Yes, I, Stu, am here to present you with a new project, The Golden Age Of Metal! Not "metal" as in the various elements, mind you, but HEAVY Metal, the style of music that's my far-and-away favorite, and has partially defined my life for decades now, so long has the love for it been with me. But, before we get to the meat of this project, first I suppose I should explain what it's about exactly; put simply, this will be an entry-by-entry discussion of at least five trailblazing, defining Metal records year-by-year from a decade-long period I'm going to define as the Golden Age Of Metal (duh). But, as for what exactly the Golden Age Of Metal is, there's still currently no "official", scholarly definition of it, at least, not one you can find on Wikipedia, Arbiter Of All Online Truths; every attempt I've made searching online for the term "Golden Age Of Heavy Metal" has only lead me to random articles and blog entries on the subject, many of which conclude that the 80's as a whole was the Golden Age Of Metal.
And, while that decade was certainly extremely important to the history and the development of the genre, I personally define the Golden Age a bit differently than that, as, while I'm certainly not any kind of expert on the roots of the genre, to put it in terms we can all understand, basically, the influence of the Rock 'n Roll of the 1950's eventually led to the Hard Rock of the 60's, which evolved further into the early Metal of the 70's, including, of course, the explosion of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal towards the end of that decade, which continued strong through the early 80's. However, despite the strength of the NWoBHM movement, and its massive influence on various subgenres of Metal, in my opinion, the Golden Age of the genre would not begin until a bit further into the decade, when we not only began consistently getting an unprecedented (and unmatched ever since) amount of great, classic albums, but also records that would prove to be genre-defining to the biggest, most important styles of modern Metal, as the style really developed, diversified, and expanded outside of Britain to become a truly global(ly dominate) phenomenon. But, when exactly this age began as far as I see it, you'll learn soon enough; in the meantime, just be patient, and get ready for The Golden Age Of Metal, baby!
And, while that decade was certainly extremely important to the history and the development of the genre, I personally define the Golden Age a bit differently than that, as, while I'm certainly not any kind of expert on the roots of the genre, to put it in terms we can all understand, basically, the influence of the Rock 'n Roll of the 1950's eventually led to the Hard Rock of the 60's, which evolved further into the early Metal of the 70's, including, of course, the explosion of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal towards the end of that decade, which continued strong through the early 80's. However, despite the strength of the NWoBHM movement, and its massive influence on various subgenres of Metal, in my opinion, the Golden Age of the genre would not begin until a bit further into the decade, when we not only began consistently getting an unprecedented (and unmatched ever since) amount of great, classic albums, but also records that would prove to be genre-defining to the biggest, most important styles of modern Metal, as the style really developed, diversified, and expanded outside of Britain to become a truly global(ly dominate) phenomenon. But, when exactly this age began as far as I see it, you'll learn soon enough; in the meantime, just be patient, and get ready for The Golden Age Of Metal, baby!
(Although it's technically a 1983 album, if you go for the European release date over the American.)
The hair, the tight pants, lots of jumping, singing to an empty audience.
I wonder if you'd be willing to discuss that after you've completed your countdown. 
