
#350 Was 1986 the Best Year in Metal? Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Peace Sells Turn 40
From Metal Nerdery Podcast by Metal Nerdery Podcast
May 7, 2026 · 1h 27m · Episode 351
About this episode
The episode discusses the significance of 1986 in the metal genre, highlighting key albums and cultural moments from that year.
“If you were gonna be a stripper…what would your stage name be?” When you think about 1986, it’s almost hard to fathom that we are 40 years away from it. Four decades away from perhaps THE biggest year in metal, and we’re not just saying that because we were still young and impressionable, but because it was quite literally THAT epic of a year! March, September, and October of 1986 gave us Master of Puppets, Peace Sells… (But Who’s Buying?), and Reign In Blood (respectively), and that’s only 3 albums of thrash greatness from that year! There was also the (now classic) documentary “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”, showing a bunch of young metal heads pre-gaming for a Judas Priest show. And of course you had “Crossroads”, the favorite guitar movie of young fledgling woodshedding shredders who would become obsessed at mastering Eugene’s bag of tricks in order to conquer the dark fretboard sorcery of one Jack Butler. Basically, when it comes to 1986 and metal, “everything that was good came out that year”, and now, over 14,000 days later, 1986 is still being celebrated and lauded as one of the biggest landmark years in all of metal, especially on this podcast! Get ready to find out which…
People in this episode
Host: Metal Nerdery Podcast
Topics covered
- 1986 in metal
- thrash metal
- classic albums
- metal documentaries
- guitar movies
Keywords
- 1986
- metal
- Master of Puppets
- Reign in Blood
- Peace Sells
- thrash
- documentary
- Crossroads
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood, Peace Sells… (But Who’s Buying?), Heavy Metal Parking Lot, Crossroads
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