Five Songs That Meant Metal To Me

Of course I like metal; I just grew up with a different version of it than you. Back in the day, metal bands were always trying to stay metal, while still trying to write that "radio hit" that would endear them to the masses. Somewhere along the line it became a "more metal than your metal" contest and that's why the scene is a mess with people all over the place.

Anyway, I have another playlist for you of five VERY catchy and VERY hard metal tunes that defined metal to me.

U.F.O. - "Too Hot To Handle." You can count U.F.O. as one of my favorite bands ever. You can also count the members of Metallica as their biggest fans as well.  I actually travelled to see them at the Auditorium in Lubbock with Judas Priest, Humble Pie and T. Rex.  Their big "radio hit" at the time that brought them to the masses was "Too Hot To Handle".

Alice Cooper - "18." Yeah, the "shredder" metal has pretty much taken cover, but those first couple of chords when this song hits are decimating.  There are no finer and on point lyrics for a rock song either.

Montrose - "Rock Candy." Yep, Sammy Hagar used to be VERY metal. If you've never heard this song, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is VERY heavy, and features that hot and sweaty vibe. It has probably one of the most awesome drum sounds for the time period too. It just hits like a ton of bricks. The album it came from also featured the amazingly epic "Space Station #5" and some other tracks that Hagar would carry over into his live show.

Black Sabbath - "Iron Man." This song seems to be the real launch pad for when metal started incorporating fantasy type characters and scenarios.  As a wee kid, I was into the comic book imagery of the song and could just see a giant robot stomping the sh@t out of my parents whenever I got mad at them (and after all, isn't that what's all about).

Judas Priest - "Hell Bent For Leather." Holy Geez, that intro. It's like a tsunami of car parts busting through a wall or something. People forget that Priest was one of those bands who was always trying to write "hits" (Living After Midnight, Heading Out To the Highway, You've Got Another Thing Coming) but this track showed a bit more purity and really knocked me out.

Later on I helped lead the metal charge by being one of the first in the nation to play Maiden, Metallica and even Pantera, but these songs were the foundation for me.  For your convenience and fun, I made a YouTube Playlist for you that will play them all back to back for ya.  Enjoy this slab of Classic Concrete!