Top Hat Online Exhibit: Metal and Alternative Era 1980s + 1990s

The Mission were one of goth and indie’s most beloved bands. Alongside fellow artists like All About Eve and Sisters of Mercy, they brought newfound darkness and moodiness to alternative music, taking much inspiration from more gothic subject matter and material.

Their appearance at the Top Hat in late-1986 saw them arrive on the cusp of stardom, with one top 30 hit (‘Stay With Me’) already under their belt, and with their soon-to-be-released follow-up ‘Wasteland’ becoming their first Irish top 10 hit in January 1987. Their setlist combined material from their debut with covers of various tracks by artists like The Beatles, Neil Young and The Stooges.

The above is audio of an interview with Irish Film Institute archivist Kasandra O’Connell about her experience at The Top Hat watching her favourite band The Mission in November 1986, when she was 17.

Interview conducted by Olivia Lynott.

Pioneers of electronic pop music, The Human League had been one of the dominant acts of the early '80s, with hits like ‘Love Action (I Believe in Love)’, ‘Mirror Man’ and ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’ all reaching the top 20 in Ireland, with ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and ‘Mirror Man’ in particular both reaching #1 here, putting them at the forefront of the synthpop explosion.

By 1987, their star had waned slightly, although they had just managed their second American #1 with ‘Human’, which had reached #5 in Ireland in August 1986. Promoting their 1986 album Crash, which was a moderate Irish success, the band had streamlined their original striking appearance a touch but still looked impeccable on the Top Hat stage.

The original king of heavy metal. Famous for fronting heavy metal giants Black Sabbath from 1967 until his firing in 1979, Osbourne became renowned for his wicked on-stage persona, soon earning him the legendary nickname ‘the Prince of Darkness’.

1988 saw Osbourne arrive at the Top Hat in time to promote his upcoming record No Rest for the Wicked, due for release in late-October. The record later went double-platinum and proved that Osbourne’s star had not yet faded. This particular tour was notable for featuring Black Sabbath’s original bassist Geezer Butler as part of Ozzy’s touring line-up, resulting in half of the original Black Sabbath line-up on stage at the same time.

A key component of the ‘Big 4’ of thrash metal, Slayer were responsible for some of the most controversial and uncompromising songs in thrash history. Known for their breakneck speeds and unflinching subject matter, Slayer continue to be a divisive, but mostly adored, part of the metal story.

1988 saw Slayer promoting their album South of Heaven, the follow-up to their 1986 masterpiece Reign in Blood. Slayer’s arrival at the Top Hat made them the first of the ‘Big 4’ thrash bands to play there, with Metallica performing less than a month later, and Anthrax performing later in 1989, with Megadeth being the only act of the ‘Big 4’ not to perform there.

One of metal’s most enduring and legendary bands, Metallica were at the forefront of the San Francisco thrash metal scene, introducing the style to a whole generation of unsuspecting listeners. While their debut at the Top Hat pre-dated their mainstream explosion with the release of their self-titled ‘black album’ in 1991, they were nonetheless already mythical figures within the metal scene.

1988 saw Metallica releasing their fourth album …And Justice for All, their first full-length record since 1986 and their first without their bassist Cliff Burton, who was tragically killed in a tour bus accident that same year. The performance was their 17^th date on their Damaged Justice world tour, which continued for a further 202 shows, concluding on October 8^th 1989, a whole year after their appearance at the Top Hat.

Irish-Scottish band The Waterboys had spent half a decade perfecting their particular brand of folk-infused rock and roll. Colloquially known as ‘The Big Music’, The Waterboys specialized in a very natural, earthy approach to song-writing, one which took as much inspiration from God and nature than it did reality, perhaps exemplified by their signature record ‘The Whole of the Moon’, which flopped upon release in 1985 but eventually reached #2 after being re-released in 1991.

Their Top Hat New Year's Eve gig saw them on the verge of breaking through into the mainstream, with ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ having just become their first top 20 hit earlier that month. Indeed, the New Years’ Eve performance was the third of three consecutive shows performed over three nights by the group, solidifying their status as folk heroes. The impact of the three consecutive gigs could be seen the following June, when their next single – ‘And a Bang on the Ear’ – became their first and only Irish #1.

Possibly the most over-the-top in a crowded field of late '80s hair metal bands, W.A.S.P. were provocative, loud and often completely ridiculous, like the stereotypical idea of what all hair metal bands were at the time. They were often targets of 1980s censors, particularly the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) who decried the band for their vulgar imagery and lyrics.

1989 saw W.A.S.P. promoting their new album The Headless Children, often considered by critics to be their most accomplished and mature record. The band had begun to achieve significant success in Ireland, with the first single from the album, ‘Mean Man’, reaching #17 in the Irish singles charts in March, and the soon-to-be-released follow-up - a cover of The Who’s ‘The Real Me’ - peaking at #19 later in May.

An infamous performance, mainly because it barely even happened. Anthrax were another component of the ‘Big 4’ of thrash metal, Anthrax’s particular brand of thrash was inspired by classic rock, bringing power chords and anthemic strictures to the genre. They had managed to become the first thrash metal act to break into the Irish charts, when their rap-metal hybrid ‘I’m the Man’ got to #19 in December 1987.

Anthrax had already spent a year touring in promotion of their album State of Euphoria, even touring with Metallica during their Damaged Justice tour, and the Top Hat was one of the final dates on the tour’s schedule. Unfortunately, the gig was forced to be cut short after only six songs following increased disturbances from the crowd, with bottles being thrown and the band being spat on. Anthrax wouldn’t return to Ireland for another 7 years following the incident, eventually playing at the SFX Hall in January 1996.

San Franciscan alternative veterans Faith No More had spent much of the 80s figuring themselves out, dwelling generally in goth and post-punk circles. Following the arrival of Mike Patton in 1989 however, they began to expand their sound palette immensely, incorporating influences from all over the musical spectrum, creating records which were challenging, abrasive and complex, but also witty, self-aware and breathtakingly adventurous.

FNM’s arrival at the Top Hat in 1990 coincided with them promoting their album The Real Thing, often considered their finest record. They very nearly didn’t make it to the performance at all, as they had been promoting their new single ‘From Out of Nowhere’ on British music show Top of the Pops, which meant a mad rush from London to Dublin in time for the gig to start!

An iconic gig featuring two metal legends. German band Kreator had already made names for themselves on the metal circuit with their particular brand of extremely fast, uncompromising thrash, which would prove to have a long-lasting influence on the death and black metal genres in the future. They arrived at the Top Hat to promote the release of their 1990 record Coma of Souls, their first record with former Sodom guitarist Frank “Blackfire” Gosdzik.

Supporting Kreator that night were Death, often regarded as the first true death metal band. Their albums Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy had earned them widespread acclaim for their brutal, savage sound which eclipsed many of their contemporaries. Death were in the process of promoting their third record Spiritual Healing, however Death songwriter and frontman Chuck Schuldiner was not present on the night due to his hesitance about touring Europe.

Perhaps the most famous gig in the venue’s history. Two giants of the alternative scene, one on the verge of breaking out and becoming one of the biggest bands in music history.

Firstly, Sonic Youth (the headliners for the evening) had already made a name for themselves in the underground scene through their avant-garde approach to rock, fusing the avant-garde with pop song structures to create entirely new, noisy listening experiences. Their 1988 album Daydream Nation was critically lauded for its stylistic approach and scope and can often be found on many lists of the greatest albums of all time.

1991 saw Sonic Youth riding the wave of Goo, their major-label debut with Geffen Records, which saw them transform overnight from underground sensations to (almost) mainstream icons without sacrificing much of their abrasiveness and experimental nature. Their setlist is much more reminiscent of days of old however, featuring songs dating back as far as 1983.

Their support act that night was a relatively unknown band from Seattle named Nirvana. Following the release of their debut record Bleach in 1989, Nirvana had languished in obscurity for a little while, their 1990 single ‘Sliver’ (the first to feature new drummer Dave Grohl) barely scraping the top 100 of the British charts. This particular performance featured old songs like ‘Floyd the Barber’ nestled alongside new songs like ‘Drain You’ and ‘On a Plain’, which were due to be featured on their forthcoming album Nevermind, set for release on 24^th September.

In the weeks following the gig, Nirvana’s popularity skyrocketed, with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ reaching the top end of the charts around the world, and inadvertently ushering in a new era of alternative music and bringing grunge to a much wider audience in the process. The Top Hat performance feels like the dawn of a new era, and perhaps the moment the 1990s really began.