At the forefront of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Saxon dominated the 80s with high selling albums and singles and went on to influence future greats like Metallica and Slayer.
The Barnsley band were formed by Biff Byford on vocals and Paul Quinn on guitar who have both remained constants within the band’s morphing line up over the years. After a brief stint under the name ‘Son Of a Bitch’, they adopted ‘Saxon’ as their moniker and began to build a following as they toured the UK in support of larger acts like Motorhead.
The band’s second album ‘Wheels Of Steel’ was when they first showed the potential they had as it hit number 5 in the album charts. Successful singles like ‘747’ and ‘Wheels of Steel’ were popular enough for the band to make the first on many appearances on popular UK chart show ‘Top of The Pops’.
From then on Saxon experienced nothing but success for the remainder of the decade with 8 top 40 albums including what many fans consider the band’s best work ‘Strong Arm of The Law’. They toured the world and played huge festival slots at the likes of ‘Monsters of Rock’ and when their popularity was at a peak they signed a deal with EMI records.
The label expected the band to match their European successes in the US but when this failed to manifest the band were dropped from EMI. This wasn’t going to stop them though as decades later, the band still tour and release albums. Their long career has earned them the respect of the metal community and a dedicated fanbase who continue to enjoy watching the band play at places like Download Festival.
James Yorkston
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