'80s Metal History (August 1st)

August 1, 1981: MTV launched on cable TV in the US. Most everyone knows the first video played, but how about the first metal video? That honor goes to Iron Maiden's self-titled clip "Iron Maiden", the 16th video shown on opening day.

August 1, 1988: Iron Maiden released "The Evil That Men Do" in the UK as the second single from the album "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". The music video was filmed at The Forum in Inglewood, California, during the "Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour". Release date source: Kerrang! ad - July 30, 1988.

Happy Birthday to Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott (August 1, 1959).

August 1, 1980: Opening for AC/DC, Def Leppard performed for the first time in America at The Palladium in New York City. Joe Elliott celebrated his 21st birthday at this show.

August 1, 1981: Port Vale FC was the site for "Heavy Metal Holocaust" with headliner Motörhead, preceded by Ozzy Osbourne (still paying his dues as a solo artist), Triumph, Riot and more. Black Sabbath was scheduled to co-headline, but were still recording the "Mob Rules" album. No alcohol... only soda pop and people chucking bottles. 🙃

August 1, 1986: The "Wake Up Dead" tour was the first world tour for Megadeth, and for about a month they supported King Diamond on their "Fatal Portrait" tour, including this show at the Metro in Chicago.

August 1, 1987: DIO launched the "Dream Evil" tour at the "Children Of The Night Concert" in Irvine, California, which also included Yngwie Malmsteen, Armored Saint, Don Dokken, Ron Keel, Frankie Banali and Rough Cutt on the song "Stars".

Happy Birthday to former Bitch singer Betsy Weiss (August 1, 1957). Bitch was the first artist ever signed to Metal Blade Records.

August 1984: Inspired by the onslaught of the new wave of British heavy metal, Colorado Springs power metal band Jag Panzer released their debut album "Ample Destruction" featuring the song "Harder Than Steel".

July/August 1988: German metal magazine Rock Hard featured Overkill on the cover. Their latest album "Under The Influence" was just released in Deutschland, but the band wouldn't play there until January 1989, opening for Slayer.

Sometime before the release of "...And Justice For All" in early September 1988, Metallica visited the CD manufacturing plant. Reddit post: "My late grandfather chillin with the band around 1988. My grandfather was the head of HR at a CD manufacturing plant in the 80's. The band was gonna tour the CD plant like as a promotional thing during the "Damaged Justice" tour, so the plant put up a big banner welcoming the band members. Problem was, they took the members' names from the back of a "Ride The Lightning" album, so they had "Welcome Cliff Burton" on this big banner. My mom and my aunt were quick to notice this, and had it changed right before they arrived. The band was so grateful that my mom and my aunt got to ride in their limo with them and they got free vip passes for all the shows." 🤘