OFF: Saxon ( was RE: HW: Party 2000)

[Andy Gilham]

On Thursday, February 19, 1998 11:03 AM, Dave Berry
[SMTP:daveb at HARLEQUIN.CO.UK] wrote:

> Well, that brings back memories of my youth underneath the plastic
> palm trees!  The DJ at the local HM club (Tiffany's in Bristol),
> used to play "Overkill", followed by "Motorcycle Man", followed by
> some other stupidly fast HM track which escapes my memory, and we
> would try and headbang through the whole lot.  And I used to wake
> up with insane headaches...
>
That I can just picture!

I just looked up Saxon's entry in the indispensible Kerrang! Direktory of
Heavy Metal, and it's well worth quoting in full (well it's either type
this in or do some programming in Access 95 - the things I'll do for the
money, eh...):

----

Saxon
UK, five-piece (1979-present)

Despite starting life not only in Barnsley but also as Son of a Bitch,
Saxon soon came to embody all the strengths of the NWOBHM.  They were late
for the party, but they soon scorched into the charts with "Wheels of
Steel" ('80).

Saxon's major weapons were a truckload of simple, highly melodic Metal
anthems and a Boy's Own approach to Heavy Metal.  Motorhead had a bomber.
Maiden had Eddie. Saxon, typically, had a fucking great eagle as a lighting
gantry, known to the roadcrew as "Biff's Budgie".  Saxon were a credible
ticket draw on the Odeon circuit and an entertaining night out.  Envious of
Iron Maiden's growing status in America, however, Saxon's attempts to cross
the pond with Crusader ('84) saw them struggle.  Thrash metal was looming
on the horizon and Saxon were seen as a cliché.  Instead the band
concentrated on the lucrative European market (particularly Germany) where
antics such as spinning guitars and songs about Real Men will always be
remarkably popular.

A back-to-basics UK club tour in 1990 proved an unexpected success.  Buried
alive by the press and the radio, Saxon have nonetheless continued to fight
for their right to party long after many expected them to give up.  The
records have become steadily weedier, but the live show can still boast a
clutch of memorable hit singles and epic set pieces.  Listen out, too, for
Biff singing: "Another town, another place/Another woman to sit on my face"
during "Rock'n'Roll Gypsies"...

----

-Andy

--
mailto:Andy.Gilham at btinternet.com; http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.gilham