The 100 Greatest Songs Of Heavy Metal – Book Excerpt

By Gregory Prato

Have you ever wondered what the 100 greatest heavy metal songs are? If so, I’m ready to lend a hand with the first entry in the Kindle-only series, Greg Prato Presents, Heavy Metal’s 100 Greatest Songs. The book is set up? Simply. An analysis of each of your choices, a quote from the artist themselves or another respected rocker, and then a link to listen to each song. Below are some excerpts for you to check out, and as a special bonus, I’ve even included a preview of the second entry, Greg Prato Presents. The 100 greatest punk rock songs.

*

Blue Cheer: Blues in Summer
(Vincebus eruption, 1968)

In the mid/late ’60s, many rock guitarists recorded distortion – Dave Davies, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, etc. But none achieved such a sound blurred as Leigh Stevens in Blue Cheer – particularly on their hit cover of Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues. While it was admittedly fairly easy to achieve the classic “Blue Cheer guitar tone” shortly thereafter by plugging directly into an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff pedal, Stevens impressively achieved this soon-to-be-desired tone without such a device (the Big Muff debuted either ’69 or ’70, while “Summertime Blues” came out in ’68).

“I think we [Rush] had a soft spot for trios. Blue Cheer was such a cool trippy name for the time and being the loudest band in the world made them even cooler. Their rendition of ‘Summertime Blues’ was so very different from Eddie Cochran’s, but it was also the Who’s version that we adored – and they certainly were no slouches when it came to playing loud.” — Alex Lifeson

Dig deeper: “Magnolia Caboose Babyfinger”, “Out of Focus”, “Doctor Please”

Led Zeppelin: Achilles Last Stand
(Present, 1976)

Led Zeppelin were considered primarily a bluesy hard rock band and/or architects of what became heavy metal… not necessarily contributors to the birth of “prog metal”. But the latter would indeed be an apt stylistic description of this lengthy album opener from their penultimate studio set, Presentwhich comes in at ten and a half minutes long – and also happens to be one of their heaviest tracks.

“The live jams and improvisations had their progressive moments and were certainly incredibly musical… and even some of the longer songs like ‘Achilles Last Stand’ and some of that Physical graffiti can possibly be called progressive. But I think Zep was more blues based – while true prog music was more classical based.” — Mike Portnoy

Dig deeper: “Nobody’s Blame But Me”, “Carouselambra”, “The Wanton Song”

Def Leppard: Rock of Ages
(Pyromania, 1983)

MTV had previously demonstrated that it can help introduce pop acts to large audiences (Men at Work, Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, etc.). But what about a metal band? Def Leppard was the first to make the most of MTV’s support when it came to their third album overall. pyromania, and snazzy videos like “Rock of Ages”. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the song featured a chorus made specifically for arenas, nor the bewitched production of Mutt Lange (which would soon become the melodic rock standard for the rest of the decade). Gunter, glieben, glauchen, globen – indeed.

It was the ridiculousness, which is exactly what makes the video [‘Rock of Ages’] should be. [David Mallet] was like, ‘I want you to walk down that drawbridge and hold that sword.’ It’s like, ‘Oh fuck off. Don’t make me!’ Of course, like an idiot, I submitted to his blinking eyes and looked at myself like a long-lost dog. David Mallet has a great way of manipulating people like this. I was young and dumb and I said, ‘Okay.’ I’m looking at this now and I’m like, ‘What the hell was I thinking?” — Joe Elliott

Dig deeper: “Photograph”, “Foolin'”, “Too Late for Love”

Twisted Sister: You can’t stop rock n’ roll
(You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll, 1983)

Many consider Twisted Sister to be a glam metal band who were MTV darlings based on two now-classic hits animal shelter– Reference videos (“We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”). But as fans of the band have long known back when they ruled the New York area bars/clubs, TS originally started as a rough and raw metal band (even bordering on thrash and/or punk at times). Case in point is this classic metal anthem – which also spawned a humorous/imaginative video (at a time when most metal videos were inadvertently hilariously serious).

“Pump your fists in the air, big arena rock, sing along. Dee’s battle cry to all his rock soldiers and foreword to the mega hits ‘I Wanna Rock’ and ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’.” Don Jamieson

“‘Under the Blade’ and ‘You Can’t Stop Rock N’ Roll’ were rougher, and all of a sudden we were being told we should … not do ‘gum’ ourselves, but we had to be a little more commercial.” — AJ Pero

Dig deeper: “Under the Blade”, “I Am (I’m Me)”, “Tear It Loose”

David Lee Roth: Shy Boy
(Eat Her and Smile, 1986)

When news broke in 1985 that David Lee Roth was leaving Van Halen, it was understandable if rock fans didn’t expect much from the flamboyant frontman. After all, rumor had it that he would make the leap to film, and judging by the style of his then current solo EP, Crazy about the heat, he took a more Vegas-esque/easier-to-digest approach to pop music. Then something funny happened – Roth decided to do it out-Van Halen Van Halen by hiring and rocking an excellent supporting cast (guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Gregg Bissonette). hard on his full-length solo, Eat them and smile. And the album’s most over-the-top tune later served as the set opener on the album’s support tour, “Shy Boy,” which was originally recorded by Sheehan’s former band Talas (but given a quasi-speed/shred metal makeover here ).

“Dave heard the song and liked it and decided to do it and I said, ‘Great!’ And he was kind enough to let me keep my publication on what I was doing and it was a wonderful success for me. And we rearranged it – we changed the key of the solo, which is a pretty cool idea. And that was it – he just liked the song and wanted to do it, and I was glad he did.” — Billy Sheehan

Dig deeper: “Yankee Rose”, “Elephant Gun”, “Bump and Grind”

*

And how about a little peek into my other Kindle book, The 100 greatest punk rock songs? You have it!

The Sonics: The Witch
(Here Are the Sonics, 1965)

There was sometimes a fine line between ’60s garage rock and proto-punk. A case in point is the Sonics and their most famous tune “The Witch” from the ’65s. But what set the Sonics apart from (most of) the rest of the pack back then was their high-energy performances on the record and that their distorted three-chord songs were thrown squarely in the face … which a decade later would become the hallmark of the Punk.

“[Etiquette Records] opened an office in Tacoma, Washington on Sixth Avenue. We started getting tapes from all over the Northwest. This one lady called and said, “You need to listen to this [the Sonics].’ So I went to this workshop. They played this really rough rock ‘n’ roll song that Gerry Roslie wrote. Remember all the dance songs like “Do the Chicken”? I said, ‘That was the best thing I’ve heard all day. I don’t want to date anything here by making it a dance song that will come and go. Rewrite the text and I’ll come back.’ I went back and it was the song “The Witch”. I said, ‘That’s it – we’re going to record it’.” — Buck Ormsby

Dig deeper: Strychnine, Boss Hoss, Psycho

Heavy Metal’s 100 Greatest Songs is a Kindle-only version that is available for purchase as well The 100 greatest punk rock songs.