3x3x3 Give us your top threes!

[Charger]

So I thought this might be kinda fun.

Here's the idea then:

What are your favourite 3 bands?

What are the top 3 albums from those 3 bands?

And what are the top 3 songs from those top 3 albums from those top 3 bands?


I know this might be a pretty damn hard task. I know it is for me...but who says things should always be easy?

Think about it and let us know.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Hmmm, I know which 3 bands it will be... and probably which 3 albums as well... but then cutting it down to 3 tracks is going to take some thinking about!

[Charger]

I'm already struggling with the top 3 bands!

[Typhon]

Oh great, in my spare time I had planned to play a chess game against the computer, but now I'm going to have to work on this.   

[Charger]

Oh great, in my spare time I had planned to play a chess game against the computer, but now I'm going to have to work on this.   

Both equally hard I'd say...

[Axefiend]

Very Difficult! These aren't necessarily my favourites right now or today, but have probably been my top 3 on and off, with the most consistency since my teenage years:

- Black Sabbath
  - Vol. 4
     - Wheels Of Confusion
     - Under The Sun
     - Supernaut
  - Sabotage
     - Symptom Of The Universe
     - Thrill Of It All
     - The Writ
  - Seventh Star
     - Turn To Stone
     - Seventh Star
     - Heart Like A Wheel

- Aerosmith
  - Toys In The Attic
     - Uncle Salty
     - No More No More
     - You See Me Crying
  - Rocks
     - Last Child
     - Get The Lead Out
     - Lick And A Promise
  - Right In The Nuts
     - No Surprize
     - Chiquita
     - Three Mile Smile

- Steppenwolf
  - The Second
     - Tighten Up Your Wig
     - None Of Your Doing
     - Magic Carpet Ride
  - Seven
     - Renegade
     - Foggy Mental Breakdown
     - Who Needs Ya
  - For Ladies Only
     - For Ladies Only
     - Sparkle Eyes
     - Ride With Me

Again, Very difficult! especially when the criteria required the band/artist to at least have 3 albums, Then there were all those bands/artists who had so many great songs and albums, but just not enough to be considered all around cream IMO. Here are some of those bands/artists:

- Pink Floyd (Top 3 Floyd albums for me: Obscured By Clouds, Wish You Were Here and Animals)
- Supertramp (Easily Crime Of The Century and Even In The Quietest moments, but Breakfast in America was a little too weak with 2 prime songs)
- Van Halen (Women and Children First, Fair Warning and Diver Down are awesome, but couldn't break top 3)
- Glenn Hughes (2 incredible albums, Addiction and The Way It is, couldn't find a convincing 3rd)
- Deep Purple (Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band, Awesome, but not awesome enough compared to top 3 IMO)
- Lynyrd Skynyrd (Nuthin Fancy, Street Survivors and Second Helping, just a little below)
- The Doors (The first 2 and L.A. Woman!!)
- Elvis Presley (I could only justify the debut album, but he came from the era of singles anyway)
- King's X (Ear Candy, Tape Head and Black Like Sunday, Fucking awesome albums, but not quite enough!!)

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Ok, the three acts were straight forward

Black Sabbath
Rush
New Model Army

Even the three albums were quite straight forward although I had to um and ah over one of the Rush albums:

Black Sabbath
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Sabotage
Dehumanizer

Rush
2112
Grace Under Pressure
Moving Pictures (only just from Clockwork Angels)

New Model Army
Thunder and Consolation
impurity
Eight

... and then we come to the 3 tracks on each album which took quite sometime for Rush & NewModel Army

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Killing Yourself to Live, Spiral Architect
Sabotage - Hole in the Sky, Symptom of the Universe, Thrill of it All
Dehumanizer - Computer God, Too Late, Buried Alive

2112 - 2112, A Passage to Bangkok, Twilight Zone
Moving Picture - Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, Limelight
Grace Under Pressure - Distant Early Warning, Red Sector A, Between the Wheels

Thunder and Consolation - Stupid Question, Green & Grey, Family
Impurity - Get Me Out, Lust for Power, Eleven Years
Eight - Strangers, R&R, Leeds Road 3AM
 

[Typhon]

Black Sabbath
  Vol. 4
    Wheels Of Confusion
    Supernaut
    Cornucopia
  Master Of Reality
    Into The Void
    Lord Of This World
    Sweet Leaf
  Paranoid
    War Pigs
    Fairies Wear Boots
    Paranoid

L7
  Bricks Are Heavy
    Monster
    Everglade
    Diet Pill
  Slap-Happy
    Crackpot Baby
    Long Green
    Lackey
  The Beauty Process
    Drama
    Moonshine
    Off The Wagon

Nirvana
  Nevermind
    Lounge Act
    Breed
    Lithium
  Bleach
    Scoff
    School
    About A Girl
  In Utero
    Very Ape
    Dumb
    Milk It

[Jack the Stripper]

I can't even pick 3 bands let alone 3 albums and 3 songs

[Charger]

Well....yeah...I made us a tough one didn't I?

I really had to think about this...

1. Black Sabbath (Has to be...this was what got me into Metal in the first place...)
2. DIO (Ronnie James Dio was the singer that introduced me to metal)

Now the third one took some thinking...there are a lot of bands that I absolutely love...Rainbow, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth and so on...but the thing with all of those bands is that they've put out some stuff that I either don't like or actually hate...so choosing a band like that wouldn't feel right.

Rainbow's first 3 albums are among the finest pieces of music ever released...BUT everything that came after them is so far below them that it's not even funny.
Deep Purple's classic line up's classic 3 albums and then the Morse era have been top notch for sure...but then we also have albums like Stormbringer, House Of Blue Light plus the first three that aren't up to par at all.

Priest has had a bit more steady career but Rocka Rolla, Hell Bent For Leather, Point Of Entry and especially Turbo are all quite sub par compared to any of the others...same goes for Redeemer Of Souls which was quite the letdown and felt so rushed and cliche Priest.

Megadeth has suffered a bit from making 1 or 2 great albums in a row and then throw out a bit of a stinker...it's like Dave wants to push himself over the limit every now and then...

Maiden up to Somewhere In Time was pure gold...then became the downslide which needed a singer change to correct..and boy did it! And then the return of Bruce still saw the band able to put out two great albums but then the downhill slide began again...and that was a fast one and a horrible one..

All of those band are among the bands that I love the most BUT they aren't quite consistent enough to deserve a place in the top 3. Granted ofcourse Sabbath has also got the two real stinkers TE and NSD and to a lesser extent Seventh Star (which can be forgiven a bit as it was never supposed to be a Sabbath album anyways) but overall the body of work that band did is incredible especially considering all the line-up changes...all one can say is that Tony Iommi is a genius.

So I had to start thinking about consistency...which band has the most albums that I really enjoy...so...number

3. Savatage (Their career was incredible, the only weaker album they ever did was Fight For Rock and that was forced upon them by the record company, making crazy promises and what not and then leaving them out to dry with nothing)

Top albums then

BLACK SABBATH

1. The Mob Rules
A perfect album, not a single weak track the culmination of Sabbath's whole career...the best line up of the best band putting out the best album...pure perfection
2. Master Of Reality
The only letdown track here is Sweet Leaf but once you get pass that the album is pure gold
3. Dehumanizer
No bad tracks here either and this is the album that introduced me to Black Sabbath and to heavy metal so it will always carry a very special place in my heart.

DIO

1. Holy Diver
The first is the best for sure, the songs, the energy the passion it's all there making this album one of the best albums in the world.
2. Magica
Ronnie's ambitious concept album which not only showcased his incredible song writing but the sheer incredible guitar talent of mr. Craig Goldy
3. Strange Highways
The heaviest of all DIO albums...a perfect sequel (if you will) to Dehumanizer. Tracy G might not have been the most techincally able guitarist but his riffs were suberb.

SAVATAGE

1. Hall Of The Mountain King
The first time the band worked together with the brilliant mind of Paul O'Neill that raised them to a whole new level...A pure masterpiece. One of those albums every single heavy metal fan should listen to...and love.
2. The Wake Of Magellan
A fantastic concept album, with a brilliant story and incredible music. One of the best concept albums ever made.
3. Power Of The Night
The band's second full album is a fierce heavy metal masterpiece with massive heavy riffs and incredible vocal work from Jon Oliva.


The top 3 songs out of each album...that's a tough one indeed.

The Mob Rules

1. The Sign Of The Southern Cross
The main riff...one of Tony's finest and Ronnie's vocals...suberb.
2. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
First time ever has a band been able to fit so much epicness in just little over 5 minutes with 3 different tempo changes.
3. The Mob Rules
The best concert opener ever by any band!

Master Of Reality

1. Into The Void
Perfect riff, perfect lyrics
2. Lord Of This World
Same as above
3. Children Of The Grave
I ponder if this is the second time since DP's Hard Loving Man a galloping riff was used?

Dehumanizer

1. TV Crimes
Fast rocker with fantastic lyrical story about just how evil TV evangelists truly are.
2. Computer God
Ronnie new already back then that Computers would take over the world.
3. I
The best ego-boost song ever made!

Holy Diver

1. Holy Diver
Talk about iconic riffs which I believe Ronnie wrote with a bass
2. Don't Talk To Strangers
An epic song with a great life lession
3. Stand Up And Shout
A near perfect fast rocker.

Magica

1. Challis
A fantastic riff with brilliant vocal delivery
2. Fever Dreams
One of the catchiest riffs of all time
3. Eriel
Such a beautiful epical piece with a mindblowingly brilliant guitar solo outro!

Strange Highways

1. Evilution
A song about goverments...holds true to this day.
2. Strange Highways
One of the strangest riffs but it works perfectly...Ronnie's angry vocal delivery is brilliant!
3. Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost
A perfect story about the inherent illogicality of religion


Hall Of The Mountain King

1. Hall Of The Mountain King
Jon Oliva has jokingly introduced this song as his Paranoid....it isn't as this is honestly a great song!
2. Beyond The Doors Of The Dark
Also an epical song eventhough it's just little over 5 minutes long!
3. 24 Hours Ago
Without a doubt Jon's greatest vocal preformance of all time...magical.

The Wake Of Magellan

1. The Hourglass
The main song of the story...and such a fantastic and touching story it is...hard to listen to this without getting tear eyed. And Zak Stevens does an incredible job with the vocals
2. Paragons Of Innocence
One of only two songs Jon Oliva sings on the album...the vocal hook of "Gotta let it go" is brilliant...and he did it with one take which is incredible to say the least.
3. Turns To Me
Perfect way to begin the story. Zak's vocals are again top notch

Power Of The Night

1. Power Of The Night
A perfect heavy metal anthem.
2. Warriors
Awesome riff awesome vocal melody
3. Washed Out
A real fast rocker and Jon really pushes himself vocally here again...showcasing why he is one of the greatest singers in metal.


Wow yeah...that was hard...harder than I thought.

[Charger]

@ Axefiend

Steppenwolf is an interesting choice. Shows how little I know about them as I have always just considered them as a one hit wonder... 

And Seventh Star?!?! Wow...I'd like to hear more about this..I do remember you talking about this before but memory isn't my strong suit.

@ KDC

I have never even heard of New Model Army! 

@ Typhon

Nirvana?!? Okay I am really struggling not to think any less of you now because of this... 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Charger, a few New Model Army songs, they're Indie Rock although in recent years they've gone motr folk rock.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

And a couple more:

[Thelemech]

Black Sabbath
Jethro Tull
Metallica

Black Sabbath
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Sabotage
Mob Rules

Jethro Tull
Heavy Horses
Songs From The Wood
Living In The Past

Metallica
Ride The Lightning
Master Of Puppets
...And Justice For All

......will finish after I have given it some more thought.

[Typhon]

@ Typhon

Nirvana?!? Okay I am really struggling not to think any less of you now because of this... 

Remember now, I do not hold it against you the fact that you are unable to comprehend how good Never Say Die is.