I dont know, they both are so great.

sure Iron Maiden is Better for me

Judas Priest. Althought IM is also important they are more commercial than JP and not so important as JP. Althought I like to listen to them both(IM little better )

As a guitar player judas priest has been more influential to me
Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing are both very good players so...

Written by Guest on 22.05.2008 at 13:19

As a guitar player judas priest has been more influential to me
Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing are both very good players so...

I agree. Don't forget that we're talking about the "most influential", not "your favourite", so the "combined" solos, Rob Halford awesome vocals and the simple fact that they have started before go to JP's advantage.
Nevertheless, Iron Maiden surely is a fundamental band in heavy metal development and spreading.

this thread is ruined by guys who think that the poll is about your favourite band of those 2

Written by Metalhead2 on 23.05.2008 at 10:19

this thread is ruined by guys who think that the poll is about your favourite band of those 2

Yeah, where have all the thoughts gone?

Musically, they've both had an enormous impact, but if you look in these Hot Topic stores what do you see? Iron Maiden shirts, not Judas Priest. I enjoy both bands, but I'm more of a fan of Maiden.

In the metal scene, look at the common European dress though- leather, spikes, that motorcycle fashion. I just have an affinity of Tanker boots...hehe.

My vote went to Priest for this because realistically they had a bigger impact.

not bigger but very very bigger (sorry for spam staff)

Written by Metalhead2 on 23.05.2008 at 10:19

this thread is ruined by guys who think that the poll is about your favourite band of those 2

I agree. Nobody is saying that Iron Maiden sucks, but Judas Priest has been slightly more influential, in terms of music, technique and (why not?) style.

Judas Priest I'd say...

first to use the twin guitar soloing attack within metal

first to popularize the leather and studs look.

first to use to macho postering on stage...

first to use the ridiculous amount of Marshall stacks on stage

Written by Freezer on 23.05.2008 at 23:25

Written by Metalhead2 on 23.05.2008 at 10:19

this thread is ruined by guys who think that the poll is about your favourite band of those 2

I agree. Nobody is saying that Iron Maiden sucks, but Judas Priest has been slightly more influential, in terms of music, technique and (why not?) style.

exactly what i wanted to say

Pretty hard to decide, but I guess it depends on the style of metal, and possibly even individual bands. For example many people think Maiden influenced many more Power Metal bands then Judas Priest, but then there are some bands like Gamma Ray whose member(s) absoluetly adore Judas Priest and recognize them as a major influence.
Judas Priest was also around before Maiden, giving them time to shape the Heavy Metal scene before Maiden even released their first album.

Both influenced metal heavily though, and overall I can't really decide who to vote for haha.

they are both great influences, but without Priest metal wouldn't be the same as it is today.

also Maiden is too commercialized and so many "rockers" know them

Written by thesabbathfan on 28.09.2008 at 08:52

they are both great influences, but without Priest metal wouldn't be the same as it is today.

also Maiden is too commercialized and so many "rockers" know them

...i think they both are really commercial actually and well i think it's not easy to answer this question because the truth is they have influenced alot in metal, both of them...imo metal wouldn't be the same today without them...

I love both of them , but i think maiden have the edge they have more classical albums and they have been producing music for more than 30 years with over than 110million in album sales, so i think they are more influencial:maniac:

Written by Powerslavex on 13.10.2008 at 17:21

I love both of them , but i think maiden have the edge they have more classical albums and they have been producing music for more than 30 years with over than 110million in album sales, so i think they are more influencial:maniac:

It is actually Priest that have been producing music for more than 30 years (38 to be more precise if you count their demos) and Iron Maiden "only" for 29 (that is if you ciount their Soundhouse Tapes demo)

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.10.2008 at 17:40

Written by Powerslavex on 13.10.2008 at 17:21

I love both of them , but i think maiden have the edge they have more classical albums and they have been producing music for more than 30 years with over than 110million in album sales, so i think they are more influencial:maniac:

It is actually Priest that have been producing music for more than 30 years (38 to be more precise if you count their demos) and Iron Maiden "only" for 29 (that is if you ciount their Soundhouse Tapes demo)

my mistake 29 years but still i think in my own personal opinion that maiden produced more successful albums over the years anyway both of them are godlike bands:maniac:

Written by Powerslavex on 13.10.2008 at 17:47

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.10.2008 at 17:40

Written by Powerslavex on 13.10.2008 at 17:21

I love both of them , but i think maiden have the edge they have more classical albums and they have been producing music for more than 30 years with over than 110million in album sales, so i think they are more influencial:maniac:

That part I understood, just wanted to point out that JP had ben recording for 9 years already before IM recorded their first demo, that's all.

As for most influence I would still go with JP for the reasons I stated eaerlier opn this thread.

It is actually Priest that have been producing music for more than 30 years (38 to be more precise if you count their demos) and Iron Maiden "only" for 29 (that is if you ciount their Soundhouse Tapes demo)

my mistake 29 years but still i think in my own personal opinion that maiden produced more successful albums over the years anyway both of them are godlike bands:maniac:

priest influenced maiden (check out the song "Stained Class") so...

I think that Judas has been more influential, since they created the classic heavy metal style giving way for epic and power metal. Many bands resemble Judas in riffs, song building while not so many look like the Irons. The only bands somewhat similar to them are U.S.A. ones at their beginnings such as Apocrypha -first two albums-, a bit of Realm and Vicious Rumors in Digital Dictator. I am sorry to contradict what another metalstormer said in previous post.

Judas Priest because they influenced Iron Maiden in the first place and started heavy metal itself. Rob Halford is one the best vocalist and many try imitating his style, and as a guitar player who plays both IM and JP, i can say JP are harder to play and have more creative solos...and many other things that keep JP over maiden.
But maiden r good too, i'm going to c them in Dubai feb 13th lool...

Sorry for not reading the whole post but of what i read no one mentioned that perhaps these two bands somewhat influenced eachother. If you look at the first Iron Maiden album and a song like Charlotte the Harlot it is much different then perhaps a song such as The Legacy which is on A Matter Of Life and Death. There are obvious changes in Priest's songs also through the albums. While I understand that this tread is about who is more influencial i think the fact that they may of influenced eachother may somewhat defeat that purpose.

Kinda hard for Maiden to be more influential than Priest. You can hear the Priest influence in their music.

Iron Maiden's impact on metal was later and less direct than that of Judas Priest. I like Iron Maiden better, but I'd sure as hell say Priest was more influentioal to the metal genre as a whole. You can even hear the Priest influence rampant through a lot of Maiden's material... It's a bit like while Maiden expanded on the heavy metal sound and made it go in new directions, and sure as hell left a huge impact on the metal genre as a whole, it was Priest that laid the groundwork which Maiden expanded upon. As such, it's very hard for Iron Maiden to be more influential on metal as a whole (though on seperate subgenres perhaps it's possible). Rob Halford also pretty much brought the whole studs and leather look into metal (taken from the biker culture as well as the gay culture). As such, while Maiden is obviously very influential, they can't really compete with Priest on the issue, just like Priest can't compete with Black Sabbath.

Judas Priest, I think realy JP is more influential than IM. Priest is cradle of metal

I have chosen Judas Priest because I feel that they have done more for metal then Iron Maiden, but both bands are very great.

Hmmmm... They are both so important, so amazing... But i'll go with Iron Maiden. I think that they are more influential than Judas Priest (not better, just more influential) but that's my opinion.

This is not a thread about which of these bands you like better, but the band that has the most influence in the world of metal. My first response to this question was influential in what way. Influence on proceeding bands, by the sounds and styles adopted by those bands. Or perhaps which band has a bigger influence on the fans that listen to metal. Or is there something else. Personally I can't decide which is more influential, In terms of influencing the proceeding sounds I agree with the threads creator.
Judas Priest have a much bigger influence in the USA, and indeed Australia as well in terms of the bands coming out of these places. The likes of Iced Earth, Black Majesty and indeed thrash metal in the USA, which seems to be a blend of Judas Priest meats Motorhead. While Iron Maiden on the other hand has much more influence on the sounds that come out of europe. The likes of Gamma Ray, Primal Fear, Straovarius, Hammerfall all seem to be a little closer to the likes of Iron Maiden although I would argue the validity of that as it is a personal opinion and one that can not be proven as some listeners will have much different opinion.
I would also argue that the likes of Motorhead and Venom played as big or bigger rolls in the influence of proceeding genre's of metal. Rather Iron Maiden and Judas PRiest are the more popular ones that over shadow these other two bands that played huge rolls in the development of metal. Perhaps you could also throw in Rainbow, Scorpions and Rush or lets not forget Black Sabbath. Take your pick any number of these bands have influence metal in their own way in their various genre's.

Thats a tough one and I love them both!

But honestly... Maiden!

Iron Maiden. Definetly. They have been much more influential. Almost every metal musician mentions them among their influences. Maiden is mentioned ten times more often than JP.


I always found Judas Priest very overrated and boring. Don't get me wrong, there's stuff that i like (the album "painkiller" is very good) but most of their releases are crappy. Also, they have become sellouts more than once, and that's not a good thing at all. If you look at their history, you see that they changed their style a bit always. Like they were trying to sound like whatever was popular at the time. And that really sucks. This could be one of the reasons why Maiden has been a bigger influence to the metal scene over the last 30 years.


And yes, Maiden has released some crappy albums as well. But (unlike JP's) most of their albums are great. Including the new ones.