# Top 3 heavy metal songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2006, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290 "2006-09-03T10:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290/41 "2006-09-07T02:16:12Z")
“You Light Up My Life” - D. Boone “Better” - Helmet “Electric Youth” - D. Gibson ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290/42 "2006-09-07T07:28:21Z")
Tough to just pick three. Since the classics are pretty much already covered, I’ll stick to recent favorites, and just to be a true metal snob, they’ll all be Scandinavian: Norway: **Pagan’s Mind** “New World Order” Sweden: **Amon Amarth** “Pursuit of Vikings” Finland: **Finntroll** “Det Iskalla Trollblodet” D ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290/43 "2006-09-07T08:10:57Z")
Not quite traditional metal, but in the same general space: Motorhead - “Lost Johnny”, from the _On Parole_ album. This album has much more a hard-rock/punk flavor than the speed metal sound they developed later. Chrome - “Armageddon”. This is actually early industrial, of course. Hawkwind - “Brainstorm”. The boys in Hawkwind had a foolproof formula: 1 - Get one of the best riffs in the history of riffdom. 2 - Play it four times. 3 - Change it slightly. 4 - Play that four times. 5 - Change it slightly. 6 - Play _that_ four times. 7 - Make it explode. Couple that with an insane poet writing a lot of your lyrics, and add extra points for having a musician who literally used a double-bitted wood axe as an instrument. ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290/44 "2006-09-07T10:20:15Z")
My suggestions: Number of the beast - Iron Maiden The Prisoner - Iron Maiden Turn up the night - Black Sabbath ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290/45 "2006-09-07T12:11:25Z")
Deep Purple – _Smoke on the Water_ Black Sabbath – _Iron Man_ Led Zeppelin – _Stairway to Heaven_ I don’t know about best, but I’d say these three songs are certainly the most iconic. I dithered a bit about putting Blue Oyster Cult’s \*Don’t Fear the Reaper \* on the list instead of _Stairway to Heaven_, but finally decided against it You young punks just don’t know nothin’ 'bout music. Listen to yer grandpa … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-3-heavy-metal-songs/371290.md?page=2)