Fist were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band. They were part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal

New Wave of British Heavy Metal

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...

 movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The breakthrough success predicted for them by critics never came about; In 2001 the band re-united and released one album before returning to a state of inactivity.

The band first formed in April 1978 as Axe, but only recorded one song ("S.S. Giro") under that name. The group reformed in late 1979 under the new name of Fist, soon signing with Neat Records

Neat Records

Neat Records was a record label based near Newcastle, England. The label was established in 1979 by David Wood, who was the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. The establishment of Neat coincided with the arrival at Impulse of Songwriter/Producer Steve Thompson who guided...

 and releasing their first single, "Name, Rank And Serial Number," in April 1980. The single was praised in the pages of Sounds

Sounds (magazine)

Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...

, and bigger things were anticipated for the band as they signed with MCA

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

, releasing a second single and preparing a full-length record for the end of the year. Unfortunately, the LP Turn The Hell On failed to make a critical or commercial impression, and Fist were dropped by MCA in early 1981.

Apart from a couple of compilation appearances (including the old 1978 Axe recording of "S.S. Giro" showing up on the Neat compilation Lead Weight), Fist went unheard from for a time, re-vamping the line-up in July 1981 and issuing their second LP, Back With A Vengeance, on Neat in early 1982. Though they received better reviews this time around, the band still found no commercial success and broke up in late 1982.

Despite failing to sell in significant numbers, Fist were singled out for praise by a number of critics for writing catchy choruses and resisting the cliché

Cliché

A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...

d lyrics of many other NWOBHM bands that primarily sang about the occult; "You'll Never Get Me Up (In One Of Those)", for example, is about fear of flying

Fear of flying

A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane , or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromerhanophobia....

, while "Throwing In The Towel" is about an ageing boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 unhappy to be back in the ring.

In 2001 two original members of Fist's 1981-82 lineup joined up with two former members of fellow NWOBHM band Hollow Ground

Hollow Ground

-Biography:Formed in the North East of England in the late 1970s, Hollow Ground became one of the cutting edge groups of the NWOBHM period. Although they only released six tracks, these have come to be considered a classic example of the style of the era...

 to form a new incarnation of Fist (Glenn Coates, the common link as he had been the singer for both bands, was not present). This lineup released a new album, Storm, in 2005. The music on this album was much heavier than anything Fist had previously released. Since 2006 the band has been inactive again.

Albums

• Turn The Hell On (MCA
  MCA Records
  MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
  
   November 1980)
• Back With A Vengeance (Neat
  Neat Records
  Neat Records was a record label based near Newcastle, England. The label was established in 1979 by David Wood, who was the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. The establishment of Neat coincided with the arrival at Impulse of Songwriter/Producer Steve Thompson who guided...
  
  1982)
• Storm (Demolition April 2005)

Singles

• "Name, Rank And Serial Number" / "You'll Never Get Me Up (In One Of Those)" (Neat April 1980 / MCA July 1980)
• "Forever Amber" / "Brain Damage" (MCA August 1980)
• "Collision Course" / "Law Of The Jungle" (MCA January 1981)
• "The Wanderer" / "Too Hot" (Neat November 1982)

Compilation appearances

• "Brain Damage" (Brute Force, MCA September 1980)
• "S.S. Giro" / "Throwing In The Towel" (Lead Weight, Neat May 1981)
• "Lost & Found" (60 Minute Plus Heavy Metal, Neat November 1982)