FLASHBACK 1980 (AC/DC/BLACK SABBATH/KISS)

by RJhog

This week Flashback looks at 1980. What a year. For me personally, I was 14 years old. The one thing I remember more than anything is that my beloved Georgia Bulldogs won the National Championship in college football that year. But so much more happened that year, including the rock world's loss of John Lennon, Bon Scott and John Bonham. Of course, the latter led to the disbanding of possibly the greatest rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin.

And that leads me to the subject of my edition of Flashback, replacing a band member. Obviously, there are different reasons to do this. Maybe there are creative differences. Maybe it's because a member can no longer perform his duties due to health reasons or drug addiction. Or maybe you have no choice because of the death of a band member. Whatever the reason, some bands strike gold twice and some bands just never recover. My three choices this week all replaced a band member for this particular album (although in one instance we didn't know it until years later).

AC/DC (Back In Black)

1. Hells Bells

2. Shoot To Thrill

3. Back In Black

4. You Shook Me All Night Long

5. Have A Drink On Me

Bon Scott died in early 1980. AC/DC had to decide whether or not to continue on. After making that decision, the band replaced Scott with Brian Johnson. Johnson also became the lyricist. Did this work out okay for AC/DC? Well, it has sold over 22 million copies in the US alone, and an estimated 49 million worldwide. The cover is all black in honor of Bon Scott and the album opener (Hells Bells) was written to commemorate his death.

Black Sabbath (Heaven And Hell)

6. Neon Knights

7. Children Of The Sea

8. Lady Evil

9. Heaven And Hell

10. Walk Away

In 1980, Black Sabbath faced the task of replacing a legend (Ozzy Osbourne). As for the previous album as well, replacing the lead vocalist may be the hardest task of all. In steps Ronnie James Dio. Who knew? This album totally rocked and put Black Sabbath right back in the limelight as heavy hitters.

Kiss (Unmasked)

11. Is That You?

12. Shandi

13. Talk To Me

14. Naked City

15. Tomorrow

And then there's Kiss. On Unmasked, they had to replace Peter Criss. Technically, he was replaced on all but one song on the previous album Dynasty, but he performed nothing on this album. Drumming was performed by a session drummer, then Criss was officially replaced on the next album. From what I understand, his substance abuse had led to an inability to perform up to standards. What we got was not a hard rock album in the vein of the previous two, but a rock/pop album. At this time Kiss was still searching for it's identity, which would take a couple more years to find.

***Click any album cover to listen***

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Permalink Reply by Niels (Mod) on January 24, 2011 at 4:41am

Ahhh,1980 is one of my absolute favorite-years in music. A week ago, I made a IMHO-list on 1980, and two of the albums, are on that list. Not that it matters, RJhog, not at all. I did avoid "Unmasked" on my list, because that album, was the first time, I ever got dissapointed in a new release from Kiss, except for Peter Criss's solo-album. "Back in black" is not among my favorite AC/DC-albums, it would probably be on a 4th. place, but a great album nevertheless. "Heaven and Hell" is of course an awesome album, with RJD in top-form.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on January 24, 2011 at 5:18pm

I have a couple confessions to make:

1) This is the only Kiss album I picked up on vinyl, and the only reason was that it was a cutout

2) The only song I have ever downloaded was "Is That You?" because I had a free download credit from Amazon.com for purchasing a CD and I like the song.

Does this make me a Kiss fan?

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 24, 2011 at 6:21pm

Yes...

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Permalink Reply by Scott on January 24, 2011 at 6:56pm

First a small sampling of some other great releases from this fine vintage of a year...

Journey - Departure: I can still see Rodney Dangerfield and the gang dancing it up on the first tee

Dire Straits - Making Movies: This is the album Communique wished it could be. And I'm a huge Communique fan!

Loverboy - Loverboy: A seminole moment in time when New Wave became mainstream

Judas Priest - British Steel: Breaking the Law still makes you bang your head! admit it!

REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity: And ballads woudl become the key to hair band success for an entire decade.

And some obscure favorites...

Gamma - Gamma 2: Montrose and gang still kicking out solid jams and one of the best album covers of the year!

Pat Travers - Crash and Burn: Ladies and Gentlemen, on the drums, Tommy Aldredge!

The Babys - Union Jacks: Still sets a high production standard for me

Kansas - Audio Visions: Marking the end of a very prodcutive era for them

Now for some fun music facts from 1980 courtesy of WIKIPEDIA...

Paul McCartney is arrested in Tokyo for possession of a half pound of marijuana. The remaining part of McCartney's tour has to be canceled.
February 19 - Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, dies in London. Although common folklore cites pulmonary aspiration of vomit as the cause of his death, the official cause is listed as "Acute alcohol poisoning" and "Death by Misadventure".
July 25 - AC/DC release Back in Black which later becomes the highest selling album by any band to date.
September 20 - Ozzy Osbourne's breakthrough debut album Blizzard of Ozz is released in the UK.
September 25 - John Bonham, drummer of Led Zeppelin, is found dead by bandmate John Paul Jones.
December 8 - John Lennon is shot dead outside his apartment building in New York City. His single, "(Just Like) Starting Over", subsequently becomes a number one hit in many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.