Anniversary Series - 1988!

The middle of the month means it's time for another Anniversary Article!  1988 is an interesting year, as we start to see the rock and metal scene shift and expand, resulting in quite the mix of genres.  While I sure I'm missing some stuff (let me know what you think of down in the comments below), here's a rundown of the big albums and songs that rocked folks 35 years ago!

The year starts off with a rather controversial group, Kingdom Come.  While at first they tried to deny it a little, but it's pretty clear they were intent on doing a glamified approach to the classic sound of Led Zeppelin, and to be honest, they were pretty good at it.  And it's not like they were the first to do so, as both Rush's first album and and some of Whitesnake's material come to mind.  In any case, one could see Kingdom Come as the beginning of the retro-clone style of bands that we see so much today, so maybe they're influential at least in that aspect.

Of course, the pop metal scene in general had plenty of albums going around, continuing to dominate the airwaves.  Scorpions came back after a four year album break with Savage Amusement, Europe went Out of This World, Winger was "Headed for a Heartbreak," Cinderella told us that we "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)," and Poison really blew up with Open Up and Say... Ahh!, featuring several big hits like "Nothin' But a Good Time," "Fallen Angel," and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."

Metal's various sub-genres also saw some decent representation this year.  Manowar and Candlemass brought the epicness with Kings of Metal and Ancient Dreams, respectively.  Helloween continued to establish the foundation of power metal with Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2.  Queensrÿche shifted into progressive metal with their concept album Operation: Mindcrime, and Iron Maiden pushed their proggy tendencies further with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.  

However, the big winner of the year was thrash metal.  While all the big thrash bands put out albums this year (with Testament's probably being my personal favorite), it can't be denied that Metallica really put a spotlight on thrash with ...And Justice For All.  Despite the production problems, the album benefited from the music video for "One" getting plenty of airplay on MTV and the now-infamous snub at the Grammy's.  While some would argue that thrash's best year was 1986, the subgenre clearly started to break into the mainstream in 1988, and Metallica was leading the way.

So that's another year wrapped up.  Be sure to check out the playlist below for more great songs.  Until then, rock on! \m/

Anniversary Series - 1986!

Yup, time for another anniversary article.  1986 is definitely a peculiar year, as rock and metal were evolving in a lot of directions by now.  Still, plenty of great songs and albums came out, so let's take a look.

Starting off, we have Ozzy himself, carrying on his solo career with The Ultimate Sin.  Featuring the big hit "Shot in the Dark" (not to be confused with the Great White album of the same name that also came out this year), it would also be the last Ozzy album to feature the fretwork of Jake E. Lee.  Another big name featuring some lineup changes was Van Halen, giving us 5150 and new singer Sammy Hagar, dividing the fans for many years to come.

However, the big metal shift came with the advent of thrash metal.  After kicking around for a few years, bands starting coming out with monster records that would expand the fanbase as well as metal's diversity of sound.  While I generally don't cover a lot of thrash on this blog, I can't deny the melodic chops of Metallica's Master of Puppets and Megedeth's Peace Sells...But Who's Buying.  These two albums would become thrash classics for the genre, and it's easy to see why.  Proggy elements mixed with fierce riffing and shredding, and some iconic vocal hooks, ensured that these bands meant business.

Of course, pop metal was only getting bigger.  Europe would finally crack the US with their third album The Final Countdown, Poison's debut Look What the Cat Dragged In also did well with the singles "I Want Action" and "Talk Dirty to Me," Ratt followed up their second album Dancing Undercover, Cinderella gave us Night Songs, and Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet would go to #1 thanks to their three massive singles.  Even Judas Priest started to glam it up with Turbo, putting a little color in their classic black leather look.

Metal certainly dominated things by this point of the 80s, but rock was still going strong, in it's own way.  AC/DC found success with the single "Who Made Who," Journey was able to work with Steve Perry's health to release Raised on Radio, Genesis continued their pop success with Invisible Touch, and Queen mixed up their sound even more with A Kind of Magic.  Even Boston was finally able to work out their legal troubles and released Third Stage, featuring the big track "Amanda."

Rock was certainly in a lot of different places by 1986, leading to greater diversification later on, and you can find more of that in the playlist I've provided below.  As always, let me know if I've missed something.  Until then, rock on!  \m/