When I made my list of most influential metal bands BitterCold commented that Jane's Addiction probably deserved to be higher than Faith No More. Personally I have always thought of Faith No More as the arguably most influential alternative metal band, but I respect BitterCold's knowledges highly and I know he probably has more knowledges of alternative metal than I have, but I would think it would be interesting to hear other people's opinions on the subject. I know that it is also discussable which of these bands should be accepted as metal or not, but I included bands that have been associated with metal, regardless of which of them really deserves to be called that. Other influential bands that didn't got place on the poll, but that could be discussed, are Living Colour, Helmet, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. But don't say Nirvana, cause they are too far from metal.

Personally I would still go for Faith No More. There are numerous bands who have mentioned them as a big influence, and for example KoRn has mentioned them as their biggest influence, and they have been around longer than Jane's, but I know that Jane's have had a huge influence too, and I place them as number two.

I would ay each of them are in some way big influences

I'd go with Nine Inch Nails

Is Godflesh alternative? I will go with one not on our list, maybe Craig might agree...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hum_(band)

Rosetta, City of Ships, Constants and Junius credit them as a huge influence.

Janes Addiction sort of launched the ship on the thing with Nothing's Shocking back in '88. It's a pretty perfect mix of the arty alternative movement with metal. Navarro shreds on guitar. The follow up mixed some more fast-paced metalish tracks that also got airplay. "Stop", "Been Caught Stealing"... and the amazing epic "Three Days" covers a lot of ground.

Oh, and Perry Farrell of JA, along with his lady, launched Lollapalooza, which helped some of the others listed reach even wider audiences. NIN was the OPENING act on the first one (and not particularly metal at that... sure, the Wish EP was, and a song or two off Downward Spiral), Ministry, while already a fave at the "goth" clubs, helped them explode in popularity to folks previously unfamiliar.

And "Alternative Metal" itself probably has different meanings to different people. I view it as the fusion of the the 80's alternative/wave scene with metal. Here and now it's a buffet of shit that doesn't fall under more specific categories.

Tool definitely played a big part in shaping much of the alternative and progressive metal styles of today. So many bands have a similar sound to what they have made over the years.

Written by tea[m]ster on 13.09.2013 at 01:04

Is Godflesh alternative? I will go with one not on our list, maybe Craig might agree...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hum_(band)

Rosetta, City of Ships, Constants and Junius credit them as a huge influence.

Godflesh is industrial, which is alternative.

Hum? I haven't even heard them.

Written by Aristarchos on 13.09.2013 at 16:13

Godflesh is industrial, which is alternative.

Hum? I haven't even heard them.

I have a hard time classifying Godflesh as alternative. Industrial? Yes, of course.

You should see if you can find Hum's LP's lying around the internet. They are great.

This thread hasn't helped me a lot so far. It is obvious there isn't a clear answer like in the thread about crossover thrash.

Yeah i agree Faith No More are the most influential from these choices. They've influences countless bands and experimented with several different styles. I've heard numerous musicians from different genres saying Faith No More was one of their favorite bands.

Yep, voted for Faith No More as well. I think they were more influential than anyone else on that list.

I don't like them very much, but I suppose Rage against... since they popularised the style so that many (too many) bands followed the style that converged into Nu Metal and almost destroyed the proper Metal scene in the mid nineties

I'd say the most influential alternative metal band would probably be Korn due to their influence on nu metal and latter metal bands, Deftones is also important, but in terms of influence on alternative metal itself, I'd go with Faith No More. Jane's Addication is also important, but Faith No More was first, and Jane Addiction is more tied with general alternative rock than alternative metal.

I think it depends on what you mean by influential. Are we talking overall, or on metal specifically? Because I think Faith No More is the easy answer if we're speaking broadly (they've influenced tons of alt rock bands in addition to metal bands.) But speaking strictly within metal I believe it would be Tool. It's ironic to me how fashionable it is in some circles to bash Tool as overrated when you hear a lot of the bands that the Tool critics worship mentioning Tool among their favorites. And you can hear their influence everywhere, from prog metal to death/tech metal to post metal to djent.