80s Metal History (May 9th)

May 1992: Armored Saint singer John Bush was now fronting Anthrax (replacing Joey Belladonna) and the band would return with a new album "Sound Of White Noise" a year later. -Kerrang!

May 1988: Gearing up for a string of Canadian dates with opener Guns N' Roses that would begin on May 13th, Iron Maiden's latest LP "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" had debuted at No. 1 in the UK and was selling briskly in North America.

May 9, 1987: Manowar's fifth studio album "Fighting The World" was available in North America (February '87 in the UK) and featured in an ad on the front page of Billboard Magazine imploring everyone "to join the fight against false metal." 🤘

May 1987: "You know what time it is? It's time to get wild......", Y&T glammed it up and released the title track as the lead single from their forthcoming album "Contagious".

May 9, 1984: At the peak of their powers with David Lee Roth, Van Halen played the first of three nights at The Cow Palace in San Francisco. During "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", DLR led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" to Alex Van Halen.

May 9, 1987: Dedicated to the memory of guitarist Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne's double-live album "Tribute", debuted at No. 51 on the US Billboard 200. It would rise to No. 6 and sell over two million copies.

Spring 1985: Metal Forces featured Celtic Frost, who were apparently not liked by the Metal Forces staff (not the band's music, but a personality conflict) and the interview with lead singer and guitarist Tom Warrior tried to smooth things out.

May 1983: Bristol, England metal band Jaguar released their debut album "Power Games". A year earlier they were playing a Dutch rock festival with Raven and approached about a record deal which led to their first single "Axe Crazy".

Formed in 1984, Houston metal band Tyton released their second studio album "Mind Over Metal" in 1987. One review describes them as "sort of mid-paced swords and shields style metal."

May 2000: Lita Ford released her first live album "Greatest Hits Live!" recorded during the Dangerous Curves tour in 1991-92.

May 9, 1984: After a show in Detroit the night before on the "Shout At The Devil" tour, Mötley Crüe arrived in Dayton, Ohio with special guest Saxon.

May 9, 1981: Playing a fury of Midwest dates, Judas Priest and the "World Wide Blitz Tour" rolled into Rockford, Illinois.

Five years later, Priest frontman Rob Halford was on the cover of Germany's Metal Hammer Magazine. The band toured Europe in October 1986.