Where It All Began- Reviewing the Representative Works of Heavy Metal

Hello again. This time I'm trying to focus on the great works of certain bands that revolutionized, changed and altered heavy metal and created music that we now know as classic or great hits or the work of an era etc. To separate these works from ordinary albums by ordinary bands, we have to look at popularity, technical superiority of the album, the amount of records sold (this factor is not as important as the rest), reply by fanbase of that certain band, how much that album really changed heavy metal, how much we as CD reviewers appreciate the work, how much critics appreciated the album, what level of change was achieved at the that particular decade/year, what changes were achieved, the content of the album (again this is not that important), the overall quality of the album (this is arguably the most important factor) and how many times a person can listen to this album without getting sick of it.

Now, this list may not necessarily contain albums of heavy metal. It may contain certain works that led to the creation of heavy metal. It may contain different works of other types of blues and acid based rock that changed heavy metal. All of these factors come into play when you are trying to decide the good albums of a certain generation. Again, any comments are welcome and I will take any suggestions seriously, but these albums that I am about to list have been done so after a great deal of thought and concentration.

Okay, let us begin. If you've read the first edition of my column, you will know that Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and perhaps Jimi Hendrix were the great influences on bands such as Black Sabbath etc. Therefore, it would be quite strange if I left these bands out. Now, Led Zeppelin released two albums in the same year of 1969. These albums were Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II. Now, these two albums were filled with folk-ballads, guitar solos, great vocals by Robert Plant etc. I felt the second Led Zeppelin album really led to the creation of heavy metal. It was more power-packed and had more of Page's wonderful riffs and solos. Good stuff. This album was the first album to bring the sound and emotion of a certain era into a few songs. And the fans flocked to buy this album like ants going after sugar.

I mentioned Deep Purple before, they were also in the front of the classic rock movement which mostly occured in Great Britain. They are the great legends of hard classic rock and are a great addition to this list. After Zeppelin released Led Zeppelin II, Deep Purple came out with Deep Purple In Rock in 1970. This album was not violent and did not really contain lyrics depicted dark imagery or symbols but it did contain everything that makes a great rock album: Great licks, fast tempo, catchy riffs, drug lyrics, great vocals and brilliant beats. They were a great crowd-pleaser in their day and attracted swarms of people. This album was greatly acclaimed by critics and fans alike and put Deep Purple higher in the stands than they already were. A superb effort.

Now we move onto heavy metal. Black Sabbath, the first heavy metal band. Their album Paranoid released in 1970 was a stepping stone onto later works such as Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath. It's hard deciding which album is better. I have checked up critics' reviews, fan opinions, content, quality, sales and of course the level of change that both albums delivered. They were both hated by the critics at that time, they both earned great fan response and both had great sales, content, quality etc. They are neck and neck in all departments. Ah, what the fuck I'll put both of them down. Paranoid had great hits such as War Pigs and other stoner anthems. The album was brilliantly produced and was greatly responded to by fans and the tours filled up stadiums on both sides of the Atlantic. Most people though they could never come back with anything better, they did. Black Sabbath released Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath in 1974 and explored all boundaries of lyrical topics and thoughts. The album was filled with brilliant energy and superb riffs. The group became a fascinating one to listen to with this album. Amazingly creative and not monotonous from any angle. These two albums become the most compelling and brilliant offerings of these gods of metal.

Randy Rhoads, Ritchie Blackmore and Yngwie Malmsteen were the great guitarists of great bands. They were regarded as creators of violent and dark stoner music. Some bands didn't go into that side of the arena and focused on other subjects to tackle in their lyrics. Glam bands such as Alice Cooper and Kiss rose to success. Alice Cooper influenced bands like Kiss and their bassist leader Gene Simmons. Alice Cooper was among the first rock groups to infuse their performances with theatrics. Anyway, all these qualities including Alice Cooper's glam-styled music influenced Kiss. Kiss became a better band then Alice Cooper when they released their album Alive! in 1975. The reason I'm choosing this album is because it signifies a great leap in glam metal. If any glam metal band needs to achieve great success they must base themselves upon works by great glam bands such as Kiss, Mötley Crüe and Alice Cooper. This album is not much of a lyrical work, most of the lyrics are based upon loving the whole night long and other such stuff that most glam bands do sing about. But, this album was also of absolutely unmistakeable high quality and powerful ballads even if all they sang about was sex. The tongue-hanging, face-painting group became a commercial success as well as a great hit amongst fans and critics. Alive! was probably one of the best glam albums of its era and became a classic. Unfortunately Kiss did not follow up that well and so faded out like so many great bands do.

David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Two people who fueled the fire of a project known as Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen and brother Alex actually turned to rock music when they emigrated to the U.S. and Alex played the guitar and Eddie played the drums. They swapped instruments and turned out to be better. They hooked up with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony. Their debut album Van Halen released in 1978 is among a handful American released heavy metal albums that made this list. It's brilliance in guitaring, drumming and vocals that in my opinion were among the greatest in the world at that time. A demo was financed by Gene Simmons of Kiss which led to their album Van Halen. It was the firestarter for more American heavy metal bands to try and dominate the heavy metal scene at the time. Unfortunately Van Halen did not accomplish the level of success as they did for this first album as band members left and were replaced by lesser qualified individuals (not to say that they were not talented).

Priest and Maiden. Two names that will always go down together as two of the great gods of British heavy metal along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (I know Led Zeppelin isn't metal you fucking nit-picker). Both bands in my opinion are equally great even though most people seem to think that Iron Maiden is superior as shown with the polls for the Kings of Heavy Metal. 1980, the beginning of the decade that incepted Generation X and their horrid nu-metal. Anyway, Judas Priest came out with their album British Steel. What a great album! I bought it a couple of days ago when I was shopping for CDs with Saad. This album is part of some Remasters collection. Anyway, it cost me $13 which is pretty cheap compared to some of the other stuff. It was worth every dollar. Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law and United were the three singles that this album produced. The album came with two bonus tracks which I don't think were included in the original British Steel. Whether they were there or not, I have been hearing this album day and night listening to Rob Halford's powerful vocals and insightful lyrics about death, life, age, drugs, patriotism. Wonderful guitaring and smartly placed guitar solos put this album up with the great heavy metal albums and another one for British heavy metal albums. Judas Priest, a definate crowd pleaser and wonderfully innovative live, score with a great set of songs.

Iron Maiden, arguably the best out of the entire set of bands that formed the British wave of classic heavy metal, is one that had many great hits. I'm going to put down two of their albums. I've been to Iron Maiden fansites, the official site, various review sites, talked to more than my share of Iron Maiden fans and well, heard the albums myself. It came down to 2 good albums. One of them being Powerslave released in 1984 and then there was Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Now, before I get into the specifics of things, let me just tell whoever reads this : I am not a huge Iron Maiden fan. I've only heard a few songs before I heard these two albums. I am basing my entire review of these two albums on fan opinions and various other reviews. So, therefore the review on these two albums are not completely accurate. I'm putting these two albums down on my list. The songs on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son were absolutely marvellous and I can imagine why this album was one of their best ones. As for Powerslave, the songs on it were interesting, full of great rhythms and power chords. The reviewers did not really like this album, but the fans that I spoke to praised it beyond belief. I checked the polls for the best Iron Maiden album and Powerslave came second I think. Anyway, whatever the case, these are two killer CDs.

Metallica- The once greatly respected San Francisco bay area quartet, pioneers in thrash and speed metal are now the hated, pathetic shell of their former self. Sellouts. Anyway, let's not get into that. The old Metallica that everybody appreciated came in the form of such albums as Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning, Kill 'em All and the Black Album. I realize that the Black Album is the album that sold more copies than Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. Regardless of whether this album made them sellouts or not, I'm going to take a stand here and say that this was a great album. A brilliant array of dazzling riffs, powerful vocals and lyrics as well as breakneck tempo and licks on the guitar that nobody could do. Just because this album made them sellouts does not mean that the music in this album was hampered by it in any way. Classics such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True etc. are all on this masterpiece. Another wonderful album from Metallica was the brilliant Ride the Lightning. If you have read my review on this album or you already own this album, then you probably realize what I'm talking about. This album altered the ideals and efforts that goes into thrash metal songs. Wonderful stuff.

1987- Guns N Roses. Appetite for Destruction. I know that technically Guns N Roses isn't metal. But who gives a shit about technicalities when you hear this album? What an album. I keep hearing it again and again. I own a bootleg copy of this album, and I feel bad that the band didn't get any royalties for that copy, but then I realize they were the same band that took out such trash as UYI 1 and 2 (Use Your Illusions) and I feel content. Anyway, this album is brilliant. Great hits like Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O Mine, Mr. Brownstone and Night Train to name a few. This album is a landmark hard rock album. Probably one of the best hard rock albums I have ever heard. Great stuff. Axl Rose's interesting cat meow-like howls and Slash's great guitar solos make this album completely enjoyable.

If I've counted correctly I now have 12 great albums that I feel cover classic, glam and thrash metal. In later additions to this column I will focus on subgenres and their great achievements. For now though I'm going to list the albums that I've just talked about.

Given in chronological order:

1. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II (1969)
2. Deep Purple, Deep Purple in Rock (1970)
3. Black Sabbath, Paranoid (1970)
4. Black Sabbath, Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath (1974)
5. Kiss, Alive! (1975)
6. Van Halen, Van Halen (1978)
7. Judas Priest, British Steel (1980)
8. Metallica, Ride the Lightning (1984)
9. Iron Maiden, Powerslave (1984)
10. Guns N Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987)
11. Iron Maiden, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
12. Metallica, Metallica (The Black Album) (1991)

Until my next addition I say goodbye.