Hittman are a Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band from New York. Founded in 1984 by Jim Bacchi and Mike Buccell whilst members of long island based band metal band Atilla, They believed they could create a new heavier band with stronger material and a harder edge . Recruiting drummer Chuck Khoury in late 84, they went though a succession of singers before Dirk Kennedy became their permanent frontman in April '85. Working on all original material for that summer, Hittman lobbied hard and won the coveted slot opening for Stryper at the Nassau Community college on November 11th, 1985, Their live debut.

Soon after they began work on original songs. Influenced heavily by the NWOBHM, KISS and Michael Schenker, Recording began on the now infamous Hittman Demo in 85, it went on to be one of the most highly traded tapes in the metal community garnering rave reviews and press coverage in many magazines such as Kerrang!. Metal Forces and Rock Hard. After suffering through many co-lead guitarists they finally found John Kristen and the lineup was complete. Work on the bands debut album began in 1988. They had each borrowed 1000 dollars from their parents to set up shop at Tiki Studios in Glen Cove Long Island. The eventual album was not released until 1989 because of much red tape involving interested record labels and management. Finally settling on SPV/ USA, further recording, mixing and mastering followed. The album was released on the same day SPV closed its american label and forced Hittman into limbo for 6 months. When the dust settled Hittman were embroiled in a legal dispute with roadrunner records, who has assumed a licensing agreement with SPV germany. In the meantime, Hittman was approached by Mercury records in the USA and offered a million dollar deal. SPV informed the band they wanted the million dollars to free them from their label and points on further releases. After much consideration and legal expense, Hittman decided to allow the album to be released so they could just get on with their career.

Released in may 1989, the album was met with universal acclaim. Kerrang awarded the album a KKKK1/2 rating, unheard of for a new band. Without SPV's financial support behind them, Hittman relied on opening slots for major tours by Stryper, Saxon, Armored Saint and Fates Warning in the USA. They were unable to capitalize on their popularity in Europe and Japan with a proper tour and retreated into the studio. It took 5 years to produce Vivas Machina, their 2nd album. Released in March 1993. Original Drummer Chuck Khoury had left the band for personal reason and Hittman recruited Mark Jenkins. His jazzy style powered the record and allowed them to focus on more progressive compositions Consisting of material from many different songwriting sessions. The album had a differed sound and strayed from the power metal of the debut and left fans confused.

The album was reviewd positively by the music press praising the band for their melodic songwriting whilst staying heavy and having great commercial appeal A tour for that album commenced in May of 93 and the band played many sold out shows throughout Europe. After the tour, the band took a long hiatus and saw the return of Khoury, working on harder material but with no record label the band unofficially disbanded for close to 20 years.

Beginnig in 2009, talks of a reunion began to spread. The internet had become something of a lightening rod for the band. Fans from all over the world had access to the music and it began a groundswell of support. The band with all original members agreed to a reunion appearance at the Keep It true Festival in 2009 only to cancel it a few months later for undisclosed reasons. Sadly, Original Bassist Michael Buccell died in a car accident on 2013, The band mourned his loss and no further plans were announced..

In December 2016 After an interview for a metal fanzine, Dirk Kennedy mentioned that he'd hoped one day to play the Keep It True Festival as a tribute for Mike. This set the wheels in motion and the band was contacted by the festival organizers. Hittman Announced their reformation and plans to re-release the debut album in 2017 and a new album in 2018 to coincide with their appearance at Keep it True. Dirkworld ( talk) 08:27, 17 February 2017 (UTC) reply

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Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by SwisterTwister was:

This submission's references do not adequately show the subject's notability. Wikipedia requires significant coverage about the subject in reliable sources that are independent of the subject—see the guidelines on the notability of music-related topics and the golden rule. Please improve the submission's referencing (see Wikipedia:Referencing for beginners), so that the information is verifiable, and there is clear evidence of why the subject is notable and worthy of inclusion in an encyclopedia. If additional reliable sources cannot be found for the subject, then it may not be suitable for Wikipedia at this time.

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Not satisfying our simplest standards.

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SwisterTwister talk 22:58, 21 February 2017 (UTC) reply

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Thank you for your attention. HasteurBot ( talk) 21:11, 24 September 2017 (UTC) reply

Your recent article submission to Articles for Creation has been reviewed! Unfortunately, it has not been accepted at this time. The reason left by MadeYourReadThis was:

This submission appears to read more like an advertisement than an entry in an encyclopedia. Encyclopedia articles need to be written from a neutral point of view, and should refer to a range of independent, reliable, published sources, not just to materials produced by the creator of the subject being discussed. This is important so that the article can meet Wikipedia's verifiability policy and the notability of the subject can be established. If you still feel that this subject is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia, please rewrite your submission to comply with these policies.

Please check the submission for any additional comments left by the reviewer. You are encouraged to edit the submission to address the issues raised and resubmit when they have been resolved.

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MadeYourReadThis ( talk) 21:48, 14 January 2018 (UTC) reply

Hello! Dirkworld, I noticed your article was declined at Articles for Creation, and that can be disappointing. If you are wondering why your article submission was declined, please post a question at the Articles for creation help desk. If you have any other questions about your editing experience, we'd love to help you at the Teahouse, a friendly space on Wikipedia where experienced editors lend a hand to help new editors like yourself! See you there! MadeYourReadThis ( talk) 21:48, 14 January 2018 (UTC) reply

Hello, Dirkworld. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:

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In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. FMSky ( talk) 18:09, 11 August 2023 (UTC) reply

Hey FM Sky. Thanks for reaching out. I would hav never edited this page, however I see it was deleted. This is a very important page for an artist to have. Basically a re-direct just nullifies mine and Hittman entire ongoing career and merely casts me as a " once upon a time" singer in a now famous group. Ive had this page for years. Hittman page was deleted years ago for unknown reasons. Hittman was/ is a pioneer of the Power metal movement in the late 80's. Ive reached out to several wiki folks to try and get that page back up as we've done a lot and have sold a lot of records along the way. I mean the first album i n 27 years ( destroy all humans) sold very well and reignited our career. Can I ask what has to be done to get these back up? Thank you. Dirkworld ( talk) 18:22, 11 August 2023 (UTC) reply

The Hittman (band) article was deleted but that was back in 2008 and only because it didnt have any sources. If someone recreated it with appropriate sourcing and wrote it more neutrally (unlike this version: 1), I'm pretty sure that article will stay up. As for the article Dirk Kennedy, I dont think that passes WP:BANDMEMBER -- FMSky ( talk) 00:30, 12 August 2023 (UTC) reply

i created the article Hittman (band), translated from the german wiki version - it needs to be updated though

-- FMSky ( talk) 00:38, 12 August 2023 (UTC) reply

You're a legend, this is very cool. I knew we had international versions is this a direct translation. 2603:7000:AD00:5F15:603A:11B3:7132:FDEB ( talk) 12:08, 12 August 2023 (UTC) reply

Yes its a direct translation, feel free to correct any errors if you see any -- FMSky ( talk) 14:33, 12 August 2023 (UTC) reply