#356 - 1980: The Beginning of Modern Metal

The year is 1980. The U.S. National Debt is a paltry $900 Billion, the word “yuppie” appears for the first time in print, the Pac-Man videogame is released in arcades everywhere, Mount St. Helens explodes in Washington state, and Cable News Network (also known as CNN) becomes a thing.

In the world of metal, Iron Maiden release their self-titled debut album, Black Sabbath reinvent themselves with new frontman Ronnie James Dio on vocals and release Heaven and Hell, and AC/DC regroup after the tragic loss of Bon Scott and release Back In Black featuring new vocalist Brian Johnson, an album that would go on to sell more than 40 million copies and become one of the biggest selling albums of all time.

Just as time and technology continued marching forward, the hard rock of the 70’s continued its evolution into a new direction with a faster, heavier, and more aggressive sound beginning in 1980 that would become even faster, heavier, and more aggressive throughout the 80’s.

Get ready for a taste of “Something Haunted” from the “Necronomidonkeykongimicon” and find out why “you gotta watch for the flops” if you want to get in the spirit and enjoy the FIFA World Cup.

Discover which dinosaur is “the biggest dinosaur”, understand the rules and regulations regarding “flip-flops”, find out which type of rooster has the best breasts, and be sure to “have a nice June” when you JOIN US as we dive headlong into the year that gave us the birth of modern metal with THE YEAR OF OUR RIFF LORD – 1980.

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Show Notes:

(00:01): “Welcome back to the red button section of the show…”/ “We’re gonna do an ITM of nothing but Goblin Cock…”/ “They might be on their way to the ATL…”/ The complete #GoblinCock collection / “Necronomidonkeykongimicon…”/ “The dongasaurus…that’s the biggest dinosaur by the way…”/ ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised ***/ #AI / #Juicebox / “That’s what I want…please send me a shape shifting sex doll…”/ “One night I might want a home cooked meal…”/ ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST DEEP DOWN IN THE BUNKERPOON CENTER FOR METAL EXCELLENCE!!!*** /

“Consumption is old school tuberculosis…”/ “Okay, so you wanna hear the joke?”/

#cuntscum #scumcunt

(6:55): “Now that we’ve offended everybody…”/ ***PATREON US at patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast *** / “Uh…you missed…”/ “Am I completely wrong or did you miss the Grandmaster Vag Destroyer?”/ “So the song…from Goblin Cock…SOMETHING HAUNTED (Necronomidonkeykongimicon – 2016) / “It’s like hooky doom metal…”/ “Button please…”/ “That was just on #Spotify …”/

***SOCIAL MEDIA US at #metalnerderypodcast on #Facebook #YouTube #Instagram and #TikTok*** / *** EMAIL US at metalnerdery@gmail.com *** / #peachstarfish

(13:13): “I will tell you…how to watch the game ‘soccer’ and be entertained…”/ #FIFA #WorldCupSoccer #WorldCup2026 / “You gotta watch for the flops…that’s the best part…”/ #markthetime / “A good 7 inches…”/ #OzzyManReviews / “These guys KNOW there’s replay…and the internet is forever…”/ “If you want to get in the spirit and watch the world cup, look for the flops…”/ Rules for wearing Flip Flops / #doublefuckyou

(20:00): ***VOICEMAIL US AT 980-666-8182!!!*** / Ken from Connecticut… / #MiltonBerle and #UFO / The dispute regarding AC/DC’s country of origin relative to the band members’ respective countries of origin vs where the band was formed / “Is Scotland England?” / “The band was formed in Australia…”/ NOTE: only Phil Rudd was born in Australia.

(26:08): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: THE YEAR OF OUR RIFF LORD – 1980 (***Also check out our 1980 – THE YEAR IN METAL episode from 2019!***) / “Metal was hard rock and then some, just like death metal was thrash and then some…”/ NOTE: Iron Maiden’s first album is NOT Killers…/ “Remember video games back in 1980?”/ “There’s something to be said about nostalgia…”/ #Atari / “I could still get behind Mario…”/ #markthetime / “It’s June, dude, we can do that…”/ “Adventure? Oh, where the dragon looks like a duck?”/ “Billboard’s Top HOT 100 Songs in 1980…”/ “What’s number uno?”/ “If you put some distortion on Air Supply…hair metal, all day…”/ “It’s June, we can do that…”/ “The Dirt Band?”/ “Let me ask you guys something about Pat Benatar…”/ #premetal / “Especially ‘Hell Is For Children’…”

(34:44): “Them’s fightin’ words, bro…”/ #killeropener / #IronMaiden PROWLER (Iron Maiden – 1980) / “I just noticed something…Paul Di’Anno’s voice…” / #nuanced /

“What about The Black Album of 1980?” / #allegedly / “Did they not remix/remaster Back In Black (the album) not too long ago?”/ “Let’s do a deep cut…”/ #ACDC GIVIN THE DOG A BONE (Back In Black – 1980) / “Oh…dogs like bones…” / “Is AC/DC metal?...it’s close enough…”/ “It was remastered in ’94, ’03, and ’09…”

(41:25): “What about something from Saxon? They had 2 albums that year…”/ “Lars is a big Saxon fan too…”/ #Saxon HEAVY METAL THUNDER (Strong Arm Of The Law – 1980) / “That sounds familiar…”/ “That sounds like old Pantera…”/ “On the #UFO kick…we’ve got No Place To Run…”/ #UFO MYSTERY TRAIN (No Place To Run – 1980) /“Is that Schenker?”/

NOTE: it was NOT Michael Schenker…it was Paul Chapman / NOTE: Pete Way was also in #Fastway and #Waysted / “That’s the other thing about 1980…the artwork…”/ #bodydysmorphia #bodypositivity / #Budgie FOREARM SMASH (Power Supply – 1980) /

“Yep, that’s got metal vibes to it…”/ NOTE: It IS the same guy/singer.

(52:33): “How about some Priest?” / “If your title’s too long it doesn’t get played…”/

“I wonder if that site actually gives Rob Halford a residual?”/ “It’s June…have a nice June…I mean, it’s June…”/ #JudasPriest THE RAGE (British Steel – 1980) / “There was a lot of comments when we did the ’86…this is NOT better than ’86…”/ “People love nostalgia…”/

“Maybe even ’83 I can get…’83 maybe more than ’80…” / “What are you feeding those things?”/ “You could SEE the TASTE of that…”

(1:00:20): “I’ve never heard of Atomic Rooster…”/ “That cock has got some huge boobs on it…I mean it’s June, so…”/ #AtomicRooster FRIDAY THE 13TH (Atomic Roooster – 1970) /

NOTE: #AtomicRooster, the band, released Atomic Roooster (the album) in 1970, the album which included Friday The 13th…the album Atomic Rooster was released in 1980. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused, but to be fair, the 1970 album has a much cooler album cover than the 1980 album does. / “We talk about Bone movies enough…and it’s June…”/ #OzzyOsbourne NO BONE MOVIES (Blizzard Of Ozz – 1980) /

“Context matters…”/ “Animal Magnetism…look at that cover…there’s a dog there too…”/

“I’ll shut up about June…” / #Scorpions THE ZOO (Animal Magnetism – 1980) /

“Not fisting…”/ “You know what, I think he might actually be shorter than Dio…”

(1:08:46): “How about the Tygers of Poon Tang, dude? Or Pang Tang?”/

“I had (a curry) one time that was supposed to be spicy and it literally tasted like halitosis…”/ #debutalbum / “The G is silent…”/ #TygersOfPanTang EUTHANASIA (Wild Cat – 1980) / “Oh yeah…okay?”/ “Very lackadaisical performance…”/ “More metal than Black Sabbath? Or Iron Maiden?”/ “I wanna hear this one…” / #DiamondHead HELPLESS (Lightning To The Nations – 1980) / “That is 7 years before Garage Days came out…isn’t that crazy to think about?” / “And we never really would have known about this band without Metallica…”

(1:16:37): “That’s probably the most metal Van Halen tune…”/ “Oh, it was Mr. Bungle…and they nailed it…”/ #VanHalen LOSS OF CONTROL (Women And Children First – 1980) / “You can almost hear #Pantera doing that…” / #SevenMaryThree #CHiPs / “I think we would be remiss if we did not include something from Heaven and Hell…” / “Molly Hatchet was such a tease…remember what their album covers looked like?”/ #BlackSabbath DIE YOUNG (Heaven And Hell – 1980) / NOTE: It’s Geoff Nichols NOT Don Airey / “Wait a minute…that’s on the first album, right?” / “How we play a little bit of ‘Running Free’ just to compare the riffs…” / #IronMaiden RUNNING FREE (Iron Maiden – 1980)

(1:22:46): “What was the most metal song on ‘Permanent Waves’?” / “Given the Rush fanfare…”/ #Rush NATURAL SCIENCE (Permanent Waves – 1980) / “Very trippy…”/

“The coolest thing I’ve heard somebody say about Rush, especially this era: that album came out 40+ years ago and it STILL sounds like it’s from the future!”/ “They were the first real ‘music nerd’ band…”/ “Whatever…it’s June…”/ The way radio shows were back in the 70’s and 80’s / “I liked ‘Don’t Fear The Raper’…”/ “How about some Angel Witch…is that like a Sand Witch?”/ #AngelWitch ANGEL WITCH (Angel Witch – 1980) / “It’s like uppity, happy metal…”/ “If we’re gonna do a death match between years…”/ “We need to start setting up #SpotifyPlaylists of what we do on the show…”/ THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! / #untilthenext #outroreel