'80s Metal History (March 5th)

March 5, 1983: On the "Night of the Banging" Head!!!", Cliff Burton played his first show with Metallica at The Stone in San Francisco. Opening the show were Lȧȧz Rockit and Exodus with guitarist Kirk Hammett.

March 5, 1982: Recorded a year earlier at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Michael Schenker Group released their first live album "One Night At Budokan" in the UK. Release information source: Record Mirror ad - March 6, 1982; Debuted on the Official Album Chart on March 13, 1982.

The music video for Queensrÿche's "Eyes Of A Stranger", from the "Operation: Mindcrime" album, was added to the rotation on MTV in the US the first week of March 1989.

Great White released their second studio album "Shot In The Dark" on Telegraph Records in early 1986 (Re-issued August that year on Capitol). Featuring the single "Face The Day", the band moved from metal to a more blues-influenced style of hard rock.

March 5, 1982: Tank released their debut album "Filth Hounds Of Hades". Often compared to Motörhead, they were also a trio fronted by a singing bassist who played a loose almost punk-style. The album was produced by Motörhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke. Release date source: Record Business - February 8, 1982.

Alongside Loudness and Earthshaker, one of the most successful Japanese metal bands, Anthem, released the album "Bound To Break" in 1987. It was produced by Chris Tsangarides, who later produced Judas Priest's 1990 album "Painkiller".

Happy Birthday to Savatage second lead vocalist Zachary Stevens (March 5, 1966). Zachary was hand-picked by Savatage co-founder and first lead vocalist Jon Oliva when he stepped down in 1992.

March 5, 1985: Metallica played Rainbow Music Hall in Denver with support from Armored Saint. “And we have stories, like when James [Hetfield] threw Joey’s leather jacket out the window from a Denver hotel, like, 30 stories. He’s going, ‘That’s a cool jacket.’ Joey [Vera] had this cool, red lapel leather-studded jacket. And goes, ‘Let me see it!’ He got it, and he threw it out the window. And you just saw Joey’s jacket floating down in the snow.” -John Bush (Armored Saint). “And then James pulled the fire alarm. It was late, like 2:00 in the morning. And everybody had to leave in their pajamas and go out in the cold. And he didn’t get caught for it; that was a great story. That was pretty funny, a lot of fun times on that tour.”

March 5, 1986: After a bomb threat (called in by someone who complained he had been trying to ban rock 'n' roll but no one would listen) delayed the show by 35 minutes, KISS rocked Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin with special guest King Kobra, who had just joined the tour as a favor asked by drummer Carmine Appice to Paul Stanley. According to Carmine, "'I heard KISS was changing opening acts... I asked him to consider us as a favor. We [also] talked to Gene Simmons."

March 5, 1994: Scorpions brought the "Face The Heat" Tour to San Jose, California with special guests King's X. The tour was a haul at 108 dates in 31 countries.

March 5, 2002: MTV launched new reality show "The Osbournes", featuring Ozzy, his wife Sharon, son Jack and daughter Kelly. His other daughter, Aimée Osbourne, declined to participate in the show and moved out of the family home at the age of 16. The show ran four seasons and the first season became the most-watched series ever on MTV.

Dates posted on '80s Metal History are heavily researched. Many release dates found on Wikipedia, Google and even a band's own website are incorrect. We always check reputable sources including music charts (Billboard, etc.), '80s radio trade magazines (FMQB, The Hard Report, etc.) and '80s rock magazines (Kerrang!, Circus, etc.) 🤘