Judas Priest were one of the first true heavy metal bands, getting their start in Birmingham, England. Their 16 studio albums have taken the world on a diverse and vast musical journey as they changed with the times and adapted their style with the evolution of heavy metal. They have hit songs from all stages of their career, but with 16 albums, some songs are bound to get overlooked.
The 45 single was the ideal companion to the 3-minute pop song in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but the rise of the double album in the late ‘60s proved to be a godsend to the world of progressive rock. The elongated time the two pieces of vinyl provided was exactly what the wildly inventive (and long) arrangements of the prog world called for. Groups like Yes embraced the medium, making double albums a common sight in record stores from Duluth to Denmark.
For guitar players, finding the right sound is of the utmost importance. Often, perfecting one's tone can become an obsession. Many guitarists have spent unheard-of amounts of money seeking out the perfect sound. But most of us don't have that luxury.
Black Sabbath are the band that started it all. Over the last 40 years, they have released 19 studio albums, which is a lot of material for any fan to digest. Of course, we have the staple songs that will never leave any playlist and can be played on repeat until the end of time without ever sounding overplayed. There's 'War Pigs,' 'Iron Man,' 'Black Sabbath,' 'Children of the Grave, 'Neon Knights,' 'Heaven and Hell,' and the list goes on and on. But what about the hidden gems and albums that don't get their time in the spotlight?
Papa Roach have been making a racket for the past 15 years. Their music is explosive and their visuals are chaotic, due in large part to the push and pull posturing of singer Jacoby Shaddix. You're never quite sure when his fuse is going to blow, but it usually always does at some point.
Scary is a subjective term. It means different things to different people and different elements of art and life cause varying levels of terror in different individuals. In honor of the Halloween season, which is closely aligned with the heavy metal genre, we've corralled the 10 Scariest Heavy Metal videos, all of which cause the baby fine hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end or cause you to cover your eyes in their own unique way.
While some groups have built a great business dedicating their careers to paying tribute to other artists, most choose to add cover songs to their repertoire to add a bit of spice to them. How many times have you been at a concert and the group on stage has broken out into a cover tune? Sometimes you dig it, other times you wish they would just keep to their original material. Either way, it's just part of the deal.
Red Hot Chili Peppers have delivered some phenomenal music videos over their 30-year career. The band has pushed visual boundaries, enlisted award winning directors, and even allowed themselves to be animated all in the name of art. And though there are few continuous themes that run from video to video, one thing is evident when looking at their catalogue: this band sure loves being shirtless.
After beginning their career as one of MTV's most played artists, Pearl Jam went camera shy for several years, which made the occasions when they actually did shoot music videos all the more anticipated. Whether it be shining a light on their stellar live shows, delivering an important message via the visual medium or simply telling a story, Pearl Jam have continually generated quality clips.
Tool are one of those bands that gets people talking, and a lot of times that talk is about their striking music videos. Most of them are full of abstract imagery that seem to be culled from some strange dreamworld. Guitarist Adam Jones directs a majority of their clips and uses many different visual techniques to breathe life into creatures and worlds far removed from our own.