Oh, and a second vote for Nashville Pussy. That band will rock your brain straight out of your skull and leave you begging for more.
Hey, that reminds me, does Heart count as metal?
Quiet Riot, Cum On Feel The Noize. It’s cheezy, but both it and the album cover was what Metal was.
Note: Beatles, Helter Skelter is sometimes thought to be the first heavy metal song. I favor that interpretation, myself.
How about some Blue Oyster Cult?
At least “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”.
Considering that Randy Rhoads was in the original lineup, I’d say it’s entirely appropriate. Even if I do love to bag on the singer…“So you say I got a bad toupee, it makes me money!”
Gwar. I recommend Scumdogs of the Universe and Ragnarok. I’d go as far as to say that Oderus Urungus is one of the best metal vocalists performing.
Go see them in concert. It’s two parts Troma, one part Grand Guignol, with just a pinch of Pink Flamingos for flavor. Don’t wear clothes you care about. If you wear a white T-shirt, it’ll turn out with a nice tie-dye effect.
Here are some albums from metal subgenres, which haven’t been mentioned, and which I think might go unmentioned if I don’t:
Opeth – Still life
Opeth – Orchid
Cradle of Filth – Midian
Cradle of Filth – the Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Children of Bodom – Hatebreeder
Dream Theater – The Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Dream Theater – Scenes From a Memory
Dream Theater – A Change of Seasons
Dream Theater – Awake
In Flames – Colony
Death – Leprosy
Pestilence – Consuming Impulse
Deftones – Adrenaline
Arch Enemy – Anthems of Rebellion
Candlemass – Nightfall
Nightwish – Nightfall in Middle Earth
Helloween – The Keeper of the Seven Keys
Nevermore – Dreaming Neon Black
Deicide – Legion
Mercyful Fate – Melissa
Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break the Oath
Venom – Welcome to Hell
There are also some bands I either don’t like, or am not familiar enough with them to recommend an album, but whose influences are seen everywhere: They should be given their dues. Sorry I can’t recommend specific albums. Maybe someone else can? Mayhem, Napalm Death, Fear Factory, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Dimmu Borgir, Meshuggah, Amon Amarath.
And no, these aren’t just albums I like. They are important albums by some of biggest/most influential bands in their subgenres.
OK, confession time: Yes, I had a series of Mead denim-covered binders in school that were always covered with hand-drawn logos of all the popular metal/hair metal bands. That being said, for Hair Metal I would include the following:
**
Motley Crue**: Shout at the Devil - they were still pretty young and raw on this album much like on Too Fast for Love, but the production values are much better than their debut - there are parts of TFfL that are just unlistenable to me. After SatD, they started getting progressively more hard and less metal, IMHO.
Ratt: Out of the Cellar - I’m sorry, any metal video with Milton *freakin’ *Berle in it canNOT be left out 
Dokken: Breaking the Chains
W.A.S.P.: W.A.S.P. - who could forget Blackie Lawless with those saw blade armbands? - I think they would be the closest synthesis of true metal and hair metal of the 80s - most of the rest of the hair bands have reached a level of radio acceptability that wasn’t present in the 80s.
Def Leppard: Pyromania
Scorpion: Love at First Sting
I’d throw something by Poison, but I never really liked anything they put out.
Were you thinking Blind Guardian?
Respectively: De Mysteriis dom Sathanas, Noise for Music’s Sake (Scum if you want an actual album), Demanufacture, Blood Fire Death, To Mega Therion, Spiritual Black Dimensions, Destroy Erase Improve, and Once Sent from the Golden Hall.
Rather than try for a narrative here, let me just throw out a list of stuff since 1985 or so:
Alice in Chains, Dirt
Arcturus, La Masquerade Infernale
Arcturus, The Sham Mirrors
As I Lay Dying, Shadows are Security
At the Gates, Slaughter of the Soul
Atheist, the complete catalog
Bathory, Blood Fire Death, Hammerheart, and Twilight of the Gods
Bolt Thrower, anything–they’re all the same
Borknagar, Quintessence
Brutal Truth, Need to Control
Burzum, Aske
Carcass, Heartwork
Clutch, Pure Rock Fury
Coal Chamber, Chamber Music
Converge, Jane Doe
Corrosion of Conformity, Deliverance
Danzig, I-III
Dark Tranquility, The Gallery
Darkthrone, Under a Funeral Moon
Death, Individual Thought Patterns and Sound of Perseverance
Dillinger Escape Plan, Calculating Infinity and Irony is a Dead Scene (with Mike Patton on vocals–you must hear this)
Dream Theater, Images and Words
Electric Wizard, Dopethrone
Emperor, In the Nightside Eclipse and Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk
Enslaved, Vikingligr Veldi
Faith No More, Angel Dust
Godflesh, Streetcleaner
Helloween, Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I
In Flames, The Jester Race
Isis, Oceanic
Korn, s/t and Life is Peachy
Kyuss, Blues for the Red Sun
Machine Head, Burn My Eyes
Marilyn Manson, Antichrist Superstar
Mastodon, Leviathan
Ministry, Psalm 69
Morbid Angel, Covenant
My Dying Bride, Turn Loose the Swans
Nightwish, Oceanborn
Nile, In Their Darkened Shrines
Nine Inch Nails, Broken and The Downward Spiral
Opeth, Blackwater Park, Morningrise and Damnation
Rage Against the Machine, s/t
Rhapsody, Power of the Dragonflame and Symphony of Enchanted Lands Part 2
Satyricon, Nemesis Divina
Shadows Fall, The Art of Balance
Solefald, In Harmonia Universali
SUNN 0))), Flight of the Behemoth
Therion, Vovin and Theli
Tiamat, Wildhoney and Clouds
Ulver, Bergtatt, Kveldssanger, Nattens Madrigal, Perdition City, Blood Inside
Within Temptation, Mother Earth
There are a couple non-metal albums on the list, but they’re high-quality enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.
Man…this thread is getting me in the mood to rock. Among the quality choices here, I’d like to add Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime. It was a great point for hair metal & theatrical metal wrapped up in one. Quality songs wrapped in a concept album, all while being rather influential on the entire scene.
How about Spinal Tap? I know they’re a joke, but it was a very good joke. You’re not a Metal-head unless you can quote a few lines from the movie.
Others I’d want to mention have already been mentioned. Great job everybody.
Well, most of the bands I would mention have already been covered. Here is my list of bands that I haven’t seen on the list yet.
Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian , No Exit, Perfect Symetry, Parallels and A Pleasant Shade of Gray are my favorites. Fates is an interesting band in that they have changed a lot since their first release.
Savatage- Hall of the Mountain King. Annoying singer (at times). Hell of a guitarist.
Sanctuary- Refuge Denied. The singer is now in Nevermore, I think a couple of the other band members from Sanctuary are in Nevermore as well. Dave Mustaine produced this album and solos on the cover of Jefferson Airplanes ‘White Rabbit’.
A note about Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabath is my favorite album and I highly reccomend it. Not quite as heavy as their other stuff (Fluff) but it has some great tracks on it.
I’ll post as I hink of more.
Slee
Pretty much everything I’d say is mentioned already besides Black Label Society.
I’d recommend the CD Mafia.
I’m surprised there has been no love for
Iron Butterfly : In a gada d vida
Another vote for Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime. A great album.
Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida was definitely a heavy album when it came out and Steppenwolf had some crunch for it’s time.
Can I be cheeky and request that this isn’t the BÖC contribution? It was indeed a successful pop hit, but as a “metal” song I think it’s pretty weak.
I, and several other fans of the group, rate Secret Treaties as one of the greatest metal albums ever. Why it’s so often overlooked in these kind of ‘greatest’ lists I have no idea. Every track on the album is superlative, and the whole is a work of genius.
It’s more metal than Quiet Riot, IMHO.
Besides, you might as well go back to Slade, the group QR stole their hits from.
System of a Down. Although their fans tend to pride themselves on not fitting in in any specific music genre, to call them metal is pretty fair. They simply rock, from their self titled album to this year’s Hypnotize. Serj’s voice has so much character and variance, and the drums are amazing. Not to mention they’re probably the only metal band that regularly infuses Middle Eastern (Armenian) melodies into their songs. The lyrics tend to be pretty vague, but come across as very meaningful.
They’re not the only ones, but it’s still not a common practice. Orphaned Land and Melechesh are easy picks because they’re from Israel, but Therion’s done it a bit, and I want to say that Megadeth has even played around with it.
The problem with Inna etc. is that it really hasn’t aged well, and the first half of the album seems weak to start with. Steppenwolf’s songs are holding up better, IMO.
A bit of a hijack:
Ultrafilter, and anyone else: If you like Pure Rock Fury check out Blast Tyrant. It’s Clutch’s best album, IMO, and it’s been my default album for months now.
Tool: Aenima
Deftones: White Pony
Nebula: Atomic Ritual
The Melvins: Stoner Witch
Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
Nine Inch Nails: Broken
Helmet: Meantime
Alice in Chains: Dirt
Soundgarden: Badmotorfinger
Guns N Roses: Appetite for Destruction
Def Leppard: Pyromania
Black Sabbath: Paranoid
Good catch – I always get them confused.