Heavy Metal Sampler

[STARFIRE]

Hey all,

 

My wife grew up listening to east-coast hip-hop, and I grew up listening to stations like KMET, KLOS and 105.5 KNAC here in Los Angeles; suffice it to say, we've been schooling each other on the respective musical styles and their accompanying stories. It all got me to think about what songs I would put on a super sampler CD full of music that more or less defined heavy metal as we remembered it in the 80s... Before the cookie monster, drop tuned, 7th string, wall of guitar, clickity-clackity drums, tinny digital pro-tools, auto-tuned era that pretty much ruined rock for me after 1992... Mid-tempo, heavy grooves that are strong on melody with plenty of guitar wizardry and operatic vocals. Not all of these tracks exactly fit that description, but I feel that each one of this hits their mark. This is what I came up with:

 

• XYZ - Inside Out
  
• YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN - Rising Force (the song)
  
• Y&T - Mean Streak
  
• WHITESNAKE - Children of the Night
  
• WINGER - Seventeen
  
• WHITE LION - Wait
  
• WARRANT - Uncle Tom's Cabin
  
• VAN HALEN - Man on a Mission
  
• TRIUMPH - Never Surrender
  
• TESLA - Modern Day Cowboy
  
• STYX - Love is the Ritual
  
• STEVE VAI - Erotic Nightmares
  
• SKID ROW - Youth Gone Wild
  
• SLAUGHTER - Desperately
  
• SCORPIONS - I'm Leavin' You
  
• QUEENSRYCHE - Empire
  
• QUIET RIOT - Metal Health
  
• MOTLEY CRUE - Dr. Feelgood
  
• MR. BIG - Green Tinted Sixties Mind
  
• METALLICA - Sad But True
  
• RATT - Lay it Down
  
• OZZY OSBORNE - The Ultimate Sin
  
• LOUDNESS - Crazy Nights
  
• LIVING COLOUR - Cult of Personality
  
• LITA FORD - Gotta Let Go
  
• KROKUS - Eat The Rich
  
• KISS - I Wanna Hear It Loud
  
• KINGDOM COME - Get It On
  
• JUDAS PRIEST - The Sentinel
  
• JOE SATRIANI - Summer Song
  
• IRON MADDEN - Two Minutes to Midnight
  
• GREAT WHITE - Lady Red Light
  
• EXTREME - Kid Ego
  
• ELECTRIC BOYS - All Lips and Hips
  
• EUROPE - More Than Meets the Eye
  
• DIO - Last in Line
  
• DOKKEN - In My Dreams
  
• DEF LEPPARD - Photograph
  
• DAVID LEE ROTH - Yankee Rose
  
• CINDERELLA - Save Me
  
• BULLET BOYS - Smooth Up In Ya
  
• BLUE MURDER - Blue Murder
  

 

I intentionally avoided most of the songs that get (or got) played to death on radio/satellite radio... For example, I know someone will try to tell me that a Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen song is probably blasphemy, heh. For a band like that, it's hard to pick JUST one song... I could have easily taken a cross section of Unchained, Amsterdam and Little Guitars and been just as happy--but I wanted one song for one band, and one that I think would surprise even those that consider themselves fans of the genre.

 

What do you guys think of this list? What would be on yours? Are there any songs from this list that you disagree with?

[Metal 4 Ever]

First of all, Nice List! There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those tracks, though I personally would change it up a little bit. If I had to pick one song by each band and try to sway (for the most part) from the radio play/trendy tracks, these are the ones I’d go with.

 

* = I totally agree with you

 

 

•XYZ - Don't Say No

 

•YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN - Teaser

 

•Y&T - Mean Streak*

 

•WHITESNAKE - Children of the Night*

 

•WINGER - Seventeen*

 

•WHITE LION - Tell Me

 

•WARRANT - Uncle Tom's Cabin*

 

•VAN HALEN - Finish What Ya Started

 

•TRIUMPH - Never Say Never

 

•TESLA - Modern Day Cowboy*

 

•STYX - Lady

 

•STEVE VAI - I Would Love to

 

•SKID ROW - Youth Gone Wild*

 

•SLAUGHTER - Shake This Place

 

•SCORPIONS - Don't Stop at the Top

 

•QUEENSRYCHE - Best I Can

 

•QUIET RIOT - The Wild and the Young

 

•MOTLEY CRUE - Tonight (We Need a Lover)

 

•MR. BIG - Green Tinted Sixties Mind*

 

•METALLICA - Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

 

•RATT - Looking For Love

 

•OZZY OSBORNE - Desire

 

•LOUDNESS - Crazy Nights*

 

•LIVING COLOUR - Cult of Personality*

 

•LITA FORD - Gotta Let Go*

 

•KROKUS - Burning Up the Night

 

•KISS - Crazy Crazy Nights

 

•KINGDOM COME - Get It On*

 

•JUDAS PRIEST - Heavy Metal

 

•JOE SATRIANI - Summer Song*

 

•IRON MADDEN - Wasted Years

 

•GREAT WHITE - On Your Knees

 

•EXTREME - Teacher's Pet

 

•ELECTRIC BOYS - All Lips and Hips*

 

•EUROPE - Halfway to Heaven

 

•DIO - Hungry for Heaven

 

•DOKKEN - In My Dreams*

 

•DEF LEPPARD - Gods of War

 

•DAVID LEE ROTH - Just Like Paradise

 

•CINDERELLA - Take Me Back

 

•BULLET BOYS - Smooth Up In Ya*

 

•BLUE MURDER - Blue Murder*

[cdjunky41]

I would add these for sure..

 

SEA HAGS-HALF THE WAY VALLEY

SPREAD EAGLE-BACK ON THE BITCH

KIX-YEAH, YEAH, YEAH

MAMAS BOYS-CRAZY DAISY'S HOUSE OF DREAMS

KILLER DWARFS-KEEP THE SPIRIT ALIVE

ACCEPT-FAST AS A SHARK

JUDAS PRIEST-SOLAR ANGELS

KIM MITCHELL-GET LUCKY

KROCUS-MR. 69

LORD TRACY-SHE'S A BITCH

LOUDNESS-CRAZY NIGHTS

MANOWAR-CARRY ON

METAL CHURCH-METHOD TO YOUR MADNESS

MSG-ARMED & READY

 

Just to name a few..

[metalhead69]

These would be on my sampler:

 

SPREAD EAGLE - SWITCHBLADE SERENADE

LITA FORD - DRESSED TO KILL

HIGHWAY CHILE - THE FEVER

ICON - NAKED EYES

ROUGH CUTT - DREAMIN' AGAIN

DEF LEPPARD - LADY STRANGE

TATTOO RODEO - TELL ME WHY

SAVATAGE - STRANGE WINGS

KEEL - SOMEBODY'S WAITING

BADLANDS - DREAMS IN THE DARK

BLACK 'N' BLUE - THE STRONG WILL ROCK

GREAT WHITE - FACE THE DAY

FASTWAY - WE BECOME ONE

CONEY HATCH - DON'T SAY MAKE ME

VAIN - ICY

QUEENSRYCHE - WALK IN THE SHADOWS

POISON - CRY TOUGH

VANDENBERG - BURNING HEART

ALDO NOVA - FANTASY

TRASH - BAD REPUTATION

BANSHEE - PRECIOUS METAL

 

that's off the top of my head...

[STARFIRE]

QUEENSRYCHE - WALK IN THE SHADOWS

 

What a great track! That was some pre-Mindcrime stuff that really rocked.

[STARFIRE]

•STEVE VAI - I Would Love to

•QUIET RIOT - The Wild and the Young

•MOTLEY CRUE - Tonight (We Need a Lover)

•EXTREME - Teacher's Pet

•DIO - Hungry for Heaven

 

Those are GREAT tracks. No one ever mentions Teacher's Pet and The Wild and the Young was one of the harder tracks off of QR III (you had some pretty fluffy 80s synth stuff on that record for the most part). Hungry for Heaven was a uniquely melodic song from Dio... They usually stuck with the power chords but there is some real complexity to that song, however subtle. Really good picks.

[metalhead69]

QUEENSRYCHE - WALK IN THE SHADOWS

 

What a great track! That was some pre-Mindcrime stuff that really rocked.

 

Hell yeah that whole album kicked ass!!

[bangerdave]

QUEENSRYCHE - WALK IN THE SHADOWS

 

What a great track! That was some pre-Mindcrime stuff that really rocked.

 

Hell yeah that whole album kicked ass!!

Rage For Order one hell of a classic album and a golden period for the band

[KING]

nice mix disc starfire

[JamesEagle]

These would be on my sampler:

 

ICON - NAKED EYES

ROUGH CUTT - DREAMIN' AGAIN

SAVATAGE - STRANGE WINGS

KEEL - SOMEBODY'S WAITING

 

 

that's off the top of my head...

Those 4 are awesome imo, but there will always be differences of opinion. For me, looking at some of the bands mentioned above, I'd go for these as my selections:

Y&T - Temptation

Sea Hags - Some Day

Great White - All Over Now

Blue Murder - Ptolemy

McAuley Schenker Group - Love Is Not A Game

Winger - Hungry (or possibly Madalaine)

Vandenberg - Fighting Against The World

Dokken - Just Got Lucky

Scorpions - Big City Nights

 

And maybe:

L.A. Guns - Over The Edge

Axel Rudi Pell - Snake Eyes

Obsession - For The Love Of Money

Dangerous Toys - Scared

WWIII - Love You To Death