Saxon Week Continues: The NWOBHM Numbers
6/29/2011 7:00:42 PM by Eric




When looking at the hierarchy of NWOBHM pioneers, Saxon is a star among stars. While never quite exceeding the popularity of Iron Maiden, Motorhead or Judas Priest the band still managed to have quite a career while still pushing forward. The metal unity will always persevere but we are losing metals icons. Ronnie James Dios passing was very difficult for us all and recent announcements show that Judas Priest will retire after the world tour. We probably wont see a united Black Sabbath with Bill Ward's health conditions and newer bands that were hopefuls dont seem to have the staying power. So, legendary bands like Saxon are very important in the metal lineage.

I wanted to look at Saxon compared to the other major players in the NWOBHM movement and see how their numbers looked. We are looking at Saxon, Priest, Maiden and Motorhead analytically to determine just how close Saxon came to a household name.

RECORD DEBUT
Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla 1974
Motorhead - On Parole 1976
Saxon - ST 1979
Iron Maiden - ST 1980

STUDIO RECORDS
Motorhead - 21
Saxon - 19
Judas Priest - 16
Iron Maiden - 15

RECORD SALES
Iron Maiden - 85 Million
Judas Priest - 50 Million
Motorhead - 30 Million
Saxon - 13 Million

RECORDS SINCE 1998 (post Grunge)
Motorhead - 7
Saxon - 6
Iron Maiden - 5
Judas Priest - 3

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