1976 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1976.

List of years in heavy metal music (table)
… 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 …
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Newly formed bands

• Accept
• Angel Witch
• Black Flag
• Bronz
• Chrome
• Citron
• Crys
• Diamond Head^[1]
• Ethel the Frog
• Foreigner
• The Godz
• Heavy Load
• Kick Axe
• Līvi
• Marseille
• McCoy
• Mentors
• The Obsessed
• Paice Ashton Lord
• Pat Travers
• Ratt
• Rose Tattoo
• Running Wild
• Sorcery
• Spider
• Sister
• Thor
• Zoetrope

Albums

January

Day	Artist	Album
?	Black Sabbath	We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll^[2]

March

Day	Artist	Album
15	Kiss	Destroyer^[3]
26	Judas Priest	Sad Wings of Destiny^[4]
	Thin Lizzy	Jailbreak^[5]
?	Rush	2112^[6]
	Nazareth	Close Enough for Rock 'n' Roll
31	Led Zeppelin	Presence^[7]

May

Day	Artist	Album
3	Aerosmith	Rocks^[8]
14	AC/DC	High Voltage (international edition)^[9]
17	Rainbow	Rising^[10]
21	Blue Öyster Cult	Agents of Fortune^[11]
?	Uriah Heep	High and Mighty
	UFO	No Heavy Petting^[12]

June

Day	Artist	Album
25	Alice Cooper	Alice Cooper Goes to Hell^[13]

August

Day	Artist	Album
25	Boston	Boston^[14]

September

Day	Artist	Album
20	AC/DC	Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Australian edition)^[15]
29	Rush	All the World's a Stage
?	Ted Nugent	Free-for-All^[16]

October

Day	Artist	Album
8	Black Sabbath	Technical Ecstasy
22	Led Zeppelin	The Song Remains the Same^[17]
16	Thin Lizzy	Johnny the Fox^[18]

November

Day	Artist	Album
11	Kiss	Rock and Roll Over^[19]
22	Scorpions	Virgin Killer^[20]

December

Day	Artist	Album
10	Queen	A Day at the Races^[21]

Release date unknown

• Y&T - Yesterday & Today

Disbandments

• Deep Purple (reformed in 1984)
• Sammy Hagar leaves Montrose to go solo.^[22]

Events

• Guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke joins Motörhead and Larry Wallis leaves after a month.
• Deep Purple's guitarist Tommy Bolin dies from an overdose on December 4 during the Private Eyes tour, just after his last show on stage.

References

1. "Diamond Head Bio". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
2. "January LP Guide" (PDF). Music Week. 10 January 1976. p. 20. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
3. "Destroyer". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
4. "Sad Wings of Destiny". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
5. "Jailbreak". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
6. "Mercury Releases Two," Record World, March 20, 1976, p. 61.
7. "Presence". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
8. "Rocks". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
9. "High Voltage". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
10. Popoff, Martin (2020). Sensitive to Light (second ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-912782-40-6.
11. "Agents of Fortune". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
12. "No Heavy Petting". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
13. "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
14. All time top HM albums
15. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
16. "Free-for-All". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
17. "BPI certifications".
18. "Johnny the Fox". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
19. "Rock and Roll Over". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
20. "Virgin Killer". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
21. "A Day at the Races". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
22. "Sammy Hagar Bio". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-10-10.

Preceded by 1975

Heavy Metal Timeline 1976

Succeeded by 1977