I Think I Need a Sedative...
I spend a lot of time during the day thinking about future posts: bands I should interview, CDs that need reviewed, personal reflections. Somewhere between work and the glorious place I call my couch, I decided I would write about Iron Maiden today. More specifically, I was going to make the the case that Iron Maiden is probably the greatest Metal band of all time.
Then I saw Metal Sludge.
Somehow, perhaps on purpose, I missed a recent Yahoo! list of the day. Wouldn't you know our friend Rob O'Connor is back at it and just rated the top 25 Heavy Metal bands of all time. Here's the list:
01) Black Sabbath
02) Led Zeppelin
03) AC/DC
04) Van Halen
05) Jimi Hendrix Experience
06) Metallica
07) Judas Priest
08) Aerosmith
09) Motorhead
10) Iron Maiden
11) Slayer
12) Deep Purple
13) Spinal Tap
14) Rush
15) Robin Trower
16) Dio
17) KISS
18) Guns N' Roses
19) Kyuss
20) Thin Lizzy
21) Pantera
22) Uriah Heep
23) Alice in Chains
24) Mercyful Fate
25) Meshuggah
Ok, I seriously might need a sedative because I'm pretty sure I'm having a stroke. Seriously? Some of these choices make me shake my head. Aerosmith are my favorite band, but they are not Heavy Metal. Neither is Thin Lizzy, KISS, Rush, Robin Trower, Spinal Tap, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix or Van Halen. Music historians have referred to Led Zeppelin as the "first Heavy Metal band" but I'd say that is deeply debatable. Yes, they had a very unique sound for their time, but I'm not so sure they were heavy.
I don't know a lot about Meshuggah or Kyuss, so I'll give O'Connor the benefit of the doubt here. I am absolutely amazed at the band placement - let alone selection. How, on Glam's green earth does Iron Maiden land in the tenth spot? Seriously? Like I said, I was about to make a case for them being the best Metal band of all time -- and here they are, tenth. I'll even spot O'Connor for putting Black Sabbath as number one. They truly did invent Metal music in its purest form...but come on. Van Halen's debut is a masterpiece - but I still think it's hard rock.
Now, to the other reason I need a sedative: I actually agree with O'Connor about Alice in Chains. Awhile back I posted an article examining the Glam roots of AIC. I said the band was Metal then and I stand by that now. Alice in Chains are not grunge, they are Metal.
Back to the basics. KISS are not Metal, but they are certainly Glam. AC/DC are awesome, but they are not Metal either. Nope, they are straight-up, working class hard rock. Thin Lizzy? Yes, "The Boys Are Back In Town" is a great song - but not Heavy Metal. In fact, I'd argue it's about as Heavy as anything Jennifer Lopez ever released.
So who is missing? Accept and Megadeth for starters, but there are a lot more. Maybe I'm way off base here, but something tells me there are serious issues with this list. Sure, such lists are opinion - so everyone is going to argue about the choices to an extent - but it just seems like O'Connor thought up some band names, scrambled them, and created his latest top 25.
I wish I wrote for Yahoo! music.