Top 10 greatest metal songs of all time according to VH1

ShotgunblueZ

"Iron Man" Voted Top Metal Song of All Time

VH1 List to air May 4

Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' takes the crown as the number one song in VH1's metal count down of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.

The countdown which began Monday, May 1st will culminate on Thursday, May 4th at 11 PM (Eastern/Pacific Time) with the top ten songs of all time. Former Skid Row frontman, Sebastian Bach will host the show.

Here's the top 10 greatest metal songs of all time according to VH1:

10. MOTÖRHEAD - 'Ace Of Spades' (1980)
9. OZZY OSBOURNE - 'Crazy Train' (1980)
8. SLAYER - 'Raining Blood' (1986)
7. IRON MAIDEN - 'The Number Of The Beast' (1982)
6. KISS - 'Detroit Rock City' (1976)
5. JUDAS PRIEST - 'You've Got Another Thing Coming' (1982)
4. AC/DC - 'Back In Black' (1980)
3. METALLICA - 'Master Of Puppets' (1986)
2. GUNS N' ROSES - 'Welcome To The Jungle' (1987)
1. BLACK SABBATH - 'Iron Man' (1971)

Source: http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=4577

Hmmm...some I would concur with but they are all a little 'old school'?

Doctor J

TBH none of them would make my list, except maybe MOP. In each case I can think of songs by the artists which I consider to be much, much better.

Pugsley

Notice none of them are newer than 1987.........

Pretty poor list, looks like they picked the big bands of the past and picked a random song, no way is Iron Man sabbath's best, not by a long shot, and a lot of them bands are rock bands, not metal.

MagnumForce

Some some should definitly be in the list, but some, although im fond of, dont really belong in a Metal top ten, such as Detroit Rock City, thats a rock song definitly not a metal song. And whats with You've Got Another Thing Coming, its always on these things, youd think it was Judas Priests only song, not only is it a rock not metal song, The Priest has definitly got finer candidates such as Painkiller or anything a little more metal-y.

It's a bit odd that there are no songs which date past 1990, or even 1987 for that matter.

Diarmuid

I could live with that list. Well kick Kiss out and move GnR down the list a bit and it would be a pretty decent list. As for most of the songs being pre 1990, well all the best metal songs were from them too <duck>

billsteersnose

They're all good tunes, but they remind me of one of those ads on the telly....
"Drivin' Rock Anthems"....

senordingdong

Not bad, for the whole middle of the road thing.

pbsuxok1znja4r

I'm interested to see everyone's own Top Ten. I'm too much of a metal n00b to have anything but Megadeth and Metallica in mine, but everyone else, please post yours!

But yeah, that list definitely veers too much to the side of old, old school metal and, well... AC/DC and G'n'R aren't even metal if you ask me.

Civilian_Target

Hit and miss, some of them are right but honestly, Crazy Train? Welcome to the Jungle? Presumably they want cheap rights so they can compile a top 10 cd.

senordingdong

In fairness, it's VH1.

What would you expect?..Biomechanical? Nile?

Civilian_Target

No - they wouldn't be the top 10 metal tracks TBH.

But I'd have expected to hear Highway to Hell, Killing in the Name, Sweet Child of Mine instead of Welcome to the Jungle and possibly even Chop Suey in there.

Priest, Metallica, Slayer, Motorhead and Maiden are good calls.

Karl Hungus

Top Tens are easily the most pointless excursions in journalism.

mike65

Any list with Buns and Toasties in the Top 10 should be burnt. Oh yes -

WOT? No "Smoke"?

Mike.

Lord Oz

VH1? :rolleyes:

Unpossible

Reminds me of a show that was shown over here on regular TV a few weeks back. It was something like "100" or "20" worst metal songs ever, put together by E! or VH1 (cant remember which, probably E!). Most of the songs were Glam-rock and akin to stuff Spinal Tap would play. They even had Europe's final countdown in the worst 5, it was news to me to be told that it was a metal song played by a metal band.

I'm interested to see everyone's own Top Ten. I'm too much of a metal n00b

yeah me too, I dont think I have enough exposure to give an ultimate top ten, however the one above wouldnt come close

ferdi

Detroit Rock City is metal?

Ph3n0m

ShotgunblueZ wrote:

Hmmm...some I would concur with but they are all a little 'old school'?

proving yet again that rock achieved perfection in the 70;s and metal achieved perfection pre-95

Doctor J

Ph3n0m wrote:

metal achieved perfection pre-95

I would pinpoint the moment to 1986

Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood, Peace Sells, Among The Living, Somewhere In Time, Game Over, Doomsday For The Deceiver, Darkness Descends etc etc etc

Ph3n0m

Doctor J wrote:

I would pinpoint the moment to 1986

Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood, Peace Sells, Among The Living, Somewhere In Time, Game Over, Doomsday For The Deceiver, Darkness Descends etc etc etc

as usual an older man has shown me the way.....


wait a minute...

Doctor J

What's that, pops? Did you drop your ear trumpet again?

Ph3n0m

Doctor J wrote:

What's that, pops? Did you drop your ear trumpet again?

me? old man? well not as old as you

Doctor J

There's not much in it

It wasn't me!

top ten is a tough one, but since I'm bored, avoiding study at the moment, and feeling like it, here's one off the top of my head:

In no particular order-
Obituary-Slowly We Rot/'Til Death
Metallica-Motorbreath/Battery/Fight Fire With Fire
Slayer-Angel of Death/Spirit in Black
Megadeth-Tornado of Souls/Holy Wars...
Opeth-Advent/Black Rose Immortal/The Funeral Portrait/The Leper Affinity
Sonata Arctica-Full Moon/Gravenimage
Tool-Stinkfist/Forty Six & 2
Carcass-Reek of Putrefaction
Atheist-the entirety of Unquestionable Presence
Death-Lack of Comprehension/Spirit Crusher/Suicide Machine

Yeah, it's not ten, but mix and match it. I'm bored.

Tar.Aldarion

I like four songs in the list, one *might* make it in the top ten. IMO, piss poor list.

MagnumForce

Unpossible wrote:

Reminds me of a show that was shown over here on regular TV a few weeks back. It was something like "100" or "20" worst metal songs ever, put together by E! or VH1 (cant remember which, probably E!). Most of the songs were Glam-rock and akin to stuff Spinal Tap would play. They even had Europe's final countdown in the worst 5, it was news to me to be told that it was a metal song played by a metal band.

I was watching that and most of the songs that were featured were actually pretty good songs. The talking heads they employed (except Scott Ian of Anthrax) had no ****ing clue what they were talking about and had just been given a list of song names and told to wafle on about what they didnt know. At one stage Scott Ian said of one song "I seriously don't know what this song is doing on a list of worst metal songs". I hate "Top whatever" countdowns, they piss me off.

They even got song lyrics wrong when quoting Accept's Balls To The Wall (which is an excellent song) and i cant beleive they put The Final Countdown in the top 5 worst metal songs. and yes Europe is and was a (three quarters) metal band, The Final Countdown was their commercial album. It struck me as strange that theyd put in a song which has gone multiplatinum into a top 5 of worst songs.

What also annoys me is when people refer to Europe as a one hit wonder band, when they actually had two number one singles off The Final Countdown album, but thats a different top 10.

Unpossible

had no ****ing clue what they were talking about and had just been given a list of song names and told to wafle on about what they didnt know. At one stage Scott Ian said of one song "I seriously don't know what this song is doing on a list of worst metal songs". I hate "Top whatever" countdowns, they piss me off.

yeah, they always use a bunch of second rate "comedians & actors" to comment on their lists.

and yes Europe is and was a (three quarters) metal band,

really? huh you learn something new everyday, I only knew about final countdown and one or two other song (which I cant remember offhand, but I thought they were also "Glam-rock")

Doctor J

In fairness, The Final Countdown is a ****ing kick ass song regardless of genre. It's up there with Eye Of The Tiger and Jump as untouchable

Ph3n0m

problem is metal and rock are still considered novelty (still baffles me why) and so are given the Spinal Tap treatment, no matter how "serious" the list is

MagnumForce

Unpossible wrote:

really? huh you learn something new everyday, I only knew about final countdown and one or two other song (which I cant remember offhand, but I thought they were also "Glam-rock")

Yeah, have a listen to their first 1983 self titled album if you can, its good, not full metal, but sort of glam-metal (not glam rock) after that on their second album they got a little more pop-ish, then of course there was The Final Countdown album which was all out poptastic, but The Final Countdown is one of the best songs ever!

They went more rock-ish after The Final Countdown. John Norum (guitar) left the band because of the commercialness of The Final Countdown album

Civilian_Target

I dunno - I saw one for the top 10 metal albums the other day that went:

1: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
2: Metallica - Master of Puppets
3: Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast
4: AC/DC - Back in Black
5: Slayer - Reign in Blood
6: Metallica - Ride the Lightning
7: Dio - Holy Diver
8: Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
9: Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengence
10: Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime

I'd say it's pretty close to the mark (execpt I've never actually listened to Screaming for Vengance) but was surprised that there was no Guns'n'Roses in there, since Appetite for Destruction was such a landmark in metal.

MagnumForce

Thats a much better list alright, but still, although Screaming For Vengence is a great album, only the Title track could be considered metal, the rest isnt quite there, their subsequent album Defenders Of The Faith was the start of them becoming more truly metal by modern standards(with the exception of a few exceptions of course)