Why Didn't Testament Make It Big?

I will still listen to them now and then even though his voice is horrible, imo. Great band, just not my vocal style.

Quote :

DenimAndLeather wrote:

Chuck's voice.

Is versatile...

And more listenable then James nowadays.

Two people have mentioned the sales as the reason. Those are the winning answers here. SALES!

kmorg wrote:

Two people have mentioned the sales as the reason. Those are the winning answers here. SALES!

No need to count Metallica's success and even Megadeth went platinum a few times, but does anyone know some sales figures for Anthrax and Slayer? At their peak of success, did they have big numbers like Metallica and Megadeth?

EDIT: Some quick searches show that both Anthrax and Slayers had a few Gold Records (500,000+), which considdering the genre, is pretty impressive.

I don't know the numbers, but Anthrax sure as heck sold alot. State Of Euphoria and the one after that was heavily pushed on MTV and what not.

According to our friends in Wikipedia, Anthrax had 4 gold albums, which means they each sold half a million copies, the winning streak started with 'Among' and ended with "Sound'.

What the band's overall sales figures worldwide are I have no idea.

manny wrote:

According to our friends in Wikipedia, Anthrax had 4 gold albums, which means they each sold half a million copies, the winning streak started with 'Among' and ended with "Sound'.

What the band's overall sales figures worldwide are I have no idea.

Slayer had 4 Gold Albums as well. Testament, Exodus & Overkill do not have any sales in that amount.

So back to the original question about Testament being in the Big Four (or Five). Is it because of lack of sales (no gold or platinum) that they are not recognized or are the lack of sales due to their being considdered 2nd-teir and being labeled followers instead of leaders?

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

According to our friends in Wikipedia, Anthrax had 4 gold albums, which means they each sold half a million copies, the winning streak started with 'Among' and ended with "Sound'.

What the band's overall sales figures worldwide are I have no idea.

Slayer had 4 Gold Albums as well. Testament, Exodus & Overkill do not have any sales in that amount.

So back to the original question about Testament being in the Big Four (or Five). Is it because of lack of sales (no gold or platinum) that they are not recognized or are the lack of sales due to their being considdered 2nd-teir and being labeled followers instead of leaders?

I personally think it has to do with bad management and the wrong record label. Atlantic records had great success with AC/DC and Led Zeppelin as far as hard rock/metal but those guys had complete artistic freedom written into their contracts. When Atlantic signed Raven and Savatage they had no idea how to market them and even forced the band to adopt more commerical direction, with 'The Pack Is Back' and 'Fight for the Rock' releases. When it came to metal Atlantic was behind the curve, no clue unlike Polygram and Elektra that had great success with the bands on their labels.

The big four didn't like newcomers back then, i read articles where they would bag on bands like Tetsament or "Slayer Babies". They were not about to add more bands to their elite list.

Maybe someone should have coined the term "Little Four" for Overkill, Exodus, Testament, and Sepultura as second-wave thrashers with big impact.

TheNazgul wrote:

Quote :

DenimAndLeather wrote:

Chuck's voice.

Is versatile...

And more listenable then James nowadays.

Much more listenable than James now.

Anyone know the figures for 'The Formation of Damnation'? Supposedly, it was the best selling Metal album at Amazon until Death Magnetic was released. As good as Magnetic is for a band that sucked profusely for 17 long years, the new Testament recording is even better.

It's frustrating because ya feel like grabbing every young moron that will go straight for the Metallica album and telling them that this other recording over here will not only suit their taste, but rock their socks off even better than the Metallica disc. But, a lot of 'em, they don't know no better. A lot of 'em don't even really like Metal. They'd just as soon grab for a U2 or a Coldplay record as a Metallica one.

Funny thing is that as good as the new Metallica is, all the other classic Thrash bands are putting out product that's even on a higher level of quality. Exodus especially, with their last three outings. Testament, Onslaught, Kreator. Who else?

Marc Mason wrote:

It's frustrating because ya feel like grabbing every young moron that will go straight for the Metallica album and telling them that this other recording over here will not only suit their taste, but rock their socks off even better than the Metallica disc. But, a lot of 'em, they don't know no better. A lot of 'em don't even really like Metal. They'd just as soon grab for a U2 or a Coldplay record as a Metallica one.

Last time I was at Amazon, I bought Vengeance Rising's "Human Sacrifice" and U2's "The Joshua Tree". I guess I'm a young moron.

Schloopy-ono, never put yourself into the stereotype. If there WAS a mold, you would have chopped it up, mixed in a little tabasco, and fed it to the squirrels by now.

SAXON1500 wrote:

Schloopy-ono, never put yourself into the stereotype. If there WAS a mold, you would have chopped it up, mixed in a little tabasco, and fed it to the squirrels by now.

Si. Twas sarcasm.

Schbopo wrote:

SAXON1500 wrote:

Schloopy-ono, never put yourself into the stereotype. If there WAS a mold, you would have chopped it up, mixed in a little tabasco, and fed it to the squirrels by now.

Si. Twas sarcasm.

I was just trying to give you a big Bart Simpson-like spikey head.

Yeah, Schloope gives me hope.

In my heart, they did make it.

Yeah. They did. Success is a very subjective thing. And, I say they have. Now and forever. I give them a Win-Win.

GrandNational wrote:

Maybe someone should have coined the term "Little Four" for Overkill, Exodus, Testament, and Sepultura as second-wave thrashers with big impact.

Leatherface wrote:

In my heart, they did make it.

Good answer.

detuned wrote:

Leatherface wrote:

In my heart, they did make it.

Good answer.

They're making a living from it, at least Chuck and Eric are.

IMO, TFoD was the best thrash metal release of 2008? Agreed?

GrandNational wrote:

Maybe someone should have coined the term "Little Four" for Overkill, Exodus, Testament, and Sepultura as second-wave thrashers with big impact.

Me likey!

Troublezone wrote:

The big four didn't like newcomers back then, i read articles where they would bag on bands like Tetsament or "Slayer Babies". They were not about to add more bands to their elite list.

That's funny, because when I bought the "The New Order" after it had just been released, there was a sticker affixed to the C.D stating how Metallica was basically endorsing this album. I will never forget that, I thought that was so cool. Since, I was a Metallica junkie at the time, I thought the album had to be great, and it was.