No hairspray, just riffs: the 80s underground metal scene

Ask someone who wasn’t really into heavy metal in the 1980s what’s the first thing they think of when they think of 80s metal and they’ll usually say hair bands, Bon Jovi, Europe or Poison. Fair enough. All these bands, correctly or not, were referred to as metal in much of the press. Ask an 80s metal head the same question and none of these bands will get a mention.

Heavy metal in the early 1980s in Australia was rare commodity. Certainly the only records in the hard rock section of a suburban record store would be Deep Purple, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and if you were lucky maybe some Rainbow or Whitesnake. Once hearing these bands though, if your proclivity was for big riffs, a deep, driving rhythm section, un-subtle vocals, then you knew you had to find more than the scant mainstream offerings.

Finding like-minded bangers was the key. Once you had a denim jacket, and started growing your hair, other headbangers would call out to you in the street. You were part of a brotherhood (unfortunately, particularly in the early 80s, not many females were into metal), and all that mattered was that you dug the music.

Tape trading was big. Records were expensive, so sharing music was the best way to expand your metal universe. And the more obscure the better. Very little was happening in Australia in the early 1980s, but in the UK and Europe there was an explosion. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal, as the UK music press termed it, saw a mess of bands taking the aggression and rawness of the punk movement, and meshing it with the technicality of earlier prog rock. Iron Maiden, Saxon, Samson, Motorhead, Girlschool, Diamond Head, Judas Priest, and Tank are just a small example of this movement. Of course most of these bands were not on major labels, and certainly not locally released, so the only place to get their records was at import record stores. Utopia, which opened in Sydney in 1978, was one that catered specifically to the metal market. Impact Imports came pretty close for Canberra headbangers. Both these stores became hangouts of metal heads, keen to get hold of new releases, rarities, and to hangout with other metallers.

Bands started to come onto the live circuit in Australia. Venues such as the St James Tavern, Seven Hills Inn, and The Royal Sutherland in Sydney hosted regular metal nights. Most of the bands in the early to mid 1980s were more hard rock than metal, and lacked the impact that was on a lot of the albums coming out of the UK and Europe (and even some of the LA bands – Van Halen, Motley Crue, WASP, Ratt).

Then two American underground metal bands’ releases found their way to Aussie headbangers: Slayer and Metallica. Everything changed. These bands, and others that soon came (Anthrax, Death Angel, Exodus, Testament, Megadeth) had harnessed all the heavy music that had come before and smashed into something that was the quintessence of metal music. There was a lot more of the punk element there. Totally raw, no more singing about girls and cars, super fast blast-beats, down-stroked riffing, and no regard for the commercial market. Local scenes responded. In Sydney, Slaughter Lord, Death Mission, Mortal Sin, and later Addictive, Enticer, Detriment and Cromok all started playing what was termed thrash metal at local venues. The scene grew, and many more bands entered the scene: Frozen Doberman, Tribe Maelstrom, White Trash, Netherhyde.

Meanwhile in the States, another scene was burgeoning. Quick of the heels of the success of Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, WASP and the like, glam – a throw-back to the 1970s rock genre – bands started springing up putting more emphasis on image than on music. This was getting attention from record companies. Unlike thrash, glam metal had commercial appeal. Band members groomed themselves – albeit to look as feminine as possible – and itched for publicity. The music was basic, and back to singing about girls and cars. Many got signed though, and MTV was keen to put music clips on heavy rotation. Poison, Cinderella, and of course, Bon Jovi.

Because these bands were essentially rock, and juxtaposed with the pop music of the time, their music was considered quite heavy, and because they had long hair, the bands were put in the metal basket. But for those who were actually into heavy metal, these bands just didn’t fit. Metal was about being different. Wanting nothing to do with the mainstream. Sharing no common ground with middle-of-the-road popular culture. Metal was a reaction to commercialised and sanitised music. But many a headbanger was subjected to idiotic taunts of ‘Bon Jovi’ from groups of naïve Triple M listeners as they walked down the street in the 1980s.

The real metal scene responded by delving deeper into the underground. Hardcore – a scene that had come out of the US with bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains, and DRI – began to impact on heavy metal. The punk elements of metal had begun to wear through the proggy riffs, and solo breaks made way for naked aggression. Punks and headbangers hung out at gigs as one scene, and bands such as the Hard Ons and Massappeal shared line ups with thrash metal bands.

But hair metal forged on, selling millions of albums, and making cool bands like Whitesnake re-invent themselves as a bunch of silly old men wearing make-up and giant hair-sprayed coiffures.

And making headbangers wince.

Guns n Roses eventually killed off the glam thing in the 80s. They came out of the same scene as Poison, Cinderella and Warrant, but they (after a short while) did away with the hair and make-up. They could write and play, and they knew their punk, rock and blues roots. On the whole though, they were really too commercial to be massively popular in the actual metal scene.

It was the blending of the underground scenes that saw the end of the real 80s metal scene in Sydney. Underground music became diverse and fused, and liked by people from many different scenes: metal, punk, goth, indie.

And then there was grunge…