Essential: Albums all metal fans should own/know.

I agree that listening is the best step, but wiki or other sites can still be a very informative guide.
I like it to zoom in and out on Wikipedia. Zooming in on a band or album, zooming out to a timezone or a specific (sub)genre.
 
Foro, I get where you are coming from, but that's not the purpose of this thread. The way I see it, the surface goal is to establish a consensus, but it's really the journey of the debate that he's looking for. I think his timing is off because the conversation is old to a lot of the veteran posters on the board and they don't seem to be eager to dive in with him.

As for the topic at hand, I will give it a shot.

Black Sabbath may have broke new ground with its doomy sound, but how many of the songs are all that memorable?
Definitely noteworthy, but not essential. Paranoid, now that one is essential.
And I'm with Mosh on the Van Halen debut. That album shaped the musical landscape for the next 10 or 15 years.
And Led Zeppelin II. When I was a wee lad, there was no fan of heavy music who didn't have that album.
 
mckindog said:
but it's really the journey of the debate that he's looking for. I think his timing is off because the conversation is old to a lot of the veteran posters on the board and they don't seem to be eager to dive in with him.
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:ok:
First night I was in the chat I was talking to SMX, and mentioned that I had looked through old posts before I registered and saw some great behemoth's of posts and thought the forum showed great potential for keeping me occupied, and providing in depth discussion I could get passionate about. His response was that most the older members had done it all too many times and couldn't be bothered anymore as you hit that point where there are NO new topics (other than news), only reruns. Which tbh, I totally understand.. but you never know till you try.

We discussed Paranoid in the original conversation as being far more of a "WTF how can you not know it?" and that it was overall a better album, but decided BS was more important from an impact PoV. Tough call to make though as BS was more important at the time, but I think Paranoid has surpassed it since because it is just that much better known. There is of course, no harm in having them both on there.

It's also a great example of cover-art that doesn't really look right... if WarPigs is really about people in high-vis jackets with a bike helmet, sword and shield...I'm pretty concerned.
 
There's a problem with this whole idea. Metal has grown so large as a genre, with dozens of subgenres, that finding universally "essential" albums is a problem.

Does every subgenre count? Is it fair to include a thrash album but ignore power metal? Should a list of essential metal albums be representative of the whole genre? If so, there's going to be a lot of albums that I wouldn't consider essential.

On the other hand, if you stick to the handful of albums that everyone knows, we're tempted to dip into the Zep IIs and Back In Blacks - the albums that shaped the genre without being part of it. Is that what we want?

Just some thoughts I had. Rather than trying to pick essential albums out of the air, I prefer to narrow the parameters a bit before I search.

Another thought... how many essential albums are there?

There's only so much time in life. Essential albums are the ones we listen to over and over; it takes time. At some point, a list becomes so large that it's not realistically possible for most metalheads to intimately know the whole list.

A hundred albums in common, played over and over and over, by most metalheads? I doubt it. Fifty? Now that's possible, but still sounds a bit high to me.

I suspect the right number is probably around three dozen. If a list of "essential" albums gets above 40, it can be trimmed.
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
Another thought... how many essential albums are there?

There's only so much time in life. Essential albums are the ones we listen to over and over; it takes time. At some point, a list becomes so large that it's not realistically possible for most metalheads to intimately know the whole list.

A hundred albums in common, played over and over and over, by most metalheads? I doubt it. Fifty? Now that's possible, but still sounds a bit high to me.

I suspect the right number is probably around three dozen. If a list of "essential" albums gets above 40, it can be trimmed.
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The original parameters were pretty much what was discussed, impact/influence and just straight up showcases of the genre.

As for how many... well, personally I was thinking 20-25 was a good number.
 
Well, I can only make a list of albums essential to me - I can't consider an album essential for everyone to hear if I don't think it's good enough, but majority of people do.
 
A few that I didn't see that maybe could be

Stay Hungry  (Twisted Sister)
Among the Living (Anthrax)
Back for the Attack (Dokken)
Destroyer (Kiss)
Surfing with the Alien (Joe Satriani)
See You in Hell (Grim Reaper)
Lightning Strikes (Loudness)
Garage Days[origonal tunes only] (Metallica)
Shout at the Devil (Motley Crue)
Under the Influence (Overkill)
The Final Frontier (Keel)

Maybe a few more, but all I got on spur of the moment.
 
mckindog said:
it's really the journey of the debate that he's looking for.
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@Crimson Idol: I really like this thread and just seeing where the debate takes us, there's been some really interesting talking points already presented (e.g. how do we define metal? how do we define the list? how do we define "essential"? who is our target audience").

I think that by several of us (as in, fans of "metal" to some degree, young and old, from all reaches of the world) discussing albums we consider "essential", we'll be able to come down to a list of maybe 30 albums that will be pretty damn good. At the end of the day the list can only serve as a guide to a metal fan, suggestions as to albums that have shaped fellow metal fan's appreciation of the genre and that might do the same for other fans.

As for your original list, I quite like it, haven't listened to all those albums (the Rush one I think is actually the only one I haven't heard), my only issue is that there are two Judas Priest albums within such a short list.

I will think carefully about some 'essential' albums (agree 200% that Operation Mindcrime should be on there btw), but for now will stick with suggesting The Wake of Magellan or The Hall of the Mountain King (we can battle this one out I guess) by Savatage. Just two really well-executed albums with some great individual songs that can stand alone and be a hallmark or be part of a larger whole that melds together beautifully. Personally I tend more towards The Wake of Magellan, but I think The Hall of the Mountain King might actually be more suited to what this list is trying to achieve.

It might also be an idea to come to an agreement on bands that should be on this list and then to focus in on some great albums of theirs (or maybe just one album) and slug it out from there. Again, just a suggestion.
 
Natalie said:
my only issue is that there are two Judas Priest albums within such a short list.
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Actually theres 3  :p The original list was formed by a couple of us in the chatroom. The priest ones were chosen for bringing metal more into the public view and taking Priest to newer areas (British Steel) which then led to them making one of the defining albums that really pushed out that twin guitar thing (SFV) and finally, just sheer awesomeness (Painkiller). The entire list is open to discussion ofc!

Mindcrime is certainly a popular choice and I agree it's a ruddy good album, I'll add it to the list but could do with someone else writing a summary (if the list is to continue in that fashion, it doesn't have to.. but it'd be nice for any latecomers to the thread  :ok:).

Can't comment on the Savatage albums unfortunately, never listened to them.


The journey of the debate is exactly what I'm looking for, something I can bury myself in and forget my troubles  :S ;)
 
Yea Savatage don't have any essential albums that everyone must know. To me, the standard is albums that every metal has at least heard of. Savatage is a bit obscure. I like them though.
 
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