SPEED- Down the Road, b/w Man in the Street 7″ (Speed Records, UK, 1980)
Another scorcher from the NWOBHM. Before the glorious days of internet, SPEED were one of the most obscure outfits you could think of, with this 7″ being so incredibly hard to find, not even the singer knew of its existence.
And the singer was, as you mst likely will know, Bruce Dickinson, former singer of the highly entertaining SAMSON. After Paul Di’Anno was sacked from IRON MAIDEN, Bruce Dickinson took over his job.
So how come this 7″ is (or was) so obscure? In 1997, Bruce explained the background of these takes in an interview:
“That’s [the SPEED songs, Admin] a studio recording from when I was still at college. The original SPEED had already formally disbanded by that time, but Noddy White asked me whether or not I’d come back and sing on this number, which he intended to record with a couple of his mates. So I agreed to help him out, and we even got as far as laying down a second track, a boogie number, the title of which I’ve forgotten [he means "down the Road", Admin]. SPEED were, even back then, a kind of NWOBHM outfit, we played PRIEST and STRANGLERS songs alongside our own material and toured in and around London in the late 70s.”
And the PUNK thing you can definitely hear on “Man on the Street”, a smoking hot Metalpunkpopsmasher of the master league. The boogie number “Down the Road” reveals a lot of Pub Rock charme once it’s halfway through. Road and Street - sounds like this was some sort of a concept mini album about ways and stuff.
It’s unclear how many copies were made of this 7″, but the recording date was 1978 and not 1979 and it was released in 1980, when the whole NWOBHM went off like a pissbag under a bulldozer. Quantities must have been fairly low however. This 7″ was impossible to find, one of the unholiest grails of NWOBHM and it wasn’t until recently that stock copies began to show up on Ebay. Apparently an ex-member has found a box of singles under his bed.
Down the Road.mp3
Man in the Street.mp3
PS: If you have subscribed to Goodbadmusic, you will from now on receive a notification email as soon as a new blog posting has been published. It doesn’t work and I don’t know why.
Frank Mossi wrote:
Funny but I have never heard about this so far! Love Bruces voice, he is so unique. Extreme thanks!!!!!!
Posted on 14-Nov-08 at 10:04 am | Permalink
Pär wrote:
Na, this was pretty bad. Down the road sounded like a bad Status Quo song and the flip side had a bad hammond in the background and that was all I heard.
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 12:56 am | Permalink
::beatMe:: wrote:
it’s about that organ dude! great single especially man in the streets kicks ass and should be on “killed by death - the metal years!”
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 3:11 am | Permalink
chano wrote:
Too many metal . More hc/punk , please .
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 3:54 am | Permalink
Peter - KBD Records wrote:
Man in the Streets is totally brilliant! What a perfect combination of hard rock, punk and powerpoop. The hammond rules of course! Down the Road is total adult music ;).
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 4:21 am | Permalink
Admin wrote:
There’s no such thing as bad hammond or too much metal
Yeah Peter - totally adult, hahaha.
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 4:55 am | Permalink
Simon wrote:
Apparently some people listen to this and hear “metal” or “pub” or whatever. I listen to this and hear a couple of really good songs.
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 7:18 am | Permalink
Jean F. wrote:
U got such a weird taste Erich
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 7:32 am | Permalink
Stuart Schrader wrote:
Hypothesis: D-beat NWOBHM rules, OK.
Methods: Listen to Speed “Man in the Street”, Satan “Heads Will Roll”, Angel Witch “Sweet Danger”, Diamond Head “Helpless.”
Results: Hypothesis is supported by available evidence. Satan offers the most clear application of the d-beat. Other bands use some variation thereof due to songwriting prior to codification of drumbeat.
Discussion: The coincidental use of the d-beat by NWOBHM acts increases their punk quotient. Research suggests higher levels of punk-metal crossover may have occurred and been accepted if both camps realized their best practitioners were using the same drumbeat.
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 9:21 am | Permalink
hörsth wrote:
usually, those collectors items bore me; loved this though; really getting into this swiss cheese thing, apparently
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 8:28 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
That’s a interesting hypothesis, Stuart. Never paid too much attention to the drum beats of NWOBHM band but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were as you said. Only idiots believe the two genres were strictly separated back then.
Swiss cheese thing?
Posted on 16-Nov-08 at 3:37 am | Permalink
Pedro Carvalho wrote:
I’ve thought of this drum beat hypothesis too. I suppose the Lemmy/Damned friendship was also a big factor in the consolidation of the d-beat.
The common drum beat definitely made this cross polination easy. I just wish the same had happened in the US between hardcore and polka though.
Posted on 16-Nov-08 at 5:52 am | Permalink
Fucker wrote:
weird but this reminds me of BAD RELIGONS Hippie album :)) GREAT!!!!!!!
Posted on 16-Nov-08 at 5:42 pm | Permalink
Brocas Crelm wrote:
This is a great record, the organ almost gives it a 60s punk-via-early HM feel. Also, this is the third rip I’ve encountered of it and the best by far! Thanks.
Posted on 17-Nov-08 at 9:15 am | Permalink
Jay Thurston wrote:
This is a great record. Thanks. I have always heard of this record, but never heard it.
Posted on 17-Nov-08 at 8:06 pm | Permalink
e normous wrote:
Yup, I love this one. Always wondered why this it’s only “Bruce was in this band” and never “this absolutely rocks!”
Posted on 18-Nov-08 at 11:11 am | Permalink
e normous wrote:
forgot to add, you might want to check out Chainsaw’s Police and Politicians/Hole in the Road single. Has a fairly skippy/bouncy/punky vibe that reminds me of this Speed single, though much more out-and-out metal in style than Speed. It’s a really good one, both songs rock, and “Hole in the Road” has an absolutely ripping lead break.
Posted on 18-Nov-08 at 10:57 pm | Permalink
e normous wrote:
holy cow! this rip is absolutely miles better than the one I had.
…and what the heck is it with the people who don’t like “Down the Road”? Nuts.
Posted on 21-Nov-08 at 12:23 pm | Permalink