NorioDS
Ok, I'm not sure if all these guys can be considered "metal" but they are, in my opinion, gods! Their songs are awesome, great melodies, awesome solos, and just general head-banging goodness!
- Iron Maiden
- Judas Priest
- Metallica (Earlier stuff mostly)
- Jethro Tull
And has anyone else noticed how most of the older metal wasn't NEARLY as violent as today's stuff? Sure it was dark, but hardly violent (ok Metallica was always violent) and mostly enjoyable whether you're in a good mood or a bad mood.
Your favourite metal gods? Your thoughts?
AlanRatcliffe
UrK! I'll say what I did when Tull's Crest of a Knave won the Grammy for Best Heavy metal album (they didn't bother to turn up to collect): Tull are not even remotely Heavy Metal. Their roots are blues, folk and classical. At their heaviest you might accuse them of Rock or even Prog Rock for the occasional album, but never, never metal.
I hate it when people call them heavy metal.
You have been warned.
AlanRatcliffe
Ok. I feel much better now.
Metal Gods? Hmm... Maiden definitely, Motorhead maybe. Scorpions, UFO, Van Halen, Freak Kitchen, Mr Bungle, Def Leppard. Unless you wanna lump AC/DC in metal too (I wouldn't)? Nor Purple or Heep, etc.
I've got to be honest, much metal leaves me cold, there are very few who make my cut. It's not the heaviness (I listen to the above bands after all), it's something else. I was never attracted to Metallica.
NorioDS
Ya, that's the thing, MOST of that stuff isn't really metal. Judas Priest? Hardly. Scorpions? I don't think so. But their music is awesome and I don't know how else to categorise them.
It seems our music categories change every 6-10 years so I really don't know what to call em.
Some great mentions, Alan. More?
AlanRatcliffe
As I mentioned, I don't go for most of the "real" metal bands. The vocalists are usually a problem for me. I got into the fretless player Tim Donahue for a while, but when he released an album with Dream Theater's singer, I really didn't like it.
Or Vai - when he sings I want to quote Zappa: "Shut up an play yer guitar" - he's not a bad vocalist, but he can't do justice to the caliber of his playing. That's why I like the Dave Lee Roth albums with Vai and Sheehan - the vocals were up to scratch if a little poppier, but it's nice hearing Vai in the commercial metal context, he does it very well.
Lets not mention Malmsteen - he's had some good metal vocalists in his band (Joe Lynn Turner), but the songs are so bad and clichéd it kind of negates it.
I'm listening to Audioslave at the moment, who I suppose get close to metal at times, but it's still mostly rock.
I suppose that's what makes any great band so good. In this context, That's what sets Maiden or Mr Bungle above the rest - they have good players, but they also have good singers.
andrewjbryson
well lets do hard rock - which evolved into metal...
the big 3
sabbath
zepplin
deep purple
of course there were many others....
i grew up on metallica, although nowadays i prefer MegaDeth (marty friedman is awesome)
Jason Becker , do yourself a favour and watch the Youtube documentary on this guy....
Its inspiring stuff.....
If you think Toni Iommi had it bad, wait till you see what Jason Becker is going through....
some more worth mentioning....
Maiden , Van Halen, Boston, Judas Priest
cain
Metallica kinda got me into loving guitar, but these days im not so fond of them anymore. Most of their songs are pretty bad but they had some huge hits.
Megadeath has almost a metallica sound ( Dave mustaine was in metallica at one point way back ) but its a bit more on the edge and less commercial than metallica.
Iron maiden is simply superb, and black sabbath in my opinion started this all ?
