Greatest heavy metal band

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Your username speaks for itself.

Judas Priest for me.

IMHO

Greatest Heavy Metal band = Black Sabbath

Greatest Rock N' Roll band = Led Zeppelin

Greatest Pop band = The Beatles

Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

I'll go with Black Sabbath. No love for Alice in Chains?

Led Zeppelin is heavy metal? 0.0

And I wouldn't consider AC/DC heavy metal either...

I would personally say Metallica, I feel they brought significantly more musicality to the table than either slipknot, megadeath, or pantera, better overall sound than iron maiden or motorhead, and its just a personal choice over sevenfold, priest, and sabbath.

Alestorm!!

Black Sabbath is going to win the vote, and rightfully so, but I voted Iron Maiden. They've been my favorite band since I was a kid, and it's the only band that every song is a history lesson. A history lesson that f**king ROCKS.

I hate retro metal soooooo....The Word Alive

Spinal Tap?

They're not my favorite out of the ones you listed, but the answer is Metallica.

Josie and the Pussycats.

Metallica hasn't been a great metal band in a loooooooooooong time. My favorite? Overkill (and screw those Avenged Sevenfold losers for stealing their mascot).

Voted black sabbath

F**k yeah! Saw Maiden three times live. Best gig moments of my life.
UP THE IRONS!!!

I've never had the opportunity unfortunately. I came close once, but it would have required me to skip a final exam for one of my college courses =\.

I have to admit, I wouldn't class Led Zeppelin's music particularly heavy metal but many people I have spoken to will say that the band did a lot for the genre. Similarly, I would say AC/DC is possibly more hard rock than heavy metal but they too are often said to have affected the genre.

Also, when I say heavy metal I don't just mean heavy metal but all the sub genres too.

Led Zeppelin for two reasons. One, to piss off the "hardcore" fans who say Led is not Heavy Metal when in fact Rock historians credit Led (alongside Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath) as pioneers and the biggest progenitor of the genre.

Two, because I just think they're the best in that list. Ok, that's not true. I prefer AC/DC over them but I wouldn't go so far as saying them Aussies are metal..

I like Zeppelin best, but since I don't consider them a metal band, I'd give it to Judas Priest.

I suppose to answer this question you also have to think "what is heavy metal?" I characterize it by the following:

1. Use of electric guitar as a main instrument
2. Virtuoso playing is used, which can be seen in techniques like extended guitar solos
3. Dense bass and drum sounds can often be heard
4. Vocal style may vary from operatic style singing to growling
5. Large amounts of showmanship can be seen

If you take into account these characteristics then I suppose you could call some AC/DC and Led Zeppelin songs heavy metal. However, they differently aren't the most heavy metal out of the options. You could say a lot of the other bands aren't heavy metal too, Motörhead could be thought of as more rock based and Megadeth is more thrash metal. Heavy metal is just an umbrella term, like alternative music, so don't get too worked up about what's specifically heavy metal.

Papa roach

@allstarsuperman: Papa Roach?? Papa bloody Roach! NO.

Clearly, some of you need to return to your scriptures on this Easter Sunday. Lemmy, bitches, is god.

I apologize for that response. My self-imposed isolation has clearly made me surly. @allstarsuperman, I apologize, dear. I will sit on my balcony, smoke a cigarette and let the extinguished butt drop through the sunroof into the upholstery of the clown yellow Humvee parked below, drink my customary cuppa, and readFrankenstein Alive, Alive! #3 and then all shall be better.

@grindhousefrau: I was joking. Real music is like Hollywood undead.

@grindhousefrau: also a joke. Lol. For real I like classic rock but I can enjoy modern butt rock as well. :)

@allstarsuperman: Now I love you. Also, if you're going to name yourself after a Superman story, All-Star Superman is the way to go... or perhaps Red Sun. Cheers!

-O.

Motörhead isn't metal.

Giving it to Judas Priest.

METALLICA!

Half of these aren't metal lol.

@redxiii18881990: I'll be meeting a friend outside the Ritz Diner on the corner of 1st and 62nd St at 1 P.M. Come meet up, I'll buy you pie, and we can discuss politely why I think you're wrong. And don't mind my friend; he only listens to house music and Miley Cyrus. I will have the short black hair, bosom, and be in the above t-shirt. He will be all teeth and smiles and tall and lean and gay.

Out of what's listed is say black sabbath

@grindhousefrau: well since I don't own a private jet I can't suddenly leave the uk, to meet and debate with you and your gay friend.

And "we are Motörhead and we play rock n roll" Soooo yeah what more proof do you need.

Led Zeppelin or Metallica.Both of these bands are icons for me and are the best bands out there.

@redxiii18881990: Most guitar riffs are based on classic, blues, or rock n' roll chords, including metal, punk, and other subgenres I wouldn't neatly categorize as one of those. I've disavowed the online games of arguing with people whose minds will not be changed, so you enjoy it your way, and I will enjoy it mine. ;)

The pie was brilliant, by the by.

Up the Irons!

Pantera!

Interestingly enough, I would think that Iron Maiden would win the vote with Sabbath being a close second. I'm a huge fan of both bands, and Black Sabbath was really the first heavy metal band I really got into and I prefer them over Maiden, but to me there's not one band that's more pure heavy metal then Iron Maiden. They've always been a band true to their roots, and Bruce Dickinson's voice is simply the greatest heavy metal singing voice of all time, with Rob Halford being a very close second.

@grindhousefrau: I am fully aware of the origins of most rifts.

And if you are going to argue sub genres then do it with a band that haven't came and outright and said that they play rock n roll. It's undermining your point from the get go.

P.s I hate pie.

@superdrummer: led zeppelin was one of the corner stones of heavy metal, they just don't seem heavy compared to newer metal

@redxiii18881990: Wow! Way to be a complete berk unnecessarily. Where's the block button? None? Drat.

They helped to pioneer speed metal and thrash (in fact, many regard them as the very first thrash metal band), so yeah, they're metal. Led Zeppelin & AC/DC? Not so much.

I personally think it's much more important to think of songs as their standings are right now, or else the titles mean nothing. If you call something heavy metal because they were at some point, and they don't currently fit into the genre, than that genre won't be uniform, which is the whole reason we have genres.

If you say really like pantera, and look up more heavy metal bands and Zeppelin comes up... well, that's why they are now considered a different genre.

@lesterlawton: and? The Beatles helped do that with rock and roll. And let's face it they are pop.

Zeppelin is a rock band which creeps into hard rock territory, but never crosses that line into metal. Calling them a metal band is basically declaring all hard rock bands to be metal, and most music fans know better, which is why there was such an outcry when Jethro Tull beat Metallica in the metal category at the Grammys. Metal began as a sub-division of rock, but that doesn't automatically make rock bands metal bands. If it worked that way, we'd be referring to Chuck Berry as a metal vocalist.

Some bands settle into two genres simultaneously. The Beatles were considered rock and pop. Motorhead had some hard rock songs, but 99% of their songs are heavy enough to have created a new sub-division of metal (speed metal). If you're going by the lesser of genre-specific songs in a group's catalog, Judas Priest could be considered a rock band, and we all know that's not true.

They are speed metal, which is a type of metal. So they are metal.

The Mr. T Experience.