5th Essential Metal Band?
 

Most people would say these 4 are the essential metal bands:
Metallica
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Black Sabbath

but if it was the 5 essential metal bands instead of 4, who would be the 5th essential?

I would say Dio but what do you think.

Surely Slayer are more 'essential' than Judas f*cking Priest?

If it wasn't for Judas Priest there wouldn't be a Slayer

The Melvins

Meh. I'm biased, I can't stand Judas Priest.

James, God-damnit!

Its thanks to Judas Priest that we had the whole NWOBHM as they provided the crucial link between Black Sabbath and bands like Iron Maiden. The albums "Sad Wings of Destiny" and "Stained Class" are essential 70`s metal releases and "British Steel" another metal classic. They were also a huge influence on the whole of the thrash movement, and their thrashy 1990 album "Painkiller", was as good as any other thrash album out there. Rob Halford is without doubt one of the greatest metal singers ever and most singers are still measured against him.

To be honest, I can`t think of anybody that likes metal and doesn`t respect Judas Priest and everything they`ve done for the genre.

Word, nigga.

i could type 986 more words or you guys could just close the thread instead.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...3/lemmy460.jpg

/thread

Oh, and I still don't care how influential Judas Priest were, they're awful.

Motorhead are a Rock N Roll band ;) Lemmy HATES Motorhead being called a Metal band.

It's all definition though isn't it. AC/DC could be classed as Metal and thus; one of the best bands ever but they are souped up Rock N Roll and so are Motorhead (even if a metallic edge is heard in their music)

Venom
Mercyful Fate
Void
Slayer

are a few bands that epitomise a particular Metal sound with very little deviation.

I still think that you only need early Sabbath and you have the basis for the distorted riff that songs are built around. Everything else is a welcome bonus.

:shycouch:

fair, but i was looking at it more in terms of said band's essential-ness to metal. whether Lemmy likes it or not, Motorhead was and still IS essential to metal.

'Is' certainly doesn't apply anymore although the classic trio through Overkill, Bomber and Ace Of Spades were killer albums and certainly infused Thrash Metal for sure but for some reason I can't put them into essential Metal personally.

1979 Motorhead, AC/DC, Ramones would still be the ultimate gig for me though. Off topic whoops!

Neurosis. they're kind of underappreciated but so much modern metal (particularly sludge/post metal) owes so much to them. Also, that list sucks.

yeah i was shooting from the hip by the end of that and got carried away. i don't think anyone could have survived that '79 show if it would have happened hehehe.

@RATM - good call on Neurosis but wouldn't any kind of influence to sludge metal still ultimately come from Sabbath? take away the sludge and what did Neurosis do that Voivod didn't?

ok 5th metal band, first we are refering to the big four of thrash, which means the 5th band needs to be thrash, motorhead is not thrash, judas preist is not thrash, so who is thrash in the 80s that we can use. Here is a few suggestions, Seplutura, the canadain band Annihilator, course our german freinds Sodom, and Kreator. I saw someone throw up Exodus in another forum as a great thrash band. I've heard good things about terstament. My point is we are discussing who could be the 5th of the big four and since the big four are thrash the 5th should also be thrash, but here is a valid point, no one else in thrash sold as much as the big four did the 80s. so that's why there are four and not five

The four used above as the four essential metal bands are all household names, therefore a 5th essential band based on this logic should be from a popular mainstream act as well, for example Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, Korn etc and even Van Halen for their huge influence.

If the 5th were to be from lesser known bands, like Kreator.....then the sky is the limit on who could be considered: Melvins, Fates Warning, Voivod, Neurosis, Death etc in fact the list is endless, and if you really want to resurrect an oldie then Pentagram are a good choice!

in that case i'd give my vote to Megadeth.

what i was saying the four above are thrash than the 5th should also be thrash, that being said Sepultura is a thrash band, they would work fine. But Van Halen, not even the same ball park as Judas Preist much less Megadeath, Metallica, Slayer, or Anthrax.

Just for this reason Van Halen would work, as they are essential and very different to the above.

I'm a little confused by the title of this thread, is this a "Beginner's Guide" essentials list or essential to metal as a whole? If it's the later then Celtic Frost are definitely an essential metal band because of their huge influence on European metal, specifically the black metal scene in Norway and the death metal scene in Sweden.

Megadeth should be the fifth metal band. Especially considering they made the greatest thrash metal album of all time with 'Rust In Peace.' Not to mention they are still making kick ass albums today. I mean, has anyone heard their new album 'Endgame'? If not, check this video out.

Megadeth would work but I think it would be more interesting to find a band of a different metal style like Korn. I`m no fan of Korn but their importance on the metal genre since the 90`s has been essential for metal as a whole.

That 5th spot could easily be fought over between Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Tool and Korn as all are mainstream and I could easily give an argument for all 6 without thinking too much!

I think its meant to be a beginners guide as the usual suspects like Maiden and Metallica etc were mentioned. If not, then as you say Celtic Frost would fit the bill perfectly.

I think Sepultura is much more important than Korn. They easily influenced everyone that Korn might have been an influence on plus a ton of bands that Korn didn't influence. Not to mention that Septultura were a huge influence on Korn themselves. Hell, wasn't Life Is Peachy or one of their other albums even recorded using a bunch of Sepultura's gear or something? I thought I heard that somewhere.

i see where you're coming from but Korn but the Deftones precede them by a few years. though from my perspective i think Fear Factory deserves a nod in helping shape post 80s metal. Soul of a New Machine as well as Demanufacture are massive discs. vocal dynamics, traditional and electronic beats, no guitar solos, keyboards for texture. hell i'd go so far as to say Burton C. Bell and his range is the reason there's been a noticeable increase in female metal vocalists over the years.

or we could really try rocking the boat and say - MINISTRY.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Dio yet!

that's because the vast majority of people didn't pay attention to him until he was almost dead then they all decided they had to overcompensate for neglecting him until then by pretending they'd been listening to him forever.

i call it the Johnny Cash effect.

I was a huge fan of them when I was growing up and they are definitely one of the most influential bands on my personal musical taste. That said they in no way belong on any kind of essential metal list. I realize that their later stuff is metalish, but they really aren't a metal band.

i'm thinking in terms of influence on metal though. how many modern bands borrow (at times quite heavily) from that classic Ministry sound?

heh, sounds like what Lubbock did when Buddy Holly died.

anyway, are you just talking about the people on music banter?

cause Dio looks like he was not really ignored.

Meh. There was certainly a time when a bunch of shittty metal bands added some slight electronic sounds to their music in an attempt to sound "industrial" (which just highlighted their complete ignorance with regards to actual industrial music, but that's a whole 'nother tangent I won't go off on). But that time is long past now. I think, if anything, you can find more modern metal bands heavily influenced by the Melvins or Neurosis than by Ministry.

Now I know why Melvins keep showing up here!
they are sometimes these genres:
Sludge Metal
Drone Doom Metal
Stoner Metal
Doom Metal
Alternative Metal

lets see, Melvins or Alice In Chains...

no i mean in general. he had virtually disappeared until he got ill. his longtime fanbase obviously recognized him, but it's not until it went public that he was dying that every other person with a black band t-shirt started talking about the glory of Rainbow. i really don't recall much of anyone besides old school diehards ever mentioning him before the inevitable went public.


@Janszoon - i can definitely agree with your point that Ministry's influence seems to have peaked.

I'd agree with Jackhammer as far as Sabbath being the root of most metal that uses distorted riffs, which is a mammoth amount really. Metallica and Judas Priest cover off the rest nicely.

Surely Slayer would be the 5th though.

I would have no problem with Sepultura as they are probably my all time favourite metal band:bowdown: and their thrash/groove sound was always unique with its ethnic tinges.

I didn`t know that about the Korn album, I`ve got "Life Is Peachy" on CD. Have to give it a whirl, to see if I can hear anything on there that sounds like "Roots"

Deftones are quite a bit older but the Korn debut actually came out a few months earlier (1995) if memory serves me right.

Certainly from the industrial side, both Fear Factory and especially Ministry would be great contenders

That`s because Dio is really just a singer who fronted a whole host of bands and if we were just talking about essential metal singers then he would be considered. He was always something of a dinosaur and your archetype singer from the 70`s. As said below, all this fuss made over him is just largely due to his recent passing away.

Either Megadeth, Motorhead, or Testament.

Maybe Deep Purple, they're sometimes described as metal.

I may be wrong about which album it is, but I swear it's true about one of them. Maybe it's the first one.