1984 - Wherein I get a CD player for my birthday. For x-daysofmusic

Another year of this #x-daysofmusic challenge set up by @backinblackdevil.

It was a Sony player, and was quite exciting. The first CD I bought would have been The Wall, but my parents gave me two discs with the player - a Jethro Tull best-of, and the new Rush CD:

Rush - Distant Early Warning

From Grace Under Pressure
Not my favourite Rush album, but it did get a lot of play. This album cemented the new direction of shorter songs with less guitar and more synth. This shift meant I lost the urge to see them live, although i continued to buy every album as it was released. They've allegedly split up now, after 41 years of Rushing around.

Jim Steinman & Fire Inc. - Nowhere Fast

From Streets of Fire
Here's an obscurity. Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman had had a falling out, and while Meat got to use a couple of Steinman songs including this one, on his Bad Attitude album it was Modern Girl that gave his career a much needed boost. Steinman meanwhile was doing his own thing, having released Bad For Good - the original sequel to Bat Out of Hell - by himself in 1981. He contributed songs to Bonnie Tyler and others then cropped up on this 12" single for a film I don't think ever was released in the UK.

Blue Öyster Cult - Take Me Away

From The Revölution By Night
This video is quite fun and packed with BÖC iconography. My first BÖC concert was in 1984. Hammersmith Odeon of course. It was a bit rubbish really - they were falling apart at this point. Albert Bouchard had been sacked and his brother Joe wasn't happy. The memorable parts of the gig was one of the guys I was with being beaten up in the gents for looking at another bloke the wrong way. One of the others had their jacket nicked that night as well (which I've never forgotten and bothers me at every seated gig I stand up in...

Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes To Midnight

From Powerslaves. I think this is the gig filmed for Live After Death
I was known as a metal fan at school, so when there was a spare ticket I was on the list of possible takers. I was not an Iron Maiden fan, but was willing to take a look. Side One of Powerslaves is one of Maiden's better efforts and they do a great gig. This was the tour where they really started to think big. Dio were also doing an Egyptian-themed tour at the time, but Maiden's was way better. That said, the Somewhere in Time stage was astonishing and I'm told the Seventh Son... show at Donington a few years' later was a masterpiece.

Metallica - Fight Fire With Fire

From Ride The Lightning. One day they would headline Glastonbury Festival
Another Simon's Records discovery on my paper round. This was in the bargain bin as soon as it arrived, along with an early Accept album. The sound on this is a bit muffled, but you can see if not hear Cliff Burton's genre defining bass playing. There's a Cthulu track on the album for those who are collecting references, although it's spelled with a 'K'.

My days of music: 1967 - 1968 - 1969 - 1970 - 1971 - 1972 - 1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983