Best and worst era of metal?

In my opinion:
'70s - the classical age of metal, not many metal bands, but it had Sabbath, the greatest metal innovators in history, and for them alone, it's why I respect this era
'80s - the dark ages of metal: everyone looked like dragqueens, had cheesy and childish videos and lyrics, and were all around just embarrassing for metal. Everyone seems to have been obsessed with just shredding as fast as they could (Yngwie Malmsteen, Satriani, Vai...), while their songs lacked any real depth and soul; tons of generic bands whom you can't differentiate from one another if your life depended on it, "metal" bands that were basically just pop with guitars (Bon Jovi, WASP, Twisted Sister, Skid Row...), mysoginy and sexism in the lyrics, hell even the masters Black Sabbath got that Dio guy and basically became just another generic '80s metal band, losing everything that made them so great in the '70s; everyone seems to also have had those annoying screaming vocals
basically, the '80s metal can be divided into three categories: cheesy pop-"metal" for 12 year old girls, wannabe-tough satanic crap for 12 year olds and cheesy fantasy dungeons and dragons bands.
Thankfully, then came...
'90s and on - the rennaissance of metal:
After a terrible decade for music that was the '80s, a refreshing wave of young revolutionary bands came out and restored metal to its former glory; while Nirvana and the rest of the grunge movement did us all a favor and wiped out all the crappy hair metal shit for good, bands such as Faith No More, Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Whtie Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Machine Head, Morbid Angel, Cynic, Mayhem, Death, Atheist, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Korn, Rammstein, Meshuggah and Opeth, just to name a few, infused the genre with new energy and successfully brought it back, giving us tons of great music; later on, other great bands such as Animals as Leaders, As I Lay Dying, Dillinger Escape plan arrived to continue the work of these bands. Unfortunately, this era is also plagued by cheesy d 'n' d power metal (Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, Sonata Arctica) and masturbatory prog metal (like Dream Theater and their clones), but fortunately, it's by far outweighted by the good stuff

What's your opinion?

Personally, I think Rage Against the Machine, Korn, Rammstein and Marylin Manson suck. And though I can respect the musicianship, I can't get into As I Lay Dying or Dillinger Escape Plan. I do like White Chapel, Meshuggah, Born Of Osiris and a little Winds Of Plague, though. I love Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Opeth, & Death too.

The 80s had much better stuff than what you listed. Helstar, Watchtower, Metal Church, Accept, Agent Steel, Abbatoir, Trouble, Candlemass, Armored Saint, Chastain, Jag Panzer, Lizzy Borden, King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Sanctuary, Riot, Slayer...many more. You just had to know where to look.

And Black Sabbath w/ Dio is some of the greatest Heavy Metal ever made.

Quote :

80s metal can be divided into three categories: cheesy pop-"metal" for 12 year old girls, wannabe-tough satanic crap for 12 year olds and cheesy fantasy dungeons and dragons bands.

I like him. He's silly.

Says the 24 year old! That means you were born in 89 or 90, so you didn't experience the 80s in the 80s. As your title says, you are a novice, so you will be forgiven...for now.



My answer to this question has always been - NOW - the best time for metal is NOW. I've loved every step of the journey. Always something new and interesting, and as cycles go, old becomes new again, which I think is happening right now.

Eh, there is 86-93 - aka the prog power brilliance era, and all the other stuff.
In all seriousness though - too much hate. Every genre in all its incarnations over time has a number of great bands and a ton of mediocre ones. You're way too tunnel visioned.

I used to think the later 90's were pretty grim. Until the 2000's. Then I looked back at all the good stuff that came out around that time and realized it wasn't as bad as I thought. Hindsight being 20-20 and all that. Metal just became less-mainstream and you had to look a little harder, but it was still there, strong as ever.

I have fond memories of the late 80's and early 90's because that's where it hit me hardest. Was it the "best" era? Eh, maybe to me it was, but someone that's much younger and ignorant naive may not see it that way.

There's great stuff from ALL era's:
70's had Sabbath, Scorpions, Priest etc.
80's had Trouble, Metallica, Sodom,Loudness etc.
90's had Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Psychotic Waltz
00's had Opeth, Into Eternity, Sigh
10's has Vektor, Toxic Holocaust, Desultor
All eras have had fantastic music !

There's gold to be found in all eras of music. I also thought that the imagery of metal got too cheesy in the '80s, even bands that I loved like Celtic Frost and I even think that Dio getting dressed up like some warrior dwarf posing with an inflatable dragon took away from the fact that he was a breathtaking performer. The '80s was a weird time and all of the fantasy, sexist stuff looks worse now than it did back then.

A lot of the great 90's bands that you have listed didn't do a great deal for me though (I do really like Marilyn Manson though) and most of the ones that I did like actually did the stuff I liked best in the dreaded '80s (Faith No More, Death, Mayhem)

By the way, how can you criticize 'wannabe-tough satanic crap' and then list Mayhem as a favorite?  



and yes, no band did more to destroy that cheesy hair metal imagery than Pantera.



  

78-93 was the golden age. Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

70's was a great time. Aside from the big three (Led Zep, Purple, Sabbath) there were BöC, Heep, UFO, Van Halen, Priest and all those influential NWOBHM bands that laid the groundwork

80's was probably the golden era. Thrash metal, glam metal, classic metal, NWOBHM were all popular and also a TON of smaller bands got to release records. Fantastic musicianship was the norm.

90's was the dark ages. Grunge and alternative metal, nu-metal, true black metal and hardcore. It was angrier, but also less musical. Metal lost it's foothold and became marginal once again. Power metal broke out in Europe and kind of kept the flame alive.

00's (noughties?) was a big improvement. Not really gaining popularity, but once the rap metal scene died out, there was the NWOAHM and a lot of the older bands that got shunned in the 90's got popular once again.

Too early to decide what the 'teens' will be like.

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal. has a different opinion to me

fixed that for you.   

Boris2008 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal. has a different opinion to me

fixed that for you.   

Welcome to the internet - my comment was addressed to the original poster. Also, Onslaught without Grimmett still sucks - boom!   

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Temple of Blood wrote:

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Really?   

I think now is great! You have to dig a little but there has been some amazing albums in the last few years.

Boris2008 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Really?   

I think now is great! You have to dig a little but there has been some amazing albums in the last few years.

I agree with this. There seems to have been quite a reemergence/resurgence of the type of Metal I like in the last 5 or so years.

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

I agree with this. Maybe because I was there and nostalgia kicks in, but being a teenager through most of that era was awesome.

The 80's ! Specifically - 1984 -
The recording studios were perfect -
no one dressed like that before - leather - chains - lp artwork -
concerts all the time -
and was a scene that emerged - and exploded like a fireworks display -
never to be recaptured again -
todays metal doesn't sound so hot -
as if each instrument was recorded in a different city -
thats my main beef - the sound quality -
also - youtube has taken the magic out of the curiousity of metal -
it's all examined now - as if it has a adjenda -

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

Or possibly they just have a different perspective? I became a teenager in 1974 and my choice for golden era would be 1970 to 1984, because that's the style of heavy metal that I first discovered and fell in love with.

Boris2008 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Really?  

I think now is great! You have to dig a little but there has been some amazing albums in the last few years.

"Worst" doesn't always necessarily equal "bad".

007 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

I agree with this. Maybe because I was there and nostalgia kicks in, but being a teenager through most of that era was awesome.

I was born only a year after this era ended and I also completely agree with this (well, not the being a teenager in that era being awesome part, although I believe it was awesome; there's a lot of us youngsters who envy you guys and wish we were born some 30-40 years earlier or so).

Lovecraft wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age. Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

Or possibly they just have a different perspective? I became a teenager in 1974 and my choice for golden era would be 1970 to 1984, because that's the style of heavy metal that I first discovered and fell in love with.

To be fair, there was only a handful of metal bands before NWOBHM took off, plus a number of metal-ish songs by otherwise non-metal groups; even though, both eras are equal quality-wise IMHO (especially if you expand it outside metal).

Lovecraft wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

78-93 was the golden age.  Anybody that says differently is either trolling, a contrarian or hasn't listened to much Metal.

Or possibly they just have a different perspective?  I became a teenager in 1974 and my choice for golden era would be 1970 to 1984, because that's the style of heavy metal that I first discovered and fell in love with.  

Sure. It's all a matter of perspective. I enjoy bands from 68-today. 78-93 just represents the peak of metal's creativity to me.

I think the 80's is my favorite and my least favorite. Some of the cheesy stuff literally makes me nauseous, but it seems all my favorite bands were from (or still making music in) the 80's. Not everything about the 80's was about neon colored instruments or slaying dragons... not that there's even anything wrong with that.

Oh and 70's is a very close second for me.

Boris2008 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Really?   

Yes. Absolutely.

Quote :

I think now is great! You have to dig a little but there has been some amazing albums in the last few years.

Name 'em.

AutumnShantel wrote:

I think the 80's is my favorite and my least favorite. Some of the cheesy stuff literally makes me nauseous, but it seems all my favorite bands were from (or still making music in) the 80's. Not everything about the 80's was about neon colored instruments or slaying dragons... not that there's even anything wrong with that.

Oh and 70's is a very close second for me.

This sums my perspective, as well.

It's easy to look back in retrospect and miss a lot of what was actually happening.  For some of us, music was way more than just tossing some format in a player and listening.  It was fun regardless of flavor and/or image.  For example in 1985, one could hit a show on The Strip wearing a Venom shirt and watch some glam band and the very next day drive up north and catch Death Angel while wearing a Ruby Slippers shirt in The City.  Playing in bands and hitting various club circuits around the country gives a totally different perspective to what was represented in the mainstream, as well as the underground. Believe it or not, the underground had an underground.  Way too many people look back and dismiss L.A as just the "hair metal" (hate that term) land of androgynous non talent hacks.  But forget that bands like Metallica, Slayer, Dark Angel, Cirith Ungol, Hirax, Armored Saint, and on and on and on were also from there.  I could pick just about any other city in the US and say the same thing.
   To the original poster, your opinion holds no more weight than mine.  But if you dismiss bands due to image or lyrical content, your missing out on a lot of great stuff.  I encourage you (if you don't already) to hit the local music scene around where you live and check out everything.  One thing that I dig is seeing young musicians out playing what they feel drives them. I love blues but when was the last time I went and seen teens or twenty somethings playing blues in a club ? Never.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Best: 80s
Worst: now

Really?   

Yes.  Absolutely.

Quote :

I think now is great! You have to dig a little but there has been some amazing albums in the last few years.

Name 'em.

What just so that you can rubbish them? No thanks, can't be bothered.