Strong Arm of the Law

The third album came out in 1980, only six or seven months after Wheels of Steel, and reached eleven in Britain, fifteen in France and thirty-seven in Sweden. It was recorded between May and August 1980 at Ramport Studios in London, the same room as the album before it, again produced by Pete Hinton with the band, and with the same five players. The title song came out of the band running into Margaret Thatcher's security detail in Whitehall. "Dallas 1 PM" takes the Kennedy assassination and follows the three-shot account rather than the single-shot one. Ultimate Classic Rock has called the opening "Heavy Metal Thunder" a genre-defining song. The running order given here is the original pressing's.