1986. 40 years later.

I feel like this is the very early stage of the capital P progressive direction Maiden would take in future years. Wasted Years is probably one of their most accessible singles ever. The devil, time travel, a Heinlein reference, and a history lesson. It's a quintessential Iron Maiden record. It still gets played around here.

This album seemed so extreme in 1986, but today it's almost mainstream. Megadeth always seemed like a second-rate Iron Maiden to me, but that said, this was a solid record back then, and it holds up today.

Ratt peaked with their debut album, which was Out of the Cellar. They started a slow decline after that. I remember buying this on album and not being happy about it in short order. On re-listening in 2026, 1986 Chris had that one right.

Speaking of bands that sound like Kiss... I don't think I ever owned this, as Black 'N Blue never passed the "must buy" threshold for me. However, as an artifact of 1986 metal, this is a hell of a lot more listenable than the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Actually, it's kind of good.

I remember being disappointed back in 1986. Today, I'd rate this as the 20th best Kiss record.

I don't remember if I owned this, but as I was a big Triumph fan, I'll assume I bought it in 1986 and was disappointed. The single Somebody's Out There is still damn catchy, but there isn't much to recommend spending time with the the rest of the album.

I don't think I owned this album in 1986, but I didn't turn the radio station when Huey Lewis came on. He was one of those guys who came across as cool to metalheads, even though he was far from metal. Everyone knows the two hits (Stuck on You and Hip to be Square), but really the whole record is a delight.

1986 Chris thought this record was "not metal enough." He may have been correct in that assessment, but he is still an idiot. This is probably the best "hair metal" album of the era, and it holds up rather well today.

I'm sure I bought this on cassette in 1986. It's likely I heard that keyboard opening on the title track and gave up on it at that point. The Wild & the Young is familiar, so I probably saw that video on Headbanger's Ball. There was no reason to play this in 1986 and even less of a reason today.

DLR's answer to 5150. Yankee Rose is arguably as catchy as anything he ever did with VH or solo. "Goin' Crazy" was also a big hit. Both songs hold up well today. With Sheehan and Vai in the band and Roth's tendency to follow musical tangents, it's more musically varied than 5150. I don't feel like starting a Roth vs. Hagar argument here, so we will leave it at that. I will say I'm much more likely to play 5150 all the way through. Yankee Rose is really the only song here that keeps my attention today.

Not my genre, and I never owned this record. But one of my indelible college memories is falling asleep on the couch in a fraternity brother's room, where he had Higher Love on repeat play. 8+ hours later I woke up with that tune still repeating over and over again. It didn't do any permanent damage, as far as we know.

Revisiting today, maybe for the first time since that night, the only songs that I even remember are the two big hits. I can probably go another 40 years without revisiting it.

When you go back to this record now, you can hear the germs of inspiration that would result in arguably one of the great concept albums of all time, Operation Mindcrime. There are no hits; it's more progressive than their debut, yet at the same time there are hair metal elements that might have been the result of record company pressure. It feels like an album that didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up, as the band was still figuring out how to merge their metal and progressive interests.

They would figure it out a couple of years later.

I know plenty of people consider this Cinderella's best because it's the heaviest. I happen to think this is their weakest record. They got better with every release as they moved to a much more bluesy sound. Shake Me and Somebody Save Me are solid and catchy pop metal songs. Nobody's Fool is a great power ballad. The rest of the record is average. I'm still a Cinderella fan, but I'm much more likely to play their later records or Tom Kiefer's solo stuff.

Stephen King tapping AC/DC for a movie soundtrack was a big deal in 1986. It turns out King is a much better writer than movie director. The title track is arguably one of the band's best. The rest of the album is a couple of instrumentals and some rereleases.

The hits are catchy enough, and the non-hits sound like the same song. Looking back, how did they get and stay so popular?

Not quite up to the level of the previous couple of records that spawned massive hits, but still a solid southern rock album that I owned on cassette. They actually played at Purdue on the tour supporting this record.

Produced by Gene Simmons and featuring 3 songs that were Kiss leftovers and a Patti Smith cover, this was generic mid-80s metal. Gene Simmons produced this and the previous Keel record, but even that wasn't enough to propel them to stardom. When Simmons moved on to other interests after this record, the dream was mostly dead for Keel. I'm sure we blasted this album back in the day. We were mullet-headed teens, after all. But listening in 2026 just makes all its shortcomings stand out.

Speaking of controversial albums, Judas Priest's decision to go glam in 1986 was not universally well received. Back in the day I was on team "no thanks." On a relisten in 2026, I think it was more an issue of execution than concept. Halford's voice is tailor-made for soaring melodies. They could have made a killer glam metal record. Instead, they gave us Turbo.

2 songs that sound like AC/DC.
2 songs that sound like Zeppelin.
2 power ballads.
2 cover tunes.

I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish with this record, but whatever it was, I'm fairly certain they failed. It's almost unlistenable today. Absolutely nothing is going on with this record that would motivate me to ever play it again.

The first Van Hager record. People either loved it or hated it. I was a solo Sammy (and Montrose) fan, so I was on the love it side of the fence. 40 years later, it holds up. In fact, given the state of music today, it actually sounds fresh.

I actually owned Kill 'Em All when it first came out. I played it once or twice and set it aside. 16-year-old Chris wasn't ready for speed metal. 18-year-old Chris got it. The album is still a classic. The songwriting holds up, and in fact, I probably better understand it today than I did when I was 18. Some of the songs seem long just for the sake of being long to my ear today, but it's a minor quibble. It's a record that's still on my playlist 40 years later.

In 1986 you needed one really great tune to make an album succeed. Shot in the Dark is that tune. I owned this on CD and I'm 99% sure that the MP3 album in my music directory is a rip of that CD.

So how does it hold up in 2026? Shot in the Dark is still a fabulous tune. The title track still hits hard too. The rest of the record is fine, but nothing special. 2 good songs and a bunch of okay tunes is how I remember most of Ozzy's output in this phase of his career, so from that POV, it's a standard Ozzy record.

(Rhetorical question) Do the blues ever go out of style?

Another one that I owned on cassette but lost somewhere along the way. I might need to buy this again for the MP3 library.

I don't think I ever owned this. I was, and still am, a fan of Ozzy and Dio led Black Sabbath. Today, this sounds plodding and flat. I suspect I thought the same back in 1986.

I think I had this on cassette. I definitely have not heard this album since the 80s. It is their debut album, and the production is demo album quality. That isn't necessarily bad, as I typically preferred the rawer sound. However, this record suffers from the same issue that all White Lion records did. When they were deciding between rock out and power ballad, they almost always chose power ballad.

I'm fairly certain this got set aside in 1986 and forgotten about quickly.

In 1986 I was a teenage metalhead. But Susanna Hoff's undeniable cuteness could pierce the soul of even the most hardened metalhead, so I was a fan. I still listen to Hoff's solo stuff (she released a fabulous album last year) and The Bangles, so this is not so much a revisit as an acknowledgement that this record still sounds great. They layered their 60s Byrds influences under some 80s sheen, but it is still there. Plus, of course, the Prince-penned Manic Monday leads the album. Definitely one to keep in the playlist.