Never Trust a Social Media Feed with Music History

Here is a quick lesson in digital paranoia: Facebook is out to actively rewrite history, or at the very least, pull fake trivia straight out of its algorithmic ass.

Earlier today, the feed served up a notification assuring me that on this very day in 1983, three legendary records hit record store shelves simultaneously: Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, ZZ Top’s Eliminator, and Madonna’s self-titled debut.

Naturally, my brain immediately fired up. What a bizarre, beautiful, completely unhinged moment in music history! Heavy thrash metal, Texas synth-blues, and Danceteria club pop all dropping on the exact same Tuesday in 1983? I decided right then and there to pivot the broadcast, build this entire episode around it, and use it as a palette cleanser before we plunge back into the multi-album Billy Joel deep dive.

Then I actually looked under the hood.

Facebook flat-out lied to us. But you know what? I have to take the hit on this one too. I’ve been sitting behind a radio console for thirty years, and I let a soul-sucking algorithm do my research for five minutes without double-checking a single date. I fell for the digital clickbait trap hook, line, and sinker. That’s on me.

But seriously… what the actual hell, Mark? Why lie about release years? What is the upside of manufacturing a fake rock-and-roll anniversary out of thin air?

Here is the cold, hard, analog truth about what actually happened:

• Madonna (Madonna): The only actual July 27, 1983 album release in the stack. Pure 1983 New York dance-club energy.
• Metallica (Ride the Lightning): Dropped on July 27… 1984. A full year off, Facebook. Close, but dead wrong on the timeline.
• ZZ Top (Eliminator): Came out in March 1983, though tracks like “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Gimme All Your Lovin'” were completely dominating summer radio airwaves by July ’83.
• Prince and the Revolution (Purple Rain): The Purple Rain feature film premiered on July 27, 1984—the exact same day Metallica dropped Ride the Lightning on the West Coast.

The Four-Album Sonic Whiplash

Even if the internet’s timeline is completely broken, the pairing was too magnificent to abandon. So we’re running all four records back-to-back in their full glory before heading back into the Billy Joel catalog.

We start with pure 1984 Bay Area thrash distortion—Hetfield and Burton tearing the speakers apart. From there, we roll right into ZZ Top’s roaring, synth-tinted Texas blues, pivot hard into Madonna’s debut dance-pop grooves, and cap the block off with Prince laying down a masterclass in pop and guitar work from Purple Rain.

It’s sonic whiplash, it’s factually chaotic, and it’s pure Rolling with Scissors.

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ROLLING WITH SCISSORS — EPISODE 1358
Host: The Prince of Darkness
Over the Air Broadcast: WORT 89.9 FM Madison
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--- HOUR ONE: ARTIST — SONG — ALBUM — LABEL ---
Metallica — "Fight Fire With Fire" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (04:45)
Metallica — "Ride The Lightning" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (06:37)
Metallica — "For Whom The Bell Tolls" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (05:09)
Metallica — "Fade To Black" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (06:57)
Metallica — "Trapped Under Ice" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (04:04)
Metallica — "Escape" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (04:23)
Metallica — "Creeping Death" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (06:36)
Metallica — "The Call Of Ktulu" — Ride The Lightning — Megaforce Records (08:53)
ZZ Top — "Gimme All Your Lovin" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:04)
ZZ Top — "Got Me Under Pressure" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:02)
ZZ Top — "Sharp Dressed Man" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:18)

--- HOUR TWO: ARTIST — SONG — ALBUM — LABEL ---
ZZ Top — "I Need You Tonight" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (06:17)
ZZ Top — "I Got The Six" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (02:55)
ZZ Top — "Legs" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:34)
ZZ Top — "Thug" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:18)
ZZ Top — "TV Dinners" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (03:53)
ZZ Top — "Dirty Dog" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (04:01)
ZZ Top — "If I Could Only Flag Her Down" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (03:41)
ZZ Top — "Bad Girl" — Eliminator — Warner Bros. Records (03:14)
Madonna — "Lucky Star" — Madonna — WEA (05:37)
Madonna — "Borderline" — Madonna — WEA (05:20)
Madonna — "Burning Up" — Madonna — WEA (03:44)
Madonna — "I Know It" — Madonna — WEA (03:46)
Madonna — "Holiday" — Madonna — WEA (06:09)

--- HOUR THREE: ARTIST — SONG — ALBUM — LABEL ---
Madonna — "Think Of Me" — Madonna — WEA (04:54)
Madonna — "Physical Attraction" — Madonna — WEA (06:38)
Madonna — "Everybody" — Madonna — WEA (06:01)
Madonna — "Burning Up [12" Version]" — Madonna — WEA (05:58)
Madonna — "Lucky Star ["New" Mix]" — Madonna — WEA (07:14)
Prince And The Revolution — "Let's Go Crazy" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (04:40)
Prince And The Revolution — "Take Me With U" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (03:54)
Prince And The Revolution — "The Beautiful Ones" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (05:14)
Prince And The Revolution — "Computer Blue" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (03:59)
Prince And The Revolution — "Darling Nikki" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (04:14)
Prince And The Revolution — "When Doves Cry" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (05:54)
Prince And The Revolution — "I Would Die 4 U" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (02:49)
Prince And The Revolution — "Baby I'm A Star" — Purple Rain — Warner Bros. Records (04:24) [FADE OUT @ 3:00:00]
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Rolling with Scissors airs live every Tuesday from 2–5 AM on 89.9 FM in Madison and streams at wortfm.org. Missed it? You can catch the episode for two weeks after broadcast at archive.wortfm.org or at rwsradio.com.

While the audio disappears after two weeks, the episode notes and playlists don’t. Every deep dive, rant, and full album breakdown stays right here — so you can revisit the details any time.

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