The New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a phrase originally coined by Geoff Barton, a writer who championed the music he loved in the pages of England's Sounds magazine. Sounds was a contemporary of New Musical Express, another publication that followed the local scene in London. In reality, there had been a host of good bands playing heavy metal music for years previously, at a time when punk completely dominated the scene, but the media didn't cover the movement much until the beginning of the 1980's. Iron Maiden, for example, toiled through five years of small-time gigs - and lineup changes - before finally landing a recording contract with EMI. They were a band that drew on the same working-class ethic and high energy that fueled punk mythology but brought a level of sophistication and lethal musical delivery to it that inspired many a band to follow in the wake of their success.

One of Maiden's early supporters was a HM fanatic by the name of Neal Kay, who used his club, the Soundhouse, as a platform to promote underground bands and try to bring them to national attention. Kay was floored when he first heard Maiden's demo tape (the recording came to be christened The Soundhouse Tapes) and started playing it over the sound system - to rabid enthusiasm from the patrons of his club. Soon after, Maiden played their debut gig at the Soundhouse. Other clubs around London that became havens for struggling Heavy Metal bands included the Marquee, the Bandwagon, Music Machine, and the prestigious Hammersmith Odeon, a 3,500 capacity venue where Motorhead, Iron Maiden and Venom all recorded live albums.