Written by Ganondox on 03.09.2015 at 08:03

Biggest doesn't mean best either.

He didn't say anything about best. He talked about influence. The fact is that Sabbath clones are still cropping up every day. Being influential doesn't mean "best" necessarily. Venom for example. Hugely influential, yet hugely shit at the same time.

More sales is NOT more influence. It only matters if the people buying are actually making music, and people can actually be influenced by a band without buying any of their albums because of shows, streaming, and pirating. A prime example is Velvet Underground, not one of the most well known bands, but definately one of the most influential, rivaling even the Beatles. Quoting music legend Brian Eno: "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band". On the other hand, most pop records sell a ton, but they influence absolutely no one because they make absolutely no innovations and most the people buying aren't actually interested in music in any more than just a superficial level. So while an album is more likely to influence more people, the nature of the album and it's audience also needs to be taken int account. Also, an older band can still influence newer bands indirectly if their innovations are kept. That's why Black Sabbath is said to be the most influential, they are the ones who came up with the dark sound which is still used.

Regarding Metallica, most their popularity comes from people who aren't really metal fans, like Dentura said their most popular album could also appeal to hard rock or country fans. I think Iron Maiden is more popular among actual metalheads.

Written by [user id=4365] on 03.09.2015 at 13:46

Written by Ganondox on 03.09.2015 at 08:03

Biggest doesn't mean best either.

He didn't say anything about best. He talked about influence. The fact is that Sabbath clones are still cropping up every day. Being influential doesn't mean "best" necessarily. Venom for example. Hugely influential, yet hugely shit at the same time.

The guy I was quoting mentioned quality, and highest quality is by defination best.

And yeah, I think influence often comes via proxy. A particular band could coin a particular sound or technique and inspire a few keys bands who then go on to become the popular, known ones, rather than the originators. Probably plenty of examples out there, that I can't be bothered to think about. I dunno. Killing Joke, Melvins, Hellhammer. etc.

If Metallica are so influential (still) then why is it that, as others have said, modern thrash bands tend to ape Exodus or Kreator, and not Metallica? I don't think listening habits or sales really are representative of influence. I think that's a fairly reductive and lazy way to look at it. As I said, Sabbath clones appear on a nearly daily basis which suggests to me that they are more firmly in the creative eye of budding musicians than Metallica are, and therefore more influential. At this particular juncture at least. Influence should be judged on music that is created as a result of, not from music that is merely listened to.

Written by deadone on 03.09.2015 at 14:19

Very true. The one that comes to my mind is Repulsion who heavily influenced Napalm Death and Carcass but then were largely forgotten.


But I suspect the originator of the post was thinking biggest band in terms of popularity.

That's the problem with "influence" is that it can often be traced back through more than one generation. For me biggest is simply most well known / popular, which can either be down to sales or cultural impact i.e. how many people simply know the name.

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No idea. And they don't generally even ape the interesting things those bands did. I think it's the fact Kreator's and Exodus' style is kinda archetypal thrash (ie cliched!). Plus who wants to be accused of apeing Metallica?

Can't argue with that!

Iron Maiden are big (though I'll never figure out why) but it feels like they mostly reach out to hard rockers and metalheads while Metallica have a much broader appeal. Same with Priest, Motörhead, Slayer. Pantera might have a very broad fanbase too but are nowhere near as big as the others (or are they? I don't listen much to them). Black Sabbath is arguably the most influential band since they defined heavy metal, but Metallica are probably the "biggest" as in mainstream recognition and largest fanbase, so they get my vote.

You has missed to put Blind Guardian here

I'm gonna have to go with Iron Maiden since they were a huge influence on thrash metal, power metal, progressive metal and melodic death metal and are also one of the best selling metal bands ever only surpassed by Metallica. Unlike Metallica (and most of the others tbh) they also stuck to metal even when it wasn't trendy.

I'm from Pakistan, and the fact that Metallica opened the doors of metal to a guy in a far-off country where there isn't even a proper industry for rock music makes Metallica the easy choice for me.

Also, the number of songs covered of a band is also a good measure of how influential that band is, and I'm pretty sure we'd very rarely find bands who didnt start off by playing Metallica songs.

Probably Metallica, A huge influence on metal and massive album sales pretty much guarantee's them the top spot.

When I'm thinking of biggest, I'm thinking achievement as a band... so it goes to Iron Maiden for me. When your frontman is the pilot of your very own plane so you guys can travel to countries ''that wouldn't usually have that kind of music playing'' to play a concert that will attract a terrifying crowd, you've pretty much done it all. They've been around since 75' and still touring, they are a major influence for many bands that came after them, they got 16 studio albums, their sales a comparable to Metallica since I can't find any reliable source that can tell me which sold the most... (that is frustrating so if anyone can get me a good link to compare the sales that would be nice.) I'm just gonna assume both are pretty much equal in terms of album sales worldwide (I think we're talking 75-100 millions something like that). Hell, even their mascot is a huge metal Icon (who doesn't know ed). Now on a personal note... Maiden is one of the band that got me into metal along with Metallica, and for some reason I always preferred the songwriting of Maiden. So yeah I'm pickin' the obvious.

I imagine Metallica is the biggest, which is what the question posed. they sold a shit ton of albums, but also have far more effectively engaged the non-metal crowd than Maiden ever did in the 80s when metal was it it's peak popularity.


(at least per a couple sites they are rolling 'em up. 16x plat for the Black Album alone. one site clocked them at over 90,000,000 sold behind only Led Zep and AC/DC ... who knows how accurate, but not shocking at all they've moved so many albums)

True that^
Everyone likes Metallica, metal fan or not. Iron Maiden is mostly loved by people who are generally into metal though.

Written by The Melting Snow on 05.09.2015 at 00:03

I'm from Pakistan, and the fact that Metallica opened the doors of metal to a guy in a far-off country where there isn't even a proper industry for rock music makes Metallica the easy choice for me.

Also, the number of songs covered of a band is also a good measure of how influential that band is, and I'm pretty sure we'd very rarely find bands who didnt start off by playing Metallica songs.

True.

Indian metal scene is just the same. Although I'm not representing Indian metal scene here but since I came here in 2013, I saw bands like Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Pantera, Cynic, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater have opened doors for Indian metal scene. Metallica is less-influenced here but people LOVED them much more than what are mentioned above.

Much credit goes to IITs here who invited metal bands across the world to come and play in India. Otherwise, it would be pretty dead scene here.

Whatever factor we consider to define "biggest" (fan base, influence, etc etc etc) the answer is Black Sabbath. It is the only band in the poll that is not a simple, humble anecdote in heavy metal's history

Written by Cavernous on 28.10.2015 at 19:42

Whatever factor we consider to define "biggest" (fan base, influence, etc etc etc) the answer is Black Sabbath. It is the only band in the poll that is not a simple, humble anecdote in heavy metal's history

Welcome back dude ... los de abajo

If you mean 'biggest' as for number of members then Therion it is.
And also if you mean by numbers of albums or 'the oldest' then Sabbath it is

Written by Metal_4Ever on 29.10.2015 at 00:53

If you mean 'biggest' as for number of members then Therion it is.

Nope. There's this

Written by Karlabos on 29.10.2015 at 00:56


Nope. There's this

Brilliant work that was.

Written by Karlabos on 29.10.2015 at 00:56

Written by Metal_4Ever on 29.10.2015 at 00:53

If you mean 'biggest' as for number of members then Therion it is.

Nope. There's this

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