinder General, Cloven Hoof, Satan, Venom, Tank, Girlschool, and Raven all helped build what became known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Each band brought its own twist. Some melodic, some dark and occult, some fast and aggressive others doomy, but together they created a scene that felt fresh, hungry, and unstoppable.

The NWOBHM era lasted from roughly 1979 to 1985, and its influence was enormous. Every member of the future Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax drew heavily from these British bands, borrowing their speed, their attitude, and their sense of possibility. Without NWOBHM, the thrash explosion of the mid‑eighties simply wouldn’t have happened.

IRON MAIDEN
Iron Maiden was a band born out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era. In the early eighties Iron Maiden arose to stardom. First with Paul Di'Anno as their vocalist on the first two records: Iron Maiden (1980) and Killers (1981). Then they recruited the Samson vocalist Bruce 'Bruce Bruce' Dickinson and released The Number of the Beast in 1982 which was an astronomical success. The two-fingered picking by Steve Harris  combined with the twin guitar leads and Bruce's air raid siren screams became the standard in heavy metal and a huge inspiration for the thrash bands to come.

Iron Maiden - Killers (1981)

SAXON

In 1980 Saxon rose from the British club circuit to become one of the defining forces of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Their real breakthrough arrived in 1980 with Wheels of Steel (1980) and Strong Arm of the Law (1980), two albums released only months apart. Both records captured the raw, street‑level energy of the NWOBHM scene and established Saxon’s signature mix of grit, speed, and working‑class attitude. The momentum continued with Denim and Leather (1981), an album that didn’t just reflect the metal culture of the time but helped define it. Its title track became an anthem for the entire movement, while faster songs like "Princess of the Night" showed how naturally Saxon could shift into high‑gear metal without losing melody or identity. By 1982, Saxon had become one of the most respected and influential bands in the British scene, inspiring countless younger groups across Europe and the United States.

VENOM

Venom, born out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era was as influental as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest or any of the other big names in metal music. People didn't know what to make of the evil Newcastle band. Some thought of it as a joke, others as a disgrace but Venom touched the hearts of many metal fans all over the world. Especially their first two albums was way ahead of it's time. You can't deny the influence Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982) had on the metal world and the birth of extreme metal. Without Venom Thrash, Black and Death metal would look and sound very different if it would exist at all.

Venom - Black Metal (1982)

Heavy Metal didn't just exist in England, by the early eighties it became a world wide phenomenon. 

ANVIL

Anvil album debuted in 1981 with the album Hard 'n' Heavy. Which was a quite ordinary heavy metal album for the time. But the following year they released Metal on Metal (1982). Which was a highly influential album with tracks like Metal on Metal, Mothra, Scenery and 666. 666 might very well be the very first pure thrash metal song ever written. The same can be said about the instrumental March of the crabs. Anvil's charismatic vocalist Lips said that he thought the album were the blue print for the upcoming thrash wave. He thought of 666 as the blueprint for early Slayer and March of the Crabs as the blueprint for Metallica's sound.

RIOT

New York based Riot were formed by Mark Reale (R.I.P.) in 1975 and they released five albums between 1977 and 1983 and their Fire Down Under from 1981 is generally considered to be their most influential. After a stint with Capitol Records Riot was signed by the major label Elektra even if people said they were too heavy to be on a commercial label but things worked out well and later Elektra dared to sign an even heavier band when they signed Metallica a few years later. Megadeth, Overkill and Anthrax members has cited Riot as a huge influence. They toured with AC/DC and Sammy Hagar but despite their influence they never made it as big as some of the other bands of this era. 

MERCYFUL FATE

If Venom invented extreme metal Mercyful Fate took it another step in a more insane direction. Mercyful Fate was also a highly influental band. They were led by the charismatic King Diamond who had an extreme falsetto. The brilliant riffs by guitar gods Hank Sherman and Michael Denner made Mercyful Fate more than just a band with a satanic gimmick. Their sound was like 70's Priest on steroids. Mercyful Fate had both the image and the skills to shock the world. Their satanic ways was highly controversial and influential. Their early material, the Mercyful Fate EP (1982) and the upcoming full-lengths Melissa (1983) and Don't Break the Oath (1984) solidified the bands status and Mercyful Fate were the most extreme metal band in the world by 1982

OZZY OSBOURNE

Ozzy was fired from Black Sabbath on the 27th April of 1979 for alcohol and drug abuse. After leaving Ozzy signed a deal with Don Arden's Jet Records. Initially he wanted Ozzy to rejoin Black Sabbath but that seemed impossible. At the same time Sharon came into the picture trying to convince Ozzy to start a supergroup with guitarist Gary Moore. But instead Ozzy ended up starting a band called Blizzard of Ozz, which would later become the name of Ozzy's first solo record, which was released in 1980. The followup Diary of a Madman from 1982 was also a tremendous success. At the time Ozzy Osbourne was the world's biggest rock star and an influential figure to most heavy metal kids of the eighties. But then Ozzy's guitarist Randy Rhoads was killed in a plane accident in 1982. 

METAL ALL OVER THE WORLD

Metal was not only a English thing, it spread across the world but it was definitely the NWOBHM-bands that had the world's focus. All over the world, places like United States, Scandinavia, France, Germany had vibrant metal scenes. So heavy metal was spread all over the world even to more exotic places like the South America, Australia and Japan. It was expensive and hard to get a record deal for a full album so  7" singles and tape trading was often a way for heavy metal bands to reach out across the borders of their nations.

SPEED METAL

The Speed Metal tag is a wide genre definition. Bands like Accept, Exciter, Raven, Anvil and Venom has all been labeled as Speed Metal bands. Speed Metal was the genre that bridged heavy metal and thrash metal. Speed Metal was often described as faster than heavy metal and less abrasive and rhythmic than thrash metal.

GERMAN METAL

Germany had a solid metal and hard rock scene in the early eighties. Bands like Faithful Breath, Michael Schenker Group (Mainly British), Mad Max, Bullet, Gravestone, Trance, Sinner and Accept were also beginning to surface, each contributing to the country’s growing heavy metal identity before the heavier and more melodic power metal scene would hit the nation towards the mid to late eighties.

Even the Scorpions, though already established, remained an important part of the national hard‑rock landscape during these years, With records like Animal Magnetism (1980) and Blackout (1982)

ACCEPT

But it was Accept who truly took the torch from Scorpions as the leading heavy metal act for fans of the harder, faster side of the genre. 1980's I'm a Rebel, 1981'a Breaker but their breakthrough moment came with "Fast as a Shark" from Restless and Wild (1982), a track often cited as one of the first speed or proto‑thrash metal songs ever recorded. Its intensity and velocity set a new standard for what heavy metal could sound like, even if it didn’t become as commercially iconic as "Balls to the Wall" from the following album.

Accept - Breaker (1981)

METAL AND THE OCCULT

Venom laid the groundwork with the releases of Welcome to Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982). But they were not the only NWOBHM band to experiment with the occult. Witchfynde's debut album Give 'Em Hell and Angel Witch's self-titled album from 1980, both had occult themes.

Witchfinder General's Friends of Hell from 1982 also had some occult undertones. Another band that pushed the limits but was quite ignored back in the days was Nottingham's Hell. They recorded a bunch of demotapes and one single before disbanding in 1987.

Another NWOBHM band worth mentioning is Satan, even if their music was straight up heavy metal, they had a band name that often lumped them in with the satanic bands. It was definitely Venom who pushed the boundaries when it came to extreme metal with their first two albums. Followed by the occult Danish metal band Mercyful Fate and their early works.

We also had the female fronted German thrash metal band Holy Moses releasing some gritty, occult and noisy demo tapes around this time. 

BAY AREA METAL

In around the Bay Area of San Francisco where thrash metal was about to be born local bands like Y&T, Anvil Chorus, Trauma and Blind Illusion ruled the club scene.

We also had Metal Church previously known as Shrapnel. They started out in San Francisco before leaving for Aberdeen in 1981. Metal Church released a couple of demo tapes that could be labeled as some sort of proto-thrash (Red Skies, Hitman & Four Hymns demo)

In early 1983 Metallica Metallica moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and so did the punk metallers in D.R.I.. Lots of influential metal bands also gigged in and around the Bay Area at the time like Iron Maiden and Saxon. Even if thrash metal had not yet taken it's steady grip on the Bay, there were still quite a vibrant scene for heavy metal in San Francisco at the time.

MONSTERS OF ROCK

Monsters of Rock in the early years wasn’t yet the giant institution it later became, It was raw, loud, and still figuring out what it wanted to be. In 1980, the first edition felt like a test run that accidentally captured a cultural shift. Rainbow headlined, Judas Priest were peaking, Saxon were exploding out of the NWOBHM, and the crowd realized that a pure heavy‑rock festival could actually work. Donington instantly became the meeting point for the new metal generation.

By 1981 the whole thing had grown teeth. AC/DC arrived in full Back in Black dominance, turning the festival into a national event. Whitesnake, Blue Öyster Cult, and Slade filled out a lineup that showed how wide the hard‑rock world had become. The audience was bigger, wilder, and clearly ready for this to become a tradition.

Then came 1982, the year the festival truly ignited. Status Quo headlined, but the real electricity came from the undercard. Saxon returned as conquering heroes, Gillan brought the Deep Purple legacy back to the stage, and Iron Maiden, fresh off The Number of the Beast, delivered the set that made everyone understand they were about to take over the world. Those first three years captured heavy metal right as it was transforming from a movement into a global force, and Donington became the place where that transformation was witnessed in real time.

HARDCORE

Punk also turned extreme in the early eighties. From the mainstream sounds of the Ramones, The Clash, Blondie & Sex Pistols to the abusive ways of Black Flag, Discharge and Suicidal Tendencies. Other important hardcore and punk bands of the early eighties are Bad Religion, The Germs, U.K. Subs, T.S.O.L., D.R.I., Verbal Abuse, Minor Threat, Anti-Nowhere League, The Exploited, Bad Brains and Charged GBH amongst others. Sepultura, Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer were all influenced by hardcore bands. Parts of the hardcore scene would later merge with thrash and create the crossover genre.

FAST AND HEAVY SONGS FROM THE ERA: 1980-1982
(Spotify-Playlist)

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