metal

1981
Black Sabbath released in October 1981

Black Sabbath’s second studio album that was produced by Martin Birch and featured Ronnie James Dio as vocalist, Mob Rules , was released in October 1981 and was well received by fans, but less so by critics.

Iron Maiden By 1981, Paul Di’Anno was demonstrating increasingly erratic

By 1981, Paul Di’Anno was demonstrating increasingly erratic behaviour, particularly due to his drug usage, about which Di’Anno comments, “It wasn’t just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though; I was just going for it non-stop, 24 hours a day, every day … the band had commitments piling…
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Napalm Death formed in the village of Meriden

Napalm Death were formed in the village of Meriden near Coventry , in the United Kingdom, in May 1981 by Nic Bullen and Miles Ratledge while the duo were still in their early teenage years. The duo had been playing in amateur bands since 1980 as an extension of their…
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Motörhead The band had more chart hits in 1981 with the releases St

The band had more chart hits in 1981 with the releases St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP, their collaboration with Girlschool which reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in February; the live version of ” Motorhead “, which reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart in July; and…
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Black Sabbath completed the Heaven and Hell world tour

The band completed the Heaven and Hell world tour in February 1981 and returned to the studio to begin work on their next album.

Metallica formed in Los Angeles in late 1981

Metallica was formed in Los Angeles in late 1981 when Danish drummer Lars Ulrich placed an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, The Recycler , in which the advertisement read, “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang , Diamond Head and Iron Maiden .”…
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Leatherwolf Witch drummer Punky Peru (Perry Boyer) was part of the first

Witch drummer Punky Peru (Perry Boyer) was part of the first Leatherwolf line-up in 1981 along with bassist Jerome Sevron (Jammin’ Gyro), Scott Moore and Geoff Gayer on guitars and vocalist Carl Detkin. This line-up was very short-lived and already the same year Matt Hurich joined on bass, Dean Roberts…
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Queensrÿche In 1981, the Mob put together sufficient funds to record a demo tape

In 1981, the Mob put together sufficient funds to record a demo tape. Still without a singer, Tate was once again enlisted to help, much to the disapproval of his then-current band, Myth. The group recorded the four songs ” Queen of the Reich “, “Nightrider”, “Blinded”, and “The Lady…
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Black Sabbath released theatrically

later released theatrically in 1981 as Black and Blue

Kiss (band) concept album

For its next album, the band worked again with producer Ezrin, with whom Kiss had found success on Destroyer . Early press reports indicated that the new album would be a return to the hard rock style that had originally brought the band success. However, 1981’s Music from “The Elder”…
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