'80s Metal History (December 26th)

Happy Birthday to Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich (December 26, 1963).

December 26, 1984: It was a "Metal Meeting" with Motörhead, Helix, Mercyful Fate, Girlschool and Talon playing the first of five shows in Germany. On the last date, Lemmy and the boys "hid King Diamond's sacred bones and pasted porno shots of the guitar player’s girlfriend to the stage floor by his foot pedals." -Brian Vollmer, Helix 😆

December 26, 1981: AC/DC's eighth studio album "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, two years before Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" reached the top spot 🤔

December 26, 1983: KISS launched the North American leg of the "Lick It Up" Tour in Atlanta. Guitarist Vinnie Vincent was fired after the European tour a month earlier, but not able to find a replacement in time, re-hired.

Happy Birthday to Saxon guitarist Paul Quinn (December 26, 1951).

Remembering former Kingdom Come and Scorpions drummer James Kottak who would have celebrated a birthday today (December 26, 1962). James died in 2024. R.I.P.

December 26, 1986: A living, breathing 3-D slasher film come to life and set to music, Alice Cooper brought "The Nightmare Returns" Tour to Atlanta... "They may spend millions of dollars on decorating their stage, but they don't deliver a real show. Whereas with us, if you're sitting in the first 10 rows — you might get splattered!"

December 26, 1987: Guns N' Roses returned to L.A. on the "Appetite For Destruction" Tour for the first of four shows at Perkins Place in Pasadena. Cinderella drummer Fred Coury filled in for Steven Adler at all four shows.

December 26, 1988: Danzig brought the "Not Of This World" Tour to the Axiom Club in Houston, the first of three Texas shows before heading off to Phoenix for New Year's Eve.

December 1985: The new album from Anthrax, "Spreading The Disease", was infecting the world... "One thing's for sure: Anthrax is contagious and I'm suitably stricken!...First there was Metallica, and now Anthrax are pounding my senses like there's no tomorrow!" (Kerrang!) The band would return to the road in the US in early 1986, but wouldn't get to the UK until the end of May that year.