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The 10 Most Influential People In Metal

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This was by no means an easy list to make, given the sheer number of incredibly influential people who participated in raising the metal scene to its full height and making it what it is today. But out of all of the metal legends who formed the genre, there are few that stand out from the crowd. This list only considers musicians, as they are the ones who get the attention, but in reality the fans are by far the most important people in any genre; none of the people on this list would be here without their fans. However, they are hardly a single person, so they didn’t make it on here.

#10: Corey Taylor

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Corey Taylor is known for being the vocalist of the notorious alt/thrash outfit Slipknot, which brought thrash through to the new millennium and kept it going strong. In an era where alt/nu metal and extreme ‘core subgenres are the only sufficiently popular styles of metal, Slipknot covers the scarce middle ground of the two extremes, drawing influences from both but spitting out something that isn’t quite either. The main push behind the band is Corey’s reckless and explosively angry personality, which can make him difficult to work with, but, combined with a powerful vocal performance and a relentless creative drive makes him a monster on stage and in the studio.

#9: Dimebag Darrel

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Pantera’s presence in the metal scene can’t be denied, and they had a significant influence on many different metal subgenres. Their guitarist Dimebag is, next to Phil Anselmo, the main force behind the band as well as the inspiration for many younger bands. His nearly superhuman Van Halen-like shredding style, combined with the tragic nature of his death–shot down playing live on the anniversary of John Lennon’s murder–only added to his influence and success.

#8: Randy Blythe

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Burn the Priest, more commonly known by their slightly less intense moniker Lamb of God, is one of the most popular, as well as influential, extreme metal bands, largely thanks to Randy’s inhuman vocal abilities. It’s hard enough to scream with simple vocal fry consistently without sustaining permanent vocal damage, not to mention growl as well and keep doing it for decades. Randy was never even taught to do it; he says it all started as a cookie monster joke. What sets him apart from all the others though is that he is able to replicate almost the exact sound from the studio at his live shows, even while crowd-surfing.

#7: Bruce Dickinson

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Bruce is an author, broadcaster, airline pilot, and solo artist, but it’s his work as the lead singer of Iron Maiden that places him here. Maiden’s sound isn’t exactly the heaviest it gets, but their classic two-guitar harmonies and galloping beats influenced more than onw generation of fans, and some very successful bands including Queensryche, Disturbed, and even Megadeth. Their mainstream success and powerful stage presence can be all credited to one factor: Bruce. Needless to say, his nearly superhuman vocal range, impressive vocal power, and instantly recognizable voice make him a legend of rock n roll and metal alike.

#5 and 6: Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield

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These two are difficult to separate, as they co-founded Metallica and both stayed with it until today. James’s lyrics and classic stage presence dominate any performance they have, and his unique down-picking style and dynamic voice land him rightfully with the title of the first thrasher. As for Lars, love him or hate him, you can’t deny his place among the legends of metal. Metallica had a rough start with Kill Em All and some dirty issues during the black album, but the founding duo managed to stick together for some 40 years, and the result certainly paid off.

#4: Tony Iommi:

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Black Sabbath can be said to have invented metal as we know it, and their influence can’t be understated. While Ozzy is for sure part of the legend that started it all, Tony Iommi was there from the start too, and shouldn’t be overlooked. His riffs loom huge over the genre, but how they came to be is even more interesting: Tony lost the tips of two of his fingers at a sheet metal factory, but instead of giving up guitar, he built his own prosthetics out of melted plastic and invented light gauge strings so he could keep playing. The plastic fingers, combined with tuned down strings and a bass amp gave him the unusual tone that Sabbath is now known for.

#3: Dave Mustaine:

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As Metallica’s ex-lead guitarist and Megadeth’s founder, singer, and guitarist, Dave was there from the start of the thrash metal genre and saw it through its most popular years. In Metallica, some of his songs appeared Metallica’s iconic debut album Kill Em All, even though he was kicked out due to some intense alcohol-induced incidents some time before the album was released. In Megadeth, he continued lead guitar but also picked up rhythm, and after some trouble finding a singer, took up the mic himself. He was in two of the most influential thrash bands and some of the most popular metal bands of all time, putting him right in the center of thrash as well as the entire metal scene, from ’81 until today.

#2: Rob Halford:

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Having been in metal for nearly 50 years and fronting the classic heavy metal band Judas Priest, its safe to say that if anyone, Rob Halford has earned the title of Metal God. Judas Priest invented both the sound and the look of heavy metal– Halford is rightfully credited with introducing studded leather to metal, and Priest is one of the first true heavy metal bands. Their sound, which incorporated traditional heavy metal, thrash, and a touch of glam, was the inspiration for countless bands to follow. It was all made possible by Halford’s near-superhuman 4+ octave vocal range, commanding stage presence, and an incredible drive to create entirely new styles unlike anything in existence at the time.

#1: Ozzy Osbourne:

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As lead singer of Black Sabbath and later a solo artist, it’s not difficult to see why the Prince of Darkness made this list. Black Sabbath is easily the greatest influence on early metal, and quite possibly the first actual metal band the world saw. While Ozzy’s slightly more gruesome antics, such as “accidentally” chomping a live bat’s head off on stage, can be a little revolting, his work with Black Sabbath and Randy Rhoads easily makes up for the, um, incidents along the way. All in all, no one person could possibly change metal more than the one who invented it.

10 Easy but Popular Songs for Guitar

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Starting out on guitar, it can be hard to find a great song that’s easy enough to play right away. A lot of famous songs are virtually impossible to play even for experienced players — take a look at the tab for Paradise City, Stairway to Heaven, or One and you’ll see what I mean. But when you look closer, there are quite a few really easy songs that are also famous and successful. These are some of the best, in no particular order.

The White Stripes — Seven Nation Army:

Jack White’s classic rock hit is one of the easiest rock songs ever written, but it’s also popular. The riff can be played on a single string, and the solo is almost the same. It really only takes one riff to learn the whole song, as the others are just variations on it, but you can do a lot more with it; the possibilities for variations in notes, tones, and styles are unlimited.

Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit:

This is a surprisingly mainstream song for its genre, and really easy to cover for every instrument, which makes it an extremely common song for new bands to cover. Like Seven Nation Army, it’s a song every guitarist should know. The timing gets a little tricky when the main riff repeats in the chorus, but there isn’t much else that’s hard about it; even the solo is simple.

Green Day — Boulevard of Broken Dreams:

Arguably Green Day’s most famous song, Broken Dreams was a punk rock classic right from the start. It’s one of their most famous songs since their early hits like Longview and Welcome to Paradise. It’s easily and instantly recognizable, and like many other bands’ most successful songs, surprisingly easy.

Rage Against the Machine — Killing in the Name:

RATM can be hard to classify as any particular genre, but they do what they do well. This song is easily their most famous, and while it might not be the most popular rock song the world has seen, it’s pretty widely known. It has several riffs that have some slightly complex rhythms, so it might be more difficult than some other songs on this list, but it’s still obtainable.

Black Sabbath — Paranoid:

This heavy metal classic is as old as it is classic, but that’s partially why it’s so famous. It’s easy to play for every instrument, including vocals, so it’s a common song for bands that are just starting up to cover. It can be played in a variety of different styles, from punk to thrash, and the key can be easily changed as well to the vocalist’s preference.

AC/DC — Back in Black:

AC/DC released their first album with their new singer Brian Johnson with some understandable doubt; not many bands survive switching vocalists so late in their career. But it paid off, and Back in Black is their most successful song to date, and one of their most well known. Like so many other bands, their most famous song is also the easiest to play, and while the solos get a little tight, there isn’t much else to the song.

Green Day — American Idiot:

This punk rock hit has some fast power chord transitions, but other than that it’s pretty simple and very catchy. It’s also a very typical Green Day song, so if you know it, you can learn many other Green Day songs without too many new techniques.

Black Sabbath — Iron Man:

The instantly recognizable riff will get every audience’s attention, and although it is cheesy, it’s catchy enough to make up for that. It’s all easy until the solos, but even though they are fast both are pretty easy to learn. It offers quite a few interesting riffs besides the main one, so it’s pretty interesting to learn too. And if you do end up learning the solo, it’s not a bad one to start on.

Marylin Manson — The Beautiful People:

Twiggy Ramirez’s instantly recognizable riff and Manson’s catchy vocal styles paired with their usual radical, extreme, and gory violent lyrics made an instant metal classic when Antichrist Superstar was released in 1996. The song is extremely simple and doesn’t have a solo, but it gets you right in the middle of the 90s metal scene with only a few simple riffs.

Pantera — Walk:

You know the riff. Why not play it? This is another metal classic, this one with some harsher distortion and vocals, though it’s not quite extreme metal. Don’t let the weird tuning scare you off; it can be played just fine in E standard. The actual tuning lowers every string by one and a quarter notes, in a very strange setup that can only be described as C#.25. The solo is fairly difficult, as any of Dimebag’s solos are, but other than that section, it’s a simple classic that takes almost no experience to play.

These are not even close to the only ones; there are lots of others. These are just ideas. If you want more, check out Crazy Train, Come as You Are, almost any old school Green Day song, or nearly every Black Sabbath or Ozzy tune you can find. If you want a challenge that’s still fairly obtainable, try Seek and Destroy or Ace of Spades. In either case, use Songsterr, it’s easily the best free platform out there for tabs you can play along to real-time. Hope that helped you find something you like!

The 5 Bands That Shaped Early Metal

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Some genres seem to appear out of nowhere, but others can be traced to very specific roots, artists and dates. The latter type predictably causes some controversy as to what is actually a new genre, and what is just a fancy twist on the old one. Metal is one of these; it comes directly from hard rock and rock n roll, but it’s exact beginnings are a little fuzzy. It’s come such a long way since then though that it is hardly recognizable as one genre anymore; modern ‘core is hardly comparable to the 70s glam swagger that started it all. But when it comes to finding the very first metal bands, there are a few that come to mind.

Obviously, there are much more; these are just the most influential. Metal would not have been possible without dozens of other bands in the 60s and 70s, but these are the bands that kickstarted the genre and made the rest possible.

Van Halen:

VH is credited with inventing glam metal, understandably. However, their influence didn’t stop there. Eddie’s brilliant solos invented and/or revolutionized many styles used extensively in later metal subgenres, such as two-handed tapping, whammy dives, pinch harmonics, pinch harmonics combined with whammy dives…you get the idea.

Led Zeppelin:

Led Zep is not exactly a metal band. Their most well-known song, Stairway to Heaven, may be a lot of things but it is hardly metal, and their bluesy hard rock sound was not at all unusual at the time. However, as the 70s progressed, their sound only grew heavier, eventually heavy enough to inspire future metal bands and possibly to be considered metal themselves. The definition of metal music has changed over the decades, but in the mid-70s, Led Zep fit the picture.

Deep Purple:

British prog/psychedelic hard rock outfit Deep Purple seemed like an unlikely band to kick off a genre like heavy metal, but here they are. Their sound may have been bluesy or psychedelic at times, but at the end of the day it was heavy as well, and at the time that stood out. Their unusually heavy guitars are what earned them their place by Led Zep and Black Sabbath in what is now known as the “unholy trinity” of British proto-metal.

Motorhead:

You probably weren’t expecting to find Motorhead on this list. They called themselves rock n roll, and for a while that worked out. They lived the rockstar life like no one else–leather, whiskey, and amps cranked to 11. They never cared what the world thought; they just played their music regardless of what people called it. But given their sound from the very beginning, it was no surprise that people started calling them metal as soon as the word had a meaning in music, and while their sound remained relatively stable, the labels changed from hard rock to heavy metal to early thrash metal. While the accuracy of those labels is debatable, Motorhead remains one of the most underrated and overlooked bands to influence the beginnings of metal to this day.

Black Sabbath:

Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. Sabbath is the first band to be considered actual metal, and their influence is beyond measure. The song “Black Sabbath” is credited with inventing all of metal and while one song couldn’t possibly start such a diverse genre singlehandedly, it’s album, ironically also called Black Sabbath, was the first album to be considered legitimate metal. Some of their other songs, such as Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, and Children of the Grave, together were where it all began, followed up by Crazy Train and other songs by Ozzy and his new guitarist Randy Rhoads. The band’s influence on the future of metal is unmatched by all of the others combined.