January 1988

CONTENTS

EXODUS OR EX-CONTENDERS?

Don Kaye

Once upon a time there was a band called Metallica who emerged from San Francisco (after moving there from Los Angeles) to become one of the most popular and important metal bands around today. They put San Francisco on the map as the underground metal capital of the world.

KISS

METALLICA FROM THE GARAGE AND BACK AGAIN

Judy Wieder

“It’s really been heavy. We’ve had equipment stolen, arms broken—but, of course, nothing as devastating as what happened to Cliff last year. That was the absolute worst.”

STRYPER

BON JOVI'S View From The Top

Sylvie Simmons

It’s the meanest part of midsummer. The air smells like a tramp pissed in a Turkish bath. It’s still in the 90s outside, and inside there’s 18,000 people layered like angel's food cake in an arena outside Washington, D.C. An exuberant bunch, good natured; they’re not even rude to the opening act, Keel.

BRITMETAL

Sylvie Simmons

Hey, wait a minute! Is that a bird soaring through the skies? A plane? Dio’s dragon?? No, it's waggish Jon Bon Jovi on a jet-pack, rehearsing his spectacular flight into the Festival! “We’ve hired a stunt team,” yells Jon to Britmetal from 30,000 feet, the stewardess walking across the top of his head serving drinks looking most peculiar.

Records

METALLICA, DEF LEPPARD, TWISTED SISTER

RE-REVISITED RE-REVIEWED METALLICA Garage Days Re-Revisited (Elektra) I awoke this morning from a horrible nightmare: I had dreamt I was at a Metallica concert.

DEE SNIDER: LET’S TWIST AGAIN

Harold DeMuir

“I kind of see myself in the future as a cross between Phil Collins and Bette Midler.”

VINCE NEIL OF MOTLEY CRUE

Attack Of The Living DOKKEN

Steve Peters

It’s another warm, picture-perfect summer day in Los Angeles, but Don Dokken is feeling a bit under the weather. The lead singer of the band that bears his name has been putting in some long hours on the final mixing of Back For The Attack, Dokken’s latest entry into the realm of scathing hard rock.

The Metal Underground

Chuck Eddy

I know you already know how great Metallica's new all-covers EP is (“Crash Course In Brain Surgery” by Budgie! Yes!), so I’ll skip that one and start out instead with a couple of just-reissued records by Metallica’s spiritual granddaddies (who Metallica no doubt never heard of, but with those guys you never know).

New Metal

Jorgen Holmstedt

When John Norum left the poised-for-stardom band Europe about a year ago, most people thought he was out of his mind (a well-known Swedish magazine named him “Artistic Soul Of The Year”). At the time, the Swedish rock band topped most of the European charts with “The Final Countdown,” Japan was already defeated and the album of the same name had started to move upwards on the American Billboard chart.

CINDERELLA

Live Metal

Ida S. Langsam

As I entered the massive Madison Square Garden, I found myself amidst a giggling gaggle of girls, many with their moms. Countless numbers of them were dressed in their best animal print spandex outfits from the local K-Mart or Sears. Checking my wristwatch, I saw that it was 8:03.

Great Moments In Metal DEF LEPPARD

FEATURES

LONDON—Directly or indirectly, Eric Clapton is responsible for my being here. Eric Clapton—who left the Yardbirds and left John Mayall to form the inescapable ’60s monolith of rock bands, the one that begat a music form that not only outlived the group, but the entire decade, and the next and possibly the ’80s as well.

SLAYER’S BLOODY REIGN OF GUITARS AND VIOLENCE

Jeff Clark

"Ass-kickin'" just doesn't cut it. When contemplating the power that is Slayer, try "face-stabbin'."

THE MANY REGRETS OF POISON