Alright, now on to my original music love - METAL!!!!  Since there is a fine line between hair bands and metal, you can include anything from Bon Jovi to Slayer.  So, what are your favorite metal/hard rock bands?

Here are my all-time faves in no particular order:

Kiss, Alice Cooper, Motorhead, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Buckcherry, Ozzy/Sabbath, Ratt, W.A.S.P., Queensryche, Cinderella, Dio, Guns N Roses, Disturbed, Rob/White Zombie.

My list looks similar to yours but here we go: In no random order;

Kiss, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Anthrax, Rob Zombie, White Zombie, Slayer, Queensryche, early Van Halen, Megadeth, Sound Garden, Guns n Roses, Ratt, Dokken, Rush, Triumph, UFO, Suicidal Tendencies, Alice in Chains, Frehley's Comet, Ozzy, Black Sabbath, Dio, Deep Purple, Black Label Society, Cannibal Corpes, Primus, Foghat, Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Cheer, The Who, ......  Just to name a few

A few more to add to my list:

Union Underground, Frehley's Comet, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Aerosmith(70's), Queen, Krokus, Warlock(Doro Pesch), Overkill, Death Angel, Audioslave/Soundgarden, Hanoi Rocks, Murderdolls, M.O.D., S.O.D., Pantera, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Sacred Reich, Sanctuary, Ted Nugent, Skid Row

Yep, got a few more

April Wine, Krokus, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Accept, AC/DC, Pantera, Ted Nugent (back in the day), Venom, King Diamond, early Queen, Korn

Dang danga Dang Good List Thar, Don't forget TELSA!!!!

Dang danga Dang Good List Thar, Don't forget TELSA!!!!

How about Thin Lizzy, Spinal Tap and Great White

oops! yeah Tesla.

living colour

Holy Crap, forgot about Living Colour, Excellent first album.  We also forgot Dream Theater and Max Webster

I've always preferred Down to Pantera to be honest, although i do love Pantera. Vulgar Display of Power is one proper awesome record.

How about Thin Lizzy, Spinal Tap and Great White

bad company

steve miller band too!

This are all great bands, but aren´t you intersted in the modern metal-scene? Check out the Haunted, Opeth, Mastodon, Isis, Cult of Luna, Burst.. and several others. Ok this bands are hardly new but they have a different approach and that´s what I find refreshing.

Personally I´m a prog fan so I must mention Psychotic Waltz and Fates Warning.. loveley underrated shit!

Gaaah, forgot about Dillinger Escape Plan and Porcupine Tree, looovely shit. And no one´s mentioned Faith No More?!

 And no one´s mentioned Faith No More?!

 I can't believe I forgot FNM!  Love them.

Nazareth, London, Kings X, Odin, Talas

How did I forget FNM? Yep, getting old!!!

drowning pool

stained

In a recent Rolling Stone, Ginger Baker said:" Some credit Cream with giving birth to heavy metal. If that's true, we should've had an abortion."   Admittedly this is not my fave genre (& I'd question many bands people have included here), but the problem is that most of these groups are a sad case of extreme style over content.  Cream, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc. were HEAVILY blues-based & unafraid to be innovative & display bursts of humor. I LOVE Spinal Tap (& bought their latest), but the majority of these folks take the pose SO SERIOUSLY & don't realize what complete dorks they come off as.  I suppose the same can be said for most rap, pop & mainstream country "artists" as well.  That said, I'd recommend the first 2 Jeff Beck Group albums (Truth & Beck-Ola), "heavy"... sure, with Ron Wood on crazy bass & Rod Stewart when he was great (they came before Led Zeppelin).  A trivial aside: the term "heavy metal" comes from William Burroughs (NOT Born to Be Wild) & was coined as a genre term by Lester Bangs. After checking out the proto-Beck stuff, dig into his latest Live at Ronnie Scott's. You'll never listen to heavy metal again...

Hmm, One Suava reminded me of another great band, SLIPKNOT, their drummer had a part in FWWM, no? Anyway, don´t really care for their new disc, but their earlier efforts have great energy.

And speaking of Spinal Tap, MANOWAR.. Kings of Metal, lovely disc, the only album that could compete with Operation: Mindcrime 1988. And, yes, people who take them too seriosly should probably get some help...;)

Other great bands: MONSTER MAGNET and mighty KYUSS.

In a recent Rolling Stone, Ginger Baker said:" Some credit Cream with giving birth to heavy metal. If that's true, we should've had an abortion."   Admittedly this is not my fave genre (& I'd question many bands people have included here), but the problem is that most of these groups are a sad case of extreme style over content.  Cream, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc. were HEAVILY blues-based & unafraid to be innovative & display bursts of humor. I LOVE Spinal Tap (& bought their latest), but the majority of these folks take the pose SO SERIOUSLY & don't realize what complete dorks they come off as.  I suppose the same can be said for most rap, pop & mainstream country "artists" as well.  That said, I'd recommend the first 2 Jeff Beck Group albums (Truth & Beck-Ola), "heavy"... sure, with Ron Wood on crazy bass & Rod Stewart when he was great (they came before Led Zeppelin).  A trivial aside: the term "heavy metal" comes from William Burroughs (NOT Born to Be Wild) & was coined as a genre term by Lester Bangs. After checking out the proto-Beck stuff, dig into his latest Live at Ronnie Scott's. You'll never listen to heavy metal again...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose it all depends what era you grew up in.  When i was a teenager, metal was king!  I had a lot of friends in my teens who were into Cream, Yardbirds and that kind of stuff.  To be perfectly honest, I always found those bands to be quite boring.  For me, it's all about entertainment and raw energy.  Personaly, I'd rather listen to Alice Cooper or Kiss.  Call me crazy, but a 20 minute drum solo from Ginger would have me running for the exits.  I'm glad that some of these bands are more proficient at their instruments, but I'd rather hear a bad-ass guitar riff, than a half an hour solo from Beck or Clapton.  But, to each their own!  

To quote Paul Stanley : "People used to say Kiss is nonsense, listen to ELP.  You listen to ELP, not me!" 
 

In a recent Rolling Stone, Ginger Baker said:" Some credit Cream with giving birth to heavy metal. If that's true, we should've had an abortion."   Admittedly this is not my fave genre (& I'd question many bands people have included here), but the problem is that most of these groups are a sad case of extreme style over content.  Cream, Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Zeppelin, etc. were HEAVILY blues-based & unafraid to be innovative & display bursts of humor. I LOVE Spinal Tap (& bought their latest), but the majority of these folks take the pose SO SERIOUSLY & don't realize what complete dorks they come off as.  I suppose the same can be said for most rap, pop & mainstream country "artists" as well.  That said, I'd recommend the first 2 Jeff Beck Group albums (Truth & Beck-Ola), "heavy"... sure, with Ron Wood on crazy bass & Rod Stewart when he was great (they came before Led Zeppelin).  A trivial aside: the term "heavy metal" comes from William Burroughs (NOT Born to Be Wild) & was coined as a genre term by Lester Bangs. After checking out the proto-Beck stuff, dig into his latest Live at Ronnie Scott's. You'll never listen to heavy metal again...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose it all depends what era you grew up in.  When i was a teenager, metal was king!  I had a lot of friends in my teens who were into Cream, Yardbirds and that kind of stuff.  To be perfectly honest, I always found those bands to be quite boring.  For me, it's all about entertainment and raw energy.  Personaly, I'd rather listen to Alice Cooper or Kiss.  Call me crazy, but a 20 minute drum solo from Ginger would have me running for the exits.  I'm glad that some of these bands are more proficient at their instruments, but I'd rather hear a bad-ass guitar riff, than a half an hour solo from Beck or Clapton.  But, to each their own!  

To quote Paul Stanley : "People used to say Kiss is nonsense, listen to ELP.  You listen to ELP, not me!" 
 

  Never got Kiss, however I did see Alice Cooper twice in the '70s (once: the Alice Cooper the band for the School's Out tour. Likely their peak) then when the band had split & he picked up Lou Reed's band (Welcome To My Nightmare). He lost it after that.  I'm all for entertainment (being an entertainer), but a bit of taste doesn't hurt...

I'm not sure "taste" goes hand in hand with metal, lol! 

I'll agree with you, that Alice's band from 69'-74' was musicaly much more innovative.  But, with the exception of a few albums(Trash, Constrictor, Dada) all his stuff is pretty freakin' awesome!!!  Not to mention, he's a very underrated lyricist, and was the "original" Marilyn Manson!!!

Metallica (pre Black album) - thrash and sometimes symphonic metal

GnR - Appetite for Destruction may be the best album of all time - not a stinker on here- love It's So Easy and Rocket Queen

Ozzy/Sabbath - loved Blizzard, his sonic boom of a voice, and Sabbath's sludge metal

Iron Maiden - talented musicians, love their lyrics and album art

AC/DC- borderline hard rock but a metal attitude - all their songs sounds the same but all of their songs are awesome

Dio - banshee wail and dungeons and dragons rock

Danzig - lean, and mean - unholy combo of Jim Morrison and Elvis voice

*phew, enough for now

Danzig - lean, and mean - unholy combo of Jim Morrison and Elvis voice

 How the hell did i forget to mention Danzig?!

I agree with you about Apetite For Destruction, one of the best albums ever!

Here's a list of the MUST HAVE METAL ALBUMS:

Apetite For Destruction - GNR

Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue

Alive! - Kiss

Operation:Mindcrime - Queensryche

Master of Puppets - Metallica

Blizzard of Ozz - Ozzy

Billion Dollar Babies - Alice Cooper

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? - Megadeth

Among The Living - Anthrax

The Headless Children - W.A.S.P.

Reign in Blood - Slayer

Dream Evil - Dio

Fabulous Disaster - Exodus

Piece of Mind - Iron Maiden

British Steel - Judas Priest

Overkill - Motorhead

How Will I Laugh Tomorrow... - Suicidal Tendencies

Van Halen - Van Halen

The New Order - Testament

Night Songs - Cinderella

Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Motley Crue - Too Fast for Love

Iron Maiden - Powerslave

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Danzig - Danzig

Dio - Holy Diver

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Anthrax - I'm the Man! EP

Megadeth - So Far, So Good, So What?

Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister

Painkiller - Judas Priest

South of Heaven - Slayer

Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls - Murderdolls

Mechanical Animals - Marilyn Manson

Kill 'Em All - Metallica

Love it to Death - Alice Cooper

Love Gun - Kiss

Out of the Cellar - Ratt