And the Bands Played On

According to an interview with vocalist Biff Byford and guitarist Paul Quinn in the launch issue of Kerrang!, June 1981, this track was inspired by the previous year's Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donnington, something which is fairly evident from the lyric. Byford added the song was "originally a lot longer - there were three other verses, one about us, one about the American bands and one about Judas Priest. But we kicked them out and chopped it down a bit." The song also mentions Rainbow - the headliners - "See the rainbow shining brightly." The Donnington festival was initiated in 1980. On August 16, Saxon joined Rainbow and five other bands - Judas Priest, the German band Scorpions, April Wine from Canada, and two bands from New York City - Riot and Touch.

The opening solo of "And The Bands Played On" is not dissimilar from "747 (Strangers In The Night)", and actually includes the phrase "strangers in the night" in the lyrics. The group composition was released as a single on the Capital label. Running to 2 minutes 48 seconds, it was produced by Nigel Thomas, and backed by two songs: "Hungry Years" and "Heavy Metal Thunder".