I think he was joking.
(At least I hope he was joking.)
I got that.
Only partially, when one of the top10 bands starts playing on pandora I almost always skip it cause I’ve listened to them so many times, so as of right now a Manowar song pretty much always beats an Iron Maiden or Judas Priest song. So my personal current top 10 would not look anything like the list you guys came up with.
No way. This is a Heavy Metal list.
It’s not your personal current top 10 though. It’s the albums you think every metal fan should own. Whether or not you’re sick of them right now is irrelevant.
Exactly, or of a list of classic metal albums for beginners.
re: Motorhead - Lemmy himself says he doesn’t consider the band to be metal. He says they’re punk, but the fact he has long hair makes people think he’s “metal”.
Dioesn’t matter. They’re as metal as it gets (though not as much today as with the Fast Eddie lineups).
My list, which makes an attempt to give some semblence of representation of range (and in no particular order):
Black Sabbath We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll (I hope a greatest hits compilation is kosher, if not, make it Paranoid. Sabbath was the original, the blueprint, the standard. They gave metal the look, the sound, the vocabulary, the chord chart, the riffs and they gave us Ozzy Osbourne)
AC/DC Back in Black (Don’t tell me “Hell’s Bells” isn’t metal)
Metallica Master of Puppets (my personal submission for best metal album of all time)
Slayer Reign in Blood (probably the best pure speed metal album ever)
Guns 'N Roses Appetite for Destruction (arguably not metal, but I don’t care. They had enough metal elements, and they sure as hell had the attitude).
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Oz (fucking Randy Rhoads, man)
Motorhead No Remorse (another greatest hits, if that’s not ok, Ace of Spades)
Judas Priest Unleashed in the East (I loved this album as a kid. It scared the shit out of me. I know it seems tame now, but in 1979 it semed like the most badass music in the world).
Iron Maiden Piece of Mind (though the spandex looks a little cheesy now)
Megadeth Rust in Peace (I give Megadeth a lot of credit for some of the most accomplished, technical thrash, and Dave Mustaine is a very interesting and entertaining composer. Too bad he seems to be a huge asshole as a person).
I’m glad the OP specified classic metal in making this list, because heavy metal is not by any means a single, homogeneous style or genre. The differences between types of metal music can be striking and vast, probably more so than most types of popular music. Consider the metal family tree that cultural anthropologist (and metalhead) Sam Dunn created for his 2005 documentary film Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey (which I highly recommend, by the way).
Which leads me to a little nitpicking:
Most of the bands in the OP’s list aren’t even what one would call “early” or “classic” metal; they’re all over the board. Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth are thrash metal; Judas Priest and Iron Maiden are power metal/NWOBHM, Queensryche is progressive metal, etc.
But I get the point of the OP. These are the overall genre-defining albums, no matter which subgenre they actually fall into. And I largely agree.
I don’t see why the greatest hits albums would be non-kosher. In fact, I wish I’d thought of that myself. Assuming they’re allowed, my list is hereby updated as follows:
-
Queensryche - Greatest Hits
-
Faith No More - We Care A Lot
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Iron Maiden - Edward the Great
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Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Souls for Rock & Roll
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Motorhead - No Remorse
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Deep Purple - Machine Head
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Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
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Metallica - Metallica/The Black Album
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Judas Priest - British Steel
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Guns and Roses - Use Your Illusion II
Because they mix meat and milk?
Responding before reading so as to not skew my first impression…
- Metallica- Master of Puppets
- Iron Maiden - Powerslave
- Megadeth - Rust in Peace
- Slayer - South of Heaven
- Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East
- Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
- Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
- Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
- Mercyful Fate - Don’t Break the Oath
- Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
You know, that’s a great analogy!
But honestly, they separate the songs from the context of their specific album.
Secondly, we’re not talking about individual songs we’re talking about actual albums in their entirety and in their intended state, those that you can listen to from beginning to end, as opposed to a record company choosing to release a compilation of what they might consider “greatest” hits.
This list is defective… seriously.
It should go… TO… 11!
Well, maybe, but I only really do that the first time I buy a record (and I’ll probably never buy an actual physical record or CD ever again).
This is the closest list in the thread so far. The only two that are easily replaceable are Shot at the Devil and Mercyful Fate IMHO. I would probably put GnR AFD in place of Shout at the Devil, though neither of them really fit into a metal list. Particularly one with Slayer and Pantera. I don’t seee any reason why 2 albums from the same band can’t be on here so I think Ride the Lightning would fit in place of Mercyful Fate. I would put Sepultura Arise or Chaos AD on there somewhere myself. And probably Fear Factory Demanufacture.
Metallica may have been the biggest and baddest, but they didn’t invent multiple genres out of whole cloth the way that Bathory did. Blood Fire Death deserves at least a mention, if not a place on the list.
I think the point of the original OP was to make a list for the absolute metal beginner, so doubles wouldn’t be so helpful.
Hurray for a Bathory mention, but that might be a little to serious for inclusion on a beginner’s list. If we start getting too hardcore the discussion degenerates into “if Bathory, why not Carcass? If Carcass why not Darkthrone… etc etc etc…”
Err.. well, you see, we were… and uh… umm…
sheepishly hands back Heavy Metal Music Fan members card
Since when is Master Of Puppets not “heavy”? You have listened to songs on there like “Damage Inc” and “Battery”…right?
:dubious:
Absolutely. They were, and are, awesome. Set the standard.
I’ve seen you mention this album twice now, and I’m curious…why this one over any of their other first four (5?) full releases? I like this album too, but there’s not really any denying that this one marked the transition point between them being a truly good, awesome heavy metal band and becoming the corporate machine they are now, and the slick production of this album reflects that.
I’m just puzzled by this choice when at least to me, any of their earlier releases would qualify as a “more heavy” sound and feel.