Speaker Death! Heavy Metal Head-Bangers (1981)

1981 promotional sampler from Columbia Records

Recently came across this LP and while it isn't exactly my thing, I bought it anyway. The use of the term "heavy metal" is certainly questionable in some cases, but the whole thing reminds me of music I heard blaring out of cars and pickup trucks when I first went cruising in high school. In my little town, the cruising strip ran from the Dairy Queen to the movie theater. So open up your t-top, blast some pop-metal, and drive your sports car 20 mph. Good times.

Judas Priest - "Hot Rockin'" from Point of Entry
Frank Marino - "The Power of Rock and Roll" from The Power of Rock and Roll
Blue Öyster Cult - "Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver" from Fire of Unknown Origin
The Joe Perry Project - "No Substitute for Arrogance" from I've Got The Rock 'N' Rolls Again
Ted Nugent - "The Flying Lip Lock" from Intensities in Ten Cities

Journey - "Dead or Alive" from Escape
Ozzy Osborne - "Crazy Train" from Blizzard of Ozz
Brad Whitford & Derek St. Holmes - "Whiskey Woman" from Brad Whitford/Derek St. Holmes
Loverboy - "Teenage Overdose" (Live Version)

---

Bubbling Under 1982 [Part 3 of 5]

Using information found in the above supplement, below is an annotated list of songs that didn't quite crack the Billboard Hot 100, provided with links in hopes of helping you find some vintage tunes that are new to you. Click on the title to hear the tune or see the video, click on the artist for a Wikipedia entry, and click on the album for the Discogs entry. In all, there were 105 tracks that "bubbled under" the Hot 100 in 1982, here's 21 of those.

Title	Artist	Album	BU	Rock	AC	RB	Dance	Country
Hey There Lonely Boy	Stacy Lattisaw	Sneakin' Out	108			71
Right in the Middle (Of Falling in Love)	Bettye LaVette	Tell Me a Lie	103			35
President's Rap	Rich Little	12" single	105			39
Jump	Loverboy	Get Lucky	101
Who's Foolin' Who	Lulu	Lulu	106
Instant Love	Cheryl Lynn	Instant Love	105			16
If This World Were Mine	Cheryl Lynn & Luther Vandross	Instant Love	101			4
Everybody	Madonna	Madonna	107				3
Spies in the Night	Manhattan Transfer	Mecca for Moderns	103
Nobody's Business	Maxus	Maxus	109
Big Band Medley	Meco	Swingtine's Greatest Hits	101		18
Hot Spot	Midnight Star	Victory	108			35
Last Night	Stephanie Mills	Tantalizingly Hot	101			14
Love's Comin' at Ya	Melba Moore	The Other Side of the Rainbow	104			5	2
Love Leads to Madness	Nazareth	2XS	105	19
Tattoo	Novo Combo	Novo Combo	103	42
She's Just a Groupie	Bobby Nunn	Second to Nunn	104			15	28
Inside Out	Odyssey	Happy Together	104			12	25
I Just Want to Satisfy You	O'Jays	My Favorite Person	101			15
One of a Kind	Orleans	One of a Kind	110
Li'l Suzy	Ozone	Li'l Suzy	109			45

Top Selling Albums of 1982

My personal Top Ten Albums of 1982:

• Asia - Asia
• The Golden Age of Wireless - Thomas Dolby
• Rio - Duran Duran
• Special Beat Service - The English Beat
• The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
• Pelican West - Haircut 100
• Night and Day - Joe Jackson
• The Nylon Curtain - Billy Joel
• Incognito - Spyro Gyra
• IV - Toto

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare my personal list to the top ten selling albums of that year.  Not so, it turns out.  Why?  Of the best selling albums of 1982, only two were released during that calendar year.  Seven others were released in July and October of the previous year.  I shoulda seen that coming. But since I did the research, I thought I'd post the results anyway.  Turns out the only record the two lists have in common is the Asia album.  In order, here's how Billboard magazine ranked the top ten sellers of 1982.

		Title: Asia Artist: Asia Released: March 1982 (Geffen) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 64 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 9
		Title: Beauty and the Beat Artist: The Go-Go's Released: July 1981 (I.R.S.) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 72 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 6
		Title: 4 Artist: Foreigner Released: July 1981 (Atlantic) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 81 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 10
		Title: American Fool Artist: John Cougar Released: July 1982 (Riva) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 106 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 9
		Title: Freeze-Frame Artist: The J. Geils Band Released: October 1981 (EMI) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 70 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 4
		Title: Escape Artist: Journey Released: July 1981 (Columbia) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 146 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 1
		Title: Get Lucky Artist: Loverboy Released: October 1981 (Columbia) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 122 Peak position: #7 Number of weeks at #1: n/a
		Title: Bella Donna Artist: Stevie Nicks Released: July 1981 (Atco) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 143 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 1
		Title: Chariots of Fire Artist: Vangelis Released: April 1981 (Polydor) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 57 Peak position: #1 Number of weeks at #1: 4
		Title: Ghost in the Machine Artist: The Police Released: October 1981 (A&M) Number of weeks in the Billboard 200: 109 Peak position: #2 Number of weeks at #1: n/a

I bought the Asia and Vangelis albums on vinyl and the albums by The Go-Go's, Foreigner, The J. Geils Band, Journey, and The Police on cassette. I've since bought CD copies of the albums on this list by Asia, The Go-Go's, The J. Geils Band, Vangelis, and The Police.  No current plans to buy the others, but I'm a fickle guy when it comes to things like that.

---