100 Greatest Metal Songs

Tibby H

New member
One of the best metal related lists I've ever seen. I was questioning the placement of Hallowed Be Thy Name but I agree with it. Even though if someone really wanted to I think they could make a strong case for one of Sabbaths or Priests songs to go up there. Nice list overall though.
 
If i play some Iron Maiden to someone who doesnt know the band, i usually play Hallowed Be Thy Name.

I think the list is alright. You dont expect these lists to actually be anything special or to agree with them or anything but its better than it could have been. How many metal banRAB do VH1 know though? Not many it would seem by browsing this list. I would have liked to have seen a Top 100 metal BANRAB rather than songs.
 
VH1's 40 greatest metal songs was weak, but I definitely agree with this list! What do you think of this list? I did not make it:

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Iron Maiden
2. War Pigs - Black Sabbath
3. Beyond the Realms of Death - Judas Priest
4. Iron Man - Black Sabbath
5. Master of Puppets - Metallica
6. Victim of Changes - Judas Priest
7. The Trooper - Iron Maiden
8. Ace of Spades - Motorhead
9. The Nuraber of the Beast - Iron Maiden
10. N.I.B. - Black Sabbath
11. You've Got Another Thing Coming - Judas Priest
12. Stargazer - Rainbow
13. Angel of Death - Slayer
14. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
15. Paranoid - Black Sabbath
16. Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden
17. One - Metallica
18. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
19. Raining Blood - Slayer
20. Fade to Black - Metallica
21. Am I Evil? - Diamond Head
22. Painkiller - Judas Priest
23. Holy Wars... The Punishment Due - Megadeth
24. Running With the Devil - Van Halen
25. Cemetary Gates - Pantera
26. Seek and Destroy - Metallica
27. Symptom of the Universe - Black Sabbath
28. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses
29. Children of the Grave - Black Sabbath
30. 2 Minutes to Midnight - Iron Maiden
31. Mr. Crowley - Ozzy Osbourne
32. Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden
33. Breaking the Law - Judas Priest
34. Holy Diver - Dio
35. Aces High - Iron Maiden
36. Peace Sells - Megadeth
37. The Hellion/Electric Eye - Judas Priest
38. Queen of the Reich - Queensryche
39. Hangar 18 - Megadeth
40. Caught in a Mosh - Anthrax
41. Take Hold of the Flame - Queensryche
42. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Metallica
43. Souls of Black - Testament
44. Cowboys From Hell - Pantera
45. Hell Bent For Leather - Judas Priest
46. Powerslave - Iron Maiden
47. Symphony of Destruction - Megadeth
48. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath
49. Creeping Death - Metallica
50. Eyes of a Stranger - Queensryche
51. Heaven and Hell - Black Sabbath
52. Rock and Roll All Night - KISS
53. War Enserable - Slayer
54. Revolution Calling - Queensryche
55. Into The Void - Black Sabbath
56. Tornado of Souls - Megadeth
57. Detroit Rock City - KISS
58. Panama - Van Halen
59. Fear of the Dark - Iron Maiden
60. The Four Hoursemen - Metallica
61. Diary of a Madman - Ozzy Osbourne
62. Fairies Wear Boots - Black Sabbath
63. Phantom of the Opera - Iron Maiden
64. Rock You Like A Hurricane - Scorpions
65. Sweet Leaf - Black Sabbath
66. Gates of Babylon - Rainbow
67. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard
68. Enter Sandman - Metallica
69. Halloween - Helloween
70. Flying High Again - Ozzy Osbourne
71. Indians - Anthrax
72. Battery - Metallica
73. Living After Midnight - Judas Priest
74. I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister
75. Jesus Christ Pose - Soundgarden
76. Welcome Home - Metallica
77. The Divine Wings of Tragedy - Symphony X
78. Five Minutes Alone - Pantera
79. Rainbow in the Dark - Dio
80. Ivory Gates of Dreams - Fates Warning
81. Keeper of the Seven Keys - Helloween
82. Electric Funeral - Black Sabbath
83. We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
84. Dante's Inferno - Iced Earth
85. Witching Hour - Venom
86. Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue
87. Wicked World - Black Sabbath
88. At War With the Devil - Venom
89. Wasted Years - Iron Maiden
90. We Are Stars - Hear 'N' Aid
91. Fast as a Shark - Accept
92. The Last in Line - Dio
93. I Am A Viking - Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force
94. Blood of My Enemy - Manowar
95. Warriors of the World United - Manowar
96. Kill the King - Rainbow
97. Metal Health - Quiet Riot
98. Black Out - Scorpions
99. A Touch of Evil - Judas Priest
100. Metropolis Part I - Dream Theater
 
I realize "Ace of Spades" is Motorhead's most well-known song but it's far from their best. If they were only going to have one Motorhead song on the list (a crime in and of itself) I think they should've gone with "Snaggletooth" or "Motorhead".
 
It's OK for a starter list and I'm guessing this was a UK poll as it's extremely biased towarRAB UK music. If Guns N Roses are on there so should AC/DC be too.

My list would look a lot different but it's not as cheesy as it could have been.
 
Im a not Pantera fan either, to say the least. Thats a decent enough list. Of course i would change it around a bit if i was making one but thats neither here nor there.

Also i agree that Ace of Spades is far from MotorheaRAB best but i can see why it would be so high why on a commercial list by the likes of VH1. There was a DJ that played rock and metal clubs around here in Newcastle for years and years. He played just about everywhere. He was a real prick though, he would play whatever he wanted to play all night, the same songs every week, and wouldnt play anyones requests unless they had tits. I once asked him for any Motorhead track at all aslong as it wasnt Ace of Spades but he told me that he wouldnt do that as Ace of Spades is the only one anyone knows.

Now, if you arent a Motorhead fan or a metal fan then this may well be true but when you DJ in metal clubs full of metal fans, im sure most people there know more Motorhead than that. He wouldnt even play Boraber or Overkill.
 
When a band makes a full transformation from one genre (metal genres) to another and does it to the drastic levels that Pantera did, and to boot did it brilliantly, thats a major achievement in itself.

They didn`t actually just switch to a thrashier sound, they actually carved out a new mainstream metal genre in groove metal, fellow southern band Exhorder often claim this was something they did, but whatever the case Pantera were always far better from the word go.
 
And "Nothing Else Matters" is probably the majority of fans' favourite, seeing as it's the Metallica song that's got most listens this week, and in 6 months, accoding to last.fm
 
Whether a band sweats it out in poverty, makes no compromise in their sound, gives their loyal fans what they want, really doesn`t have any real importance to me in musical terms. For me its just down to how good they sound regardless of whether its commercial or not.
 
Quite a few of the other groups on there sound overpolished as well, its also part of the metal scene. Some of my all-time fav groups in other genres are overpolished as well. Again whether a group sounRAB raw or overpolished its not something I would assess the validity of the group with. I would base the validity of the group on originality, evolution, variety, technical ability and talent etc. and not on factors such as being polished up or raw.
 
I agree with a fair amount of this list, but I've gotta say, there's really too many songs for each individual artist and newer metal is pretty poorly represented. Also I'd say that not many genre's are spanned so for me this list is a bit too closed.
 
The four artists with the most songs are the four most influential anyway, I would say this list is a great list to get somebody into metal and then hit them with the really agressive stuff later on.
 
Back
Top