Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs

[AboveAverage484 0]

Here they are:

 

400. "Motorbreath" by Metallica

 

399. "Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper

 

398. "Death or Glory" by Holocaust

 

397. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Iron Maiden

 

396. "Be Quick or Be Dead" by Iron Maiden

 

395. "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin

 

394. "My Last Words" by Megadeth

 

393. "Love You to Death" by Type O Negative

 

392. "Mean Streak" by Y&T

 

391. "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" by Blue Öyster Cult

 

390. "Outshined" by Soundgarden

 

389. "You're in Love" by Ratt

 

388. "Trial by Fire" by Testament

 

387. "The Ivory Gate of Dreams" by Fates Warning

 

386. "The Prisoner" by Iron Maiden

 

385. "Becoming" by Pantera

 

384. "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream

 

383. "I See the Light Tonight" by Yngwie Malmsteen

 

382. "Future Breed Machine" by Meshuggah

 

381. "Riff Raff" by AC/DC

 

380. "Trashed" by Black Sabbath

 

379. "I Am a Viking" by Yngwie Malmsteen

 

378. "Blood of the Kings" by Manowar

 

377. "Killed by Death" by Motörhead

 

376. "Welcome Home" by King Diamond

 

375. "Ten Ton Hammer" by Machine Head

 

374. "Jesus Built My Hotrod" by Ministry

 

373. "Desperate Cry" by Sepultura

 

372. "Lick It Up" by Kiss

 

371. "Wheels of Steel" by Saxon

 

370. "The Eagles Has Landed" by Saxon

 

369. "The Years of Decay" by Overkill

 

368. "Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie

 

367. "Angel of Death" by Angel Witch

 

366. "High 'N' Dry (Saturday Night)" by Def Leppard

 

365. "Left Hand Path" by Entombed

 

364. "Harvester of Sorrow" by Metallica

 

363. "Running Free" by Iron Maiden

 

362. "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" by Rainbow

 

361. "T.N.T" by AC/DC

 

360. "All We Are" by Warlock

 

359. "Falling Off the Edge of the World" by Black Sabbath

 

358. "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour

 

357. "A Fine Day to Die" by Bathory

 

356. "Wild Side" by Mötley Crüe

 

355. "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC

 

354. "Knocking at Your Back Door" by Deep Purple

 

353. "Shout It Out Loud" by Kiss

 

352. "Davidian" by Machine Head

 

351. "More Human than Human" by White Zombie

 

350. "Cowboy Song" by Thin Lizzy

 

349. "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull

 

348. "Disciples of the Witch" by Testament

 

347. "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" by AC/DC

 

346. "Post Mortem" by Slayer

 

345. "Lay It Down" by Ratt

 

344. "The Tower" by Angel

 

343. "Antisocial" by Anthrax

 

342. "22 Acacia Avenue" by Iron Maiden

 

341. "The Call of Ktulu" by Metallica

 

340. "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden

 

339. "Shot in the Dark" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

338. "Hollow" by Pantera

 

337. "Keeper of the Seven Keys" by Helloween

 

336. "The Apparition" by Fates Warning

 

335. "Angry Again" by Megadeth

 

334. "Sirens" by Savatage

 

333. "Lost Horizons" by Michael Schenker Group

 

332. "Still Loving You" by Scorpions

 

331. "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush

 

330. "Space Station #5" by Montrose

 

329. "Armed and Dangerous" by Anthrax

 

328. "Tears of the Dragon" by Bruce Dickinson

 

327. "Rocket Queen" by Guns N' Roses

 

326. "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple

 

325. "Metal Church" by Metal Church

 

324. "I Don't Believe in Love" by Queensryche

 

323. "Look at Yourself" by Uriah Heep

 

322. "Pictures of Home" by Deep Purple

 

321. "God of Thunder" by Kiss

 

320. "Mandatory Suicide" by Slayer

 

319. "Imaginations from the Other Side" by Blind Guardian

 

318. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard

 

317. "Supernaut" by Black Sabbath

 

316. "Anarchy in the UK" by Sex Pistols

 

315. "Metal Gods" by Judas Priest

 

314. "Chainsaw Charlie" by W.A.S.P.

 

313. "Die Young" by Black Sabbath

 

312. "Perfect Strangers" by Deep Purple

 

311. "I'm Broken" by Pantera

 

310. "Search and Destroy" by Iggy and the Stooges

 

309. "Refuse/Resist" by Sepultura

 

308. "Modern Day Cowboy" by Tesla

 

307. "July Morning" by Uriah Heep

 

306. "Mean Streets" by Van Halen

 

305. "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy

 

304. "Episode 666" by In Flames

 

303. "D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)" by Testament

 

302. "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen

 

301. "The Evil That Men Do" by Iron Maiden

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

Yikes. Y & T? How can I take this list seriously now?

 

"Cowboy Song" should be much higher on the list. I've never heard a song whose solos match it more perfectly. It's also a great song, my personal favourite from Thin Lizzy.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

316. "Anarchy in the UK" by Sex Pistols

 

310. "Search and Destroy" by Iggy and the Stooges

 

Certainly the 316th and 310th best heavy metal songs of all time....doy.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Certainly the 316th and 310th best heavy metal songs of all time....doy.

I'm sure Dave Mustaine had Anarchy on his list

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Hey, it's a good tune, but heavy metal it ain't. I mean, that's even less questionable than the AC/DC mentions on there, as far as I'm concerned.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Yeah, I whole heartedly agree. Maybe some voted for it as being influential on them as heavy metal musicians which is how I look at this list.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

399. "Billion Dollar Babies" by Alice Cooper

395. "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin

392. "Mean Streak" by Y&T

391. "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" by Blue Öyster Cult

390. "Outshined" by Soundgarden

389. "You're in Love" by Ratt

384. "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream

381. "Riff Raff" by AC/DC

372. "Lick It Up" by Kiss

366. "High 'N' Dry (Saturday Night)" by Def Leppard

361. "T.N.T" by AC/DC

358. "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour

356. "Wild Side" by Mötley Crüe

355. "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC

354. "Knocking at Your Back Door" by Deep Purple

353. "Shout It Out Loud" by Kiss

350. "Cowboy Song" by Thin Lizzy

349. "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull

347. "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll)" by AC/DC

345. "Lay It Down" by Ratt

340. "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden

333. "Lost Horizons" by Michael Schenker Group

331. "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush

330. "Space Station #5" by Montrose

326. "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple

323. "Look at Yourself" by Uriah Heep

322. "Pictures of Home" by Deep Purple

321. "God of Thunder" by Kiss

318. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard

316. "Anarchy in the UK" by Sex Pistols

314. "Chainsaw Charlie" by W.A.S.P.

312. "Perfect Strangers" by Deep Purple

310. "Search and Destroy" by Iggy and the Stooges

308. "Modern Day Cowboy" by Tesla

307. "July Morning" by Uriah Heep

306. "Mean Streets" by Van Halen

305. "The Boys are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy

302. "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen

 

Are not metal. Fuck, a couple of those bands are Classic Rock, and some are Punk.

 

Wow..."best" list for Metal ever, eh?

[The Metal Maniac 0]

See, I can easily forgive the presence of glam bands and people like AC/DC, because even if it's debatable as to how "metal" they are, I think it can be assumed that they're still a part of the overall metal community.

 

But Sex Pistols? That's just ludicrious.

 

*retracts previous statements as to the quality of this list, while standing by the point that when you get up into the higher numbers, it improves somewhat*

[Slayer 0]

Dammit, if this list is already out somewhere, publish the top 100 already. I can't take much more of thise

[The Metal Maniac 0]

It's a whole book, actually.

 

It looks to be a neat read, though I've never read it (I glossed through it in Chapters once or twice, but that's it).

[DARRYLXWF 0]

Yeah, I saw it at a shop today. It's pretty detailed actually, a paragraph is dedicated to each song as well as comments from the composers.

 

I also saw a book titled (I think) 'Bang Your Head: The rise and fall of Heavy Metal'. It looked like a bit of fun, anyone here read it?

[Guest DR PHIL]

'Bang Your Head: The rise and fall of Heavy Metal'.

 

Yep, good read.

Especially since I was only starting to get into metal at the time.

 

But corey won't like it because it classifies "hair" and all the bands on that list as metal, moreso, because of influence.

 

Well worth getting.

[Art Sandusky 0]

What makes metal metal? AC/DC has tons of energy, the choppy distorted riffs, and songs about drinking, screwing, and raising hell. I say they qualify.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Personally, I don't find AC/DC heavy enough. To me, they just sound like rock.

 

That's a personal thing though, and it doesn't mean I don't like AC/DC - just that I'd call them a hard rock band, not a metal band.

[Swift Terror 0]

I wish to hell Popoff would come out with an updated version of The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal. Great book, but hasn't been updated since 1997.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

The definitive book on metal, I believe, would be Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture by Deena Eisen (I forget the name, as the book is somewhere in my room, but the title is accurate). It goes into detail about why hard rock is falsely considered metal, and why rap/rock and nu-metal bands are NOT metal. It also explores what makes metal METAL, and why certain bands are not metal, whereas others are.

 

Although the list of must-need metal albums is flawed (including AC/DC and Motley Crue and Kiss), the book itself explains that these are pivotal albums to metal in terms of INFLUENCE on its perception and evolution. The book, however, was released in the mid 90's, so I doubt great bands like Opeth and such are on the list.

[DARRYLXWF 0]

A really good book I read earlier this year was Sound the Beast: The complete Headbanging history of Heavy Metal

 

The best thing about the book is that its written by a fan whose passionate about the subject, so he covers a wide range of topics not usually found in other "metal" collections which seem to concentrate on AC/DC and Metallica as the only bands that people have heard of.

[Art Sandusky 0]

So you're saying it's basically a totally subjective issue, right?

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Sort of, but not really.

 

I know that there's good reasons that AC/DC isn't metal. I may not be totally sure what the overall concensus of why they're not is (though I really do like Laz's theory that in order to be metal, it must be birthed from another form of metal, and someone else pointed out in the other thread that hard rock is basically party music, while metal is more depressing) so I'm not going to come right out and state that AC/DC isn't metal because they don't sound like metal to me.

 

I've heard many people say that AC/DC isn't metal. I don't know all the reasons they give for it. But I do know that they sure as hell don't sound like heavy metal. They sound like rock.

 

So that's the reason I give. Is it subjective? Yeah, kinda. Does that mean it's a totally subjective issue? Nope.

 

Man, these threads really need to be one...

[Coffin Surfer 0]

I've been told by a few different local gutiarists, and heard else where that for metal to be metal it must have a classical influence, which can be found in metal bands ranging from Iron Madien to Metallica to Nile.

 

While it's obviously not always true(nothing ever is), it is one possible criteria to consider for determining the difference between metal and hard rock(which often has a strong blues influence, rather than classical).

[Guest macheteofodin]

Do lyrics make a band "metal," or is it the overall sound of the music. I mean I could write a song that sounds like Death Metal, but I'm growling a ballad. It can't be depressing lyrics because according to many metal heads, Nu Metal is not "Metal." Classical music can't be the key either. There are a shit load of "Metal Bands" that have no audible classical influence (most Grindcore bands)...but then again, do THEY classify as "Metal?" As stated previously, what is metal is subjective, but there are always some bands that ARE metal to practically everyone. Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden just to name a few. People may not like them, but they are recognized as being Metal bands. According to some people's definitions of Metal, Black Sabbath wouldn't be Metal. To me it's a combination of lyrics, look and the music. After years upon years of listening it's something you just recognize. It can't be defined.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

I didn't mean depressing lyrics soley - more just a depressing, gloom and doom feel to the music overall.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

In order for something to be metal, it NEEDS to have a branch to Black Sabbath in some way. Sabbath started it (and the entire "according to most definitions, Black Sabbath ISN'T metal" comment is BULLSHIT, since they'd be doom metal), and as the originators are the ones that every following band will be compared to.

 

In the 500-401 list, I made a Family Tree of the bigger metal styles (Heavy, NWOBHM, Thrash/Speed, Black, Death), and I'll post a full Family Tree in due time (including Power, Doom, Brutal, Rapcore, Prog, and other forms I can think of). But in order for a band to be metal, it NEEDS a link to Black Sabbath.

 

Coffin, you have my utmost permission to kick these local guitarists in the balls, because Black Sabbath is more blues than anything else.

[Steviekick 0]

Although the list of must-need metal albums is flawed (including AC/DC and Motley Crue and Kiss), the book itself explains that these are pivotal albums to metal in terms of INFLUENCE on its perception and evolution.

So would it be acceptable to call AC/DC, Kiss, and Crue "proto-metal", or even "light metal"? Think of how cool it could be...you could say "yeah, i'm into the aluminum scene"

[Guest macheteofodin]

and the entire "according to most definitions, Black Sabbath ISN'T metal" comment is BULLSHIT, since they'd be doom metal

 

It wasn't MOST definitions. To be exact I stated "According to some people's definitions of Metal, Black Sabbath wouldn't be Metal." One such definition would be the Classical Music one that was brought up. I know they are metal, I was just pointing out that some definitions are incorrect.

 

I didn't mean depressing lyrics soley - more just a depressing, gloom and doom feel to the music overall.

 

Would you consider Korn to be Metal? I mean they are pretty depressing in terms of the whole package.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Ah, but that's just one part of the music, and it doesn't work in all circumstances (For example, power metal is metal, and it generally sounds happy). That's just, like, the EZ guide to "is it hard rock or metal?"

 

And no, I wouldn't call Korn metal.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Yes, Stevie, I would call bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Motley Crue, and others "proto-metal", because while they were not metal themselves, they DID lend prototypical foundations for following metal bands to build off of (ESPECIALLY AC/DC and Deep Purple, and I actually consider Deep Purple to be the band closest to the borderline of what is metal and what is hard rock).

 

Wait...we're having discussions over what is and isn't metal...without flaming and pointless comments? Wow. A first for messageboards everywhere!

 

EDIT: Also, many punk bands could be called "proto-metal," especially since Thrash/Speed is based off of punk and metal. Listen to The Plasmatics tune "The Damned," and TELL ME that isn't a metal tune. Plasmatics were INCREDIBLY borderline, even moreso than Deep Purple (only between punk and metal), and it's a shame they broke up and then Wendy O killed herself before a reunion could occur. AMAZING band.

[Guest macheteofodin]

Ah, but that's just one part of the music, and it doesn't work in all circumstances (For example, power metal is metal, and it generally sounds happy). That's just, like, the EZ guide to "is it hard rock or metal?"

 

And no, I wouldn't call Korn metal.

Good point, but should it be included in the definition of what Metal is if not all sub-genres "fit the mold?" I'm not sure if that is your point or not...my brain blew up like 10 minutes ago. haha

 

If it is not yet apparent, I'm extremely bored today.

[Steviekick 0]

Yes, Stevie, I would call bands like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Motley Crue, and others "proto-metal", because while they were not metal themselves, they DID lend prototypical foundations for following metal bands to build off of (ESPECIALLY AC/DC and Deep Purple, and I actually consider Deep Purple to be the band closest to the borderline of what is metal and what is hard rock).

 

Wait...we're having discussions over what is and isn't metal...without flaming and pointless comments? Wow. A first for messageboards everywhere!

 

EDIT: Also, many punk bands could be called "proto-metal," especially since Thrash/Speed is based off of punk and metal. Listen to The Plasmatics tune "The Damned," and TELL ME that isn't a metal tune. Plasmatics were INCREDIBLY borderline, even moreso than Deep Purple (only between punk and metal), and it's a shame they broke up and then Wendy O killed herself before a reunion could occur. AMAZING band.

Deep Purple is very metal-like, and way ahead of the others in the proto-metal group. Their musicianship seperates them.

 

The Plasmatics were amazing. They are propably one of the most underrated punk bands ever.

[Steviekick 0]

As for one of the biggest problems of why we find difficulty in classifying things as being metal or not is partly because metal itself is a subgenre of rock and roll. Because of that, it borders so many other different sub genres, as well as being so broken up by itself into its own sub genres, it's too mixed up.