Here you can find my attempt to rank the top 100 most influential metal bands: http://www.metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=2413

Written by selken on 22.04.2012 at 06:39

I'll go with Metallica, maybe Iron Maiden or Judas Priest are the most influential inside the metal world, but Metallica's influence goes beyond Metal and even beyond Rock...

wtf do you mean ? As if Iron Maiden wouldn't go beyond that aswell lol. C'mon, they sold ALOT MORE albums than metallica worldwide, if you combine Judas Priest and Metallica together they maybe sold like 5 - 7 millions more than Maiden ALONE which is roughly around 85 million copies... with less media/radio support than both bands. So I don't get your statement. Plus how could Metallica go beyond rock compared to Maiden I mean they sold mainly albums from their Thrash Metal years and are known for these more than anything else they did *except black album*... so thats their first 4, and Maiden's older and alot more influenced by hard rock/prog rock elements than Metallica is... Metallica is probably one of those bands that used the METAL term as a sole definition for their music.

Anyways I just don't see your point.

I went with Led Zeppelin.

I gave Slayer some love. Not my personal favorite, but I feel like a lot of bands, not just thrash bands, but lot's of metal genre's draw from their style of heaviness. And I'm pretty sure Death Metal as a genre would not exist without them. The other bands are certainly influential, it's really hard to pick one over the other.

Metallica because they changed the sound of heavy metal into thrash and influenced many band such as slayer that would help create different genres of metal.

Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin for starting it, and Iron Maiden for bringing it to a whole new level of awesome for the coming decades.

Is this even a question? For sure Black Sabbath. They influenced every possible detail of Metal.

Easy. Black Sabbath.
Zeppelin was very influential as well although I don't like them very much.

Led Zeppelin isn't metal.

Written by king_matt on 24.01.2013 at 01:20

Led Zeppelin isn't metal.

You aren't metal

Iron Maiden.

Black Sabbath.

Tough call with Judas Priest and Iron Maiden on the list. But definately Black Sabbath.

Led Zeppelin was never really metal, though they did influence a lot of metal bands around their time.

Of course it is Black Sabbath. This thread has an easy question.

Black Sabbath for inventing metal and pushing it's boundaries in the 70's. And once again, revamping it during the Dio years, along with Priest, Scorpions and the NWOBHM. Their influence can still be felt to this day. Of course, if it weren't for Slayer (or Venom for that matter), there would be no black or death metal. All of these bands are important though.

I wouldn't have included Zeppelin though since they aren't really a metal band, other than a few songs. Even if they are influential. No disrespect to them though as they deserve all the respect in the world.

I voted Zeppelin because of Bonham's killer double bass and some of their more fast paced at for the time heavier songs. They came before Black Sabbath who would be my close #2.