Metal Reviews

With that Metalcore thread sparking some debate, I thought now would be the time to ask what some of your favorite mainstream (metal or not) bands are.

Here are some of mine:

1. Any classic metal band (Slayer, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, etc) - Nuff said.

2. Lamb of God - I'm amazed they're as mainstream as they are, since they don't exactly play commercial-sounding music. Just great thrash metal (with death metal vocals).

3. Weezer - I don't care if it was the blueprint for emo, Pinkerton is an incredible album. One of the top rock albums of the 90's IMO. Their other albums, especially The Blue Album, are solid too (if not really mindblowing).

4. Alice In Chains - As somebody else here pointed out, they're probably more metal than a lot of actual metal bands. Probably my favorite non-metal band of all time. Facelift, their debut, I consider the best rock album of the 90s.

5. Soundgarden - Another great metallic rock band. I love Chris Cornell's voice. And their music is just good old fashioned classic rock 'n' roll.

6. Queens Of The Stone Age - The best still-active rock band in the mainstream IMO. I've already praised them here many times, so I'll just leave it at that.

7. Tool - Great prog/space rock band. Aenima is another contender for top rock album of the 90s IMO.

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Just an all around fun funk-rock band. I hope I'm not the only one that's noticed the Spanish flavor in some of their songs.

9. SOAD - Mesmerize didn't really do much for me, but I definitely have a soft spot for SOAD's wacky style of alterno-metal. Toxicity is definitely a modern classic.

10. Primus - Seriously, how could you go wrong with Les Claypool and his talent both as a bass guitarist and for writing silly/fun rock songs?

Radiohead
Red Hot Chili Peppers(although i hated their last album, they're still a great band)
Kings of Leon
Black rebel motorcycle club
for non metal

for metal:
Iron Maiden
Blind Guardian
Iced Earth
Elvenking

Pet Shop Boys
Soundgarden
Pink Floyd
Björk

Some 80's pop...

err...can't think of anymore.

Ummmm... I like R.E.M, Tool obviously, most "classic" metal. I used to like RHCP but not as much anymore.

None metal bands like Bryan Adams, 3 doors down, Kelly Clarkson. As long as it's still a bit in the rock direction.

400th post! DEVASTATIN'!

Everybody seems to like Kelly Clarkson. I never have, not even in an ironic way.

I like the classic metal bands (Megadeth, Maiden, Metallica, etc.), but they're pretty much a shoo-in for anyone on this board. I also like Trivium and some Avenged Sevenfold, although I find that I don't like A7X as much as I used to...

As for rock, I like Tool. Some other bands that I listen to once in awhile but don't get regular play are Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, RHCP, A Perfect Circle, and Chevelle. Actually, I probably listen to RATM a bit more than those other bands--their first album is great. These are pretty much the bands that I liked before I got into metal, and I still think of them as good rock bands even if I don't really listen to them anymore.

Replace SOAD with Radiohead on my list. They're an excellent atmospheric prog band (odd, though, that they're considered prog without being really technical).

i have very little idea of whats mainstream and what isn't, so yeah...

The Mars Volta, Radiohead (imo the two most daring popular bands in a looooooong time), Tool, Tom Waits (although I never listen to him on my own, i hear him a lot and like it), Godspeed! You Black Emperor (are they mainstream? everyone I know has heard of them...), Jethro Tull, At The Drive-In, Converge (No Heroes was totally in the billboard top 200)

as far as metal goes:
...?

bands i'll listen to for nostalgic value: linkin park, the offspring, rage against the machine, nine inch nails, blink 182, pennywise, rancid, sublime, catch 22

Pearl Jam - Not quite as mainstream as they were ten years ago (though they still have a huge fanbase). I love almost all their albums.

Alice In Chains - The surviving members will reunite other some other name, which is good, because it won't be the same, not even close.

Coldplay - Yeah, I know what you think, and I could give a shit. I still like them.

Blind Melon - They get unfairly stereotyped because of No Rain, which is probably the worst song in their catalog. Great rock band.

The Crystal Method - Possibly more for nostalgic reasons than anything else, but I still love these guys.

Deftones - One of the bands that helped introduce me to metal.

Coheed and Cambria - I am rapidly becoming an unabashed fanboy of this band. Amazing live as well.

Good band. The Suffering is such a great pop/rock song.

Fuck mainstream, except The Mars Volta.

Guy from Dillinger Escape Plan is their drummer now. That's kewl.

I like a lot of ska, some of which is mainstream:
- Streetlight Manifesto
- Big D & the Kids Table
- Catch 22
- Real Big Fish
- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
- Sublime
- Leftover Crack/Chocking Victim/Crack Rocksteady 7/etc... not sure if they're mainstream or not (I don't know anything about the ska scene outside of the local New Jersey scene, I just like the music).

the prodigy, the offspring and deep purple.

i'd mention some of the classic you guys already mentioned before, but at least here most people only heard of Metallica and sometimes Iron Maiden, and either way all they've heard is one of the ballads like Fade to Black, Nothing Else Matters, etc.

Where I live, most people haven't even heard of Iron Maiden (or, at best, they've vaguely heard of the band). That leaves Metallica as the only metal band most of the mainstream is actually aware of. And the only two songs by them that mainstreamers seem to remember are Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven. Sometimes, I'll even see people saying they like "old Metallica." But then they'll simply list their favorite album as "The one with Enter Sandman on it" (having either forgotten or never heard anything else by the band) - while listing their other favorite bands as Britney Spears, 50 Cent, etc.

Speaking of Britney, count Garbage (the band) in as one of my favorite mainstream bands. Shirley Manson easily beats Britney, both as a singer and as a model.

Yeah, I realyl don't know whether to think of the "mainstream" as something that applies more to the music itself or the people who listen to it. And like Seinfeld26 alluded to what's considered mainstream might vary a bit depending on where you're at and how big of an area you're considering. The mainstream in Chicago probably isn't the same as mainstream in some tiny town in Tennessee... I mean, I don't consider myself a mainstream listener, but I like some music that much of the mainstream does, so I guess that's what we're talking about.

Ignoring any metal (especially since you could argue whether or not most metal, with a couple exceptions, is particularly mainstream) and only including the stuff I really like a lot and listen to at least semi-often:

R.E.M., Alice in Chains, Live, Talking Heads, Led Zeppelin, Garbage, Beatles, Rush... I'm sure I'm missing a couple

But if you actually looked at my list of cd's, and considered stuff I like a little bit, but maybe don't listen to anymore or very, very rarely you'd find a little Madonna, The Police, Pink Floyd, Prince, Def Leppard, even a Michael Jackson album and a few other surprises... But keep in mind that I grew up during the 80's and was already listening to music when I was 5 years old so...

-Tyrion

Uh...

Gorillaz, Coheed & Cambria, Björk, Faith No More, Tool, Mudvayne...

It's hard to determine wehter or not a band's mainstream or not. Given that, I probably forgot quite a few, but that's all I can think of right now.

I like U2, specially the early stuff. Dire Stratis too. And KISS. Regarding non-rock bands, I still like some A-ha tunes that I liked as a kid. But I don't know if A-ha qualifies as "mainstream". They were pretty big here in Brazil in the late 80's, everybody knew lots of their stuff, not just "take on me" and "the sun always shine on tv".

I love you.




I wholehaertedly agree with the rest of yoru list as well, I'm just a giant Lamb of God fan.