When was their peak?

[Geoff]

Yeah, you definitely need to hear some more Tesla. A hell of a lot of good stuff in that discography. Kind of the opposite band to Van Halen.

[Dead Planet]

For Metallica , the only releases that I'll put on today are Master of Puppets and The Black Album....

 

AC//DC...has to be Highway to Hell

 

Aerosmith....Rocks

 

Judas Priest....Screaming For Vengeance

 

Kiss...Creatures of the Night

 

Van Halen...S/T

 

Guns n Roses...Appetite

 

Motley Crue...Shout at the Devil

[KarpetRydOFunk]

 

 

Van Halen have never made a great album to my ears. Every one of them is full of filler. I have four songs in my favourites list, two off the debut, one from 5150 and one from FUCK. So it's hard for me to pick their peak when they haven't had one yet

 

Haha, you're excellent. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Couldn't possibly agree with you more on that, mate.

Ha. I read that, and was gonna say, "Hey, Geoffrey, we're not alone." But you already got here.

[Dark]

For Metallica , the only releases that I'll put on today are Master of Puppets and The Black Album....

 

AC//DC...has to be Highway to Hell

 

Aerosmith....Rocks

 

Judas Priest....Screaming For Vengeance

 

Kiss...Creatures of the Night

 

Van Halen...S/T

 

Guns n Roses...Appetite

 

Motley Crue...Shout at the Devil

 

I can't figure out those Kiss or Aerosmith choices *scratches head and goes off to have a good look through their discographies*

[lettard]

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

[Dark]

For Metallica , the only releases that I'll put on today are Master of Puppets and The Black Album....

 

AC//DC...has to be Highway to Hell

 

Aerosmith....Rocks

 

Judas Priest....Screaming For Vengeance

 

Kiss...Creatures of the Night

 

Van Halen...S/T

 

Guns n Roses...Appetite

 

Motley Crue...Shout at the Devil

 

Kiss and Aerosmith are hard to pin down. They are both so patchy.

 

With Kiss one of two of my uncles who introduced me to rock was a massive Kiss fan and i heard all the makeup albums a lot and i thought they were great growing up but i the albums got a bit hit and miss after Love Gun. The solo albums and Music From the Elder prime examples. All of the 80's albums had some great tunes on but each had filler and i only chose Crazy Nights because of the popularity of Crazy Crazy Nights.

 

Aerosmith to me have always been a bit hit and miss. I first heard Permanent Vacation and Pump and then investigated their back catalogue which didn't have many tunes that grabbed me. Dream On and Kings and Queens are the only two in fact.

[Dark]

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

 

Scorpions - Love at First Sting (purely for how many times i hear Rock You Like A Hurricane)

Not heard any King Kobra or House of Lords

Never really liked Harem Scarem

Ratt - Only heard the first two and i've heard nothing beats Invasion of Your Privacy

 

The rest i agree with

[DaHun72]

That's it Dark, Geoff won't be spooning you anymore after that harem scarem comment!

 

Hmm, looks like you have a LOT to catch up regarding bands like ratt, King kobra, house of Lords etc.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

That's it Dark, Geoff won't be spooning you anymore after that harem scarem comment!

 

Yeah...

It leads me to believe you've never truly listened to them.

 

[Gibbo]

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

 

Okay, so ...

 

Aerosmith - 'Rocks' (their 'Toxic Twins' peak) and 'Pump' (when they were 'clean')

 

Motorhead - for me, creatively, it has to be 'Orgasmatron' (although, commercially, they probably peaked well before that)

 

Megadeth - a tough one this, for me ... I love all of their albums up to 'Youthanasia' ... but if I had to pick one as my defining 'Deth album, it would be 'So Far, So Good ... So What!'

 

Tesla - 'The Great Radio Controversy', with 'Psychotic Supper' running a very close second, creatively ...

 

Def Leppard - 'Hysteria', no question ... I like a lot of what they've done since, but they didn't put a foot wrong on that album

 

LA Guns - I never really bothered with Phil and the boys outside of their debut ...

 

Scorpions - Love At First Sting

 

Whitesnake - I think I've probably said more than enough about how I don't like anything they've done since 'Slide It In' ... their peak, for me, has to be 'Come An' Get It'

 

Dokken - Tooth And Nail

 

Cinderella - Long Cold Winter

 

Great White/Harem Scarem/Kix/Slaughter/King Kobra/House Of Lords - never bothered much with any of these bands, aside from the odd track (or, in Slaughter's case, their debut ... although I saw Great White support Alice Cooper ... they were ... okay.)

 

How about W.A.S.P.? I'd say that they never bettered 'The Headless Children' ...

[JC_AOR]

 

 

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

Scorpions - Love at First Sting (purely for how many times i hear Rock You Like A Hurricane)

Not heard any King Kobra or House of Lords

Never really liked Harem Scarem

Ratt - Only heard the first two and i've heard nothing beats Invasion of Your Privacy

 

The rest i agree with

When it comes to RATT you can't ignore Detonator. They have a great discography but Detonator has some of their best songs. I guess it may have been their peak but who knows really.

Cmon Dark give Harem Scarem another go, I'd say they are one of the most respected bands in the melodic rock scene.

[Dark]

 

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

 

Okay, so ...

 

Aerosmith - 'Rocks' (their 'Toxic Twins' peak) and 'Pump' (when they were 'clean')

 

Motorhead - for me, creatively, it has to be 'Orgasmatron' (although, commercially, they probably peaked well before that)

 

Megadeth - a tough one this, for me ... I love all of their albums up to 'Youthanasia' ... but if I had to pick one as my defining 'Deth album, it would be 'So Far, So Good ... So What!'

 

Tesla - 'The Great Radio Controversy', with 'Psychotic Supper' running a very close second, creatively ...

 

Def Leppard - 'Hysteria', no question ... I like a lot of what they've done since, but they didn't put a foot wrong on that album

 

LA Guns - I never really bothered with Phil and the boys outside of their debut ...

 

Scorpions - Love At First Sting

 

Whitesnake - I think I've probably said more than enough about how I don't like anything they've done since 'Slide It In' ... their peak, for me, has to be 'Come An' Get It'

 

Dokken - Tooth And Nail

 

Cinderella - Long Cold Winter

 

Great White/Harem Scarem/Kix/Slaughter/King Kobra/House Of Lords - never bothered much with any of these bands, aside from the odd track (or, in Slaughter's case, their debut ... although I saw Great White support Alice Cooper ... they were ... okay.)

 

How about W.A.S.P.? I'd say that they never bettered 'The Headless Children' ...

 

 

Aerosmith - Good call splitting them in to two periods like Kiss. I never really gelled with the Toxic Twin era so can't really comment.

 

Megadeth - You'd put So Far So Good above Rust in Peace? Wow!

 

I'm ashamed to say i've heard nothing by Whitesnake prior to '87 which i owned on Cassette and wore out on the way to school

 

Dokken - Not keen on them then?

 

W.A.S.P. - Headless Children is probably about right. I love The Crimson Idol though but i suspect i'm in a minority on that one.

[Dark]

 

 

Metallica-Black Album

AC/DC-Back In Black

Aerosmith-Permanent Vacation

Kiss-Creatures Of The Night

Van Halen-5150

G'n'R-Appetite

Motley Crue-Dr Feelgood

Tesla-The Great Radio Controversy

 

some others for me

 

Def Leppard-Hysteria

LA Guns-Cocked & Loaded

Scorpions-Savage Amusement

Whitesnake-87

Slaughter-Stick It To Ya

King Kobra-III

House Of Lords-Demons Down

Dokken-Back For The Attack

Cinderella-Long Cold Winter

Great White-Twice Shy

Harem Scarem-s/t

Kix-Blow My Fuse

Ratt-Detonator

Scorpions - Love at First Sting (purely for how many times i hear Rock You Like A Hurricane)

Not heard any King Kobra or House of Lords

Never really liked Harem Scarem

Ratt - Only heard the first two and i've heard nothing beats Invasion of Your Privacy

 

The rest i agree with

When it comes to RATT you can't ignore Detonator. They have a great discography but Detonator has some of their best songs. I guess it may have been their peak but who knows really.

Cmon Dark give Harem Scarem another go, I'd say they are one of the most respected bands in the melodic rock scene.

 

 

I'll queue up some Ratt soon and have a listen. I'd be pleasantly surprised and pleased if the quality from the first two albums carries through some more releases.

 

When i say i don't really like Harem Scarem i don't mean i dislike them. I neither like or dislike them. I've heard about three quarters of their releases and they are good but i don't tend to re-listen to good tracks. A track/album needs to have some power or some real emotion to it. If it has i'll listen to it over and over again and will probably never tire of it. They seem to be missing that tiny bit that'll take them from good to great.

[Gibbo]

 

 

Aerosmith - Good call splitting them in to two periods like Kiss. I never really gelled with the Toxic Twin era so can't really comment.

 

Megadeth - You'd put So Far So Good above Rust in Peace? Wow!

 

I'm ashamed to say i've heard nothing by Whitesnake prior to '87 which i owned on Cassette and wore out on the way to school

 

Dokken - Not keen on them then?

 

W.A.S.P. - Headless Children is probably about right. I love The Crimson Idol though but i suspect i'm in a minority on that one.

 

 

I know I'm probably in a very small minority, but 'So Far, So Good ...' resonates with me far more than what came afterwards. Like I said, I'm a big fan of everything they did up to 'Youthanasia', but 'So Far ...' is the last album where they sounded truly snotty and belligerent ... they seemed to grow up after that

 

I'm forever arguing with my mate James about Whitesnake - he prefers their post-1987, MTV-friendly, arena rock ... I prefer their 'bluesier' material (although the remixed version of their 'Slide It In' album, with John Sykes adding guitar, is pretty good )

 

I do like me some Dokken ... 'Tooth And Nail' just stands out for me - plus, it's got my absolute favourite Dokken track, 'Don't Close Your Eyes'

 

I like 'The Crimson Idol', but it never did it for me in the same way that 'The Headless Children' did.

[Dead Planet]

 

For Metallica , the only releases that I'll put on today are Master of Puppets and The Black Album....

 

AC//DC...has to be Highway to Hell

 

Aerosmith....Rocks

 

Judas Priest....Screaming For Vengeance

 

Kiss...Creatures of the Night

 

Van Halen...S/T

 

Guns n Roses...Appetite

 

Motley Crue...Shout at the Devil

 

Kiss and Aerosmith are hard to pin down. They are both so patchy.

 

With Kiss one of two of my uncles who introduced me to rock was a massive Kiss fan and i heard all the makeup albums a lot and i thought they were great growing up but i the albums got a bit hit and miss after Love Gun. The solo albums and Music From the Elder prime examples. All of the 80's albums had some great tunes on but each had filler and i only chose Crazy Nights because of the popularity of Crazy Crazy Nights.

 

Aerosmith to me have always been a bit hit and miss. I first heard Permanent Vacation and Pump and then investigated their back catalogue which didn't have many tunes that grabbed me. Dream On and Kings and Queens are the only two in fact.

 

 

For Aerosmith I could pick any of their 1st 4 releases...love them all...

 

And Kiss is another band that has put out some great music over the years and I chose Creatures as it is the last release that I really liked although I could have chosen Kiss Alive Or Destroyer or whatever from their early stuff....

[Jez]

Some interesting answers here. I'm judging my stuff purely on when I thought the bands were at their creative peak and not their commercial one, two very different things in quite a few cases, especially bands like Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, Crue etc. With Aerosmith for example, the hey days of the 70's was definitely when the band was at it's best. They were raw, wild, exciting, and at times a complete shambles, BUT, they released some absolutely classic Hard Rock albums in 'Rocks' 'Toys In The Attic' & 'Draw The Line'. Commercially, they were obviously at their peak with 'Pump' and 'Get A Grip'. Same with Whitesnake..Personally I think the earlier Moody/Marsden 'Love Hunter', 'Ready An Willing' and 'Come an Get It' era was way more exciting and released much better albums than what followed with the MTV era.

 

Metallica.....By no means an expert here, but the Black album by far

 

AC/DC.....Difficult one...'Back In Black' probably, but 'Highway To Hell overall.Just imagine what would have happened if Bon had stayed with us

 

Aerosmith...as mentioned 'Rock' 'Toys In The Attic and 'Draw The Line'

 

Kiss....1976-1979 without a doubt...'Destroyer' 'Love Gun' and the two Live albums

 

Van Halen...The debut...raw, powerful and influential. Still the best album they have done

 

G'n'R..Doesn't take too much working out 'Appetite For Destruction'

 

Motley Crue..Personally I think the debut is a fantastic record and still the best, but they definitely hadn't reached their peak until 'Dr. Feelgood'

 

Tesla....The first 3 albums are all great, so I go with 'Psychotic Supper'

Def Leppard.... Has to be 'Hysteria' although I think a little of the magic of 'High n' Dry' and 'Pyromania' was beginning to be lost in the search for the perfect album

Scorpions...Musically for me 'Blackout' which still is a sensational record..after that, the whistling and MTV got in the way

Whitesnake...'Come An Get It'.. Their finest album

House Of Lords...Difficult one but 'Demons Down' even though the cracks were showing

 

Dokken...Without a doubt 'Under Lock And Key'

 

Cinderella...'Long Cold Winter'

Harem Scarem...The first 2 albums by a million miles

Ratt....1983-1985 with the fantastic EP,' Out Of The Cellar' and 'Invasion'

[Glen]

Wot Jez said.

 

Pretty much spot on....although i don't think HOL ever topped their debut imo.

 

And i still have a soft spot for 1987 even though i prefer old school Whitesnake

[Dark]

 

 

 

Aerosmith - Good call splitting them in to two periods like Kiss. I never really gelled with the Toxic Twin era so can't really comment.

 

Megadeth - You'd put So Far So Good above Rust in Peace? Wow!

 

I'm ashamed to say i've heard nothing by Whitesnake prior to '87 which i owned on Cassette and wore out on the way to school

 

Dokken - Not keen on them then?

 

W.A.S.P. - Headless Children is probably about right. I love The Crimson Idol though but i suspect i'm in a minority on that one.

 

 

I know I'm probably in a very small minority, but 'So Far, So Good ...' resonates with me far more than what came afterwards. Like I said, I'm a big fan of everything they did up to 'Youthanasia', but 'So Far ...' is the last album where they sounded truly snotty and belligerent ... they seemed to grow up after that

 

I'm forever arguing with my mate James about Whitesnake - he prefers their post-1987, MTV-friendly, arena rock ... I prefer their 'bluesier' material (although the remixed version of their 'Slide It In' album, with John Sykes adding guitar, is pretty good )

 

I do like me some Dokken ... 'Tooth And Nail' just stands out for me - plus, it's got my absolute favourite Dokken track, 'Don't Close Your Eyes'

 

I like 'The Crimson Idol', but it never did it for me in the same way that 'The Headless Children' did.

 

 

So Far So Good is definitely an angry and snotty album. The first three are in your face music! I was pleased Dave stayed relatively Angry through to Symphony when Metallica had calmed down by then.

 

One of my favourite gigs was when W.A.S.P. toured the Crimson Idol about 10 years ago. Brilliant night!

[Dark]

Wot Jez said.

 

Pretty much spot on....although i don't think HOL ever topped their debut imo.

 

And i still have a soft spot for 1987 even though i prefer old school Whitesnake

 

So is it possible that an artist can have two peaks? and if so who would qualify? Aerosmith, Kiss and Whitesnake?

[heavyharmonies]

W.A.S.P. is another interesting one. I think they fall into the same category as KISS and Metallica, where traditional or "die hard" fans prefer the earliest material and shun the later material.

 

While Headless Children is excellent ("Forever Free" is just an awesome ballad), to me W.A.S.P.'s pinnacle musically was Crimson Idol, with Still Not Black Enough second.

 

To this day, there is something about the drum recording and production on those latter two albums that has never been eclipsed by any artist on any album. "Titanic Overture" is just sonic instrumental bliss to my ears.

[Dark]

To this day, there is something about the drum recording and production on those latter two albums that has never been eclipsed by any artist on any album. "Titanic Overture" is just sonic instrumental bliss to my ears.

 

I couldn't agree with you more on that one. The production of the Crimson Idol is staggeringly good with some excellent guitar work on it from Bob Kulick.

 

I've only heard up to Dying for the World but in my opinion there isn't a bad album up to that point. I just haven't got round to the newer stuff

[Glen]

 

 

Wot Jez said.

 

Pretty much spot on....although i don't think HOL ever topped their debut imo.

 

And i still have a soft spot for 1987 even though i prefer old school Whitesnake

So is it possible that an artist can have two peaks? and if so who would qualify? Aerosmith, Kiss and Whitesnake?

Yes of course - a good example is Harem Scarem. They peaked again with Higher and WOTW - 2 excellent releases.

[Glen]

Also Pretty Maids. Their best was Jump The Gun but they have definitely peaked again with the last 2 albums.

[Dark]

I don't know the Pretty Maids stuff i'm afraid.

 

We've done two of the big four so what about Anthrax and Slayer?

[lettard]

Anthrax for me is Sound Of White Noise & Slayer has to be Reign In Blood or maybe Seasons In The Abyss...although not my cuppa tea