World Cup of Maidenfans: Rainbow versus Helloween

Which is the better band?

  • Helloween

    Votes: 4 23.5%

  • Rainbow

    Votes: 13 76.5%
  • Total voters
    17
mckindog

mckindog

Living for Sanctuary from the law
Staff member
The battle to determine the world's second best band continues.
For more details see here:
http://forum.maidenfans.com/threads/the-world-cup-of-maidenfans.22590/

We're into the Sweet 16 ladies and gentleman — straight-up, head-to-head, one-on-one matches:

To me this is an intriguing match-up: Rainbow is on the cusp of iconic but how much of that is Dio and/or Purple. Helloween is not iconic, but they are very popular here.

Which act is your favourite?

(When you vote, please record your pick and state your reasons)
 
Tough, very tough. Both bands have weaker periods but both have extraordinary periods (which are both bands first 3 albums) as well. And Helloween is iconic, it helped launch the European power metal scene. I'm going to go Rainbow due to more consistency.
 
mckindog said:
Helloween is not iconic, but they are very popular here.
Click to expand...

It's the other way around. Helloween is iconic, but they are not very popular here.

I vote for Helloween of course for the simple reason that they have a much larger bulk of strong song. Halloween, I Want Out, Judas, Ride the Sky, Twilight of the Gods, Victim of Fate, The Time of the Oath, Eagle Fly Free, the list goes on and on.

Rainbow has just a one or two songs of such tremendous class. Furtermore, Helloween had one of the best songwriters in the metal scene: Kai Hansen. With him, the band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 1 and Pt.2, are considered masterpieces of the genre.
 
I can honestly say Helloween have never recorded a song that made me think they weren't anything but an appalling band :)
 
Iconic is not really about how good you are.
It may be much different in Europe, but here Helloween is not even a blip on the radar of public consciousness.
Iconic does not have to translate as popular, but it does require a level of instant recognition.
Motörhead is not popular, but it is iconic. Purple is iconic. Smoke on the Water guaranteed that.
Dio's longevity, his fantasy aura, his association with Sabbath, his death, his height, his two-fingered metal salute, his stature within the metal community, even Jack Black all contribute to a certain international status.
Rainbow's biggest claim to icon status is its association to Dio and Purple. In my view that's not enough.
Metal fans certainly know Helloween, and they did help pioneer a sub genre.
And I guess they are iconic in that subgenre.
Just like Longevity John Falkner is iconic over here in the Cowichan music scene.
But if no one has ever heard of the man or the scene, can he really be an icon?
 
Power metal has been a very European thing. So in Europe metalfans recognize Helloween and they know what they meant for the scene.
 
Perhaps. Although I started off as a metalhead in Europe and didn't know about Helloween until people on this forum started talking about them and this was when I had already moved to the US. Then again, my knowing a band isn't exactly a measuring stick for icon-ness (see my numerous abstains during NP wars). But I think it does say something when all Helloween seem to be remembered for is for starting up the power metal genre. Bands like Edguy have far surpassed them. Besides Keeper of the Seven Keys (and thats not even that great as I recall), is there really anything worth mentioning? The fact that we're even having a debate about Helloween's level of "icon" says something I think.
 
It says something about the various tastes, choices and interests of people. Have Edguy surpassed Helloween? Not sure about that. Looks like their last album sold very well and the indoor venues they play in Germany look like they're bigger than Helloween's.

2011 news from the Helloween site:

- - - - - - -
Helloween to rock biggest festival- show of their career!!

The incredible number of over fivehundred-thousand (500.000 !!!) people attended the pumpkins headliner show last friday at the Przystanek Woodstock Festival 2011 in Poland.

Although having played to huge audiences around the globe before, such as "Rock in Rio" and "Castle Donnington" in the UK, this was an outstanding experience for the boys who put on great show energized by half a million people!

Helloween says a big " Thank you" to all the fans and people at the Przystanek Woodstock Festival who made this overwhelming night become one to always be remembered!!!
- - - - - - -
Forget to say that besides Europe, they are also big metal acts in South America and Japan.
 
My point is more about their status as icons. Am I a fan of Black Sabbath? Not really. But I do recognize that they are icons. The same doesn't go for Helloween. I don't like the music but I also am not convinced that they are icons. Founders of the power metal genre they may be, but no one seems to talk about them in any other capacity than that. It would be very interesting to see what the results would be if we could do a survey of the average metal fan in the world, but sadly we can't.
 
In their form of music, I find them icons. Because I recognize their impact. I know they changed something and I hear how they changed it. And I know how many bands have copied them ever since. More bands play their style than Rainbow's style. That means more to me than "being known" only. Not sure how to define an average metal fan (I'd say a person can't call himself an average metalfan yet, if (s)he doesn't know Helloween's status :D ) but I don't think average metalfans know Rainbow better than Helloween, these days.
 
I'm not sure. Power metal is a subset of metal...and it's hard to really gauge how important that is to metal overall. Though I would consider it a very important subset. Personally? I think Rainbow has better music, though I do enjoy a lot of Helloween. But Helloween is probably more important to the overarching genre...slightly.
 
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