greatest heavy metal bands of all-time

Ramblings
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[QUOTE=Powerbait;407708]While the Beatles are always labelled the most influential rock band of all time, there is no doubt that if you listen to anything close to rock and roll, it’s gonna be heavily influenced by the Who. Heavy Metal included. They laid the groundwork that bands like Sabbath and Zeppelin picked up and turned into heavy metal.

I listed my favorite proto-metal, heavy metal and metal influenced bands. It is about as tired an argument as “what is punk rock?,” but I chose to use a more encompassing definition of the greatest heavy metal band, especially since something like this is wholly subjective.

Thrash metal has become the standard bearer for heavy metal, much like hardcore punk has become the standard definition for punk rock. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that most of the people concered with genres are younger (as is almost always the case) and they grew up with bands like Metallica or DK being the direct influence for a lot of bands they listen to, so now we’re forced to have early heavy metal bands relegated to “hard rock” and early punk rock bands to “pop punk.” Revisionist history at its finest.

As for the rest of your post, Metallica was mediocre at their best and garbage at their worst. Anthrax will always be the kings of thrash.[/QUOTE]

Metallica - over 100 million albums sold, with 57mil in the US.
Anthrax - over 10 million

Anthrax are great, but Kings? I don’t think so…

I agree that the Who have been heavily influential across the board, with Townshend’s windmills and guitar destroying, to Keith Moon’s insane ability to produce drum lines and O.D while playing on stage, by far presented a prototype for “metal” bands to follow. But it wasn’t the Who in particular who influenced Black Sabbath and Zeppelin, it was more the British Mods culture that spawned these bands.

But again, I assumed this thread was about best heavy metal bands, not most influential bands of heavy metal bands. Arguing who is the grandfather of this genre is like saying “dude, Bach was the greatest metal artist of all TIME, because he laid the groundworks for ALL OTHER BANDS EVER”

At this point in time, I am sure the thrash metal bands have been regulated to the “hard rock” section. The rapid popularity of Death Metal (ugh.) has allowed this to happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJuRZPMC30

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this thread is officially retarded now. So many posts have made me want to gag

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[QUOTE=Sideshow;407718]this thread is officially retarded now. So many posts have made me want to gag[/QUOTE]

Music snobs are the worst. :grin:

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[QUOTE=s9er;407720]Music snobs are the worst. :grin:[/QUOTE]

I disagree. I think people with awful taste in music are the worst.

:slight_smile:

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Van Halen
Aerosmith
Poison
Def Leppard
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Bon Jovi (In the '80’s) In the '90’s they turned into a gay boys band sounding crap.
Deep Purple
Pink Floyd
Charlie Daniels Band
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Alice Cooper
Metalica
Motley Crue

46

[QUOTE=ozmosis49er;407713]Metallica - over 100 million albums sold, with 57mil in the US.
Anthrax - over 10 million

Anthrax are great, but Kings? I don’t think so…
[/QUOTE]

Not that I’m calling Anthrax “kings” either, or saying they’re any better than Metallica (though I do LOVE some Anthrax)…you can’t really base anything off of album sales, either. Lots of people buy terrible albums.

Otherwise, why would Soulja Boy be a millionaire recording artist (and I use the term “artist” loosely)?

I can think of lots of AWFUL bands that have had huge sales successes, but couldn’t play their way out of a wet paper sack.

47

Anthrax tears **** up. Ya’ll are haters.

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I guess everybody defines musical genres in somewhat different ways, but I happen to think Soundgarden had some great metal - like tunes, especially off of Badmotorfinger. Outshined still has one of the best heavy riffs of all time.

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An argument of who is better should not be settled by album sales.

50

[QUOTE=zepandragefan;407750]I guess everybody defines musical genres in somewhat different ways, but I happen to think Soundgarden had some great metal - like tunes, especially off of Badmotorfinger. Outshined still has one of the best heavy riffs of all time.[/QUOTE]

Yeah man, Soundgarden was definitely a metal band. They went in a different direction when they released superunknown, but I love all their albums. Grunge was very heavily rooted in metal and punk.

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Soundgarden was one of my first musical loves. Badmotorfinger was rather metal. Plus their album Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas (a palindrome-- sweet) included a killer cover of Black Sabbath’s “Into the Void”

52

How about some of the greatest metal songs?

Mudvayne - Dig, is at the top of my list.

Sepultura- Refuse/ Resist

Arch Enemy - End of the Line
(in case you haven’t heard) [URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLKnd8089EU[/URL]

Motorhead - Ace of Spades

Nightwish - Crownless
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t8MbnWGcWc[/URL]

White Zombie - More Human Than Human; Thunderkiss '65; Superbeast

Iron Maiden - Stranger in a Strange Land; The Trooper; Run To The Hills; Number of the Beast

Judas Priest - Breaking the Law

Black Sabbath - Iron Man; War Pigs; Paranoid

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[QUOTE=Sideshow;407569]does anyone like Between the Buried and Me? good friend of mine is the guitarist. they’re a North Carolina band. represent.[/QUOTE]

most talented band listed in this thread. not that they are ‘better,’ but colors is one of the most brilliantly written albums in existence. are you referring to dusty? those dudes are freaking spectacular.

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[QUOTE=ninerball49;407786]most talented band listed in this thread. not that they are ‘better,’ but colors is one of the most brilliantly written albums in existence. are you referring to dusty? those dudes are freaking spectacular.[/QUOTE]

no, Paul. he’s a real good guy.

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'Tallica hands down is the best metal band EVA!

Do you count Tool as heavy metal??

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[QUOTE=Sideshow;407777]Soundgarden was one of my first musical loves. Badmotorfinger was rather metal. Plus their album Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas (a palindrome-- sweet) included a killer cover of Black Sabbath’s “Into the Void”[/QUOTE]

I really loved Soundgarden. Fopp and Ultramega OK got me hooked on them bigtime.

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Yeah, Soundgarden definitely stands up there. There’s actually a copy of Badmotorfinger in my truck’s visor-cd-thingy right now.

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[QUOTE=49erDrummer;407730]Not that I’m calling Anthrax “kings” either, or saying they’re any better than Metallica (though I do LOVE some Anthrax)…you can’t really base anything off of album sales, either. Lots of people buy terrible albums.

Otherwise, why would Soulja Boy be a millionaire recording artist (and I use the term “artist” loosely)?

I can think of lots of AWFUL bands that have had huge sales successes, but couldn’t play their way out of a wet paper sack.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=NLP;407751]An argument of who is better should not be settled by album sales.[/QUOTE]

I disagree, I don’t think 100 million people are dumb, otherwise the planet would be in big trouble. Soulja Boy also sold at most 2-3 million, and most of the sales were based on his only hit single. Also, apparently you can’t argue in this thread, most people who are “music buff’s” will just scoff at you because you are not cool enough to “truely appreciate” small bands, who happen to be the best thing since sliced bread.

[QUOTE=ConcordNiners;407797]Do you count Tool as heavy metal??[/QUOTE]

Tool started as a “heavy metal” band with Undertow, but evolved into a Progressive Rock/ Art Rock genre once Lateralus came out.

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[QUOTE=Sideshow;407777]Soundgarden was one of my first musical loves. Badmotorfinger was rather metal. Plus their album Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas (a palindrome-- sweet) included a killer cover of Black Sabbath’s “Into the Void”[/QUOTE]

Grunge = :weep:whining in musical form.

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[QUOTE=ozmosis49er;407830]I disagree, I don’t think 100 million people are dumb, otherwise the planet would be in big trouble. Soulja Boy also sold at most 2-3 million, and most of the sales were based on his only hit single. Also, apparently you can’t argue in this thread, most people who are “music buff’s” will just scoff at you because you are not cool enough to “truely appreciate” small bands, who happen to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Tool started as a “heavy metal” band with Undertow, but evolved into a Progressive Rock/ Art Rock genre once Lateralus came out.[/QUOTE]

They may have sold 100 million records, but that doesn’t mean 100 million people bought their albums. They have 9 studio albums and at least 1 live cd and 1 tribute album. Their best selling album is the black album and it sold 22 million copies worldwide according to Wikipedia. That means, assuming no one ever bought duplicates, that 22 million people would be dumb.

Considering there are around 7 billion people on the planet now, that is not even 10% of the world’s population. It’s closer to 1% of the population of the world. So, what you’re saying is, if 1% of the planet’s population is dumb, we’re in big trouble?

Metallica is mediocre, but they have been doing it for a long time and a lot of people like their music. They are the most commercially viable metal band, but that doesn’t always mean the best, just the most popular. A greatest list is almost always going to be subjective, and if you try to quantify it with album sales you’re going to lose what makes art so great.