747 Strangers In The Night
Saxon
Saxon are a British institution. Along with iron Maiden they spearheaded the New Wave of British Heavy metal. They never rose to the heights that Maiden have but then no-one has, so if you factor out Maiden then Saxon are probably the most successful NWOBHM band ever. They were limited musically in a way that Maiden weren’t but if you take it for what it is i.e. Saxon being Saxon in the same way as ACDC are ACDC and Motorhead are Motorhead then you aren’t looking for ground breaking new adventurous ideas. Saxon wrote anthems and to this day it doesn’t get much better than hearing 20 000 metal maniacs all shouting ”Denim and leather brought us all together” or ”We got Wheeeeeels, wheels of steel” Long live biker anthems.
Probably as close to a hit as Saxon would ever get, what they didn’t get in commercial success they more than made up for in rabid followers. There are very few denim jackets still around from the early 80s that don’t have a Saxon patch on them. I always use this track to explain guitar effect pedals to people. The contrast between the soaring lead riff, the chorus pedal and the crushing overdrive are so well contrasted on this track. Long live Saxon
JAMES DAUBENEY