🗳️ IT’S A TIE! Time for the Final 80s Metal Showdown

Vote now. 24 hours. Winner takes all. Which story needs telling more?

The votes are in from both Patreon and Substack, and holy hell—we’ve got ourselves a perfect deadlock! Two heavyweight contenders emerged from the ring tied at 9 votes each. Time for a 24-hour runoff between two albums that couldn’t be more different, yet both scream for the deep dive treatment.

THE FINAL TWO:

The Case for Ozzy: When the Prince of Darkness Got His Fire Back

Keith P Miller nailed it: “When I first heard it I was torn, it was clearly Ozzy but I felt like the songs lacked the explosiveness of the Randy Rhoads era… Eventually the album grew on me and today it’s one of my favorites.”

That’s No Rest For The Wicked in a nutshell—the 1988 album that demands patience but rewards it tenfold . After the formulaic Ultimate Sin, Ozzy needed fresh blood. Enter 20-year-old Zakk Wylde from Jersey with a Les Paul that could make Marshall stacks weep.

Keith’s right about the “slick affair”—this was Ozzy embracing late-80s production while Zakk’s southern-tinged tone and pinch harmonic squeals injected dangerous new DNA . The untold story of how a demo tape recorded on dual boomboxes landed a kid the gig of a lifetime, creating the bridge between 80s excess and 90s heaviness .

The Case for ICON: The Greatest AOR Album That Never Was

Joe Royland painted the tragedy perfectly: “On the list of could’ve/should’ve been huge artists/albums, ICON and their 1985 sophomore album, Night Of The Crime, sits at the very top.”

Released during the exact window when Pyromania ruled MTV and the world waited for Hysteria, this Phoenix band’s album could have filled that void . Eddie Kramer produced (Hendrix, Zeppelin), Ron Nevison mixed, Bob Halligan Jr. doctored songs. Stephen Clifford’s powerhouse vocals hit impossible octaves while dual guitars created harmonies that would make Def Leppard jealous.

Kerrang! readers voted it the third-best AOR album of all time—behind only Journey and Michael Bolton . Yet as Joe notes: “Unfortunately, it got put out with almost zero promotion, and other issues that went untold for years.”

The album “remains a bit of a hidden gem, regarded as highly in the AOR/Melodic Rock world, as Jellyfish is to the Power Pop world.”