Top 500 Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Songs of All Time

[AboveAverage484 0]

This is it, the final listing! What song will be named the greatest of all time? Well, if you already have the book you know, but if not, here they are:

 

100. "Round and Round" by Ratt

 

99. "Living After Midnight" by Judas Priest

 

98. "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)" by Quiet Riot

 

97. "2112" by Rush

 

96. "Rock Bottom" by UFO

 

95. "Revelations" by Iron Maiden

 

94. "Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe

 

93. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by The Scorpions

 

92. "I Wanna Be Somebody" by W.A.S.P.

 

91. "N.I.B." by Black Sabbath

 

90. "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin

 

89. "Cemetary Gates" by Pantera

 

88. "Neon Knights" by Black Sabbath

 

87. "Photograph" by Def Leppard

 

86. "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest

 

85. "Roots Bloody Roots" by Sepultura

 

84. "Take Hold of the Flame" by Queensryche

 

83. "Hall of the Mountain King" by Savatage

 

82. "Powerslave" by Iron Maiden

 

81. "War Ensemble" by Slayer

 

80. "Mr. Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

79. "Killers" by Iron Maiden

 

78. "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin

 

77. "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin

 

76. "Bark at the Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

75. "Black Metal" by Venom

 

74. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden

 

73. "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC

 

72. "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC

 

71. "Fight Fire With Fire" by Metallica

 

70. "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin

 

69. "Into the Void" by Black Sabbath

 

68. "Kill the King" by Rainbow

 

67. "Battery" by Metallica

 

66. "Hangar 18" by Megadeth

 

65. "Pull Me Under" by Dream Theater

 

64. "The Four Horsemen" by Metallica

 

63. "Lights Out" by UFO

 

62. "Hell Awaits" by Slayer

 

61. "2 Minutes to Midnight" by Iron Maiden

 

60. "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss

 

59. "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" by Van Halen

 

58. "Still of the Night" by Whitesnake

 

57. "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest

 

56. "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin

 

55. "Aces High" by Iron Maiden

 

54. "Diary of a Madman" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

53. "Children of the Grave" by Black Sabbath

 

52. "Over the Mountain" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

51. "Runnin' With the Devil" by Van Halen

 

50. "Seek and Destroy" by Metallica

 

49. "Child in Time" by Deep Purple

 

48. "Walk" by Pantera

 

47. "Detroit Rock City" by Kiss

 

46. "Rainbow in the Dark" by Dio

 

45. "South of Heaven" by Slayer

 

44. "Symptom of the Universe" by Black Sabbath

 

43. "Beyond the Realms of Death" by Judas Priest

 

42. "Cowboys from Hell" by Pantera

 

41. "Burn" by Deep Purple

 

40. "Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer

 

39. "The Last in Line" by Dio

 

38. "Hells Bells" by AC/DC

 

37. "Stargazer" by Rainbow

 

36. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica

 

35. "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin

 

34. "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" by Black Sabbath

 

33. "Fast as a Shark" by Accept

 

32. "Shout at the Devil" by Mötley Crüe

 

31. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica

 

30. "Holy Diver" by Dio

 

29. "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" by Judas Priest

 

28. "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden

 

27. "Peace Sells" by Megadeth

 

26. "Balls to the Wall" by Accept

 

25. "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple

 

24. "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden

 

23. "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC

 

22. "Fade to Black" by Metallica

 

21. "Creeping Death" by Metallica

 

20. "Raining Blood" by Slayer

 

19. "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses

 

18. "Electric Eye" by Judas Priest

 

17. "Victim of Changes" by Judas Priest

 

16. "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" by Megadeth

 

15. "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath

 

14. "Highway Star" by Deep Purple

 

13. "One" by Metallica

 

12. "Painkiller" by Judas Priest

 

11. "Heaven and Hell" by Black Sabbath

 

10. "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

 

9. "Back in Black" by AC/DC

 

8. "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath

 

7. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" by Iron Maiden

 

6. "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden

 

5. "Angel of Death" by Slayer

 

4. "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne

 

3. "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead

 

2. "Master of Puppets" by Metallica

 

1. "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath

[Red Baron 0]

I think that is the best top 10 list ever.

[KanadianKrusty 0]

3. "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead

About fucking time they got some recognition, they don't get nearly enough credit for what they've done for heavy metal in the past 28 years.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Fuck, Motörhead don't get enough recognition for all they've done for MUSIC THAT'S EVEN REMOTELY HEAVY AT ALL. Without Motörhead, no Metallica. No Slayer. No Anthrax. No Megadeth. And half of the punk and metal bands in the world would not have formed. And most of the popular hard rock bands would not have formed. ALL MUST BOW DOWN TO LEMMY!

 

Aside from "Paranoid" being #1 (I'd have had it trade places with "Hallowed Be Thy Name," personally), BEST TOP 10 EVER. I would have also switched "Back In Black" with "Peace Sells," but that's because Megadeth is amazing in nearly every aspect, while AC/DC gets boring after a while.

 

Nice to see the Maiden love here, actually. I've been on a Bruce/Maiden kick lately (I only have 4 Maiden CDs, unfortunately, and 2 Bruce solo albums)*, so to see their classics get recognition is great.

 

* = The Maiden/Bruce albums I have are:

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

Iron Maiden - Best Of The Beast

Iron Maiden - Brave New World

Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth

Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding

[Steviekick 0]

It's kind of funny that their first 400 choices were questionable, but I'm very content wth their top 100. I was quite happy to see Sepultura's "Roots Bloody Roots" get this high, and happily suprised that Deep Purple's "Highway Star" was in the top 20 (14).

[Red Baron 0]

Corey, your next Maiden selections should be: Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Killers or Dance Of Death.

[Slayer 0]

The list I was waiting for, and I am content

[The Metal Maniac 0]

I'd Dance of Death should be held off on, at least until the classic era albums are picked up.

 

Somewhere in Time, you fool!

 

And like I said...the top numbers are fine. And even speaking as a huge Maiden fan, I'm glad Paranoid got the nod, for historical significance alone.

[Slayer 0]

Somewhere in Time, you fool!

I swear SIT doesn't get as much love as it should, compared to the two albums around it (PS and SSOATS)

 

I've heard some people say it's because of the "overuse of keyboards", even though SSOATS has just as many keyboards, and it's considered at least in their top three

[Guest Blas]

That list is better than most I've seen, I still disagree with just about all of it.

[Guest Peter_Griffin]

Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death was a GREAT album, and definately my favourite album since Seventh Son. It has some REALLY good epics. 'Paschendale', 'No More Lies', 'Journeyman', 'Dance of Death', 'Montsegur' and 'Age Of Innocence' are ALL AMAZING Iron Maiden songs.

 

Nice to see 'Rock You Like a Hurricane'. DUNN AND MARCOS~!

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

The final 100 was a solid list, and the top ten OWNS, though I think there are FAR better Sabbath songs than "Paranoid."

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Hey, I ain't trying to say that Dance of Death is a bad album - I think it's great, myself. I'm just saying he shoul get the older stuf first, that's all.

[Red Baron 0]

If War Pigs and Paranoid switched, I might have jizzed my pants...

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

^I agree with your signature. Dickinson's voice is my favorite in all of metal. Fuck, all of music.

[Art Sandusky 0]

You'll make Devin Townshend cry.

[MrRant 0]

Welcome to the Jungle should be quite higher IMO.

[MrRant 0]

Wouldn't Queen be considered hard rock? Sure they did various other things as well but at the core to me they were hard rock.... and NO WHERE on the Top 100.

[pochorenella 0]

Pretty solid list, IMO. The only material I'm mostly unfamiliar with is the Pantera stuff, otherwise I've pretty much heard everything on the list. Happy to see some old faves like Accept's "Fast as a Shark" or Queensryche's 2Take Hold of the Flame" mixed in there with some all time greats.

Little disappointed with Kiss' showing but still no complaints, since "Detroit Rock City" ranked decently. Did "God of Thunder" rank in the Top 500 at all?

"Paranoid" is a great choice but I wouldn't mind seeing "Hallowed Be Thy Name" at #1 either, or "Iron Man" for that matter. Old school metal rules!

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

A fair chunk of that list seems almost....logical.