HEAVY METAL'S HALL OF FAME A THROUGH Z, CONCEPTUALLY

HEAVY METAL'S HALL OF FAME A THROUGH Z, CONCEPTUALLY

Here we go, A through Z, running the gamut of the Heavy Metal Hall of Fame. While we’re sure you may not agree with every one of our assessments, we hope we at least touched bases with the important artists in the genre. As a bonus we’ve included limited discographies of each artist. Don’t expect a tremendous amount of consistency here, as record companies have a notorious habit of cutting out and reissuing albums indiscriminately. Furthermore, some truly “classic" HM albums simply haven’t been in print for years. They’re worth looking for. —The Editors.

All entries by Billy Altman, Michael Davis, Dave DiMartino, Bill Holdship, Rick Johnson, Iman Lababedi, Richard Riegel and Susan Whitall unless otherwise noted.

AC/DC: (see page 26) High Voltage; Let There Be Rock; Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap; Powerage; If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It; Highway To Hell; Back In Black; For Those About To Rock, We Salute You. (All on Atlantic)

AEROSMITH: (see page 24) Aerosmith: Get Your Wings; Toys In The Attic; Rocks; Draw The Line; Live Bootleg; Night In The Ruts; Rock In A Hard Place (All on Columbia)

AMON DUUL: Not referring to Amon Duul II here, who were great for entirely different reasons, but who can deny the HM clang of this band’s first-and-only American album? These German hippies wrought an album . as metallic as, oh, say two garbage cans banging each other—for 40 minutes or so! D.D.

Amon Duul (Prophesy)

APRIL WINE: These Canucks contributed some folks to ex-Wacker Bob Segarini’s Dudes on Columbia, but that has to be their only claim to fame— ’cause aside from a bald drummer the only thing these guys have going for ’em is a “sizeable audience" in Flint, Michigan. Possibly the worst band ever from Canada. D.D.

Whole World’s Goin' Crazy (London); Stand Back (Atco); First Glance (Capitol); Harder. ..Faster (Capitol); Nature Of The Beast (Capitol); Power Play (Capitol)

ARMAGEDDON: Only one LP by these guys ever made it. Ex-Yardbird Keith Relf put this group together with former Steamhammer/Rod Stewart guitarist Martin Pugh before eventually having his plug pulled; as it is, it’s excellent HM and the last anyone’s seen of Pugh for years. Good stuff. Armageddon (A&M) D.D.

BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE: Though they looked like the kind of guys you’d hate to meet in a dark alley, or even a well-lit one (I mean, how many musicians are there who can bench press their equipment?), the thankfully benevolent tag team of former Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman and bass player Fred Turner scientifically maneuvered the band's “Ima lumberjack and I’m OK" work ethic rock up to championship status not only in their native Great White North homeland but down in the Lower Forty Eight as well. It seems pretty commonplace now. but back in the early and mid 70s, the pop metal combination headlock hold that BTO threw on songs like “Takin’ Care Of Business," "Gimme Your Money Please," and "Roll On Down The Flighway" seemed fairly inventive. And looking back on other things more recently born of Molsonland, it was, more likely, fairly amazin’. B.A.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive; 11; Not Fragile; Four Wheel Drive; Head On; Freeways (All on Mercury)

BAD COMPANY: (see page 40) Bad Company; Straight Shooter; Run With The Pack; Burning Sky; Desolation Angels; Rough Diamonds (All on Swan Song)

BAKER-GURVITZ ARMY: In which former Cream drumbo Ginger Baker attempts to make up for Blind Faith and his Air Force by trying to sound like Cream again. Actually not too bad—guitarist Adrian Gurvitz, formerly of Gun, Three Man Army and the Buddy Miles Band, wrote and played respectably, and the band also served as haven for vocalist Snips when he left the very hot Sharks. A little too little and a lot too late. D.D. The Baker-Gurvitz Army (Janus); Elysian Encounter (Atco); Hearts On Fire (Atco)

JEFF BECK: (see page 49) Truth; Beck-Ola; Rough & Ready; Jeff Beck Group; Beck, Bogert & Appice; Blow By Blow; Wired; Live; There And Back (All on Epic)

BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY: I never was able to handle Janis Joplin on any serious level, but there’s no denying that the boys in the band knew metal well. Mainstream LP and Cheap Thrills were just dandy for that reason (I used to like “Oh, Sweet Mary” best because she only sang backing vocals), and the following Joplinless sets were equally nifty if you could tolerate Nick Gravenites and thought Kathy McDonald was a better Joplin than Janis. D.D.

Big Brother & The Holding Company (Mainstream/reissued Columbia); Cheap Thrills: Be A Brother; How Hard It Is (All on Columbia)

BLACKFOOT: If you’re going to accept “Southern Rock” as anything, let alone actual HM, these guys are about the best proponents of the genre. Lots of Albums. And babies. D.D.

Fly in' High (Epic); No Reservations (Island); Strikes (Atco); Tom Cattin’ (Atco); Marauder (Atco)

BLACK OAK ARKANSAS: Black Oak Arkansas don’t entirely belong to the heavy metal school of rock, but none of the other styles’ll have these outre muthas, so metal it is. Black Oak Arkansas were six country-boy “mutants,” who rose from the Ozark murk of their namesake hometown to national rock prominence for a year or two in the early ’70s, thanks to their dynamic live show, and to their true-believers’ psychedelic fervor, every bit as insistently earnest as Eric Burdon’s. Lead “vocalist” Jim Dandy Mangrum, a kind of hick prototype of David Lee Roth, what with his long blond tresses and his bare-all-the-way-down-to-the-pubic-bush chest, dished out his hippie-fundamentalist exhortations in a voice suggesting a hungover Denver Pyle, choked to a sputter with a large-size pack of Red Man chewing tobacco jammed down his throat. He may have been garbled and half-baked, but Jim Dandy was always unbearably sincere in the bargain. B.O.A. included a multi-guitared front line much like Lynyrd Skynyrd's, and featured a sonic attack which wavered between country corn and metal thrum, but which never lost its boogie kineticism. B.O.A. were also prolific songwriters, and issued albums full of new material every six months or so. Some of these, especially the Tom Dowd-produced High On The Hog and Street Party, make bizarcely interesting listening, even today. Black Oak Arkansas as we know it disappeared by 1976, as all the original mutants but Jim Dandy had quit, and he endured the final mutation of the band into the slicker, more “mature” “Black Oak,” just about the time nobody cared any more. But as these footnote-to-an-era bands go, I’ll swap you 10 Nazareths for one Black Oak Arkansas. Any day. R.R.

Black Oak Arkansas: Keep The Faith; If An Angel; Raunch And Roll Live; High On The Hog; Street Party; Ain’t Life Grand; X-Rated (MCA); Live Mutha; Balls Of Fire (MCA); 10 Year Overnight Success (MCA) (All on Atlantic unless otherwise noted)

BLACK PEARL: The only claim to fame these scumjackets ever had was a raving, probably drug-induced story about them by Lester Bangs in some fanzine many years ago. He loved lead singer B.B. Fieldings for his special brand of vocal obnoxiousness. Kind of a cross between Jim Dandy calling three busy telephone exchanges and the gravelly sound of enslaved Haitians sullenly scraping bat marks off an asbestos ceiling. No one except LB himself ever liked these guys, despite the on-and-off collectibility of their two horrid albums. Forget ’em! R.J.

Black Pearl (Atlantic); Black Pearl Live (Prophesy)

BLACK SABBATH: (see page 58) Black Sabbath; Paranoid; Master Of Reality; Black Sabbath 4; Sabbath Bloody Sabbath; Sabotage; We Sold Our Soul For Rock ’n’ Roll; Technical Ecstacy; Never Say Die; Heaven & Hell; Mob Rules (All on Warner Bros.)

BLODWYN PIG: Great band featuring former Jethro Tull guitarist Mick Abrahams. HMish with an actual saxophonist, the Pig checked in with two hot-stuff sets before Abrahams left to form his own band. A&M just reissued Ahead Rings Out, and it’s great. D.D.

Ahead Rings Out; Getting To This (Both on A&M)

BLOODROCK: Who could forget the foremost perpetrators of screaming dog-dribble in the entire early ’70s, Bloodrock? They specialized in, well...blood rock. What else can you call their crowning achievement, “D.O.A.,” a warm, touching account of a fatal accident victim’s thoughts during his last ambulance ride? What little originality they were capable of was used up by their third LP and they’re now remembered only as the source of severe second-degree burns in college dormitory rugs nationwide. R.J.

Bloodrock; Bloodrock 2; Bloodrock 3; Bloodrock Live; Whirlwind Tongues (All on Capitol)

BLUE CHEER: Up until Vincebus Eruptum—the part-of-the-problemor-part-of-the-solution landmark power trio metal album—I don’t think anyone would have used the words kill, maim, detonate, puncture, eviscerate, exhume, plod, gnaw, thwack, unnnh or whoosh in describing a work of pop music. So, guys, wherever you are, this thud’s for you; you made a lot of us who saw you perform live way back when what we are today—semi-deaf. B.A.

Vincebus Eruptum, Inside/Outside; New! Improved! Blue Cheer; Blue Cheer: The Original Human Being; Oh Pleasant Hope! (All on Phillips) BLUE OYSTER CULT: (see page 56) Blue Oyster Cult; Tyranny And Mutation;Secret Treaties; On Your Feet Or On Your Knees; Agents Of Fortune; Spectres; Some Enchanted Evening; Mirrors; Cultasaurus Erectus; Fire Of Unknown Origin; Extraterrestrial Live (All on Columbia)

BOSTON: Started life as art-rockers, but with their highly polished second album Don’t Look Back, began mining the hard/soft rock banalities that have been usurped by the likes of REO Speedwagon, into a multi-million dollar career. Their first album was their big hit. I.L.

Boston; Don’t Look Back (Both on Epic)

BUDGIE: A cult HM trio, sort of, these guys churned out the albums like nobody’s business for the last decade or so. All were “respectable” but not a whole lot of anything else. Don’t know if they’re still around, but they probably should be. Parakeets look great on album covers... D.D.

Bandolier; If I Were Britannia, I’d Waive The Rules; Impeckable; In For The Kill (MCA) (All on A&M unless otherwise noted)

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THE ERIC BURDON BAND: Here because of their two Capitol albums. The first. Sun Secrets, was an all-out rave-up of some Animal classics (“It’s My Life,” “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”) and yet another Burdonized “Ring Of Fire.” Second LP was titled Stop, shaped like a traffic sign, and simply wasn’t as good. Guitarist Aalon Butler put out an interesting solo set (Cream City) on Arista, but for heavy metal screech, Sun Secrets and its Excess/Success formula can’t be beat. D.D.

Sun Secrets; Stop (Both on Capitol)

CACTUS: Following the demise of the Vanilla Fudge, plans to form a band with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart failed, so Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice assembled this band with two veterans of the Michigan scene, Rusty Day (formerly of the Amboy Dukes) and Jim McCarty (former of Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels and currently with the Rockets). Typical heavy metal of the time—slow and plodding—but.it probably gave Appice a chance to maintain his groupie action (mudshark anyone?). Later members included Duane Hitchings on keyboards and former Blues Image/Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera. The two founders left in ’72 to form Beck, Bogart & Appice with Jeff Beck. A new group, featuring none of the original members, tried to cash in by calling itself the New Cactus Band. Needless to say, it failed miserably. B.H.

Cactus; One Way...Or Another; Restrictions; Ot V Sweaty (All on Atco)

CANNED HEAT: Certainly a sizeable portion of the tremors that created metal in the first place were set off some blue-hued fire down below boogie, which is where these West Coast late ’60s purists fit in. During Canned Heat’s roll for the roses, two pretty fair guitarists—Henry Vestine and Harvey Cristo Redemptor Mandel— hung their hooks out to dry behind the Big Bear growls of Bob Hite and the hep purrs of A1 Wilson. When these guys titled a song “Endless Boogie,” they weren’t foolin’ around, that’s for sure—you could time ’em with a calendar. B.A.

Canned Heat; Boogie With Canned Heat; Livin’ The Blues; Hallelujah; Future Blues; Canned Heat Live In Europe; Historical Figures & Ancient Heads; New Age; One More River To Cross (All on Liberty)

CHEAP TRICK: I always felt uncomfortable with Cheap Trick’s ugly/ handsome partnership. Maybe because I know which I resemble. But I’ve always preferred pop music to rock, which is why I can give in to Cheap Trick’s propensity for the hook. And mark my words, they’d still be riding to the top of the charts if a royal battle with Epic Records hadn’t curtailed their recording. I.L.

Cheap Trick; In Color; Dream Police; At Budokan; Heaven Tonight; Found All The Parts; All Shook Up; One On One (All on Epic)

ALICE COOPER: (see page 23) Pretties For You (Straight); Easy Action (Straight); Love It To Death; Killer; School’s Out; Billion Dollar Babies; Muscle Of Love; Welcome To My Nightmare (Atlantic); Alice Cooper Goes To Hell; Lace & Whiskey; Flush The Fashion; Special Forces; Zipper Catches Skin (All on Warner Bros, unless otherwise noted)

CREAM: (see page 39) Fresh Cream; Disraeli Gears; Wheels Of Fire; Goodbye; Live Cream; Live Cream, Vol. 2 (Cream’s LFs were originally issued on Atco. Most have been reissued by RSO)

DEEP PURPLE: (see page 37) Shades Of Deep Purple (Tetragramaton); Book Of Taliesyn (Tetragramaton); Deep Purple (Tetragramaton); Deep Purple And The Royal Philharmonic; In Rock; Fireball; Machine Head; Purple Passages; Who Do We Think We Are?; Made In Japan; Bum; Stormbringer; Come Taste The Band; Made In Europe (All on Warner Bros, unless otherwise noted)

DEF LEPPARD: During Punk’s Indian summer, English record companies worried whether hard rock’s musical stagnation would lose out big, so for a blink of the eye there was New Heavy Metal. For Def Leppard it meant the band members were around 17 years old, the sexism relatively covert, and the songs seldom exceeded five minutes. It didn’t mean any real change. LL.

Def Leppard; On Through The Night; High & Dry (Both on Mercury)

DIAMOND REO: In Lansing, Michigan, they once closed down a Diamond REO plant. That fact is more interesting than this band. D.D. Dirty Diamond (Kama Sutra)

DUST: Figurative spearhead of the famous Upper New York State Heavy Metal Revival of the early ’70s, Dust was another keee-blammo band L. Bangs hyped into some measure of audibility. All-star cast: Marc Bell (Now Marky Ramone!), Kenny Aaronson (producer and Derringer bod) and Richie Wise (another prod, ho hum). The difference from Black Pearl is that Dust’s hot stuff. Back in the good ol’ days (before they changed the water) I just loved to get drunker than cell sap, play “Chasin’ Ladies” full blast 80 or 90 times and then Hit The Bars properly psyched. This band is not to be confused with the awful Warm Dust and while we’re at it, the real guys’ second LP sucks to death forever. R.J.

Dust; Hard Attack (Both on Kama Sutra)

EARTHQUAKE: Sort of a combination of the joys of pop and HM, this band had great intentions but a slightly limited vocabulary. First two A&M albums are the best. D.D.

Earthquake (A&M); Why Don't You Try Me? (A&M); Rockin’ The World; 8.5 On The Richter Scale; Leveled; Two Years In A Padded Cell (All on Beserkley unless otherwise noted)

ELF: Spawning ground of the eternally second-best Ronnie James Dio, this band was (and remains even today) entirely repulsive. D.D.

Elf (Epic); L A. 59 (Pride)

FOCUS: Aside from making more spinoff albums than anyone ever thought possible and giving P. J. Proby a job. these Dutchboys will go down in HM history for Jan Akkerman’s incredible guitar frenzy on “Hocus Pocus” and not a whole lot more. D.D.

In And Out Of Focus; Moving Wanes; Focus III; Focus Live At The Rainbow; Hamburger Concerto (Atco); Mother Focus (Atco); Focus Con Proby (Harvest) (All on Sire unless otherwise noted)

FOGHAT: Bluesy boogie with ex members of Savoy Brown, who’ve been a Yank fave since 72. I didn’t like Savoy Brown, can’t stand Foghorn— whose latest abomination has been making my life a misery for the past two weeks. I.L.

Foghat; Rock & Roll; Energized; Rock And Roll Outlaws; Fool For The City, Night Shift; Boogie Motel; Foghat Live: Stage Blue; Tight Shoes; Girls To Chat & Boys To Dance (All on Bearsville) PouiMotk.n/PhotoReserve

FOREIGNER: Formed in early 76 by guitarist Mick Jones (ex-Spooky Tooth) and keyboardist/saxophonist/guitarist Ian McDonald (ex-King Crimson), the band was initially a poor clone of Bad Company, augmented perfectly by Lou Gramm’s pseudo-Paul Rodgers/Robert Plant vocal and physical poses. (Ironically, Loverboy would clone the clones several years later!) Condemned by critics from the onset, the band’s records—both LPs and singles—have consistently gone to the top of the American charts nonetheless. McDonald was fired from the band following their third LP, Head Games (their “worst” seller), and they went slightly more “artsy” on 4, employing Thomas Dolby to add synthesizers and Motown legend Junior Walker to play sax on the hit single “Urgent.” Some critics called it an improvement, but it still sounds bland to these ears. As Pete Townshend once said of this band: “If you sit down and talk to these guys, they’re not assholes, they’re good people. I suppose what’s lacking is the depth.” B.H. Foreigner; Double Vision; Head Games; 4; Records (All on Atlantic) FORTNOX: Stupidly named but more than competent three piece produce reasonably bite-sized thrash ’n’ swarm. Publicity threatening melodies, intelligible lyrics and “not mindless clang without end” turned out to be untrue, fortunately enough. Overall, pretty decent riffer madness. Fortnox (Epic) R.J.

FREE: (see page 40) Tons Of Sobs: Free; Fire & Water; Highway; Free Live; Free At Last; Heartbreaker; The Best Of Free (All on A&M)

RORY GALLAGHER: What’s this hard-working Irish guitarist, blues and plaid shirt promoter, and actually intelligent guy doing in a heavy metal special? The peripatetic Cork resident started out in an Irish power trio inspired by Cream—Taste, and if that isn’t enought, as a solo artist, has wonged out blues-based scorchers like “Laundromat” (available on the Polydor compilation album The Story So Far, seen in cut-out bins) which cut as much metal as efforts from more publicized iron men who talk a big game, but couldn’t put a string on Rory’s battered old Stratocaster. His versatility has taken him out of the usual power guitarist category, but guitarists in the know, heavy metal or otherwise, rate the feisty Guinness aficionado as one of the best string-pluckers around, whether he’s dispensing HM thunder or exquisite Gaelic ballads. North Americans usually have to wait a few years to see Rory cut loose in concert—which any Gallagher fan will tell you is required for any sort of understanding of the guy—but now that he’s back in the Polygram family (Mercury Records) he seems to be touring the States more persistently. Catch him, and experience the nuclear Guinness blast first-hand... S.W.

Against The Grain; Calling Card; Photo Finish; Stage Struck; Top Priority (All on Chrysalis); Jinx (Mercury)

GILLAN: Renowned for...no, wait a minute. These guys aren’t renowned for anything at all. D.D.

Ian Gillan Band (Oyster); Scarabus (Island)

GIRLSCHOOL: Whereas the Runaways failed miserably with the concept, Girlschool is an all-female heavy metal band that has reached the top of the charts in their native England. It’s ironic in a sense, as heavy metal has generally had a predominantly male following, but these women play as loud and as tough as any of their male peers. An early incarnation of a band called Painted Lady featured current Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine on lead guitar. When Valentine’s British visa expired, she was replaced by Kelly Johnson, who is still in the band today along with Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar), Gil Weston (bass) and Denise Dufort (drums). Girlschool was still playing in South London pubs when Motorhead’s bassist Lemmy “discovered” them, arranging for the band to open for Motorhead on a 1979 British tour. The girls have yet to conquer America, though their last tour of the states was quite successful. B.H.

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Demolition (Stiff); Screaming Blue Murder (Mercury)

GOLDEN EARRING: Dutch heavy metal who had a huge British hit with “Radar Love” and were nearly ready to follow it up in the States after a great welcome on the same tour. For the record: they only had one song in them anyway. I.L.

Moontan; Switch; To The Hilt; Contraband; Grab It For A Second; Golden Earring Live; Twilight Zone (Polydor) (All on MCA unless otherwise noted) GRAND FUNK RAILROAD: (see page 32) On Time; Grand Funk; Closer To Home; Live Album; Survival; E Pluribus Funk; Mark, Don & Mel; Phoenix; We’re An American Band; Shinin’ On; All The Girls In The World Beware!; Caught In The Act; Born To Die; Grand Funk Hits; Grand Funk Lives! (Warner Brothers) (All on Capitol unless otherwise noted)

HAWKWIND: Not exactly HM but very close indeed, the band that spawned Motorhead’s Lemmy was actually quite a bit like Motorhead, only at one 800th the speed. Conceptually incredible—their concepts weren’t incredible, the fact that they even existed was—the band’s best-ever tune is “Brainstorm” from Doremi Fasol Latido. Space Ritual wins Best Album Title, hands down. D.D.

Hawkwind; In Search Of Space; Doremi Fasol Latido; Space Ritual; Hall Of The Mountain Grill; Warrior On The Edge Of Time (Atco); Quark, Strangeness & Charm (Sire) (All on UA unless otherwise noted)

HEART: Although Heart’s about-face from Vancouver bar band to Yankee hot shots rests mostly on the attractiveness of the Wilson sisters (songwriters Ann and Nancy), their 76 debut Dreamboat Annie promised more. The LP was sweetly melodic, especially on the title track segue “Crazy On You’”s acoustic pop/electric hard folk, and the natural single “Magic Man,” which puts you in mind of Bob Welch with backbone. In other words: musical sophistication meets wet dream glamour. But Heart only paid off on the latter, and have re-worked the axis so often, so successfully, and so cynically since then—I’ll go to bed with the Wilsons if they swear they won’t sing while we’re doing it. I.L.

Dreamboat Annie (Mushroom); Little Queen (Portrait); Dog And Butterfly (Portrait); Bebe Le Strange; Greatest Hits/Live; Private Audition (all on Epic unless otherwise noted)

JIMI HENDRIX: In another hundred years, they’ll still be listening intently to his records, still trying to decipher his cosmic codes of wizardry. There was never anything like him and there never again will be—he could, on a song like “Little Wing” or “Voodoo Chile,” play the sweetest blues ever made on earth, while on “Purple Haze” or “Manic Depression” he could approximate the real and/or imagined sounds of invading alien forces from Pluto. Let’s face it; anyone who’s ever struck one heavy note has been inspired somehow, some way by Jimi Hendrix, the all-time king of the electric guitar. B.A.

Are You Experienced; Axis: Bold As Love; Smash Hits; Electric Ladyland; Band Of Gypsies (Capitol); Cry Of Love; Rainbow Bridge; Hendrix In The West; War Heroes; Jimi Hendrix; Crash Landing; Midnight Lightning; The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (All on Reprise unless otherwise noted)

HOT TUNA: Among other intricacies, this band recorded the best HM version of “Baby, What You Want Me To Do” ever. On Yellow Fever.

D.D.

Hot Tuna; First Pull Up, Then Down; Burgers; Phosphorescent Rat; America's Choice; Yellow Fever; Hoppkorv; Electric Live; Final Vinyl (All on Grunt)

HUMBLE PIE: When some of us heard that ex-Small Face Steve Marriott was forming a soul band, we hoped the blueprint was the gorgeous “Tin Soldier.” And when we discovered that ex-Herd guitarist Peter Frampton would be playing with him, it augured even better. But though I’ve been known to spin their first big hit, the 71 Rock On, from time to time, by the time of the follow-up, Performance —Rockin' The Fillmore, Marriott’s soul singer posture became hammy and theatrical and the arena-rock of their sound had nothing to do with soul. Frampton left, they recorded a coupla more albums, notably the dreadful Eat It, and went the way of all flesh. In Marriott’s case proof positive that talent is finite. Forever. I.L. Humble Pie; Rock On; Rockin’ The Fillmore; Smokin’; Lost And Found; Eat It; Thunderbox; Street Rats (All on A&M)

IRON BUTTERFLY: Weil, they titled their maiden flight Heavy, so most of us were banking on the follow-up LP being titled Light, but noooooooo! It was, instead, the completely inescapable In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, the first rock album to make drugs not just defensible, but necessary. It was this reporter’s unfortunate luck to have witnessed the debut of that monstrosity at the Fillmore East when ye Butterflies opened for Blue Cheer and Traffic. I think it was after the lights went out and the endless drum solo began, to the accompaniment of lit torches onstage, that I first contemplated the idea of becoming a rock critic. B.A.

Heavy; In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida; Ball; Live; Metamorphosis; Scorching Beauty (MCA); Sun And Steel (MCA) (All on Atco unless otherwise noted) IRON MAIDEN: It took a while, but Iron Maiden are now one of the big locusts in the stone lagoon. After a few thankless years of trying to play HM on an English pub circuit infatuated with punk, they suddenly took off internationally (including Japan!). Considered by some to be the biggest development since the automatic dipstick checker, Maiden didn’t bust the USA until recently, but had graced the stupor navigation of countless Yankee dogs beforehand. In fact, on their most recent tours of-the States— ours being the only country in the civilized world where they don’t receive top billing—the guys’ logoT-shirts were actually outselling those of the headliners, the true measure of acceptance in the Big Bleat. Beats torching bees, right? R.J.

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Iron Maiden; Killers; Maiden Japan; Number Of The Beast (All on Harvest) JERUSALEM: The long-awaited debut from the undisputed kings of Swedish Christian Heavy Metal set this editorial office on its one working ear. The frank-but-touching “Sodom” went over particularly well with certain yoohoo elements here. The man behind it all? Uffe—that s right, Oof—Christiansson. Uffe Societies are springing up all over Minnesota and the big dumb white thing to the north. If you like the Uffe-Rock sound—all nine thuds of it—go to Jerusalem, now! R.J.

Jerusalem (Lamb & Lion)

JOAN JETT: She led the Runaways out of the desert and into respectability, and the former queen of noise has found her vision of Suzi Quatro/Gary Glitter/Slade inspired three-chords-with-the-big-oomph roundhouse rock catching the fancy of rock fans everywhere. “1 don’t give a damn ’bout my reputation,” sneered Joan at the beginning of her (then) independent solo album, and she’s definitely proven herself to be a lot tougher than the past she had to blast through to get where she is now. I mean, when Jett tells you to put another dime in that juke box, kid, you beter jump to it, pronto. B.A.

Bad Reputation; I Love Rock ’n’ Roll (Both on Boardwalk)

JUDAS PRIEST: (see page 34) Rocka Rolla (Gull); Sad Wings (Gull); Sin After Sin; Stained Class; Hell Bent For Leather; Unleashed In The East; British Steel; Point Of Entry; Screaming For Vengeance (All on Columbia unless otherwise noted)

THE KINKS: 1964 to ’66. “You Really Got Me.” “All Day And All Of The Night.” “Till The End Of The Day.” Need I say more? With Ray Davies’ “Louie Louie”-derived compositions and brother Dave’s primitive buzzsaw/fuzztone solos (both argue adamantly that Jimmy Page never played a lead solo on a Kinks record), the Kinks virtually set the stage for both heavy metal and later punk. Ray learned subtlety and explored a whole array of excellent styles beginning in ’66, but they returned to an HM sound nearly a decade later with new personnel on Low Budget; one of their weakest LPs. The band seemed in danger of becoming just another metal dinosaur, but they redeemed themselves with ’81’s Give The People What They Want, featuring both melodic HM and Ray’s pop strengths. Ray told this writer last year: “Dave likes to turn up and play loud. He feels we should concentrate on hard rock now, and I think he’s probably right because this is a good hard rock band.” B.H.

You Really Got Me; Kinks-Size; Kinda Kinks; Kinks Kinkdom; Kink Kontroversy; Greatest Hits; Face To Face; Live Kinks; Something Else; Village Green Preservation Society; Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) ; Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneyground; Kink Kronicles; The Great Lost Kinks Album (all Reprise); Muswell Hillbillies; Everybody’s In Showbiz; Preservation Act I; Preservation Act II, Soap Opera; Schoolboys In Disgrace; Celluloid Heroes (all RCA); Sleepwalker; Misfits; Low Budget; On The Road; Give The People What They Want (all Arista)

KISS: (see page 41) Kiss; Hotter Than Hell; Dressed To Kill; Kiss Alive; Destroyer; Rock And Roll Over; Love Cun; Alive II; Double Platinum; Dynasty; Unmasked; Music From The Elder; Creatures Of The Flight (All on Casablanca)

KROKUS: The goofy guys from Krokus are simply the most outstanding HM product ever to escape Switzerland. These bush-heads have their dotage voltage down to such a numb science, their rhythm section could stage a sick-out and only Boss Krokus would know for sure. As Jyrki Siukonen pointed out in a recent Soundi magazine, “On vain kysymys kommunikaatiosta toitemme ymmatamisesta ja taman hyvaksymiseta! Translation; go buy lots of Krokus albums right now! R.J.

Metal Rendez-vouz; (Ariola); Hardware (Arista)

LED ZEPPELIN: (see page 10) Led Zeppelin (Atlantic); Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic): Led Zeppelin III (Atlantic); Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic); Houses Of The Holy; Physical Graffiti; Presence; The Song Remains The Same; In Through The Out Door; Coda (All on Swan Song unless otherwise noted)

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: Discovered by ex-Dylan musician A1 Kooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd were Southern rock’s prime exponents. On the surface not that different from hack metallers like Molly Hatchet, lead singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant brought—if not integrity—conviction to his hard rock paeans to alcohol/one night stands (in both senses)/violent hell raising. And with -the forcefully proud “Sweet Home Alabama, a Southern patriotism that confounded critics who believed a band that played under a Confederate flag must be camp followers. Ronnie and three other members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in an airplane crash on the eve of their final and possible best LP, Street Surviuors, in 1977, and if you want to tally the loss, look at Southern Boogie today—then go play “That Smell’again. I-L.

Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-erd; Second Helping; Nuthin' Fancy; Gimme Back My Bullets; One More From The Road; Street Survivors; Skynyrd's First. ..And Last; Gold & Platinum (All on MCA)

MAGMA: The ultimate heavy metal band, bar none. “Ork Alarm" says it all D.D.

Mekanik Destruktiw Kowmmandoh(A8cM); Kohntarkosz (A&M); Attahk (Tomato); Udu Wudu (Tomato); Magma Live (Utopia)

MAHOGANY RUSH W/FRANK MARINO: Who knows, these guys might be one of the main reasons HM turns off so many people—the music is boring, the songs are terrible, the guitarwork is functional, and the drudge level is in the red. Put ’em on MTV and they’ll be selling shoes in two years.

D.D.

Child Of The Novelty (20th Century); Maxoom (20th Century); Stranger Universe (20th Century); Mahogany Rush IV; World Anthem; Live; Tales Of The Unexpected; What’s Next; Power Of Rock 'n' Roll (All on Columbia unless otherwise noted)

MANOWAR: In which former Dictator Go-Go Ross the Boss Funichello doesn’t get mad; he gets even. Good chops abound (their bass player Joey DiMaio turns a nifty unaccompanied version of the “William Tell Overture” on the band’s debut album), along with the new young American metal ethic—namely, the G.I. Joe mentality (plenty of still-in Saigons shrapnelling by). Personalty, I would have gone for either Dickie Boy Burton or Big Larry Olivier (the latter hot off the Inchon trail) for the big dramatic reading on “Dark Avenger,” but then again, they don’t make ’em any heavier than Orson “able to eat tall buildings at a single meal” Welles, now do they?B.A. Manowar (EMI American) Leni Sinclair

MC5: So ferocious was the MC5's reputation as a gigging band that they were the first rock ’n’ roll group ever to break in with a debut LP of live origin. Their no holds barred, no quarter given, political based whomp rock found its philosophy best expressed in the second album Back In The U S A., on such songs as “Shakin’ Street” (“Shakin’ Street, it’s got that sound/Shakin’ StTeet says you gotta get down”) and “High School” ("We’re gonna be takin’ over, you better get outta the way”), with the twin bazooka guitar attacks of Fred “Sonic” Smith and Wayne Kramer and Rob Tyner’s aggressive vocals conquering all within earshot. For a few brief moments, the closest the U S. ever came to a homegrown Rolling Stones.

B.A.

Kick Out The Jams (Elektra); Back In The USA (Atlantic); High Time (Atlantic)

MESSENDGER: On my favorite SfarsJcy & Hutch rerun, the bad guy plants a post-hypnotic suggestion in the mind of a female friend of the wacky cops. “Sarah," he intones, "you have to kill them both tonight!” Inspiring, huh? Ah, if only it was Brad and Allen, the main mutts of Messendger. They do deserve some credit for successful bambam updates of "Hang On Sloopy" and “Be Bop A Lula," but their original material should be bulk-erased pronto! Love your sense of spelling, guys. R.J.

MONTROSE/GAMMA: Ronnie Montrose played with Van Morrison, Boz Scaggs and spent a year with the Edgar Winter Band (he was guitarist on the very successful They Only Come Out At Night) before forming his own band after declining an invitation to join Mott The Hoople. Featuring Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, the band’s debut had its exciting heavy metal moments (particularly “Bad Motor Scooter” and a metal cover of Roy Brown/Elvis Presley’s “Good Rockin’ Tonight”), but subsequent releases were loud, redundant, non-melodic ventures, demonstrating that Montrose is a better guitarist than writer. The addition of vocalist Bob James to replace Hagar didn’t improve things any. One exceptiori is ’78’s Open Fire, a Jeff Beckish solo instrumental LP, featuring a hot cover of Gene Pitney’s “Town Without Pity,” probably the guitarist’s “crowning moment.” Montrose formed Gamma in 79, and the band has released three LPs, none of which have been anything to get excited about. B.H.

Montrose; Paper Money; (Warner Bros.) Present Montrose; Jump On It; Open Fire; Gamma I (Elektra); Gamma II (Elektra); Gamma III (Elektra) (All on Warner Bros, unless otherwise noted)

MOTLEY CRUE: Yet another high-heeled Hollywood heavy metal band, filled with pretty boys who show off how tough they are by wearing lotsa black leather and metal studs. True, you’ve heard and seen it all before but maybe your little brothers and sisters haven’t and they’re the target audience, for sure. That these guys can’t play, sing or write very well may work in their favor and they do think big—big stage shows, big hair-dos. big bucks behind ’em, so they’re not likely to go away tomorrow. Whether they become Kiss-for-the-’80s or just another bunch of would-be superstarz remains to be seen. M.D.

Motley Crue (Elektra)

MOTORHEAD: The indisputable best heavy metal band working today; everything the Plasmatics and Def Leppard hint at as new HM comes to life, personified by Lemmy’s speed freak moves and punky grooves. Twice as loud and about three times as fast as yer average HM hacks, Motorhead were so badly done-to by Stiff, it seemed as though the company wanted to bury them (absolutely no promo on Motorhead’s fine American debut). They won’t manage it, and if the American reaction to Motorhead as viewed during their support slot for (yeeech) Ozzy Osbourne is anything to go by, long time veteran Lemmy could take the Yank kids by storm and strategy, given the right push. Definitely a band for tomorrow. I.L.

Ace Of Spades; No Sleep Til Hammersmith; Iron Fist (All on Mercury) MOUNTAIN: NOT CREAM, BUT AN INCREDIBLE SIMULATION! At least that's basically what was going on in the partners-in-excess relationship between Leslie “Real Beef Satisfaction” West and Felix “I Can’t Hear You, There’s Ten Marshalls In My Ear” Pappalardi. The story goes that Poppo, former Cream producer, was manning the controls for a Vagrants record and wound up not only playing on it but joining and, hey, wow, just like Loggins and Messina, y’know? Eventually, Big Les did get to play with Jack “Seed’s All Dried Up” Bruce, but by then, well, I guess the equivalent would be Marshall Crenshaw guesting on the next Ringo album.

B.A.

Mountain Climbing (Windfall); Nantucket Sleighride (Windfall); Flowers Of Evil (Windfall); Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On (Windfall); Twin Peaks (Columbia); Avalanche (Columbia); Best Of (Columbia)

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THE MOVE: If there’s any doubt these guys belong in a HM hall of fame just give a listen to Shazam some time. Yow. D.D.

Shazam (A&M); Looking On (Capitol); Message From The Country (Capitol); Split Ends (UA); The Best Of The Move (A&M)

MOXY: Very dull Canuck plodders, these guys spawned countless HM discs for Mercury before performing the divine service of giving the world Mike Reno of Loverboy. D.D.

Moxy; Moxy II; Ridin’ High; Under The Lights (All on Mercury)

NAZARETH: A traditional working class Scottish hard rock outfit who’ve been at it since ’69, Nazareth threw the occasional curve, like their cover of Joni Mitchell’s “This Flight Tonight,” but were basically basic boogie. I.L. Nazareth (Warner Bros.); Exercises (Warner Bros.) Razamanaz; Loud ’n’ Proud; Hair Of The Dog; Rampant; Close Enough For Rock ’n’ Roll; Play ’n’ the Game; Hot Tracks; Expect No Mercy; Fool Circle; No Mean City; Malice In Wonderland; Snaz (All on A&M unless otherwise noted)

TED NUGENT: (see page 16) Marriage On The Rocks/Rock Bottom (Polydor); Ted Nugent; Free For All; Weekend Warriors; State Of Shock; Scream Dream; Intensities In 10 Cities; Cat Scratch Fever; Double Live Gonzo; Great Gonzos/Best Of Ted Nugent; Nugent (Atlantic) (All on Epic unless otherwise noted)

NUTZ: These British dodos were very well named indeed. D.D.

Nutz; Hard Nutz (A&M)

OZZY OSBOURNE: (see page 58) Blizzard Of Ozz; Diary Of A Madman; Mr. Corwley; Speak Of The Devil (All on Jet)

PARIS: Ex-Fleetwood Maccer Bob Welch’s HM experiment, which fizzled out mightily. His solo career really began afterward, surprising as you’d think Capitol would’ve wised up after Big Towne, 2061. So bad it’s bad.

D.D.

Paris; Big Towne, 2061 (Both on Capitol)

PINK FAIRIES: Great British proto-punk band emerging from writer Mick Farren’s Deviants, the band released three albums (only one saw U.S. release) with at least two HM classics; the MC5-ish “Do It” and “I Wish I Was A Girl,” with ex-UFO guitarist Larry Wallis. Latter tune a highlight of the summer of “Radar Love.” D.D.

Kings Of Oblivion (Polydor)

PLASMATICS: Ex-live sex star Wendy O’Williams’ Plasmatics are an ugly band, garnering success by Wendy’s voyeuristic violence and pure prurient bad news antics. Which isn’t to say that I don’t support the Plasmatics’ tussles with the Law, but that their music is so abominable in its “punk”/HM obstreperousness I don’t see the point. There might be a sense of catharsis in watching a half nude woman blow up a car, but there isn’t any humor in it, a prerequisite when dangling such s&m-ish antics with frankly questionable political convictions. Saving grace: Wendy’s duet with Motorhead’s Lemmy on “Stand By Your Man.” I.L.

New Hope For The Wretched (Stiff); Beyond The Valley Of 1984 (Stiff); Coup DEtat (Capitol)

QUEEN: (see page 8) Queen; Queen II; Sheer Heart Attack; A Night At The Opera; A Day At The Races; News Of The World; Jazz; Live Killers; The Game; Flash Gordon; The Original Soundtrack; Greatest Hits; Hot Space (All on Elektra)

RAINBOW: Formed in 1975 when Ritchie Blackmore decided to kind of start Deep Purple over again from scratch, only this time in his own image, Rainbow plodded along through album after album and stadium after stadium with the only noteworthy notes coming from Blackmore's even-in-his-sleep-with-one-hand-tied-behind-his-back guitar scorches. But then Ronnie Dio realized that he could imitate Ozzy Osbourne about as well as he could imitate Ian Gillan, enabling Joe (as in David) Lynn (as in Lee) Turner to take over as Rainbow’s official shriekpiece, and the results have been, if not history, then at least some Iistenable records. To boot, the last one. Right Between The Eyes, which features such healthy “you swipe my riffs. I’ll swipe yours” Foreigner-screw-yous as “Stone Cold" and “Bring On The Night.” B.A.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow; Rainbow Rising (Oyster); On Stage (Oyster); Long Live Rock ’n' Roll; Down To Earth; Difficult To Cure; Straight Between The Eyes (All on Polydor unless otherwise noted)

RAM JAM: Utterly atrocious spinoff of bubble gum big shots KasenetzKatz’s doing, this band lasted two whole albums before deciding to become brain surgeons. “Black Betty” was the extremely “memorable” hit. D.D. Ram Jam; Portrait Of The Artist (Both on Epic)

RIOT: The Eighth Wave of HM to come? There’s some sort of big whizz about these happy guys, but as fas as I can hear Capitol Records had the right idea when they rejected one of these guys’ albums. Nice Japanese motifs and all that, but Sunset Strip this isn’t. D.D.

Narita (Capitol); Fire Down Under (Elektra); Restless Breed (Elektra)

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THE RUNAWAYS: True, they did begin life in the mid-’70s as little more than just another sleazy gleam in warlord Kim Fowley’s exploitative eye, but the Runaways were able to walk away from it all at the time of their break-up in early ’70 with their heads held high. By then, they’d cut themselves loose from Fowley, exorcised the Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls image, ousted the generally too harmless Cherie Currie, and were simply rocking out mightily with hard-nosed determination. Though none of their studio albums did them justice, the not-released-in-the-U.S. live LP recorded in Japan (where they were humongous stars) sure states the case well, where such anthemic glitter dusters as “I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are” and “C’mon” give the taste of what might have been and, for Runaway orphan Joan Jett, eventually was. Lita “She-Wolf” Ford, where are you now? B.A.

The Runaways; Queens Of Noise; Waiting For The Night; Little Lost Girls (Rhino): Best Of The Runaways (All on Mercury unless otherwise noted) RUSH: (see page 42) Rush; Fly By Night; Caress Of Steel; 2112; All The World’s A Stage; A Farewell To Kings; Permanent Waves; Moving Pictures; Exit. ..Stage Left; Signals (All on Mercury)

SAXON: Part of the heavy metal “new wave,” this Yorkshire band demonstrates how far superior the “old wave” probably was. Coming on as rough and ready working class louts (“just one of the boys”—see AC/DC), they play the same redundant chords and pyrotechnics over and over again—as LOUDLY as possible—while grating lead singer Biff Byford hits the same tired macho poses everyone got bored with years ago. The philosophy is aligned with the “1 can party harder, fuck longer and rock louder than any man alive” mentality, but usually comes off as “I can masturbate better” on vinyl and stage. Their songs deal mainly with the glorification of “Heavy Metal Thunder” and the attitude, although there are occasional dalliances with violence and death. Their latest LP even features a tune about JFK’s assassination, but it isn’t about to give Lou Reed any stiff competition. My younger sister and her boyfriend (who are at the general heavy metal fan age) saw Saxon open for Cheap Trick last summer, and said it was the worst band they ever saw. The British headbangers seem to love’em. B.H.

Saxon; Wheels Of Steel; Strong Arm Of The Law; Denim & Leather (All on Carrere)

MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP: Former Scorpions/UFO guitarist left to go out on his own, and while he does play a fine guitar now and then, he seems a true workingman of the form—so much that he’ll never rise above it. Not terrible, just not much. D.D.

Michael Schenker Group; MSG (Both on Chrysalis)

SCORPIONS: Their best album was on Billingsgate, long ago, and called Lonesome Crow. Michael Schenker was on it for starters, and it was good HM in the Purplish sense. Since then, they ve lost and gained various personnel and are probably more noteworthy for their album covers than anything else. Know what 1 mean? D.D.

Lonesone Crow (Billingsgate); Fly To The Rainbow (RCA); Virgin Killer (RCA); Tokyo Tapes (RCA); In Trance (RCA); Love Drive (Mercury); Animal Magnetism (Mercury); Blackout (Mercury)

SLADE: Like their contemporaries T. Rex, Slade was a U.K. teenybop phenomenon in the early ’70s, and also like T. Rex, the fact that they never made it here was more our loss than theirs. In their brief prime (between ’72 and ’74) they were one of the great working class dog boys-will-be-boys bands ever to stomp boot. They were glitter—who can forget head yowler Noddy Holder’s famed “all the better to blind you with, dearie” mirror hat or Dave Hill’s pre-Ace Frehley shoulder pads? They were 'dumb—the first two songs on their best record, Stayed?, sport the word “Gudbuy" in the title; and they were wonderful—“Mama Weer All Crazee Now” and “Cum On Feel The Noize” are those rarest of great songs, both completely of the moment and still eternally exciting. B.A.

Ambrose Slade (Fontana); Play It Loud (Cotillion); Slade Alive (Polydor); Stayed? (Polydor); Sladest; Old, New, Borrowed And Blue; Flame; Nobody’s Fools (All on Warner Bros, unless otherwise noted)

BILLY SQUIER: A pleasant fellow who traded in a respectable past with the later-day Sidewinders and Piper for surprisingly big-time fame. Only problem is that BS sounds more like Robert Plant than Robert Plant ever did, not exactly good news by any standard. OK to see a long-timer do so well—as long as I don’t have to listen to him—but he made better pop then than HM now, so what’s the point? D.D.

Tale Of The Tape; Don't Say No; Emotions In Motion (All on Capitol) STARZ: The fact that Capitol let this band put out four albums says a lot more about the ’70s than I care to think about. Every note is abominable.

D.D.

Starz; Violation; Coliseum Rock; Attention Shoppers (All on Capitol) STATUS QUO: Something of an institution in Britain, Status Quo started as a psychedelic band in ’68 with “Pictures Of Matchstick Men," but by 1970 had become the hard rock boogie band we all know and loathe. With exactly one line-up change in the past 13 years (bass player Alan Lancaster left in ’81), they’ve churned out the albums unerringly, even improving with the occasional gem like “Rbckin’ Around The World.” They’ve never really broken Stateside, possible because they are so indigenously English, but as far as institutions go, I’ll take latter day Quo over latter day Stones any day. I.L.

Messages From The Status Quo (Cadet Concept); Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon (Pye); Dog Of Two Heads (Pye); Piledriver (A&M); Hello (A&M); Quo (A&M); On The Level (Capitol); Blue For You (Capitol); Status Quo Live (Capitol)

STEPPENWOLF: Perhaps the coolest thing about Steppenwolf, besides, of course, John Kay’s peek-a-boo shades (assumed by archeologists to be the missing link between Question Mark and Peter Wolf), was that, in an era when almost every other band was hard at work raising its consciousness, Steppenwolf were methodically losing theirs. Though they started off as funky tough guys (“Sookie, Sookie,” “Everybody’s Next One”), they were soon—like their second album—already marooned in never-never land (the “extended” version of “Magic Carpet Ride”). Record company edited-for-singles-release policy was this group’s best friend, resulting in lots of AM hits and, consequently, sizeable contributions towards the corrupting of an entire generation of American youth. And, to set the record straight—early 1968, second verse of “Bom To Be Wild”: “I like smoke and lightning/HEAVY METAL thunder.” Got that? B.A.

Steppenwolf; Steppenwolf The Second; At Your Birthday Party; Early Steppenwolf; Monster; Live Steppenwolf; Steppenwolf Gold; 7; For Ladies Only; Rest In Peace; Slow Flux (Epic); Hour Of The Wolf (Epic); Skullduggery (Epic); Reborn To Be Wild (Epic) (All on Dunhill unless otherwise noted)

THE STOOGES: To a lot of steel-belted metal heads, hard rock ain’t worth nothin’ if it ain’t real loud and real messed up, too. And there’s little argument that Iggy and cronies virtually wrote the textbook for the members of the angst class of metallurgists all by their Ann Arbor, Michigan lonely selves. On their initial album, such alienation anthems as “No Fun,” “I’m Not Right,” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” set down the basic format, 1970’s Raw Power, the last piece of the trilogy, finds guitarist James Williamson delivering the sermon from the mount on songs like the title track and the never satisfied “Search And Destroy.” Godfathers of punk, sure, but also arguably metal’s dutch uncles as well. B.A.

The Stooges (Elektra); Fun House (Elektra); Raw Power (Columbia); Metallic K.O. (Skydog)

SWEET: Considered an English Kiss in the States, Sweet hit big in England in 71 after highly accomplished commercial songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman wrote them a slew of jingles like “Little Willy," “Wig Warn Bam,” and—personal fave—“Ballroom Blitz.” The addictive mindlessness of the songs couple with Sweet’s propensity for glitter, eyeliner, and platform boots, drove pubescent Brit girls wild. But it didn’t get Sweet much respect, and in 74 they dumped Chinn-Chapman and metamorphized into an all too earnest hard rock band, with hit single “Fox On The Run." Which was followed by fbp after flop, which mostly leaves Sweet a mediocre group and a victim of time. I.L.

Desolation Boulevard; Give Us A Wink; Off The Record; Cut Above The Rest: Greatest Hits (Bell) (All on Capitol unless otherwise noted)

TEN YEARS AFTER: As Alvin Lee always said, anything you can play, I' can play faster—even when no one played anything. I challenge anyone to find more than three audible keyboard notes coming from Chick Churchill’s keyboard after the Stonedhenge album. I recently read that Ten Years After did no less than 30 U.S. tours, and I believe it; I must have seen them 20 times between 1969 and 1972—and I didn’t even like them. Oh yeah, “Choo Choo Mama” was real good. Also real short. B.A.

Ten Years After; Undead; Stonedhenge; Ssshh; Cricklewood Green; Watt; A Space In Time; Rock And Roll Music To The World (Columbia); Recorded Live (Columbia); Positive Vibrations (Columbia) (All on Deram unless otherwise noted)

THIN LIZZY: Thin Lizzy were hugely underestimated when they were good, and totally ignored when they started to recycle their ideas. Could it be that born romantic/womanizer/black/Irish closet radical Phil Lynott isn’t commercial (or the right color) for America, and is too commercial and not black enough for England? Surely Jailbreak and Johnny The Fox had as much integrity as hard rock got in the late 70s, and both “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Walking In The Moonlight” are gorgeous singles. What Thin (pronounced Tin) Lizzy did in a live performance, turning all the strutting cock-rock and laser beam head-banging on its head with shows that were never less than humane and caring to the audience, is fairly unprecedented. And if you don’t think Phil is an innovator, who do you think showed Bob Geldof all his early moves? (But is that a compliment?) Unfortunately, since 78, Thin Lizzy ran out of inspiration. I.L.

Thin Lizzy (London); Vagabonds Of The Western World (London); Night Life (Vertigo); Fighting (Vertigo); Jailbreak (Mercury); Johnny The Fox (Mercury); Rocker (Mercury); Live And Dangerous; Bad Reputation; Chinatown; Black Rose; Renegade (All on Warner Bros, unless otherwise noted)

THUNDERPUSSY: Crypto-spurting out of stormy midwestern skies comes the biggest hunk of metallic essence ever to escape downstate Illinois ...Thuderpussy? Well, that’sthe name, or was, since they’re now thankfully defunct. Their somewhat lame but rather advanced (considering) 1973 debut sounded like Blue Oyster Cult playing through the floor of a glass bottom boat. Great liner notes too—“We were dogs among bitches...” haw haw haw, I can’t go on! R. J.

Thunderpussy (MRT)

T. REX: At the time of his greatest successes in his native England (in the early 70s), the U.S. was going through its heavy wimp period, so Marc Bolan’s tousled head never gained household-name recognition status here, even while seven year olds were trampling each other for a glimpse of him during U.K. concerts. T. Rex just about formed their own genre—baby ihetal—with Bolan’s distorto C. Berry guitar whines and Mickey Finn’s cosmic bongos dancin’ away through such anthemp as “Bang A Gong” and “Jeepster.” For far-too-true believers like Bolan, it was either rock or die, and when he faded from the scene a few years ago, that’s just what happened to him. The songs, though, remain shining stars in the cosmos of pop metal. B.A.

T. Rex; Electric Warrior; The Slider; Tanx (All on Reprise)

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PAT TRAVERS: An import from the Canadian metal foundries, Travers has put out more albums than a prairie dog has ear mites, all in the same hard blues/you gotta see him live genre (cf. Rory Gallagher). Trouble is, on vinyl or in concert, Travers just doesn’t stand out much from the HM/blues pack, save for his hit “(Boom Boom) Out Go The Lights” a few years ago. OK to investigate if you’re in the neighborhood, but don’t get out of breath crossing the street. S.W.

Pat Travers; Makin’ Magic; Putting It Straight; Heat In The Street; Go For What You Know; Crash & Run; Radio Active (All on Polydor) TROOPER: Randy Bachman was responsible for these guys, who ended up putting out four albums that were—shall we say—bland, obsequious, unctuous and anemic—not to mention worthless, inane, meritless and unsalable or pitiable, miserable, infelicitous, beggarly and contemptible.

D.D.

Trooper; Two For The Show; Knock ’Em Dead; Thick As Thieves (All on MCA)

ROBIN TROWER: (see page 48) Twice Removed From Yesterday; Bridge Of Sighs; For Earth Below; Robin Trower Live; Long Misty Days; In City Dreams; Caravan To Midnight; Victims Of The Fury; B.L.T.; Truce (All on Chrysalis)

UFO: The best thing this band has going for ’em is 1) Phil Mogg s name and 2) the fact that they once covered a song by Love. Of course that was a long time ago now, and somebody’s been letting them put out a lot of albums since then, and they’ve all been terrible. In Phil’s own words: How about it, then? D.D.

UFO (Rare Earth) ; Phenomenon; Force It; No Heavy Petting; Lights Out; Obsession; Strangers In The Night; No Place To Run; Wild, The Willing & The Innocent (All on Chrysalis unless otherwise noted)

URIAH HEEP: Formed in 1970, the band attempted to be a poor man’s Deep Purple but actually appear to be a predecessor of bands like Styx in retrospect, thanks mainly to David Byron’s incredibly obnoxious vocals. Personnel changed numerous times (one former member was John Wetton of Asia), while Byron, Ken Hensley (keyboards) and Mick Box (guitar) were the only members to be there from the formation through the band’s commercial peak. Their first two LPs stiffed (tho Salisbury may have been their “best”), but the band eventually captured the heavy metal crowd with later releases dealing with devils, black magic, Demons And Wizards (their fourth LP)—and you didn’t even have to play them backwards! Hit singles in U.S. with “Easy Living” and “Stealin’.” One of the worst bands to “make it” in the ’70s, they even managed to butcher a medley of '50s rock classics on their Live LP. Box recently reformed the band with all new members, and they have the dubious distinction of releasing the most hideous album cover of 1982. B.H.

Uriah Heep; Salisbury; Look At Yourself; Demons And Wizards; Magician’s Birthday; Uriah Heep Live; Sweet Freedom (Warner Bros ); Wonderworld (Warner Bros.); Return To Fantasy (Warner Bros.); High And Mighty (Warner Bros ); Best Of; Fallen Angel (Chrysalis); Abominog (All on Mercury unless otherwise noted)

VAN HALEN: (see page 18) Van Halen; Van Halen II; Women And Children First; Fair Warning; Diver Down (All on Warner Bros.) VANILLA FUDGE: Alright, so maybe the Fudge couldn’t play, couldn't sing and couldn’t write. Whaddya want, perfection? True visionaries that they were, the Fudge simply would not let such an intangible concept as taste encroach upon their work—work which remains to this day a monument to just how stoned out everybody was in 1967. No one could mangle a song quite like these guys (just how many Sonny Bono tunes did they cover, anyway?) and hey, were it not for them, not only would have Yes never existed, but we mighta never been treated to that band’s laff riot rendering of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America." Can you believe the Fudge were a band for less than four years. totaP Talk about yer legendary status.

B.A.

Vanilla Fudge: The Beat Goes On; Renaissance; Near The Beginning; Rock And Roll; Best Of (All on Atco)

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: Under the adventurous leadership of Lou Reed and the subversive second-in-command hostile tendencies of John Cale, the Velvet Underground bravely broke open vast uncharted territories of the rock ’n’ roll experience.'Metallically speaking, Reeds fraught-with-danger experiments with atonality and feedback helped widen the boundaries of sonic possibilities for guitars (see Hendrix, J.), while Cale’s viola-of-blood fiddlings introduced the concept of drone as terror. Besides, Nico was (and still is) the only real female heavy metal goddess ever. B.A.

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The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve); White Light/White Heat {Verve); The Velvet Underground (MGM); 1969 (Mercury); Loaded (Atlantic); Live At Max’s Kansas City (Atlantic)

VENDETTA: Here are three of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet. Not actually meet, but want to meet. The press kit they sent us was an epic. First off, a battered violin case with the Vendetta logo stenciled on in blood red. Made by Chinese commies, no less—it says so right on the case! Inside, some rather sticky logo buttons, broken picks, a revolver with a broken handle (still thinkin’ of ya, Squeaky!), plastic TNT, some other junk since lost and the standard degradable bio. Musically, some autoamerican Detroit HM featuring Niki Buzz—the next Frank Marino? R.J.

Vendetta (Epic)

JOE WALSH: Do you consider having played with the James Gang good credentials? Or the Eagles? Or having done a half dozen solo albums? Or worked with a solo John Entwistle? Neither do 1. I.L.

Barnstorm; The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get; So What? You Can’t Argue With A Sick Mind/Live; There Goes The Neighborhood (Asylum) (All on MCA unless otherwise noted)

THE WHO: Maybe not a bona fide metal band, per se, but Pete “Like My Headband?” Townshend’s circular arm whips way back whenever did pave the way for the power chord as symbol of menace. Actually, the one note break on “1 Can See For Miles” kinda qualifies as metal, and so does Entwistle’s bass solo on “My Generation,” and I guess you could throw in the alienated lyrics of “The Kids Are Alright” and “Substitute” (even “I’m a Boy” and, yeah, “Pictures Of Lily” as well), and oh, can’t forget madman Moon’s double bass drum mayhem, even on slow songs, when there were any, that is...y’know, if they coulda dumped Daltrey... Ah, what the hell, let’s give it to ’em, for Schlitz’s sake. B.A.

My Generation; A Quick One; The Who Sell Out; Magic Bus; Tommy; Live At Leeds; Who’s Next; Quadrophenia; Odds & Sods; The Who By Numbers; Who Are You; Face Dances (Warner Bros.); It’s Hard (Warner Bros.) (All on MCA unless otherwise noted)

WIDOWMAKER: Not a totally terrible aggregation, this group was noteworthy for the presence of ex-Mott & Spooky Tooth guitarist Ariel Bender/Luther Grosvenor and would later emerge as part of the present-day Ozzy Osbourne and Uriah Heep rhythm sections. The writing needed work. D.D.

Widowmaker; Too Late To Cry (All on UA)

WISHBONE ASH: Noted in the scrolls as the first British band to concern itself with double lead guitars in the forms of Andrew Powell and Martin Turner, but with all those hats it was hard to tell everyone apart. Also in the books for being one of the first under-fogey aged bands to play workmanlike journeyman rock well before that kind of music became the rage, not to mention the norm, of metalhood. And, hey, ’72’s Argus pre-dated a lot of ancient warrior angles by a good Kiss year or two. Though they were big here, it was when they finally moved to the U.S. in 74 that they started dropping out of the arena rock sweepstakes. Shows you what happens when you actually choose to spend your days in Connecticut. B.A.

Wishbone Ash; Pilgrimage; Argus; Wishbone 4; Live Dates; There’s The Rub (All on MCA); Locked In; New England; Front Page News; No Smoke Without Fire; Number.The Brave; Hot Ash (All on Atlantic)

YARDBIRDS: One of the truly legendary British bands of the ’60s. Heavy metal guitar owes a great deal to the innovations of the band’s three most famous members—Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. London’s Metropolis Blues Quartet (Keith Relf, Paul Samwell-Smith, Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty) became the Yardbirds when Clapton j*oined in October ’63. Within a year, they were competing with the Stones for best British blues band title, setting the stage for future heavy metal, which is basically (well, at least originally) blues amplified to its highest possible level. When band scored a hit single with “For Your Love,” Clapton, disgruntled by new pop direction, left to pursue his roots with John Mayall’s band, and was replaced by Beck. Beck’s guitar on songs like “Heart Full Of Soul” and “Over Under Sideways Down” sounded like nothing anyone had ever heard coming from a radio at the time—a true forebearer of “psychedelic” heavy metal. After another personnel change, Page was recruited as rhythm guitarist, switching to lead when Beck took ill, and the dynamic duo played twin leads after the latter’s return. A visual documentation of “true” heavy metal is a scene from the film Blow-Up in which the band performs “Stroll On,” a variation of “Train Kept A-Rollin’ ’’ which they borrowed from the Burnette Brothers’ Rock ’N’ Roll Trio, and was later borrowed by Aerosmith. Beck left in ’67, one last LP was released, and the band split. Page was left with the name, so he formed a band called the New Yardbirds which, of course, became Led Zeppelin. The Yardbirds perfected effects like fuzztone, feedback, etc., were responsible for Led Zeppelin and probably Cream—and were, therefore, responsible for a large part of heavy metal in general. B.H.

Sonny Boy Williamson & the Yardbirds (Mercury); For Your Love; Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds; Over Under Sideways Down; Little Games; Live Yardbirds; The Yardbirds Greatest Hits; The Yardbirds Favorites; The Yardbirds—Featuring Performances By Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page (All on Epic unless otherwise noted)

ZZ TOP: In answer to the question I raised during my Lynryd Skynyrd review: this is what Southern rock sounds like today. Only it isn’t. Not since ZZ Top went back to the roots with their best album, the 79 Deguello blues bombshell. Since then there’s been something of a r^-think on their boog'e albums, but the re-thinkers will have to do a lot of back tracking (not to mention lying) to make them sound any good. I.L.

First Album; Rio Grande Mud; Tres Hombres; Fandango; Tejas; The Best Of ZZ Top; Deguello; El Loco (All on Warner Bros.)