Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 1: Iron Maiden

1. Iron Maiden

We have made it to the number 1 spot on Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Metal Bands of All-Time. While I am certain that there are many arguments that could be made for other bands to occupy this spot, here is my argument for why I chose Iron Maiden as not only the greatest metal band, but the most influential.

I have been listening to metal most of my life, but more recently, I have been listening to metal like crazy. I have listened to just about every sub-genre of metal of bands of varying styles. The one constant was that the metal that most bands play seem to resemble the metal played by bands from the New Wave of British Metal which Iron Maiden was the greatest band. Bands that played during the New Wave of British Metal  were incredibly important because this was the first case of metal bands eliminating any pretension of playing blues-based hard rock like earlier "metal" bands played (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple).  As the prominent band of this era, Iron Maiden not only wanted to play heavy, like Black Sabbath, but they wanted to play fast.

This style of metal inspired every metal band that came after them. Bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, HammerFall, and Pantera were all heavily influenced by Iron Maiden more so than Black Sabbath. To take this one step further, established bands like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath were both influenced by the success of Maiden. For example, Black Sabbath fired Ozzy Osbourne in 1979. When they were seeking a replacement for Ozzy, they chose Ronnie James Dio which completely altered the sound of Black Sabbath. This alteration took Sabbath from a hard-bluesy style metal into a band in the mold of Iron Maiden . . . and Sabbath put out some of their best tunes as a result of this change. Additionally, Judas Priest released British Steel after the success of many bands of the New Wave of British Metal, and, in fact, became one of the flag bearers of the movement.

Some would say that Black Sabbath was the greatest metal band, but my argument against Sabbath is simple. After Ronnie James Dio left the band, Black Sabbath were a terrible band. That is all. That is why I placed them at number 2.

Back to Maiden.

Iron Maiden is a British heavy metal band that formed in 1975 by bassist, and primary songwriter Steve Harris. In 1978, the band established the lineup of singer Paul Di'Anno, bassist Steve Harris, guitarist Dave Murray, and drummer Doug Sampson. In 1979, the band hired Adrian Smith to become the second guitarist in order to create a richer sound. In 1980, Iron Maiden released their self-titled first release featuring classic tracks "Running Free," "Iron Maiden," "Phantom of the Opera," and "Transylvania." The album debuted at #4 on the UK's charts. In 1981, Killers was Iron Maiden's second release. This led to Maiden's first tour of the United States supporting Judas Priest.

However, the band fired lead singer Paul Di'Anno due to drug problems and inner conflict between the singer and the rest of the band. Additionally, Steve Harris sought a singer with greater vocal range than Di'Anno. The band hired Samson's Bruce Dickinson in September 1981.

In 1982, Iron Maiden released their classic album The Number of the Beast which contained the classic tracks: "The Number of the Beast," "Run to the Hills," and "Hallowed Be Thy Name." The album sold extremely well despite American evangelists claiming that the band was Satan worshipers reducing radio play in the states. The band also hired drummer Nicko McBrain.

In 1983, the band released another classic album with Piece of Mind featuring "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus" which received some radio play in the states. In 1984, the band released the great album Powerslave featuring "Powerslave," "Aces High," "2 Minutes to Midnight," and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

With the 1986 release of Somewhere in Time, this marked the beginning of the experimental phase of Maiden's career. This release marked the first time that guitarist Adrian Smith became a prominent songwriter for the band. This release featured one of my favorite songs, "Wasted Years." The next album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son marked the band's triumphant first attempt at a concept album. It is often marked as one of the greatest metal concept albums of all-time.

In 1989, Adrian Smith left the band and was replaced by Bruce Dickinson's guitarist Janick Gers. The band released No Prayer for the Dying in 1990 featuring their only #1 song on the UK chart, "Bring Your Daughter . . . to the Slaughter." In 1992, the band released Fear of the Dark which was a pretty underrated album by all accounts.

In 1993, Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden in order to focus on his solo career and was replaced by Wolfsbane's Blaze Bayley. I never quite understood the Bayley hiring due to his lack of vocal range . . . especially considering that they had already wrote an album for Dickinson, The X Factor. The two albums, The X Factor and Virtual XI, during the Blaze Bayley era were the lowest charting of their career despite the albums not being all that bad.

In 1999, Iron Maiden brought back both Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, thus making the band a three guitar unit for the first time. In 2000, Iron Maiden released one of their best albums of their career with Brave New World which featured "The Wicker Man," "Blood Brothers," and "The Mercenary."  During their Brave New World Tour, they played for 250,000 fans at the Rock in Rio festival which turned into their  great live album Rock in Rio.

The next two releases, Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death, were both solid albums. However, their 2010 album The Final Frontier marked the band's first and only Grammy win for the song "El Dorado."

Hopefully, we will have new Iron Maiden music in the near future!





Here are some great Maiden tunes!

"Phantom of the Opera."

"Hallowed Be Thy Name."

"The Trooper."

"Powerslave."

"The Evil that Men Do."

"Man on the Edge."

"Dream of Mirrors."

"When the Wild Wind Blows."

What are your top metal bands?

Thanks for reading!
Marty

Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 2: Black Sabbath

2. Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath is arguably one of the greatest bands in history. They have been accredited with inventing the genre of heavy metal. While an argument can certainly be made to put Sabbath as the number one band, i believe that honor belongs to another band (I'll explain on the next post).

Black Sabbath formed in 1969 at Birmingham, England by vocalist John "Ozzy" Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, and bassist Geezer Butler. The band has gone through many lineup changes with Iommi being the only constant.

The band released their first album Black Sabbath on Friday the 13th, 1970 which was wildly successful despite critics trashing the future classic featuring "Black Sabbath" and "NIB." In 1971, they released a quick follow-up in Paranoid which would prove to be even more successful. It featured classic tracks like "Iron Man," "Paranoid," "Fairies Wear Boots," and "War Pigs." The band would continue with great success with the release of Master of Reality and Volume 4.

In 1973, Black Sabbath released their first critically-acclaimed album Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. This album was a bit of a departure due to the band's experimentation with keyboards, strings, and more complex arrangements. For the next album, Sabbath released one of their strongest albums with 1975's Sabotage. For this album, the band abandoned any semblance of experimentation and made a rock and roll album.

Their next two albums were the uninspired and basically awful releases Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die! These albums seems to have lacked direction, and could be attributed to drug problems within the band and hostility between Ozzy and the rest of the group.

Ozzy Osbourne was officially fired in 1979 by Tony Iommi. The band would replaced him by former Rainbow vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who completely reinvigorated the band. Their 1980 release, Heaven and Hell, was easily one of Sabbath's best albums featuring classic tracks "Neon Knights," "Children of the Sea," and "Heaven and Hell." It was also during the Heaven and Hell tour that Bill Ward left the band being replaced by Vinnie Appice. In 1982, Black Sabbath released The Mob Rules, which was another incredible album; however, RJD and Appice soon left the band due to conflict with Butler and Iommi.

From 1983-1991, Black Sabbath was a shell of their former selves with some terrible albums like Born Again, Seventh Star, The Eternal Idol, Headless Cross, and Tyr. They went through a who-cares list of vocalists like Tony Martin, Ian Gillan, David Donato, Glenn Hughes, and Ray Gillen. The band was so awful and their albums performed so terribly that they were booted from their record label. Imagine that! Black Sabbath dropped from a label!

In 1992, Sabbath reunited with Ronnie James Dio to release the wonderful comeback album Dehumanizer. This is one of my personal favorites. However, the reunion was short-lived as Sabbath and Dio decided to go their separate ways. Sabbath rehired Tony Martin and released two more awful albums, Cross Purposes and Forbidden.

Black Sabbath reunited with Ozzy Osbourne in 1997 for a long and successful reunion tour, and released a live album and a few compilation albums.

In 2007, the Dio fronted Sabbath reunited under the name of Heaven and Hell because they did not want to confuse their fans, but, more likely, they didn't want to burn any bridges with Ozzy. They released a wonderful album titled The Devil You Know which turned out to be RJD's final album.

In 2011, It was announced that the original Black Sabbath sans Bill Ward were working on a new album due for 2013 release. I am looking forward to that!

Here is "Paranoid."

"Children of the Grave."

"Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath."

"Heaven and Hell."

"I."

"Children of the Sea."

Thanks for reading!
MS

Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 3: Judas Priest

3. Judas Priest

Judas Priest is a British heavy metal band that formed in 1969 by guitarist K. K. Downing,bassist Ian Hill, and drummer John Ellis. It wasn't until 1974 that the band settled on Rob Halford as lead vocalist due to the urging of Hill's girlfriend . . . Halford's sister. That same year, they added second guitarist Glenn Tipton establishing their unique double guitar sound and their classic lineup.

Priest is famous for their powerful double guitar attack, operatic vocal style, heavy theatrics, and S & M attire. Although originally a bluesy based rock band, they moved away from that style toward a more edgier, hard rock style. Their first few albums, Rocka Rolla, Sad Wings of Destiny, Stained Glass, and Killing Machine were all progressing to something, but were still in the mold of Black Sabbath style metal.

It wasn't until the late 1970's when the New Wave of British Metal-style of metal, that Judas Priest found their signature sound. While the band was groundbreaking as far as they were one of the first metal acts to drop the blues element from their sound, they were heavily influenced by bands like Iron Maiden (Maiden and Priest often inspired each other), Diamond Head, and Saxon. The result was Judas Priest first signature album, British Steel in 1980. This classic album featured such classics as "Breaking the Law," "Metal Gods," and "Living After Midnight." The next signature album came in 1982 with the release of Screaming for Vengeance which includes the classic "You've Got Another Thing Coming" and "Electric Eye." These two albums should be in any metal fans collection.

Over the years, Priest released a number of excellent, yet underrated albums like Turbo, Ram It Down, and Painkiller. However, Rob Halford left the band in May 1992 due to internal tensions within the band. Some have speculated that this had to do with Halford being a homosexual, but this has never been confirmed.

They replaced Halford with Priest cover singer Tim "Ripper" Owens in 1996 to very little fanfare or support. The Owens-led Priest released two relatively decent albums in Jugulator and Demolition, but fans clearly wanted Halford back.

In 2003, the band rehired Rob Halford, thus ending the Owens Era of the band. In 2005, Judas priest released their first concept album Angel of Retribution to rave reviews by fans and critics. In my opinion, an incredible album. In 2008, Judas Priest released their best album since Screaming for Vengeance with another concept album titled Nostradamus which featured many symphonic elements that the band had never used before. It is an incredible feat that a band that had been around as long as Priest could make such a dramatic departure and still be incredibly effective.

In 2010, the band announced plans to retire following their World Tour, but I doubt that will last as Halford has recently mentioned that the band is working on new material. However, founder K. K. Downing retired from the band in April 2011.

Anyway, here is some great Priest tunes!




Here is "The Ripper."

"Breaking the Law."

"The Hellion/Electric Eye."

"Painkiller."

"Burn in Hell."

"Nostradamus."

Thanks for reading!
MS

Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 4: Metallica

4. Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles that formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an ad in a newspaper by Lars Ulrich which read, "Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden." Eventually, the band settled on the lineup of vocalist/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, bassist Cliff Burton, and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. Right before the band went to record their first album, they fired Mustaine due to drug and alcohol problems and replaced him with Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett, thus establishing the classic lineup.

In 1983, the band released their first album, and only true "thrash" album Kill 'Em All which featured metal classics like "Hit the Lights," "Whiplash," and "Seek and Destroy." While raw in comparison to their later albums, Kill 'Em All has to be considered one of the great thrash albums.

The band immediately released Ride the Lightning the very next year. This album is where Metallica became more of a progressive metal band than straight-up thrash. In my opinion every track is a classic, and this could possibly be their strongest album if not for their next album, Master of Puppets.

In 1986, bassist Cliff Burton died in a bus accident in Europe. The band brought on Jason Newsted of Flotsam and Jetsam. The first album after Burton's death was . . . And Justice for All which was Metallica's most commercially successful album up to that date. It was also their first taste of heavy airplay and video rotation on MTV.

In 1991, Metallica released their self-titled album, or "The Black Album," which has caused some controversy among fans. While this album brought the band millions of new fans due to its shorter and less edgy sound, it alienated many fans who thought that they sold out. Even though its not their best effort, I always enjoyed the Black Album. I think that Metallica got a raw deal from their supposed "hardcore" fans.

This is where Metallica hit a rut . . . in my opinion.

Over the next several years, they released Load (average), Reload (average), Garage Inc. (decent), S & M (lame), fought against Napster over illegal downloads, cut their hair (oh no!), replaced Jason Newsted with Robert Trujillo (so what?), released the god awful album St. Anger, and released great documentary Some Kind of Monster.

They released a comeback album titled Death Magnetic in 2008. It was a return to their earlier style while maintaining some of their gentler material. It was a combination of the best of their earlier stuff with the best of their newer material. I loved this album! In 2011 the band released an album with Lou Reed titled Lulu which was excellent, and an EP titled Beyond Magnetic in 2012 . . . also very good.

Anyway, Metallica has been included as one of the "Big Four" of American thrash metal along with Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 where James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, the late Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted, and Robert Trujillo were all honored.





I could go further, but I will let the music talk for them. Enjoy!

Here is "Seek and Destroy."

"Ride the Lightning."

"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

"One."

"That Was Just Your Life."

Thanks for reading!
MS

Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 5: Slayer

5. Slayer

Today's installment of Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Metal Bands of All-Time will be a brief look at perhaps the greatest thrash band ever, Slayer.

Slayer is an American thrash band from Huntington Park, California that formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. They are often credited as being one of the "Big Four" of American thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. While not as commercially successful as Metallica and Megadeth, Slayer has been the most faithful to the thrash genre which, in my view, makes them the greatest thrash band ever!

Their album, Reign in Blood, is one of the most important thrash albums to be recorded. Plus, it kicks ass!
As great as Reign in Blood is considered, I could argue that Seasons in the Abyss is just as awesome. In all honesty, I can't think of one sub par Slayer album.

One description that I once heard of Slayer's sound, and I am paraphrasing, is that if Hell had a soundtrack, it would be compiled by Slayer.

I could go on and on about Slayer's greatness, but I'm gonna let their music do the talking.

Sorry about the brief nature of this post, but I have been super busy.

Here is "Raining Blood."

"War Ensemble."

"Disciple."

"Hate Worldwide."

"The Antichrist."

Thanks for reading!
Marty

Metal Mayhem's Top 100 Bands of All-Time, 6: Pantera

6. Pantera

Pantera was an American thrash-groove metal band from Texas-Louisiana that formed in 1981 by brothers, Vinnie Paul and Diamond Darryl Abbot, and original singer Terry Glaze. While originally a glam metal band, they released three albums under this format, Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle, and I Am the Night. In 1987, Pantera fired Glaze and eventually replaced him with Louisiana native Phil Anselmo forming the classic lineup of singer Anselmo, guitarist Dimebag Darryl, drummer Vinnie Paul, and bassist Rex Brown.

They released their first album together called Power Metal. While this album did contain some of the thrash  elements that made the band famous, it was still mainly a glam metal album. In 1990, Pantera released their first classic major-label album with Cowboys from Hell (containing my favorite Pantera tune, "Cemetery Gates.") which was a transitional album from their glam style toward their trademark kick-ass, balls to the walls, Southwestern groove-thrash metal.

In 1992, Pantera achieved their trademark sound with the classic album Vulgar Display of Power which contained many favorites like "Walk," "A New Level," "This Love," and "Hollow." Their next album was even heavier with their 1994 release Far Beyond Driven.

The main thing that I always liked about Pantera was that you always knew what to expect from them. They always put out the heaviest, ass-kickinest (is that a word?) metal on the planet.

If you never had the chance to see them live, then you really missed out. I have never been to a show as intense with more energy. I highly recommend their live album Official Live: 101 Proof.

While their has been discussions and rumors of a reunion between the living members of Pantera to tour with Zack Wylde, I actually hope that it doesn't happen. I like Wylde as a guitarist, but he is no Dimebag.

Here is "Cemetery Gates."

"Walk"

"Becoming"

"You've Got to Belong to It"

"Power Metal" . . . rare shit here!

As always, thanks for reading!
MS