1980 in heavy metal music
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1980.
Newly formed bands
- Anthem
- Barón Rojo
- Battleaxe
- Bitch
- Black Rose
- Blitzkrieg
- Bulldozer
- Exodus
- Grave Digger
- Heaven
- Holy Moses
- King's X
- Lionheart
- Los Suaves
- Loudness
- Malice
- Manowar
- Metal Church
- More
- Ozzy Osbourne (solo career)
- Overkill
- Rok Mašina
- Sacred Rite
- Saint
- Salem
- Sound Barrier
- Tank
- Turbo
- Vixen
- Warning
- White Sister
- Wrathchild
Albums & EPs
Disbandments
Events
- Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC, dies at 33 on February 19 after a binge of heavy drinking.
- October: Iron Maiden comp guitarist Dennis Stratton leaves and is replaced by Adrian Smith.
- John Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, dies at 32 on September 25, after a binge of heavy drinking. His death was similar to Bon Scott's, and caused Led Zeppelin to disband.
- April: Brian Johnson joins AC/DC replacing Bon Scott as lead singer.
- May 18: Peter Criss, drummer of Kiss, leaves the band. Eric Carr takes his place.
| Preceded by 1979 |
Heavy Metal Timeline 1980 |
Succeeded by 1981 |
| ||||||