The Community Knows Better: The ACTUAL Most Important 50 Metal Bands of All Time

[Zzzptm]

50. Babymetal.



OK, not even at 50 do I put that band in the list...

We need to nominate and then sort things out. Maybe we don't get rankings, but we *do* get a list we can be proud of.

We'll start things off with the obvious:

Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Dio
Ozzy
Rainbow
Metallica
Megadeth
Accept
Anthrax
Judas Priest
The Scorpions
Iron Maiden

So what *else* would possibly be considered for not just a list of 50 metal bands, but the 50 *most important* metal bands?

See, I'd add Aria, which has been the cornerstone of Russian metal. Great rockers, but also a family tree of all other Russian metal bands.  The Scorpions were huge throughout the Iron Curtain countries, along with DP and Uriah Heep. Much of Eastern Europe wouldn't have metal if it weren't for those bands.

[Charger]

Hmmm...this is a tough one though as "most important" is a very very wide and veried concept.

So they need to be bands that have left a mark on the genre or subgenre of metal...

Your choices are very obvious indeed. They all left a mark for sure.

So...

Slayer pretty much started the whole extreme metal thing so they need to be there.
Venom started the whole black metal thing
Korn started the numetal thing (which they still are the best and for me the only band worth listening to)

They'd be very obvious inclusions in my book...I don't know much about death metal but I think two bands were very influential in that genre Death and Napalm Death? People who know more can shed more light on that subject...thel or Tyr?

Pantera pretty much ruled the mid 90s so I think they should be included...

Candlemass and Cathedral were both very essential to the whole world of DOOM metal in europe...and Solitude Aeturnus and maybe Pentagram from the US...

Savatage was extremely influential in building the whole conceptual orchestral metal.

Alice Cooper obviously for horror rock and metal...but here is the thing though...is Alice more rock than metal?

Motörhead needs no reason really why they need to be included...

Thoughts about those band anyone?

[Thelemech]

Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
AC/DC
Death
Celtic Frost
Darkthrone
Metallica
Megadeth
Anthrax
Overkill
Slayer
Motorhead
Napalm Death
Judas Priest
Kreator
Destruction
Tankard
Sodom
Hammerfall
Iron Maiden
Pantera
KISS
Rainbow
Alice Cooper
Dio
Ozzy
Obituary
Vader
Amon Amarth
Cirith Ungol
Carcass
Motley Crue
Ratt
Helix
Guns N Roses
Helloween
Sepultura
Suffocation
Scorpions
Toxic Holocaust
Whitesnake
Candlemass
Cathedral
Corrosion Of Conformity
Onslaught
Witchfinder General
High On Fire
Razor
Grave Digger
Blue Oyster Cult
Morbid Angel
Saxon
Accept
Dark Angel

50 +give or take - these are some of my favorite bands!!

[Jack the Stripper]

It’s probably best to first go through the eras/genres and pick out the influencers and major players from both UK/Euro and US going back to early metal. I think it’s also important to not get too nostalgic or bias and leave out bands like Slipknot, System Of A Down, Rammstein, Avenged Sevenfold etc that are proven keepers at the top for over 10 years with sales and attendance figures. Every generation should be included.

So the starting point should be early metal from the UK and US and work our way through eras and genres.

UK
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
Judas Priest
UFO
Motörhead
Rainbow

US
Kiss
Alice Cooper
Aerosmith
Blue Öyster Cult
Ted Nugent
Van Halen


Others
AC/DC
Scorpions

Feel free to discuss who to cull. I know some of them are debatable as to whether they are metal or not, particularly some of those US bands, but they were at least playing heavy rock which is considered early metal.

Happy to cull Aerosmith and Ted Nugent straight off the bat.

[Charger]

Well the thing is though have bands like System Of A Down, Slipknot and especially Avenged Sevenfold brought anything new to the table? Have they left a mark? They are widely popular yes, but is popular = important? In some cases I'd say yes in others no... System Of A Downs first two albums were great, then they went downhill fast...haven't really followed enough about Slipknot to know anything about them...same pretty much goes for AS as well...Nightmare is a good album but that's all I know about them. So honestly I don't have that much of a basis to say one thing or another about those two...

Bunch of bands on Thel's list I don't even know about! As I could have expected!

And yeah I don't think Aerosmith or Ted are metal at all so...

AC/DC is same than Alice Cooper....kind of borderline case...if we choose to take in one we pretty much have to take in the other too...and I'd be willing to include both.

[Jack the Stripper]

Ok Charger point taken but I definitely think Slipknot and SOAD brought something new to the table, especially SOAD, no one sounds like them and I probably like them the most from the newer wave mid 90’s onwards but have they done enough? Only 5 studio albums.

I’m happy to nominate the following to kick it off.

Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Led Zeppelin
UFO
Judas Priest
Alice Cooper
Kiss
AC/DC
Rainbow
Scorpions
Blue Öyster Cult?
Motörhead
Van Halen

I’m leaving Uriah Heep out, not heavy enough for mine. More hard rock with prog elements, same could be said for Alice Cooper in the 70’s but he’s done albums and songs over his career that are definitely in the heavy metal category and he’s been embraced by the metal fraternity.
Got a question mark on BOC too.

Maybe if there’s some room at the end we can add in some of the unlucky ones   

Any objections? Or would anyone like to nominate someone from the 70’s wave? Then we can move onto the 80’s.

[Jack the Stripper]

Hmmm....Just realised I forgot Thin Lizzy. A band I absolutely love. Not metal but they definitely
rocked hard and their influence on metal is undeniable, particularly on Iron Maiden.

Would like to put them in but cool with leaving them out.

[Tyr66]

It's an ultra-objective list of course , nevertheless I tried to know if for each mentioned bandname we could say that an unknown combo plays "à la (puts one of the 50 groups listed below)"
I thought first and foremost by asking myself whether this or that band brought something to the musical genre through the last decades by pushing the limits even more or proposed something new. :

Black Sabbath
Led Zeppelin
Deep Purple
Rainbow
Whitesnake
Gillan
Ozzy Osbourne
AC/DC
Judas Priest
Thin Lizzy
Gary Moore
UFO
Van Halen
Kiss
Scorpions
Accept
Motörhead
Diamond Head
Iron Maiden
Saxon
Twisted Sister
Queensrÿche
Yngwie Malmsteen
Venom
Hellhammer/Celtic Frost
Bathory
Mercyful Fate
King Diamond
Manowar
Metallica
Slayer
Megadeth
Voivod
Sodom
Kreator
Death
Entombed
Obituary
Mayhem
Darkthrone
Cradle Of Filth
Triptykon
Candlemass
Rammstein
Dream Theater
Nightwish
Fear Factory
Guns and Roses
Nevermore
Gojira

[Charger]

That too is a very comprehensive list...and I can see that that both you included Death and Thel Napalm Death so I wasn't far off thinking that you'd know about those two!

As far as Thin Lizzy goes I really don't know anything about them so can't say if they're metal or not.


As far as SOAD goes I do agree that their sound is very unique indeed. But like you said they only released 5 albums so is that really enough to have a big impact? Then again you can have a big impact with just one album though...so I do think that SOAD could be included if there is room.

I personally do not like Led Zeppelin but their influence was undeniable...BUT were they metal? They were the softest and the most commercial sounding out of the 3...I never put them in metal category...they are somewhere between rock and hard rock.

So far it seems that we can all agree on these:

Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Dio
Ozzy
Rainbow
AC/DC
Alice Cooper
Judas Priest
The Scorpions
UFO
Iron Maiden
Metallica
Megadeth
Accept
Anthrax
Motörhead
Van Halen
Slayer
Candlemass
Cathedral
Pantera

Then KISS....Are they metal? I honestly don't care enough about them to say...but the songs that I have heard pretty much puts them more in the hard rock category than metal. BUT again...we have now already included AC/DC and Alice too so why not Kiss? Also eventhough I am not a fan I still have to admit they have had a huge impact on the music world...I guess one could even call them the originators of "stadium rock"?

With Kiss in there that would make the list 22 strong so far. With all of the "biggest classics" included...then I guess we could start looking at other genres as well...including back and death metal...

Venom
Death
Napalm Death

[Tyr66]

I agree Charger ! 
We ask each question of what Metal or not. I would say that when it comes to the '70s, we use the term Hard Rock more naturally. Thin Lizzy is one of them. Metal? Certainly not, like UFO, Scorpions' 70's era, Led Zep, Kiss (which I recognize the quality today, although albeit belatedly !), But they undeniably influenced many groups of several different styles. Kiss marked Black Metal and Gene Simmons especially, it's obvious: corsp paint, attitude, fire eater, blood, Black and White colors ... even if some Trve BM purists refuse to admit it. Cronos of Venom is a big fan of Simmons.
Thin Lizzy influenced Maiden with his twin guitars, like Wishbone Ash. As for Zeppelin, some Page riffs were very heavy as early as 1969 when Plant already knew what it meant to shout while Bonham's strike force and rhythms had their influences on Heavy Metal.

[Zzzptm]

We definitely have bands that gave ideas that led to metal and then the metal bands themselves.

One could argue that Black Sabbath with Ozzy were more hard rock/stoner rock than metal, with the Dio-Gillan-Hughes-Martin lineups being actual metal bands. Reunion material with Ozzy is metal for sure.

But if we take a definition of "it was metal for the 70s", then we're looking at bands like Zeppelin, BOC, Queen, and Aerosmith that got tagged as metal even though nowadays we're likely to call them hard rock. Deep Purple in the 70s was closer to proper metal than most, but now they seem to have sailed on to hard rock seas in their Morse years.

And I think that if we go with "important" we have to consider bands that may have had minor output or fanbase, but which other metal acts cite as influences that got them to play a certain way or to pick up the guitar in the first place.

***

That being said, I consider Rainbow's work with Dio to be metal - especially Rising and LLRNR. After that, they were mining a pop vein, with some nods towards harder material. But Rising in 1976 was for sure a metal album. So, are there other metal albums before that?

Sabotage by Black Sabbath I also consider to be a true metal album in terms of, well, everything. That's 1975. Paranoid from 1970 is a mixed bag of styles, but it does have some metal in it.

Deep Purple's Machine Head is part metal, part heavy blues, plus a pop single in Never Before. Burn is closer to metal, but doesn't go all the way like Rising does. DP's first full metal album would be, in my opinion, Perfect Strangers. And that may be really their only full metal album, now that I think of it... But stuff on In Rock and Fireball absolutely point the way towards metal.

Blizzard of Ozz for sure is a metal album.

Zep 1 and 2 point the way to metal, but they are firmly in the heavy blues camp.

Budgie comes to mind - that's a band that lots of other bands cite as an influence, and they definitely got a metal tune in "Breadfan". But do they have a full metal album?

Circling back to Uriah Heep - they were a band cited by many, many, MANY other bands as one whose sound they wanted to copy. And the Demons and Wizards album... if it's not a metal album, it's as close as one can be without being one. Very heavy, does the acoustic intro to a riffed-up thunderwagon that all the hair bands later copied, it's got it all and I think it's hard enough to be one of the first metal albums.

Hawkwind's Space Ritual should be considered... not as a metal album, but definitely as a major influence on future metal bands.

[Jack the Stripper]

One could argue that Black Sabbath with Ozzy were more hard rock/stoner rock than metal, with the Dio-Gillan-Hughes-Martin lineups being actual metal bands. Reunion material with Ozzy is metal for sure.

But if we take a definition of "it was metal for the 70s", then we're looking at bands like Zeppelin, BOC, Queen, and Aerosmith that got tagged as metal even though nowadays we're likely to call them hard rock. Deep Purple in the 70s was closer to proper metal than most, but now they seem to have sailed on to hard rock seas in their Morse years.

And I think that if we go with "important" we have to consider bands that may have had minor output or fanbase, but which other metal acts cite as influences that got them to play a certain way or to pick up the guitar in the first place.

***
Sabotage by Black Sabbath I also consider to be a true metal album in terms of, well, everything. That's 1975. Paranoid from 1970 is a mixed bag of styles, but it does have some metal in it.


Circling back to Uriah Heep - they were a band cited by many, many, MANY other bands as one whose sound they wanted to copy. And the Demons and Wizards album... if it's not a metal album, it's as close as one can be without being one. Very heavy, does the acoustic intro to a riffed-up thunderwagon that all the hair bands later copied, it's got it all and I think it's hard enough to be one of the first metal albums.

I’ve always felt Uriah Heep were very borderline. They had too many other elements to be considered metal. Acoustic, proggy, pop, folk, harmonies, Hammond heavy and David Byron had a bit of a 60’s singing vibe about him.

A lot of the metal bands that came through in the 80’s never really talked about them much either. American metal bands always cited bands like Montrose, Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent Van Halen along with the prominent UK heavy rockers Zep, Sabbath, Purple, Priest, Lizzy and Maiden as major influences. Heep weren’t in that cool bracket. I know they sold a lot of albums and were extremely talented and creative, had the goth/fantasy thing going on and Lee Kerslake was a heavy drummer but I’ve rarely heard them mentioned by metal guys as their favourite band or biggest influence.

Dunno, maybe they were more important to the development of heavy metal than they are given credit for. I know Queen were heavily influenced by them but I just don’t think they could be considered as in the 50 greatest or most important metal bands of all time.

As for Sabbath, they were undoubtedly the heaviest band of their time and still hold up as heavy today, much moreso than their contemporaries besides Priest.

[Charger]

Tyr I think I agree with you on Kiss so it should be there.

As for Uriah Heep....I'm with Jack on that one...granted I'm not a fan nor do I know much about them, but I have listened to the Demons And Wizards album and I can't see that being heavy metal, it's barely heavy rock. Progressive rock most certainly, but not heavy and thus most certainly not metal.

What about Queen then? I have never put them in the metal category either.

[Jack the Stripper]

Kiss shouldn’t even be up for debate. They were undoubtedly a heavy rock/metal band in the 70’s and their influence is undeniable.

Their studio albums never really captured just how heavy they were. It was their live shows where their heaviness and intensity came to the fore.

[Zzzptm]

Queen is definitely an influencer... but not actually graduated into metal. Aerosmith to me would be the same.

So what do you do for bands that were rock in the studio but metal on the stage?