Another year of this #x-daysofmusic challenge set up by @backinblackdevil.
In 1983 I went to three concerts - all at the Hammersmith Odeon:
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Saints & Sinners is a deeply flawed album, but a damn sight better than the follow-up Slide It In, which actually featured the line-up shown in this video, as opposed to the classic line-up which is on this record. To be fair, the gig wasn't much cop - Colin Hodgkinson is a jazz bassist, and not suitable for metal, and the whole thing was bit off. Oh, and I missed my stop on the coach into London and got lost. As you do.
The support band were Samson, who were about to disappear from view as their previous singer had quit to join Iron Maiden.
Dio - Rainbow in the Dark
Holy Diver is the natural result of Dio's time in Rainbow and Black Sabbath, and his shows gave you the greatest hits of those bands along with the new album. One of the great metal singers, and sorely missed. The gig was brilliant, by the way. Support was Waysted - a UFO offshoot that record one classic album: Vices, and then some dross.
I had the early Dio singles on shaped picture discs and stuff like that. At this moment they were my absolute favourite band.
Judas Priest - Freewheel Burning
Speaking of great singers - Rob Halford. In the early 80's Judas Priest were churning out the hits so fast that they were touring albums before releasing them. Which is silly. Defenders... is very much a sequel to Screaming for Vengeance and shares a similar cover by the same artist. I think I have the single on 12" still.
The gig was an absolute corker, including support by Quiet Riot, who had a minor hit with a Slade cover then vanished back to obscurity.
In other music news, REM, Hüsker Dü and Metallica were recording début albums in America, but I wouldn't know about them for a while. I did know about these...
Twisted Sister - I Am (I'm Me)
We are Twisted Fucking Sister is one of the finest, funniest rockumentaries you could ever hope to watch. Twisted Sister languished for a decade before getting an album out so they were ready when it happened. The UK audience welcomed them because Lemmy told us to. He knew his stuff.
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
No longer Lost in France, Bonnie Tyler made the mother of all comebacks with an album produced by Jim Steinman and featuring a cover of a duff Blue Öyster Cult song.
I saw Bonnie in concert a few years later. But we'll gloss over that.
My days of music: 1967 - 1968 - 1969 - 1970 - 1971 - 1972 - 1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is still featured in the German musical "Tanz der Vampire" (Dance of the Vampires) and of course there are German lyrics. Deserved honour for a great tune. However, I thought, Bonnie's version was the first to exist.
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Wow!
This video is hysterical - Bonnie should have gone for the vampire look.
The young lady has a great voice.
This also features 'Storm', from Bad for Good at the beginning and the vampire's coda is 'Original Sin' from the Pandora's Box album...
Tanz der Vampire is on my Spotify 'must listen' list - this could be my afternoon sorted!
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Don't remember that version of the Whitesnake song. Mr Coverdale really embraced hair metal. Funny watching all those guys trying to look pretty in the 80s.
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Whitesnake are a perfect reflection of how metal changed in the 80s, from blues-based in 1980 to hair metal at the end of the decade. 1987 was not a good album - I bought it, but I do't now why.
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