'80s Metal History (December 16th)

December 1986: Limited to 10,000 copies, Guns N' Roses released EP "Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide", a faux-live recording with overdubbed crowd noise, featuring two original songs and two covers. "The sleaziest record to come out of L.A. since Mötley Crüe's 'Too Fast For Love'." -Kerrang! (January 23, 1987)

Our love-affair with Iron Maiden knows no bounds... In December 1983, Kerrang! reported on this guy in Illinois who re-designed his chimney stack in the image of "Eddie" 🤘 Santa may have skipped this house 😁

December 16, 1986: It was a tough finish to the year for Metallica, but they soldiered on with the "Damage, Inc." Tour, marching across Canada with support from Metal Church, including this show in Edmonton.

December 16, 1983: Ahead of their performances at Germany's Dortmund Rock Pop Festival two days later, Judas Priest and Quiet Riot played the first of two shows at London's Hammersmith Odeon. "The hammer came down and with it came the joyous cry of teenage terror/old age glee as Halford strode miles high above the heads of fans and dug his feet into their hearts." -Kerrang

December 16, 1983: AC/DC with special guest Fastway played the Forum in Montreal. The "Flick Of The Switch" North American tour ended three nights later at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

December 16, 1981: It was metal mayhem for the holidays in Madrid as Motörhead arrived on the "No Sleep 'Til Christmas" Tour with "Filth Hounds Of Hades" Tank in support, the last of three dates in Spain before moving on to Ireland.

December 16, 1987: Mötley Crüe played the first of three consecutive sold-out nights at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. They were originally scheduled to resume the "Girls, Girls, Girls" Tour in Europe in January 1988, but after Nikki Sixx's near-fatal overdose, manager Doc McGhee canceled everything and sent the whole band to rehab. Mötley didn't play live again until the Moscow Music Peace Festival in the summer of 1989, where they ironically fired McGhee, who had quite possibly saved their lives a year and a half earlier. 😏

December 16, 1989: Lizzy Borden spent the holiday season in Europe with the first show of the "Master Of Disguise" Tour in Vosselaar, Belgium before five dates in Germany.

December 16, 1989: With Megadeth's Dave Mustaine acting as the Master of Ceremonies, Testament played the second to last show of the North American leg of the "Practice What You Preach" Tour at Santa Monica Civic in Southern California, with support from Voivod, Nuclear Assault and Wrathchild America.

December 1985: Recorded two months earlier at London's Hammersmith Odeon, Venom released "Alive In 85 - Hell At Hammersmith" on home video. "Too Loud (For The Crowd)" but not for your neighbors 😁

December 1983: After a successful tour supporting Iron Maiden in their home country, Australian rockers Heaven released their second studio album "Where Angels Fear To Tread" in North America, featuring single and music video "Rock School" that received regular airplay on MTV thanks to guest contributions from Ronnie James Dio, Lita Ford and Glenn Hughes. Release information source: [US] R&R radio trade publication ad - December 16, 1983.

December 1985: Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott was featured in the latest issue of Kerrang!. Phil passed away just a few weeks later on January 4, 1986. R.I.P.

December 16, 2021: Celebrating their 40th anniversary, the city of San Francisco (the band's adopted hometown) declared December 16th METALLICA Day. The Bay Area thrashers are celebrated daily on METAL SHOP 🤘