BIG 4 ranked by decades

80s:
1. Metallica
2. Slayer
3. Anthrax
4. Megadeth

Both Metallica and Slayer were releasing monumental albums, Metallica's were just a tad better in my opinion.

90s:
1. Megadeth
2. Slayer
3/4 Anthrax & Metallica

Megadeth are one of the few bands from which I prefer 90s period over 80s. Everything up to Cryptic Writings were very good, and I'm not so against Risk either. Slayer did some great stuff, including my favorite (Seasons), and for Anthrax / Metallica ... can't decide which sucked more

00s:
1. Slayer
2. Megadeth
3. Anthrax
4. Metallica

Liked albums w/ Lombardo better than last 2 w/ Bostaph, though nothing special here ... Same with Megadeth, which released a couple of solid albums but nothing outstanding. Anthrax got the 3rd spot because of reunion and decent shows, while I didn't enjoy the album at all - but it was miles better than St. Anger

10s:
1. Slayer
2. Megadeth
3/4 Anthrax & Metallica

Slayer did 1 average album, Megadeth 2 slightly below average. Haven't heard anything from Metallica or Anthrax.

OVERALL:
1. Metallica
2. Slayer
3. Megadeth
4. Anthrax

Surprised you have Metallica #1 overall when they were last in almost every decade and only "a tad better" in the 1980s than Slayer.

Well, Slayer had 5 great albums + a bunch of good ones, Metallica had 4 even greater in my opinion.

Your lists?

Honestly mine is the same no matter what decade:

Slayer
Megadeth
Metallica
Anthrax

Even though the first 4 Metallica albums are legendary, here is my pick.


1. Megadeth
2. Slayer
3. Metallica
4. Anthrax

sovdat wrote:

Well, Slayer had 5 great albums + a bunch of good ones, Metallica had 4 even greater in my opinion.

Your lists?

If you're going by the math, regarding where you have them placed over the decades, your order should be:

Slayer = 1.75
Megadeth = 2.5
Metallica = 3
Anthrax = 3.5

In other words, it doesn't add up...

On a side note, i find it odd that 1988 is the only year every band of the "Big 4" released an album (Justice For All, So Far So Good So What, State of Euphoria, South of Heaven).

80s
Metallica
Megadeth
Anthrax
Slayer

I'd have to put Metallica slightly on top for the first 4 albums. Megadeth's first 3, while containing amazing material, didn't seem to have the same flow and production value of the Metallica albums. Anthrax is a very close third to Metallica. Not quite with the furiosity and hunger of Megadeth, but amazing songwriting nonetheless. Slayer's output were their best, but I must confess, Slayer isn't a major listener for me, South of Heaven however is their best of this decade.

90s
Megadeth
Slayer
Metallica
Anthrax

Megadeth were at the top of their game in the early 90s. Rust through Youthanasia are just amazing. Slayer were probably releasing their most focused material early on. Anthrax released the incredible Sound of White Noise, but I felt they flipped down pretty far with the two follow ups. Metallica, while releasing pretty mediocre new material in the 90s arguably had some of the best live shows of all time during this decade, which inches them up slightly over Anthrax for me. (While I wasn't aware enough to witness it, I've seen the video footage and seen plenty of testimony.)

00s
Anthrax
Megadeth
Metallica
Slayer

Anthrax released the incredible We've Come For You All in this decade, which put them on the top for me. The Greater of Two Evils collection was also a very cool release. Megadeth started off the decade recovering from the poorly received Risk. In hindsight The World Needs a Hero is pretty mediocre, however I remember when I first heard it really digging it. Their return in 2004 is one of my favorite Megadeth albums, and probably what I consider the last great one from them. United Abominations and Endgame, while good muscially, started showing that Mustaine was running out of ideas vocally and lyrically. Metallica released the low-point in their career St. Anger, but I feel Death Magnetic was such a solid followup that I had to put them third. While I enjoyed some of Slayer's output, nothing really stuck out to me in this decade.

10s
Anthrax
Metallica
Slayer
Megadeth

Anthrax released the best album from the big four so far. Worship Music is one of my favorite Anthrax albums. Metallica have been putting on great live shows as well as Slayer, if their releases are either tired (Slayer) or nonexistent (Metallica.) Megadeth however, for me, took a complete nose dive starting with Thirteen and Super Collider. Lazy rehashed riffs, lazy vocal melodies, lazy lyrics. I find these two albums to be absolutely abysmal, with only a handful of tracks between them. And, on a biased personal note, I feel that Mustaine's bitterness and ego has really turned him into a terrible person which makes it difficult for me to enjoy his music any longer. I felt he really grew as a person in the 90s and early 00s but somehow lost that after his arm injury. That said, I'm cautiously optimistic about Dystopia, the first single was really cool.

This decade also saw the legendary Big 4 shows and Metallica's really cool 30th anniversary shows (how is this not a DVD?).

Overall, it's hard for me to rank them overall. Most of the Big 4 bands evolved, for better or for worse, into different entities over these decades. I think, as of this writing I'd have to rank it:

Metallica
Megadeth
Anthrax
Slayer

metalinmyveins wrote:

sovdat wrote:

Well, Slayer had 5 great albums + a bunch of good ones, Metallica had 4 even greater in my opinion.

Your lists?

If you're going by the math, regarding where you have them placed over the decades, your order should be:

Slayer = 1.75
Megadeth = 2.5
Metallica = 3
Anthrax = 3.5

In other words, it doesn't add up...

Cause I don't really care that much for after 1990 stuff.

Based on my past experience and what has remained in my listening over the years:

1980s

1. Metallica
2. Slayer
3. Megadeth
4. Anthrax

1 & 2 are damn near a tie to be honest, I would have a really hard time choosing between the classic 80s albums by those two bands. Metallica gets the extra push simply because I discovered them first and they opened my ears to the thrash scene.

1990s to present:

No need to split this any further into decades because none of these bands really stayed vitally important to me after the first few years of the 90s were over. Sure, Megadeth and Slayer both released arguably their best albums in 1990 and I think Persistence Of Time was one of the best Antrhax albums as well. But the rest of the decade wasn't so kind to most of these groups with only Slayer pushing to the forefront (in my perspective) near the end with Diabolus In Musica, an album I really like and most Slayer fans don't. Oh well.

My current ranking would be:

1. Slayer - I've still bought most of their recent albums over the years since the 90s and enjoy them.

2. Megadeth - Last album I bought was Endgame in 2009 (prior to that it was Rust In Peace in 1990), can't say it had any staying power with me but it was enough to get Megadeth a #2 slot on this list.

3. Metallica - They have become 100% nostalgia to me, really not even interested in hearing new material.

4. Anthrax - Last studio album I bought was Sound Of White Noise, last release I purchased was that Greater of Two Evils set with Bush singing the older songs. Maybe once every 3 years I'll jam the Armed & Dangerous EP or Persistence Of Time and that takes care of my Anthrax craving.

I don't think mine would change too much over the years until the 00s.

I think Megadeth would be first, followed by Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica (who I have no interest in anymore; their current stuff just isn't up to snuff)

80s

Metallica
Megadeth
Slayer
Anthrax

90s
Megadeth
Slayer
Anthrax
Metallica

00s
Megadeth
Anthrax
Slayer
Metallica

10s
Megadeth
Anthrax
Slayer
Metallica

I would say that Megadeth has been the most consistently good throughout. They've also been the most prolific. Metallica was amazingly good and then consistently mediocre to poor. Slayer was excellent and then average, but generally not horrible. Anthrax was the puzzler with good albums and several bad albums. They also have been the least prolific so there's a smaller sample size for them.

I never ever liked slayer and would love to replace them with several other bands (exodus, testament, sacred reich) but here goes with the choices I have...

80s...
Metallica
Anthrax
megadeth
slayer
.............
90s to current
Megadeth
Anthrax
Metallica
Slayer

80's & 1990

Metallica
Megadeth
Slayer
Anthrax

1991 onwards

Kind of stopped caring.

I would take Slayer over the other 3 if I had to choose. Easily.

The 1980's
After "Hell Awaits" Slayer's gimmick got old, Anthrax never clicked with me, Megadeth had too many line-up changes to be really considered a band, and that leaves the first three Metallica albums making them my top choice.

The 1990's
Megadeth and the rest was average to crap.

2000's
Megadeth and more crap form the other three.

2010's
Megadeth, the other three were still putting out average crap.

Megadeth is a million leagues ahead of everyone else, and I'm not really a big fan of Slayer; so the deciding factor is usually Anthrax and Metallica.

80's
1. Megadeth
2. Metallica
3. Anthrax
4. Slayer

I would take Among the Living over almost every Metallica album, but the other Anthrax albums can't hold a flame to Metallica's 80's output.

90's
1. Megadeth
2. Anthrax
3. Metallica
4. Slayer

Persistence and SoWN are superb, along with a handful of songs from Volume 8.

Seasons in the Abyss almost put Slayer at number 3, but there's quite a number of great songs to salvage from Metallica's Load/Reload era, not to mention their self-titled.

00's
1. Megadeth
2. Metallica
3. Slayer
4. Anthrax

Looked over the abominations these guys put out in the early 00's, and decided to focus solely on Death Magnetic, World Painted Blood (2009) and We've Come for You All.

10's
1. Megadeth
2. Anthrax
3. Metallica
4. Slayer

Repentless was inexcusably awful, so I gave the number 3 spot to Metallica, who only released an EP.

Overall
1. Megadeth
2. Anthrax
3. Metallica
4. Slayer

DakotaRogers wrote:

I would take Among the Living over almost every Metallica album, but the other Anthrax albums can't hold a flame to Metallica's 80's output.

What?! Spreading the Disease > Among the Living.

Both being great records though.

I haven't followed these bands properly beyond their 80's albums, so I can't vote for those:

just the 80's

1. Anthrax
2. Slayer
3. Metallica
4. Megadeth

I love Joey Belladonna, best singer of the Big Four. Someone with his ability singing in front of a thrash band is something incredible to hear. But Anthrax without Belladonna never REALLY clicked with me. Good music, just not something I'd want to own. Maybe that makes me a fanboy, I don't care.

Megadeth is probably the best 90's band... though I haven't even heard all Metallica albums ( I do own the self-titled, and have HEARD Load and it's really good for what it is... too bad it was recorded by a thrash metal band). Beyond Seasons in the Abyss, Slayer is also not interesting to me.

Good thread though.

Lari wrote:

What?! Spreading the Disease > Among the Living

Eh, I prefer Among; with it"s punk/crossover influences, as opposed to the more speed metal oriented Spreading the Disease. Either way...

Kill 'Em All > Fistful of Metal
Ride the Lightning > Spreading the Disease (by a huge margin)
Master of Puppets < Among the Living
...And Justice for All > State of Euphoria

1980s

Metallica
Megadeth
Slayer
Anthrax

1990s

Megadeth
Slayer
Metallica
Anthrax

2000s

Megadeth
Slayer
Metallica
Anthrax

2010s

Slayer
Megadeth
Anthrax
Metallica

overall my list would be for any decade like this

Megadeth
Metallica
Anthrax/Slayer (not a fan of either one)

In the end Megadeth has more songs i Love than Metallica

1980's:

1. Metallica
2. Megadeth
3. Slayer
4. Anthrax

1990's

1. Megadeth
2. Slayer
3. Metallica
4. Anthrax

2000's

1. Megadeth
2. Slayer
3. Anthrax
4. Metallica

2010's

1. Megadeth
2. Anthrax
3. Slayer
4. Metallica

If Metallica ever releases an album this decade, it would be interesting to see how far they might move up.

Overall ratings:

Megadeth (1.25)
Slayer (2.5)
Metallica (3.0)
Anthrax (3.25)

Metallica for the 80s.

After that I don't know. I can't rank them all.

Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth all put out 1 good album in the 90s, and that was in the first 2 years of the decade (and not counting rarities collections, as they all 3 had good covers/rarities collections released in the decade--maybe Megadeth's Hidden Treasures was in 2000? I can't remember now). Slayer put out 2 records in the 90s, and they were both good (and a good covers record too, though I still can't hang with their altering of the lyrics from "Guilty of Being White" to "Guilty of Being Right"--and I don't buy King's "tongue-in-cheek" explanation either).

2000 and beyond, Megadeth has had a few enjoyable records. Metallica had one great album (Death Magnetic) and one that is not as bad as everyone says but still isn't very good (St. Anger) and one ballsy experimental album with a rock n' roll legend that is interesting and also better than most people give it credit for. Anthrax has had at least one Bush-era album in the 2000s, maybe 2? And then their more recent work with Belladonna...and I'm not too hyped on any of it. And Slayer...well, they've released I think 4 albums, and it sounds like one long ass song, beginning with the first note of God Hates Us All and ending with the final note of Repentless.

Metallica ruled the 80's.No question there.

Slayer has stayed the closest to their roots overall. They won the 90's by a large margin as far as putting out decent material. Anthrax was horrible, Megadeth got softer each consecutive album, and we all know what happened to Metallica.

The 2000's were Megadeth's best compared to the other 3. By this point, Slayer were becoming a parody of themselves and released mostly weak albums. Anthrax? All I remember is We've Come For You All and Greater of two evils which I did not enjoy.St.Anger gets a bad rap, but it's mediocre rather than plain bad.Death Magnetic? Sounds like a Metallica cover band.

From 2010 on,with the decade half over, I have to give it to Anthrax.Worship wasn't great, but it was decent for sure and Belladonna's vocals were a welcome return. Repentless was.....mundane and tired sounding with too much mid-paced shlock and not enough speed.As far as Super Collider, I haven't heard it yet, so I have no opinion, but it's polarizing anyway.

80's - Metallica
90's - Slayer
00's - Slayer
10's - Slayer