Bands that made the genre what it is: Metal

[Radio GaGa]

Heavy Metal was 'created' in England by 4 men working in a metal factory. They listened to the sounds of heavy engines pounding up and down for 8 hours a day, and then went home to practice their music. Their names were Ozzy Osbourne, Toni Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward and they went by the name Black Sabbath. Days before their biggest gig up to date, The Guitarist, Iommi cut off one of his finger tips in the metal factory. All thinking he could not play guitar anymore, they were thinking on giving up on the band, but Iommi surprised all of them, when he created a metal cap for his finger, that he still uses today, to replace his finger tip. From here hails the name of the genre.

BAND NUMBER ONE: Black Sabbath!

Who else do you think that created the genre? Who made it what it is today? Who brought it through it's war with Punk and Glam Rock? Was it The Big Four? Who gave it it's ingridients? Pantera? The Theatrics of Alice Cooper are surely to be considered too!

We have to put on the first place The Godfathers of Metal - Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I don't think you can look at the most important bands in the history of metal without.

METALLICA

Probably still the most popular metal band on the face of the earth, Metallica's list of achievements is astonishing. Selling over 100 million albums worldwide since their debut in 1981, Metallica were the first band to have 5 consectutive albums debut at number 1 on the billboard 200, and have won a stunning 9 grammy awards.

One of the first thrash metal bands, Metallica have made several albums including "Master Of Puppets", "Ride The Lightning" and "Metallica" which are regarded as classics of the genre- their self titled album in particular has had unbelievable commerical success, becoming the 25th highest selling album of all time in the US, selling over 15million copies.

When you think of Metal music, you think of Metallica. While they themselves were influenced by the early metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Diamond Head and Judas Priest, they are regarded as one of the key influences in the more recent generation of metal bands, who grew up listening to James Hetfield and his boys including Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Trivium, Machine Head

Metallica were ranked by MTV as the third "Greatest Heavy Metal Band in History", was listed fifth on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and was number one on VH1's 20 Greatest Metal Bands list. Master of Puppets was ranked number 167 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and Metallica was number 252. Master of Puppets was named in Q Magazine's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time", ranked number one on IGN's "Top 25 Metal Albums",and number one on the Metal-rules.com "Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums" list. The song "Enter Sandman" was ranked number 399 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

They had their own version of "Guitar Hero", becoming the first band to do so, appeared as guest stars in an episode of The Simpsons, showing just how far into pop culture Metallica had gone.

Without Metallica, metal as a genre would be very different, their influence is huge.

 

[DethMetal]

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Point blank, period. Exclamation point.

Without bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon, Tygers of Pan Tang, Motorhead, and Def Leppard, just to name a few, metal wouldn't be as prominent as it is today. The bands of the NWOBHM gave metal it's edge, what with the denim and leather, fast tempos, and majestic lyrics. Not to mention, without them, bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer probably wouldn't have been formed. Without records like "Black Sabbath", "Led Zeppelin", "Overkill", and "Number of the Beast", we probably wouldn't have records such as "Master of Puppets", "Reign in Blood", or "Peace Sell... but Who's Buying?" The NWOBHM made metal what it is today.

An honorable mention also goes to Alice Cooper. He made concerts into shows with his theatrics (the lights, the props, etc.).

 

[Radio GaGa]

Agree... I think we should also consider Kiss here, even if they did not really play metal, without their shock theater, many bands would come to be -wouldn't be as big as they are. They are at least toe to toe with alice on making history.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

I think some bands should be credited for helping creating metal. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden should be credited for making the dark lyrics and heavy beats with loud guitars. Those bands helped influenced Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Pantera.

Alice Cooper should get some credit too for shaping Metal. I love Alice Cooper, he is one of my favorite artists of all time. Alice did shocking stuff that surprised people like throwing a chicken off stage, electrocution of himself, chopping baby doll's heads off. Alice influenced Kiss, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, W.A.S.P, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and Slipknot.

Led Zeppelin deserves some mention too!

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

Actually if you trace the influences it all goes back to the Mississipi Delta Bluesman Robert Johnson.

He took guitar playing to a whole other level that hadn't really been heard before.

Johnson was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in return for his unique skills with the guitar.

 

[SorgFamily]

Obviously bands like Sabbath and Zeppelin had a large hand in it but there were a load of mid-sixties bands that were pushing for a louder slightly more out of control style that may have been closer to grunge than metal but it helped create that outside of the box guitar sound. Not just a little distortion but really cranking it and using it to reach sounds never heard before. Most notably I'd go with The Beatles for "Helter Skelter", The Kinks for "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" and The Who for.........well mainly just volume. All three of these bands were releasing albums at least four years prior to Zeppelin and Sabbath. Obviously metal is about more than just volume but it is one of the trademarks.

Also I'd have to throw in Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner". Just the lack of concern about it being acceptable or repercussions about it not being played "properly" and all the feedback thrown in for good measure is awesome.

 

[DarylCooper]

So what bands out there do you think have created a phenomenon or a genre or sparked a movement? And why? Alice in Chains and The Melvins helped to create Grunge and AIC kind of brought it to the mainstream, and then Nirvana somehow got credited for it. Funny how did that worked out. AIC was grunge, true grunge and should be credited for such. For more information visit here: http://www.ranker.com/fact-lists/recording-artists--and--groups/genres

 

[MMSoldier]

I have to agree with a few people on here. On one hand, there's The New Wave of British Heavy Metal and bands like Diamond Head, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest who have influenced so many of the bands that have been talked about here. The bands in the New Wave were so different than what was accustomed in that time, and the world changed with it.

On the other, the music that the New Wave made wasn't big anywhere outside of Europe (or arguably England) until the original Metallica started. The original four made their name from covers of Diamond Head and Priest. After Mustaine left and made Megadeth, the type of music started to become popular largely in part of the two band's music.