Top 50 Classic Heavy Metal Albums

I noticed no one ever commented on this thread so I looked up that link. Its amazing what poeople call heavy metal....there are at least 6 or 7 bands on that list that are not 'heavy metal' to me but again its subjective.
The Sabbath vol 4 review by Catfish and Magic's post started me thinkling about this area and how a lot of people like 'hard rock or heavy rock' bands but not 'metal bands'.

@dr wu
I agree. When LG and I first started having this same discussion, I started thinking about the fine line distinction between what is considered “heavy” vs “hard” vs “metal” music.

I can remember telling LG I was a “mellow” music lover. He laughed for days at me,…not in a degrading way…..but just at my narrow definition of what heavy listening meant to me.

We discussed krautrock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, progressive rock, and even classical music. I wish you could have known LG, he lived and breathed music. He taught me the parallels between all these genre’s of music. He use to tell me if Johann Sebastian Bach was alive today, he would be a metalhead. Heavy metal has deep roots into classical music. Well, that piece of information, and listening to some Bach, began to change my whole thoughts behind heavy metal.

I asked LG where to begin, and don’t send me to something that’s going to set my ears on fire. He picked Helloween Pink Bubbles Go Ape. Why he picked that album, I am not sure, but it is a nice slow introduction into heavy metal without being aggressive. In fact, that album could be considered hard rock (by definition) if it didn’t have double bass drum pedals …..which Neil Pert used if you want to get technical.

LG also knew that Helloween is a really good power metal band for me to begin with.

Would be fun to talk with LG....shame he left the forum.
I post regularly on Prog Rock Archives which is all about progressive rock and we are always reevaluating what constitutes prog rock and if a band is prog or not. The same of course can apply to what hard rock or metal is and if a band truly falls into that category or another. It often comes down to subjctive opinions and we all know that old saying about opinions.

I also looked at the Wiki page for 'heavy metal' and there were many bands there that I think are simply hard/heavy rock and not true metal imho. For example I never thought of Zep or Deep Purple as metal bands nor Aerosmith ,Alice Cooper or Van Halen ...yet all of those made Wiki list as 'heavy metal'.

I listened to Helloween because Magic posted them and while they are listed as 'power metal' , some of it could be called hard or heavy rock and some metal. The band reminded me of many others in that style of music that I'm not that especially fond of...not going to list all of them....just look at the lists of metal or power metal bands.

I have always been drawn to unique bands that have their own identity and dont really sound like other bands in a category. They can be heavy or hard but have something different going on. Many 'metal bands' have a similar sound and style to the point they could be clones of each other. Thats not a put down since many are decent musicians but there is a lack of identity since many copy the syle from band to band and to me it all runs together after a while.

BTW while Wiki can be a crap source at times the heavy metal article does a good job of showing origins , names ,sources, history etc.......though I do disagree with some bands on the lists.

I am like you @dr wu, I like bands that show some creativity. However, that creativity doesn’t necessarily have to be instrumentation it can be vocal or lyrical, and even shifting time signatures, or the addition of choirs or orchestras.

Repetition in music is common no matter what genre you choose. The premise behind each genre, is not for every band to be unique and different, but to fall within the perceived definition of the genre. If a band experiments too much, they can fall into another category altogether, which could upset their fan base!

In my humble opinion, Metal has been cut to death with genre names. Hair splitting definitions. My approach to the realm of metal was to find things I liked, that didn’t stray too far out of the hard rock genre. Once I began exploring, I found more and more that suited my music tastes.

For example, Aerosmith is my all time favorite band. Some do consider Aerosmith to be heavy enough to classify as metal. However, I think of them as hard rock. So, if I want to find a metal band with “traits” similar to Aerosmith, I use a nifty website called music-map.com.
In that map I see metal bands Scorpions, Metallica, and Def Leppard. So I would start with those bands, then so on….

As far as wiki goes, I do use Wikipedia a lot but not as my only source for information.

A really good source for learning about heavy metal would be the good ole Encyclopedia Britannica



You use Prog archives the way I use Encyclopedia Metallum. Best reference I have found for metal bands, albums, reviews, etc

Must admit I looked at the artist on the list. I'm with @dr wu, I wouldn't classify half of those people as metal either.

@Saiyan Rocker do you listen to Heavy Metal?

What bands do you like?

Sorry if I am interrupting here, but I vote for AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" album to be on the top of the list...8-]]

Magic said:

@Saiyan Rocker do you listen to Heavy Metal?

What bands do you like?

Click to expand...

I just now saw this, so forgive the late reply.

I love Ozzy! Disturbed is awesome too.

Doc Wu's right. List is subjective. I guess most on the list has at least some level of claim of being "early-metal". Def Leopard is the one I would say has the least cred in that category. To me they are much more in the Glam/AOR genre .

Don't get me wrong... Love the band, but pigeon holing them there seems to be a slight stretch.