Poll: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,or Motörhead?

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

(Just to test out how polls work since I am reletively new to the forums)

So which of these bands is the one true KING of Heavy Metal in the British scene?

 

[SpinnokDurav]

Gotta go with Black Sabbath man. I really like all of those bands, but for me Black Sabbath laid the foundation with its atmosphere and image.

 

[MeatMachine]

Iron Maiden is the correct opinion here.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

Motörhead each and every day of the week. And month. And year. And decades too. Not to mention they have the best vocals out of the four in the poll.

Raw power always wins. Which I guess means Iggy and the Stooges win, but I digress.

EDIT - Welcome to the forums!

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

As much as I love the other bands, I gotta go with Black Sabbath on that front.

They did a lot of the grunt work for British Metal to be a thing. That said, I do think Iron Maiden made it an art and perfected the whole thing.

But that's my totally biased opinion.

 

[Jamash]

Motörhead each and every day of the week. And month. And year. And decades too. Not to mention they have the best vocals out of the four in the poll.

Raw power always wins. Which I guess means Iggy and the Stooges win, but I digress.

EDIT - Welcome to the forums!

I'm not sure if I'd agree that raw power wins over sheer power and range, or that Lemmy has better vocals than Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson.

Lemmy certainly is the rawest of the three and it suits Motorhead's style down to a T, but I don't think that Motorhead has the better vocals than Judas Priest or Iron Maiden.

After being in the front row of a Motorhead concert in a small venue, I was convinced that I'd never shit solid for the rest of my life, but after seeing Bruce Dickinson at the same small venue... it was something else... I felt like I'd been at ground zero at the wrong end of a giant megaphone as a metal nuke went off.

It's also amusing that Ozzy doesn't even get a mention, as even though I voted for Black Sabbath in the poll, Ozzy's vocals are shit, especially compared to Messrs Halford and Dickinson... although Black Sabbath also featured Ian Gillan and Ronnie James Dio (and Rob Halford briefly) at one time or another, so that really throws a spanner in the works about deciding which band has the best vocals.

Even so, and even excluding Ozzy's vocals, I'd still answer Black Sabbath to the original poll question just for their music (especially their early albums)... although if Deep Purple was also an option and the question was a bit more open, I would be hard pressed to choose.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

As much as I love Sabbath, Motorhead rocks harder. I really love Sabbath, Ozzy and Dio but everything I've heard from Motorhead just rocked me incredibly hard. Nothing against Judas Priest or Iron Maiden either as both rock out. I had to check the wiki because I was curious about the absence of Helloween but it seems they're German...oh well.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

Iron Maiden is definitely the most consistent for me. Black Sabbath and Judas Priest had some songs that were duds, whereas Maiden always kicks ass for me.

Not familiar with Motorhead at all though, so they could be better

 

[Something Amyss]

Judas Priest is the only one I like through and through. I can't stand Ozzy, and I hate Motorhead. Iron Maiden's got its highlights.

 

[Denamic]

That's a really hard choice, but I have to vote for Black Sabbath because they're the ones that got me into metal in the first place.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

All these bands are good, but I have to go with Iron Maiden. How many others band feature songs about (amongst other things)?:
-The novel 'Dune'
-a WW1 battle
-The plight of native americans
-the myth of Icarus and Daedalus
-The film "The Wicker Man" (the awesome British one, not the hysterically awful Nicolas Cage one)
-The film 'Forbidden Planet'
-'Lord of the Flies'
-A battle of the Crimean War
-British RAF pilots fighting the Luftwaffe

and I'm sure more that I can't remember. Like I said, I like all these bands, but Maiden takes the cake for memorable songs and just general awesomeness.

 

[Kae]

I've always been partial to Judas Priest, to be honest they are the only metal band I still listen to, not that I don't like metal I'm just rarely in the mood for it and Judas just clicks better than any other metal bands, I do love some Sabbath and Iron Maiden, I like Motorhead well enough but I never really owned any of their albums growing up so I'm not all that familiar with their work.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I don't think Motorhead belongs in the poll honestly. They're about as consistent as a band gets but they've basically been making the same album verbatim for so long. Their style doesn't ever get old for me, but there's nothing that really, REALLY wows me in their discography.

Black Sabbath and Judas Priest are hugely influential in a lot of ways within metal and rock music, but I don't have a big attachment or affinity for either of them. Iron Maiden would take my pick out of these bands just because of how (mostly) consistent their music has been in quality save those few questionable albums in 90s while rarely ever giving me any feelings of a stale formula.

Also, what Fiz said. Black Sabbath laid the groundwork for a lot of metal, but to me Iron Maiden took that groundwork and made some absolutely amazing work out of it.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I have to admit, I listen to a lot of metal and I like all of these bands but I know very little of their back catalogues. I only own a couple Sabbath and Maiden albums, one Motorhead album, and no Judas Priest albums.

That being said, for me it's Sabbath all the way baby. Their self titled album is fucking amazing. Paranoid is really good too.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I love everyone on this list, but I've gotta give the gong to Iron Maiden. Dickinson just has an amazing voice, he's like the Freddie Mercury of heavy metal and it will be a dark day indeed when he passes from this world.

Up the Irons!

 

[Revolutionary]

I've never really liked Judas Priest or motorhead, and Iron maiden was always a little too hair metal for my tastes. I do find Black Sabbath very endearing in their goofy sincerity though.

 

[Guffe]

Welcome to the Escapist!
Hope you enjoy your stay

On Topic:
Up the Irons, from Finland!

So yeah, really like all of those bands but Iron Maiden was the band who brought me into the Metal scene 10-15 years ago so got to go with them.
If I'd have to give a reason, I really love their lyrics and Bruce Dickinson is one of the greatest vocalists ever according to me

 

[fix-the-spade]

(Just to test out how polls work since I am reletively new to the forums)

So which of these bands is the one true KING of Heavy Metal in the British scene?

YOU FOOL!

It's not OR.

Black Sabbath AND Judas Priest AND Iron Maiden AND Motörhead.

And they're not King's, damnit man, they're GODS!

Ahem,

On a slightly more serious note. Sabbath have the riffs, Iron Maiden the albums, Motorhead that one track that will outlive them all and Judas Priest have... well they get to be Judas Priest. Trying to declare one the best is a fool's errand (but it's totally Iron Maiden).

 

[Nazulu]

Love all those bands but it's only Black Sabbath I can choose. They had far more diverse song list, their live concerts were the most interesting since they had hidden songs, experimented and extended into some awesome long instrumentals, And they played their best songs often, and by that I mean their epics.

It kills me Judas Priest never played Blood Red Skies back then. Such a great song.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I don't think Motorhead belongs in the poll honestly. They're about as consistent as a band gets but they've basically been making the same album verbatim for so long. Their style doesn't ever get old for me, but there's nothing that really, REALLY wows me in their discography.

Then you must watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRduk8mdez