1987 in heavy metal music

This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1987.

Newly formed bands

* Alice in Chains
* Arcturus
* Asphyx
* Autopsy
* Blue Tiger (as Masquerade)
* Burzum
* Cynic
* Danzig
* Darkthrone
* Deicide
* Disharmonic Orchestra
* Entombed
* Follow for Now
* Nitro
* Primordial
* Skid Row
* Therion
* U.D.O.

Albums

* Aerosmith - "Permanent Vacation"
* Alice Cooper - "Raise Your Fist and Yell"
* Anthrax - "Among the Living", "I'm the Man" (EP)
* Anvil - "Strength Of Steel"
* Armored Saint - "Raising Fear"
* Black Sabbath - "The Eternal Idol"
* Cacophony - "Speed Metal Symphony"
* Carnivore - "Retaliation"
* Celtic Frost - "Into the Pandemonium"
* D.R.I. - "Crossover"
* Death - "Scream Bloody Gore"
* Death Angel - "The Ultra-Violence"
* Def Leppard - "Hysteria"
* Dio - "Dream Evil"
* Dokken - "Back For The Attack"
* Excel - "Split Image"
* Faster Pussycat - "Faster Pussycat
* Frehley's Comet - "Frehley's Comet"
* Great White - "Once Bitten..."
* Grim Reaper - "Rock You To Hell"
* Guns N' Roses - "Appetite for Destruction"
* Helix - "Wild In The Streets"
* Helloween - "Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 1"
* Judas Priest - "Priest...Live!"
* Kane Roberts - "Kane Roberts
* Keel - "Keel
* King Diamond - "Abigail
* Kiss - "Crazy Nights"
* Kreator - "Terrible Certainty"
* Lizzy Borden - "Terror Rising (EP), Visual Lies"
* Loudness - "Hurricane Eyes"
* Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security"
* Manowar - "Fighting the World"
* McAuley Schenker Group - "Perfect Timing"
* Metallica - ""
* Mötley Crüe - "Girls, Girls, Girls"
* Motörhead - "Rock 'n' Roll"
* Napalm Death - "Scum"
* Ozzy Osbourne - "Tribute"
* Overkill - "Taking Over"
* Running Wild - "Under Jolly Roger"
* Saint Vitus - "Born Too Late"
* Sanctuary - "Refuge Denied"
* Savatage - "Hall of the Mountain King"
* Testament - "The Legacy"
* The Cult - "Electric"
* Trouble - "Run to the Light"
* Twisted Sister - "Love Is For Suckers"
* U.D.O. - "Animal House"
* Warlock - "Triumph And Agony"
* W.A.S.P. - "Live...In the Raw"
* White Lion - "Pride
* Whitesnake - "Whitesnake"
* Y&T - "Contagious"
* Zodiac Mindwarp - "Tattooed Beat Messiah"

Disbandments

* Alcatrazz
* Sound Barrier
* Twisted Sister
* Warlock
* Grim Reaper

Events

* Udo Dirkshneider departs Accept citing management issues and later the same year forms U.D.O.
* Bon Jovi headlined 1987's Monsters of Rock festival with Dio, Metallica, Anthrax, W.A.S.P. and Cinderella. Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson and Paul Stanley joined Bon Jovi to perform "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk.
* Motörhead's drummer Pete Gill leaves the band and Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor returns.
* Mötley Crüe - "Girls, Girls, Girls" debuts at #2 (although it sold more than the album in #1 spot) in the Billboard charts becoming the biggest album debut since Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same"
* The show Headbangers Ball debuts on MTV on April 18, 1987. The show would remain on MTV every Saturday night until January 1995.
* Bon Jovi's album Slippery When Wet toped the Billboard charts for 8 weeks which is the record for one heavy metal album.
* In December 1987, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx suffers a near-fatal heroin overdose.
*The debut albums of both Death and Napalm Death are releasead, which some say are the first Death Metal/Grindcore records to be released.