Rolling Stone: Top 100 "Heavy Metal" Songs *rolls eyes*

[SoundscapeMN]

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-heavy-metal-songs-1234688425/

At least 1/4 or more aren't really even Metal songs (or even bands/artists who have ever done anything "Metal").

But it's Rolling Stone, so go figure.

[wolfking]

I just went straight to the top 10, and to be honest, you can't really complain with that top 10 from a general standpoint.

They lost me at Ratt's Round and Round at number 20 though. 

[Lonk]

At least DT made the list lol

[lonestar]

They lost me at Ratt's Round and Round at number 20 though. 

Yeah...aside from it being a very average song on its own, how is that the one they chose to be the highest ranked representative of 80s hair metal? Very strange choice indeed.

[T-ski]

Surprised to see Queensryche in for “Walk in the Shadows” and Kings X for “Music Over my Head”.

[HOF]

Surprised to see Queensryche in for “Walk in the Shadows” and Kings X for “Music Over my Head”.

They picked Walk In The Shadows for QR? Weird.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Hey guys, you heard of the list Rolling Stone made that everyone agreed on? 

Yeah, me neither. 

You could certainly pick it to death, but it's actually not as awful as I worried it could have been.  There's a decent amount of variety for such a staid and irrelevant publication. 

[Mebert78]

Weird list for sure, but it's great to see Dream Theater on there and I thought their blurb was pretty well written. Like most of us here, I've listened to "Pull Me Under" so many times that I almost take it for granted. But it's a fucking incredible masterpiece.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Time to pick out the bands that aren't actually metal....

King Crimson (although one could argue this song is proto-metal....I guess)
Body Count
White Zombie (this is stretching metal a bit, but I guess it could pass)
Kittie (again stretching the definition of metal, and to say Kittie put out anything that should be on this list is insulting to actual good metal)
Twisted Sister (borderline metal)
Deftones (love the band, but they aren't metal)
Skid Row (again, this is borderline)
Rammstein
Van Halen (good hard rock band, but not metal)
Korn (good lord....)
Quiet Riot (just like Skid Row and Twisted Sister, very borderline)
King’s X
Blue Cheer
Def Leppard (they stopped being metal after High n Dry, so the song they put on there shouldn't count)
Ministry
Evanescence
Rage Against the Machine
Deep Purple (another borderline band, could be considered proto-metal at times)
Lita Ford (just because she did some backing vocals on a WASP song doesn't make her metal...)
Danzig (borderline)
Mötley Crüe (see all the other butt rock bands on the list)
Ratt (see above)
Led Zeppelin
AC/DC (...sigh...)
Rainbow (great band, borderline metal)
Living Colour

[LithoJazzoSphere]

The fact that it's called a "heavy metal" list tells you most of what you need to know regarding that.  "Real" metalheads just say "metal" most of the time, and "heavy metal" tends to mean a more specifically older form of it, no later than maybe stuff like The Black Album and the first solo Dickinson and Halford albums, but more likely just non-extreme 80s bands.  So it's really more a throwback to the 70s origins when AC/DC, KISS and so forth were called "heavy metal" by publications and fans.  So it's essentially just the harder, heavier end of rock 'n' roll, so you get all the more aggressive hard rock bands, alternative and/or nu-metal and such. 

[wolfking]

Time to pick out the bands that aren't actually metal....

Korn (good lord....)

What would you class them as then?

[Zantera]

Saying bands like Deftones or Korn aren't metal is just some absurdly weird gatekeeping

[wolfking]

Korn pretty much inspired and created a new wave and style of metal.  Sure, the elitists frowned upon them but they brought the 7 string into the mainstream and the first few albums have some crushing riffing.  If the darkness, anger and complete disturbing nature of the self titled album can't be called metal, then I don't know what is.

[Adami]

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

[Stadler]

I mean, it's Rolling Stone, so it's ripe for controversy (that's the point).  No Number Of The Beast, though, so that's an omission.  No Kiss either; if you're going to put hair metal on then you should have "God Of Thunder" in there somewhere. 

It wouldn't bother me so much if they weren't so STUPID about it.  They claim to have their finger on the zeitgeist, and all, but then they put "Soundgarden" and "The Melvins" on there.  If they were as smart as they thought, they'd know that Soundgarden spent more time MOCKING metal than PLAYING metal.  Cornell and Thayil in particular got their roots from metal (Sabbath was a big influence) but a lot of grunge was a negative reaction to where metal had gone with the devil and misogyny and all.  And if you're going to put grunge acts on there, where is Pearl Jam, who are unapologetic fans of bands like Kiss and UFO and Sabbath (well, some members are). 

Interesting that they didn't pick one picture of Kerry King in his current (IMO, more overtly "metal") incarnation.  I think there were two or three pictures of Slayer, and all of them have King with hair.

[Stadler]

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

Elvis isn't metal.  C'mon.   

[Adami]

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

Elvis isn't metal.  C'mon.   

I'm just saying, at this point I think Elvis should be on every list related to music. Best rock? Best metal? Best jazz? Best bluegrass? Best classical? Best singer? Best guitarist? Best banjo player? Best dubstep? Best appropriation of black music? Best trip hop?

ELVIS!

[Deathless]

Ace of Spades at #3! Wow. That's awesome.

[soupytwist]

NO ELVIS?!?!

Agreed.  'Oliver's Army' would be a fine addition to that list.

[hefdaddy42]

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

Elvis isn't metal.  C'mon.   

I'm just saying, at this point I think Elvis should be on every list related to music. Best rock? Best metal? Best jazz? Best bluegrass? Best classical? Best singer? Best guitarist? Best banjo player? Best dubstep? Best appropriation of black music? Best trip hop?

ELVIS!

Mojo Nixon - Elvis is Everywhere

Please watch and give me your thoughts.

Is it incredibly dated (mid 80s)?  Yes.

Is it possibly the greatest song of all time?  Also yes.

[El Barto]

I'm actually far more interested in Jimmy Carter's upcoming list of the greatest pornstars of the fifty years.

[twosuitsluke]

A lot of the songs here are exactly what you'd expect, but there is also some nice recognition for bands who are kinda under appreciated (especially in something this mainstream).

Mainly...

Crowbar
White Zombie
Bolt Thrower


There are certainly some stranger choices, and some I wouldn't necessarily class as heavy metal, but the majority definitely IS heavy metal.

[Buddyhunter1]

Saying bands like Deftones or Korn aren't metal is just some absurdly weird gatekeeping

Yeah like wut? Cmon Puppies.

[Stadler]

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

Elvis isn't metal.  C'mon.   

I'm just saying, at this point I think Elvis should be on every list related to music. Best rock? Best metal? Best jazz? Best bluegrass? Best classical? Best singer? Best guitarist? Best banjo player? Best dubstep? Best appropriation of black music? Best trip hop?

ELVIS!

You know I'm okay with that. 

[pg1067]

I opened it up and saw Venom's Welcome to Hell at #100.  Along with the picture, that started me out with a good laugh.  But think about what this means:  According to this magazine, Welcome to Hell is greater than EVERY song in Dream Theater's catalog other than Pull Me Under.  Ummm...what?

I then went to the top 10.  I fully expected to see Smells Like Teen Spirit or Enter Sandman at #1, so I was pleasantly surprised.  But Breaking the Law at #4?  Breaking the Fucking Law is the 4th greatest metal song ever and the best of Judas Priest?  And then Living After Midnight shows up at #27?  I can't argue too much with the rest of the top 10, but including BTL and Run to the Hills suggests this was put together by someone completely unfamiliar with those bands' catalogs.

Happy to see Stargazer at #14.

Round and Round at #20??  So...not only is Welcome to Hell "greater" than all but one DT song, Round and Round is 80 spots better than that?!   

Caught in a Mosh the "greatest" Anthrax song?  And then they turn up later with...Bring the Noise?  Sigh....

Three Slayer songs in the top 25?  I mean....

Enter Sandman one notch "greater" than Heaven and Hell.

Now we're getting into the seriously obscure Rolling Stone stuff.  Who the heck is/are Melvins?  "Night Goat" sounds like a parody.

Queensryche finally shows up at #48 and it's Walk in the Shadows?  And what the hell is this:  "Rage for Order[] masterfully sneaked elements of brainy prog-rock into the glam-hair-hard-rock soup of the day, providing a blueprint for countless prog-metal bands — among them Dream Theater, Ayrean, and Transatlantic — to follow."  What?

Ministry is metal?  King Crimson?

Hey, look, it's Dream Theater!  How 'about that?

I can't argue too much over what's on this list, but what's not on the list is crazy.  I will say that I'm pleasantly surprised not to see Rush on the list (although you'll never convince me that Bastille Day and parts of 2112 weren't metal.

NO ELVIS?!?!


But yea, I just peaked at the top 20. Lots of Ozzy.

And of course Korn is metal. So are White Zombie, Kittie, Deftones, Skid Row, Rammstein, Ministry, Evanescence, Rage, etc.

Elvis isn't metal.  C'mon.   

I'm just saying, at this point I think Elvis should be on every list related to music. Best rock? Best metal? Best jazz? Best bluegrass? Best classical? Best singer? Best guitarist? Best banjo player? Best dubstep? Best appropriation of black music? Best trip hop?

ELVIS!

Mojo Nixon - Elvis is Everywhere

Please watch and give me your thoughts.

Is it incredibly dated (mid 80s)?  Yes.

Is it possibly the greatest song of all time?  Also yes.

Michael J. Fox endorses this message.

[ZKX-2099]

No Helloween? List is irrelevant.

[Mosh]

I thought the list was fine for what it was, was surprised to see a few extreme Metal bands thrown in there as well as Dream Theater and Hallowed Be Thy Name as a Maiden pick. It's a mainstream magazine that doesn't even specialize in Metal music so of course it is going to be pretty surface level, but if you're not really familiar with Metal music (which is the audience this sort of list is for) this is a decent entry level list with some bonafide classics.

Nitpicking over what is and isn't Metal seems like a boring exercise.

[faizoff]

Yeah list was better than I expected to be honest. The Ratt song is definitely out of place. Not even the heaviest track for that band.

[HOF]

Yeah list was better than I expected to be honest. The Ratt song is definitely out of place. Not even the heaviest track for that band.

But the best one, really.

[pg1067]

Yeah list was better than I expected to be honest. The Ratt song is definitely out of place. Not even the heaviest track for that band.

But the best one, really.

Not a lot of competition for best Ratt song, but I'll take You Think You're Tough every day.

[El Barto]

Yeah list was better than I expected to be honest. The Ratt song is definitely out of place. Not even the heaviest track for that band.

But the best one, really.

Not a lot of competition for best Ratt song, but I'll take You Think You're Tough every day.

Back for More in a landslide. A couple of wonderful solos from WDM in that one.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I think Ratt is becoming underrated.  DeMartini was easily one of the best guitarists of the era. 

Now we're getting into the seriously obscure Rolling Stone stuff.  Who the heck is/are Melvins?  "Night Goat" sounds like a parody.

If you don't even know who they are you're in a precarious position to be passing judgment on the list. 

Ministry is metal?  King Crimson?

Ministry essentially invented industrial metal.  King Crimson more or less invented prog metal, it's just only one small facet of their output. 

I can't argue too much over what's on this list, but what's not on the list is crazy.  I will say that I'm pleasantly surprised not to see Rush on the list (although you'll never convince me that Bastille Day and parts of 2112 weren't metal.

Given what else is on the list, I'm kind of surprised something of theirs didn't make it.  At their hardest they're as borderline-metal as many others are. 

[TAC]

I think Ratt is becoming underrated.  DeMartini was easily one of the best guitarists of the era. 

No they're not. Ratt always sucked.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Pi93JlMqk

[TAC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Pi93JlMqk

Yeah, but they still blew. WDM was just fine as a guitarist. In fact, I think the band was actually a pretty good unit, but they had two major problems..
A shitty vocalist and zero songwriting skills.