Photo - Metallica via Danny Wimmer Presents
As a descriptor, "greatest" is usually both an incredibly difficult standard to justify and almost always up for debate. The fun of a "greatest" lists is two-fold - either people love feeling validating that someone else agrees with them or, they feel passionate about telling you how incredibly wrong you are for omitting or mis-ranking someone included in the rundown.
Such is the case with Forbes. The respected financial publication has quietly become a haven for heavy culture, reporting on and featuring the artists and landscape with real journalistic integrity.
That is part of what makes their most recent deep dive into the culture so ripe for discussion. Forbes recently published their list of the '38 Greatest Bands in Heavy Metal' - spanning generations of artists that have all left a lasting impact on the greater cultural and musical landscape. Taking into account talking points like legacy, influence, impact - the criteria seems to boil down to how each band has ultimately shaped the culture from their craft.
Considering how bands lead the charge among sub-genre, pierced the greater mainstream and in some cases became integrated into mainstream despite metal's existence on the fringe, the list does a great job of covering decades of history and condensing it down into a focused, succinct list.
Based on the criteria set by Forbes the publication ranked Metallica as the number band on the list. Rounding out the top 10 are generational fixtures like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, with the likes of Slipknot, Slayer, TOOL and Avenged Sevenfold rounding out the highest ranked.
If nothing else, the list will spark one helluva debate.
According to Forbes, here are the 38 Greatest Bands of Heavy Metal. Read the full article - HERE
