BEST HEAVY METAL BAND

The first Black Sabbath album entitled "Black Sabbath" is a true classic. You can get it on import Lp from Sound Recordings with a bonus 45 RPM of Evil Woman/Wicked World. The sound is fantastic.

I'm showing my age too....but Deep Purple was KILLER in their prime. The things Blackmore could do with a guitar. Their album Motorhead still rocks! I agree with most of the other metal bands listed and still like Metallica! While they may not be "heavy metal", RUSH was a great band too (notice I said "was"). Hey Carl, how about Tap's "Sex Farm Woman". Classic....

Guys, I think you are starting to miss the point here...Heavy Metal, to me anyhow, is a band that rarely, if ever, gets radio airplay. That would exclude all of Metallica's works from Justice on...but would include bands like CoC, Slayer... AS far as that goes, I'd have to limit it to bands from the early 80s...bands before 1982ish didn't rock as hard as Metallica and that whole Bay Area thing...Led Zeppelin is a hard rock band...not heavy metal. Same goes for Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc... My vote goes to Metallica, not so much for what they've done recently, although, their covers are a throwback to the early days (Garage Days 5.98 EP)...they were pretty much solely responsible for the widespread availability of heavy metal bands... Wait until Razvan2000 gets his opinion in here... G-Man PS-What ever happened to bands like GWAR, or Cryptic Death, Celtic Frost and others of the genre...that stuff REALLY ROCKED...Pantera cut their teeth on these bands... I also tip my hat to bands like MOD, SOD and especially Anthrax, who started the whole Rap n Roll genre...

Trey, regarding Spinal Tap, I like "Bitch School". A very loud and offensive song, the way it's supposed to be. Sure, they aren't a serious music band, just a hollywood paper cutout, but they were funny. I love Rush (even the most recent stuff), and Deep Purple is cool, too. Perhaps those bands aren't "metal", or perhaps they are. I thought the music of youth wasn't about putting labels and categories on music...And yet Rolling Stone (the magazine) readers seem to love to categorize their music.

I think a lot of the aformentioned bands had a unique style that helped define currnet"Heavy Metal". Back in the day, these bands pushed the envelope and were very much hated by our parents. I was lucky enough to catch Nirvana and Alice in Chains at some clubs LONG before they ever got airplay. I remember thinking Nirvana was never gonna make it - Two years later I was hooked on their sound. Carl, Spinal Tap had some great (funny) lyrics and a pretty cool sound - actually sounding better then some of the bands they were making fun of. Keep it at 11!!!