Loudwire's List of Best Metal Songs Each Year Since 1970

[pg1067]

https://loudwire.com/best-metal-song-each-year-since-1970/


Some interesting choices.  In almost all cases through 1983, I prefer the stated runner up to the song chosen, but there's nothing totally off base (although it's rather predictable).  Starting around 1989, though, I don't think I agree with any of the selections.

[bosk1]

I like a lot of their choices.  Others...let's just say I have different tastes. 

I might post my own for a few years, just for kicks.  I'll see if I can get around to it.

One criticism I do have of the list though is that I think it should be an unwritten rule that they can't choose the same band/album for the best song AND runner up in a given year.  There was a lot of that in the '70s portion of their list.  Granted, the number of "metal" songs to choose from was pretty thin, but still.

[Crow]

Korn is in no universe better than Opeth omg lol
Some really ridiculous bias towards a few select bands anyways, no way does ghost deserve 4 of the top spots for just this decade lol

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Korn is in no universe better than Opeth omg lol

QFT

[cramx3]

Some really ridiculous bias towards a few select bands

This is my issue with the list as well.  This will be a highly debatable list regardless, but if they didn't focus on the same band so often, I think the list would be more well rounded and more representative of the entire metal genre.   Like there's no way Ghost had the best metal song for 4 out of 7 years where as the one year, 2018, they don't have them is when they may actually do have the best metal song. (debatable sure, but I find it to be the better pic of 3 of those other winners)

One criticism I do have of the list though is that I think it should be an unwritten rule that they can't choose the same band/album for the best song AND runner up in a given year.  There was a lot of that in the '70s portion of their list.  Granted, the number of "metal" songs to choose from was pretty thin, but still.

This too.

Otherwise, sure I have a different opinion but it's hard to argue as most of the choices are pretty solid.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Some really ridiculous bias towards a few select bands anyways, no way does ghost deserve 4 of the top spots for just this decade lol

I don't even really consider Ghost to be metal. They are more like hard rock. I could forgive 1 spot on the list, but not 4....

[lonestar]

Maiden and Tool with 4 spots each....yeah I can see that, but Ghost? In a span of 6 years? Just no.

[TAC]

I feel like if I click the link, I'm just going to get aggravated.

[cramx3]

Maiden and Tool with 4 spots each....yeah I can see that, but Ghost? In a span of 6 years? Just no.

Another situation where they picked the same band too many times.  IM are my favorite band, but I don't think Wickerman was the best metal song in 2000.  I can think of many on the same album that are better, but there are many other worthy songs from bands not named at all in this list.

[lonestar]

Agreed, but at least Maiden has the discography, output, legend, and legacy to warrant the recognition. Ghost should've gotten a courtesy one shot and out. But as you said, there's so much else out there, especially post 1980, that it's hard to warrant one band that much attention.

[Anguyen92]

I feel like if I click the link, I'm just going to get aggravated.

Haven't clicked it yet, but I think If you click on that link, you are probably going to have a lot of this following thought, "Who are these guys?" after maybe 1995.

[Adami]

I feel like if I click the link, I'm just going to get aggravated.

Haven't clicked it yet, but I think If you click on that link, you are probably going to have a lot of this following thought, "Who are these guys?" after maybe 1987.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[Indiscipline]

I opened the link, saw Jerry Only dressed as the pope, got scared, closed the link.

[PowerSlave]

At one point in my life I considered myself a metal-head. Now that I've read that list and I don't know a great many of the bands listed, I have to reconsider that.

[WildRanger]

Some good picks, some pretty lame.

On that list I could agree with these entries: Black Sabbath, Sweet Leaf, Supernaut, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Victim of Changes, Hell Bent for Leather, Overkill, Wrathchild, Hallowed be thy Name, Holy Diver, Creeping Death, One, Holy Wars, Black No 1, Crystal Mountain, Oblivion and Lightning Strike.
Some listed songs are not metal as Burn, Man on the Silver Mountain, Sails of Charon - hard rock, Tool ones, Du Hast, Ghost ones, Freak on the Leash and Wait and Bleed. According to MetalArchives Korn and Slipknot are not METAL, because nu-metal is not metal and they're absolutely right about it.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Nu-Metal

[cramx3]

What is nu-metal then? WildRanger you just had a thread about absolute truths to music genres. 

[Elite]

According to MetalArchives Korn and Slipknot are not METAL, because nu-metal is not metal and they're absolutely right about it.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

As a side note, I think Metal Archives is the same site that refused to classify BTBAM as metal because they were metalcore. I think it's like the Pitchfork of metal.

[bosk1]

According to MetalArchives Korn and Slipknot are not METAL, because nu-metal is not metal and they're absolutely right about it.

I don't particular care for nu-metal or for those specific bands either, but don't be ridiculous.  Of course they are metal.  Stop trying to bait people into arguments.  Between that and the spam threads, you are eventually going to be banned from the forum if you continue this behavior. 

[Evermind]

Sorry for that other thread, bosk.

Regarding the list: I thought it was alright for 70s and then quickly went off the rails.

[pg1067]

Regarding the list: I thought it was alright for 70s and then quickly went off the rails.

Pretty much.

Here are my choices up through 1992 (obviously, the competition in the early 70s was pretty thin, and the definition of "metal" changes over the years):

1970:  Black Sabbath - "War Pigs" ("Black Sabbath" isn't a bad choice, but at least a couple songs on Paranoid are, IMO, better)
1971:  Black Sabbath - "Children of the Grave"
1972:  Deep Purple - "Highway Star"
1973:  Black Sabbath - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (maybe my favorite Ozzy era Sabbath song)
1974:  UFO - "Rock Bottom" (this is the first year where the choice is difficult; "Burn" and "Working Man" are very close seconds)
1975:  Rush - "By-Tor and the Snow Dog"
1976:  Rainbow - "Stargazer" (REALLY hard not to pick "Achilles Last Stand" or "2112")
1977:  Scorpions - "Sails of Charon" ("Lights Out" is a close second)
1978:  Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather" or "Running Wild" (can't decide)
1979:  Triumph - "Lay It on the Line"
1980:  Black Sabbath - "Heaven and Hell" (this is where the REALLY tough competition begins; I could easily have picked "Phantom of the Opera" or "Revelation: Mother Earth")
1981:  Ozzy Osbourne - "Diary of a Madman" (by a hair over Sabbath's "Falling off the Edge of the World"
1982:  Iron Maiden - "The Number of the Beast" (MANY very close seconds)
1983:  Iron Maiden - "To Tame a Land" (impossible not to pick my favorite Maiden song of all time)
1984:  Judas Priest - "The Sentinel" (and my favorite Priest song of all time, which barely beats out my favorite all time Metallica song, "Creeping Death")
1985:  Anthrax - "The Enemy"
1986:  Metallica - "Master of Puppets" (narrowly beating out "Fata Morgana" by Fates Warning)
1987:  Helloween - "Halloween"
1988:  Fates Warning - "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" (or, if you don't want to count that as a single song:  Helloween - "Keeper of the Seven Keys")
1989:  Fates Warning - "Part of the Machine"
1990:  Judas Priest - "One Shot at Glory"
1991:  Fates Warning - "The Eleventh Hour"
1992:  Dream Theater - "Learning to Live"

[bosk1]

OK, you inspired me.  Okay, so I just used wikipedia's year-by-year "heavy music" lists.  A LOT of that stuff might not typically come to mind as "metal" today, but it definitely was back then.  I also just went '70 to '92.  The '70s were hard because there isn't a lot I really liked.  The '80s got hard because there was a LOT I liked.  Anyhow, here are my #1 and runner up (band names in parenthesis where needed):

1970:  War Pigs / Paranoid
1971:  Won't Get Fooled Again (yeah, The Who were on the list, and there isn't a lot I liked from this year) / Children of the Grave
1972:  Smoke on the Water / Space Truckin'
1973:  Simple Man (I know Skynrd isn't that heavy, but, again, it was a thin year) / Rock Candy
1974:  Burn / Bad Company
1975:  In Trance (Scorpions) / Shooting Star (I don't even really like Bad Company, and this is their second appearance)
1976:  My Heart Plays Too (Y&T) / Detroit Rock City (dat riff!)
1977:  Cold As Ice (Foreigner) / Cat Scratch Fever (Nugent)
1978:  Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (VH) / Dreams of Egypt (Y&T)
1979:  Love Drive (Scorpions) / Head Games (Foreigner)
1980:  Children of the Sea (hard to not choose Heaven and Hell, but I always liked COTS better--all-time favorite Sabbath song) / Rock Brigade (Def Lep)
1981:  Bringin' on the Heartbreak (Dep Lep) / Hurricane (Y&T)
1982:  Forever (Y&T) / No One Like You (Scorpions)
1983:  Rock of Ages (Def Lep--this was my intro to "metal") / Bark at the Moon
1984:  Rime of the Ancient Mariner / Creeping Death
1985:  Looks Like Trouble (Y&T) / Soldiers Under Command (Stryper; this was an unusually thin year for the '80s...followed by an absolutely jam-packed year)
1986:  Orion (yeah, I went with the instrumental--this was my Metallica gateway) / London (Queensryche)
1987:  Still of the Night (Whitesnake) / Eyes of a Stranger (Y&T--not Queensryche)
1988:  I Don't Believe in Love (Queensryche--my gateway QR song) / Harvester of Sorrow
1989:  Valley of the Kings (Blue Murder) / Judgment Day (Whitesnake)
1990:  Anybody Listening?  (Queensryche) / Tornado of Souls (Megadeth)
1991:  No More Tears (Ozzy) / The Unforgiven (Metallica)
1992:  Metropolis, pt. I / Symphony of Destruction

[pg1067]

OK, you inspired me. . . .

So...what do you think of Y&T?

I honestly don't know that I'm familiar with any of the Y&T songs mentioned, but "Mean Streak" is a seriously kick-ass song.

[bosk1]

I love Y&T.  But, honestly, '82 was the only year I listed them where they had strong competition.  But Forever deserved to be up there.  Rob Halford called that song the greatest rock anthem of all time, and I cannot disagree that it should at least be in the conversation.  It was likely going to take that year no matter what else was on the list.  Their two '70s albums weren't particularly that strong (they hadn't really found their feet yet, IMO).  But the two years I picked them, there just wasn't anything else as good (and those are two pretty good songs).  '85 was just an unusually weak year for the '80s.  And '87...it was a year of killer releases, but Eyes is amazing. 

[pg1067]

I'll have to give some of this a listen.  I only really know the stuff that got radio/MTV play (which mostly means Mean Streak, Summertime Girls and Lipstick and Leather, and maybe a couple others).  I had a friend in high school who really dug the band, but he was the only one, so his efforts to discuss the band short circuited pretty quickly.

Didn't one of the guys in the band die recently?

[bosk1]

Over a stretch of a few years, yes. 

Joey Alves, the original rhythm guitarist, was the first.  He was dismissed from the band in the late '80s, and had some bouts with substance abuse and some serious physical illness.  Back in, I think it was 2002 or 2003, after almost 20 years of being absent from the stage, he joined me and my then-band onstage to do a few Y&T classics.  He did a few guest appearances with the band in the years that followed.

Original drummer Leonard Haze followed a similar pattern.

Bassist Phil Kennemore passed away of cancer.  I got to do a guest spot onstage and sing Mean Streak in 2007.  Phil really liked my performance.  I wanted to talk to him more after the show, but he was feeling really under the weather and did not come out of the dressing room after the show.  He was diagnosed not too long after that.

They have some really solid tunes.  Starting in '84 or so, they tried really hard to fit in with the hair metal crowd and sound more commercial, but still sounded good.  Their really classic run of albums is Earthshaker, Black Tiger, and Mean Streak.  I would probably add In Rock We Trust, which is more commercial, but a lot more consistent, IMO.  But you really can't go wrong with any of those.

[TAC]

OK, you inspired me. . . .

So...what do you think of Y&T?

He needs no inspiration for that.



This would be very hard to make a list. Maybe I'll think about it...

I actually made Spotify playlists for each year from 1977 through 1985.

[TAC]

1987:  Helloween - "Halloween"
1988:  Fates Warning - "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" (or, if you don't want to count that as a single song:  Helloween - "Keeper of the Seven Keys")

Didn't know you were a big Helloween guy! Awesome!

[TAC]

OK, here's my list from 1970-1992

1970  Deep Purple-Child In Time/Lucfer's Friend-Everybody's Clown
1971  Alice Cooper-Halo Of Flies/Black Sabbath-Into the Void
1972  Black Sabbath-Supernaut/Deep Purple Highway Star
1973  Black Sabbath-Spiral Architect/Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
1974  UFO-Rock Bottom/KISS-Black Diamond
1975  Black Sabbath-Megalomania/UFO-Let It Roll
1976  Rainbow-Stargazer/Thin Lizzy-Emerald
1977  AC/DC-Let There Be Rock/UFO-Lights Out
1978  UFO-One More For The Rodeo/Black Sabbath-Junior's Eyes
1979  Riot-Waiting For The Taking/Aerosmith-Think About It
1980  Black Sabbath-Heaven And Hell/AC/DC-Back In Black
1981  Michael Schenker Group-On And On/Ozzy Osbourne-Diary Of A Madman
1982  Iron Maiden-Hallowed Be Thy Name/Y&T-Forever
1983  Metallica-Hit The Lights/Dio-Don't Talk To Strangers
1984  Queensryche-Roads To Madness/Judas Priest-The Sentinal
1985  Accept-Metal Heart/UFO-Wreckless
1986  Metallica-Master Of Puppets/Megadeth-My Last Words
1987  Helloween-Halloween/Armored Saint-Book Of Blood
1988  Helloween-Keeper Of The Seven Keys/Megadeth-In My Darkest Hour
1989  Metal Church-Anthem To The Estranged/Fates Warning-Nothing Left To Say
1990  Flotsan & Jetsam E.M.T.E.K./Slayer-Seasons In The Abyss
1991  Metal Church-In Harm's Way/Fates Warning-The Eleventh Hour
1992  Dream Theater-Learning To Live/Iron Maiden-Fear Of The Dark

[PowerSlave]

I'm not sure how most people in the forum feel about Whitesnake, but I'm sort of surprised that In the Still of the Night hasn't made anyone's list. The song was absolutely huge when it came out, and the video was huge in MTV's golden age.

[Indiscipline]

Why not?

1970: Deep Purple – Speed King
1971: Deep Purple – Fireball
1972: Deep Purple – Pictures of Home
1973: Black Sabbath – Sabbra Cadabra
1974: Deep Purple – Burn
1975: Deep Purple - Stormbringer
1976: Rainbow – Stargazer
1977: Riot – Warrior 
1978: Rainbow – Gates of Babylon
1979: Riot – Narita
1980: Iron Maiden – Phantom of the Opera
1981: Iron Maiden – Prodigal Son
1982: Iron Maiden – Hallowed Be Thy Name
1983: Iron Maiden – Revelations
1984: Iron Maiden – Rime of the Ancient Mariner
1985: Helloween – How Many Tears
1986: Metallica – Orion
1987: Helloween – Helloween
1988: Iron Maiden – Infinite Dreams
1989: Overkill – Elimination
1990: Alice in Chains – Man in the Box
1991: Soundgarden – Slaves and Bulldozers
1992: Dream Theater – Learning to Live

[pg1067]

I'm not sure how most people in the forum feel about Whitesnake, but I'm sort of surprised that In the Still of the Night hasn't made anyone's list. The song was absolutely huge when it came out, and the video was huge in MTV's golden age.

It's "Still of the Night," and it was Bosk's choice for 1987.

Yes, that Whitesnake self-titled album was huge -- it was my girlfriend's favorite album, so I got a lot out of it -- but is "Still of the Night" a better song than "Halloween"?  I might put it in the top ten for 1987, but it's not even close to the best song of the year.

[TAC]

It's definitely a great song for sure. I happened to pick two songs I liked better, but as pg said, It's definitely in the Top 10.

[PowerSlave]

I'm not sure how most people in the forum feel about Whitesnake, but I'm sort of surprised that In the Still of the Night hasn't made anyone's list. The song was absolutely huge when it came out, and the video was huge in MTV's golden age.

It's "Still of the Night," and it was Bosk's choice for 1987.

Yes, that Whitesnake self-titled album was huge -- it was my girlfriend's favorite album, so I got a lot out of it -- but is "Still of the Night" a better song than "Halloween"?  I might put it in the top ten for 1987, but it's not even close to the best song of the year.

I completely missed him mentioning it. Old eyes blah blah...

I wouldn't say that it's the best metal song of the year, but it was absolutely massive. Good or bad, most songs in the genre are never that "wide spread" in the overall culture. I do prefer Halloween over it, though.