Live 1985!

Venom

On the other side of things Venom were coming. They released their debut album Welcome to Hell in 1981 and they really played the whole Satanic thing and took it to a new level. Like the Ramones their influence on other bands compared to their own success is hugely disproportionate. Everyone from Slayer to Metallica and then the whole Black Metal movement in Norway had some roots in Venom.

It’s hard to get decent video of Venom, there is quite a lot recent footage of old balding Cronos with his new far tighter more musically proficient band but not a lot of the early stuff. This clip from 1985 is surprisingly high quality. It is the full concert so I don’t advise watching it all unless you are a big fan but it serves to give you a taste of what was brewing while chicks were grooving to Poison, Motley Crue and Ratt and they were all going Top 20 in the US.

JAMES DAUBENEY