1983 in heavy metal music

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1983.

Newly formed bands

• Alcatrazz
• Bathory
• Bon Jovi
• Death
• Excel (known as Chaotic Noise until 1985)
• Fastway
• Fates Warning
• Helloween
• Keel
• Living Colour
• Lizzy Borden
• Master
• Mayhem
• Megadeth
• Metal Church (formerly known as Shrapnel)
• Morbid Angel
• Onslaught
• Poison
• Possessed
• Queensrÿche
• Savatage
• Stryper
• Testament (known as Legacy until 1986)
• White Lion

Albums

• AC/DC - Flick of the Switch
• Accept - Balls to the Wall
• Alcatrazz - No Parole From Rock N' Roll
• Alice Cooper - DaDa
• Black Sabbath - Born Again
• Blue Öyster Cult - The Revölution by Night
• Def Leppard - Pyromania
• Diamond Head - Canterbury
• Dio - Holy Diver
• Dokken - Breaking the Chains
• Europe - Europe
• Fastway - Fastway
• Girlschool - Play Dirty
• Hanoi Rocks - Self-Destruction Blues
• Hanoi Rocks - Back to Mystery City
• Helix - No Rest For The Wicked
• Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
• KISS - Lick It Up
• Kix - Cool Kids
• Krokus - Headhunter
• Loudness - Law of Devil's Land
• Manowar - Into Glory Ride
• Mercyful Fate - Melissa
• Metallica - Kill 'Em All
• Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil
• Motörhead - Another Perfect Day
• Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
• Pantera - Metal Magic
• Phoenix Rising - Phoenix Rising
• Queensrÿche - Queensrÿche
• Quiet Riot - Metal Health
• Ratt - Ratt (EP)
• Savage - Loose 'N Lethal
• Savatage - Sirens
• Saxon - Power & the Glory
• Slayer - Show No Mercy
• Steeler - Steeler
• Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies
• Thin Lizzy - Thunder and Lightning
• Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll
• Venom - At War with Satan
• Y&T - Mean Streak

Events

• At the end of the year, drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor and guitarist Brian Robertson leave Motörhead. The band is reborn with a new, four-piece line-up (Lemmy/Phil Campbell/Würzel/Pete Gill).
• Yngwie Malmsteen got his start this year in the band Steeler. Also in that band was (Future Keel vocalist) Ron Keel & Former W.A.S.P. bassist Rik Fox. The band had only one album, Steeler.
• Dave Mustaine, lead guitarist for Metallica, is fired for drug/alcohol abuse, and is replaced by Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett, after which he formed the L.A. Thrash band Megadeth
• Mötley Crüe - Shout at the Devil Becomes a huge hit marking one of the turning points into commercialization of Heavy Metal. Helping make the L.A. Glam Metal scene even bigger.
• KISS put away their makeup.
• On November 19, 1983 Quiet Riot's Cum on Feel the Noize Becomes the first ever top 5 hit in Heavy Metal history.
• November 26, 1983 Cum on Feel the Noize is #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a second week. This week, Quiet Riot's Metal Health Album Also Tops The chart. The first time a metal band had a top 10 hit song & a #1 album the same week. Metal health also sells over 6 Million copies. Other bands such as Def Leppard, & Albums like Shout at the Devil by Mötley Crüe are Sometimes falsely considered the "breakthru". However it wasn't Until Quiet Riot had their success that the Metal scene really started.
• Black Sabbath Vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice left the band to form Dio and were replaced by ex-Deep Purple Singer Ian Gillan and former Sabbath Drummer Bill Ward
• On April 17, 1983 Mountain bassist, and Cream producer, Felix Pappalardi was shot and killed by his wife Gail Collins Pappalardi.