Well long time Metal journalist Martin Popoff has given us his latest offering on the objective poll on what is believed to be the greatest 500 Metal songs of all time. Obviously a large poll was taken by musicians, critics, fans and so forth, coinciding with the chart positions of the cuts, giving a certain point spread to figure all the cuts that would take place in the Metal hall of fame.

Of course we could look at this book as more of a reference source for what has influenced many of the Metal and hard rock songs we all know and love, but there is a mixture of material covered in this book, some of the songs are easily understood and some of the choices will have you scratching your head.

Lots of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy, and so forth are listed here, but there is the whole plethora of the Metal/Hard Rock genre that is covered. Influential Classic Rock groups like Thin Lizzy, UFO, and Hendrix find themselves understandably on the list with many cuts, but it's groups like Kansas ("Carry on my Wayward Son"), Free ("All Right Now," a cut even played on oldies stations), and Bad Company ("Bad Company") that are not really Metal songs, but yet have the stature for influence, Hell, Yngwie Malmsteen even covered the Kansas cut. Alternative Rock bands like Marilyn Manson and Nirvana ("Smells Like Teen Spirit") even make the rounds on this book, not to mention inclusions from Alterna-Metal groups like Type O Negative, Faith No More and Tool; I know some of you are saying to yourself; What? Why? Well there are listings from Garage Rock/Punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, The MC5, and Iggy and the Stooges, which with the aggression of those bands, their inclusion is easily understood.

There are listings from some of the more obscure Metal groups like Witchfinder General and Holocaust, as well as one hit groups like Loudness, Fastway, and Europe, who have their place with one classic cut that made it beyond the Metal airwaves. Contemporary groups such as Iced Earth and Blind Guardian make the rounds as well; even the Beatles can't escape making the list with "Helter Skelter."

This is one thick book, and included with just about each song is Popoff's plug, the artist's story behind the song, or their opinions, the occasional top ten lists from a particular artist, and photos of single sleeves. Several appendixes grace the end of the book, listing everything from bands in alphabetical order to listings of countries where the poll was taken. Popoff even gives the explanation of the poll results as well as his choices for best songs and so forth.

This makes for good reading, spanning almost five hundred pages, which is something that will take you some time to read, you will have a hard time putting it down in some cases. Of course, many of the songs are objectionable, buy hey, that's what being a critic is all about, right. Oh, you want to know what the number one song is, read the book, I'm not going to spoil it for you.


Rating: 7 / 10

Written by Hashman
Friday, October 17, 2003