Dammit! Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal redux

Cafe Society
1

So I typed up a long screed about how I didn’t like a lot of the band choices in Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal (which is still a great book, for the record.) Then I posted my own list.

Then I accidentally closed the browser tab. :mad:

So, here’s a shorter version of my own list. Please post your own (20 bands max) and critique mine:

Queensryche - the first band I liked because I like them, and not because everyone around me was listening to them. I was hooked the first time I heard Take Hold of the Flame (on Headbanger’s Ball, I think). Geoff Tate has the best voice in music. Maybe ever. Bring back Chris DeGarmo!

Faith No More - criminally overlooked. Paved the way for nu-metal (but I forgive them). Broadened the scope of hard rock more than anyone.

Megadeth - I respect that Dave Mustaine turned himself into a decent singer despite having no vocal talent at all. Weirdly, I liked them a lot more once Mustaine stopped trying to play faster than everyone.

Metallica - could have been the biggest band in history with a proper singer. Still pretty damn good.

Motorhead - everyone loves Lemmy. You should too. Every thrash band sounds like it’s trying to replicate Motorhead, which is weird because Motorhead don’t sound like anyone.

Led Zeppelin - could have been the biggest band in history if they hadn’t packed it in after John Bonham died. Classy move, though.

Black Sabbath - couldn’t have 90% of the bands on my list without them.

Iron Maiden - the archetype of metal. Didn’t do anything new, but did everything well.

Judas Priest - to be honest, I don’t like most of their music. However, they made it okay to be heavy.

Pantera - metal and I kind of parted company after Pantera. I don’t like Lamb of God or virtually any other band with a guttural vocalist. I did like Pantera because they managed to incorporate melody with all the heaviness.

Paradise Lost - pretty much just for the riff from Embers Fire.

Guns N’ Roses - yeah, I want them to get back together too. Unlike most, I liked the Use Your Illusion records better than the first one.

Queen - I’ll say it: Freddie Mercury is kind of overrated. Awesome frontman, not an awesome singer. Brian May is not overrated.

Dream Theater - did all the things I wished Queensryche would do. Did all the things I would probably do if I had a band. I love that.

I feel like I forgot a couple, but this will do for now.

2

I’d add Dokken. George Lynch is a hell of a guitarist. I had a couple albums from thier prime, I’m blanking on the titles at the moment.
Queensryche’s *Operation Mindcrime *is an all time classic, IMHO.

I’ll think on this some more, I haven’t been listening to these genres much lately.

3

Only one for you: (Early) Blue Oyster Cult. Much overlooked and dismissed band due to later success with one fairly lame track, then a bunch of mediocre '80s AOR garbage. But their early stuff is exceptionally creative, with lyrical contributions from Patti Smith and Michael Moorcock; Buck Dharma’s guitar work is breathtakingly creative, and the album Secret Treaties is a masterpiece.

4

Your list looks good. I’d add AC/DC there, Slayer, and Van Halen.

5

My only exposure to Dokken is the songs they play on VH1 Classic now. I like Lynch’s solos but the overall vibe is a bit too glam for me.

What Blue Oyster Cult albums/songs should I give a listen? I only know Don’t Fear the Reaper.

I left off AC/DC because all their songs sound pretty much the same to me. I love that they’ve been able to record basically the same album 20 times and have it go platinum every time, but no AC/DC song has ever really made me sit up and take notice. Maybe the first couple minutes of Thunderstruck.

I left Van Halen off on purpose. I’ve tried to like them for years because so many musicians I like (like Slash) say they were a huge influence, but I just don’t like any of their songs.

6

Not to mention Richard Meltzer. BOC’s early stuff was tremendous. They were one of the loudest bands I ever experienced. They did a monster live version of Born To Be Wild with everyone in the band on guitar.

7

You, my friend, are out of your mind.

You mentioned a lot of the bands in Eddie Trunk’s book. I agree it’s great. In fact, because of that book, I have been discovering, rediscovering, and learning much more about metal than I ever knew.

Most of these are also in the book, but should be added to this list as well.
Rush
Deep Purple
Rainbow
Kiss
Ronnie James Dio

Bands I would have left out of the book would be Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, and most of the other 80s hair/glam.

8

How about Jane’s Addiction? *Nothing Shocking *and *Ritual De La Habitual *or whatever it was called definitely qualify as hard rock in my book. I still enjoy them so as far as I’m concerned they’ve stood the test of time.

9

I would also nominate Great White. They had some great hard rock albums.

10

As for Dokken, anything up to Back For The Attack. After that may be good but I can’t vouch for it.

Listening to some old Aldo Nova right now, still sounds pretty good.

11

Soundgarden had some happening shit as well!

12

Don’t Fear the Reaper is the lame track I was referring to. Secret Treaties is the album I recommend. If I had to pick a single track from that I would be hard pressed to do so. Astronomy is the stand-out track on the album but it’s a ballad so not necessarily representative. Try the southern-boogie influenced ME262 which got them falsely accused of being Nazis, or my favourite which is Flaming Telepaths for some great Dharma action - it transitions into Astronomy hence the abrupt ending.

13

Changed my mind, just listen to Cagey Cretins for representative energy and weirdness. But actually just listen to the whole album from start to finish.

Did I mention I love this album?

14

I would put Superunknown as a must-have album for the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre. Badmotorfinger would just about make the cut, too. I think for early-to-mid-90s hard rock, they have to be on the list. I would also add the Smashing Pumpkins, with Gish, Pisces Iscariot, Siamese Dream, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (condensed into a single album). (I thought Adore was solid, too, but we’re talking “hard rock” here.)

15

You know, I really need to coin a phrase for this phenomenon. Maybe one already exists and I have not yet stumbled upon it, but this happens ALL. THE. TIME.

My phrase would mean ‘bands that had one smash hit that exposed them to the Top 40 listening audience but that hit was an aberration of their style and not really representative’. I’ll just throw out a few I can think of off the top of my head: Mr. Big, Extreme, Night Ranger, and Queensryche.

Queensryche is a great example. If you heard “Silent Lucidity” and loved it and then went and bought Empire you’d be surprised and possibly disappointed. If you loved “Silent Lucidity” and then heard “Queen of the Ryche” you’d be VERY surprised.

I am hoping that I get Eddie Trunk’s book for the holidays, it’s on my wish list.

16

Power Ballad Syndrome.

17

You are wrong about ACDC. I recommend you sit down and listen to all of Let There Be Rock, Back in Black or Highway to Hell. Almost no weak track among them.

I don’t really think that Queen fit on the list. Even though they did have some hard rock songs, that was not a large part of their output, and not what they are mainly known for.

10 bands I think must be included:

ACDC
Guns n Roses
Metallica
Tool
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Iron Maiden
Motorhead
Judas Priest

18

Thanks! I like it. It ties in nicely with something else that others have noted and that I call LSS, or Lead Singer Syndrome. A.k.a Lead Singer’s Disease however I like my name better.

19

I like Tool a lot, but they’ve put out four albums in 18 years. If I was doing a “20 essential records” list instead of bands, I’d probably put Aenima in there.

20

That still gives us more heavy numbers than Queen. more good albums than Pantera, and more albums than Guns N Roses.

Also, they have been rather groundbreaking in post-metal / progressive metal.

Also, they are awesome.