The best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal bands

GWAR is a satirical thrash metal band formed in 1985. It is known for its elaborate costumes inspired by sci-fi and horror films, its obscene lyrics and its stage performances, which consist of humorous interpretations with conflicting themes such as the Taboo and the Politics. The disguises generally made of latex, expanded polystyrene and hardened rubber cover little to the body of the musicians, being the same mostly covered by makeup. The production, in addition, includes throwing the spectators with imitation fluids. Most of these are made with water and dyes. GWAR does not use syrup or fictitious blood, as these dry out and disguise the costumes.

Anvil is a Canadian band born in 1978 that began playing within the genre known as Speed ​​Metal, although since the evolution of that genre is usually included in Thrash Metal. His style has influenced a multitude of bands, including Slayer and Metallica. The group's story is captured in the movie Anvil! The Story of Anvil of 2009.

The Cult is an English hard rock band. In the mid-1980s, The Cult was one of the main bands that made Hard Rock re-emerge in England; a rock band with some psychedelic touches, influenced mainly by the mysticism of The Doors and the style of the hard rock guitars of Led Zeppelin and AC / DC. The band began with a post-punk gothic rock style, and was evolving towards Hard rock from the album "Electric" (1987).

Venom is a British Heavy Metal musical group formed in 1979 by guitarists Jeffrey "Mantas" Dunn and Conrad "Cronos" Lant, drummer Tony "Abaddon" Bray, vocalist Clive "Anti Christ" Archer and bassist Alan Winston in Newcastle , England. However, the formation that more recognition and fame obtained was formed by Mantas, Abaddon and Cronos as bassist and vocalist.

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by Chris Cornell, who would later be joined by Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron. Soundgarden is one of the pioneering bands of grunge, a musical genre derived from rock that also included important bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains. The album Superunknown was their greatest success and the one that made them world famous in 1994 when they contained the singles "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman", both winners of a Grammy Award. The group separated in 1997 due to internal differences about the meaning of the band's music. In the year 2010 its regrouping was announced.

Exodus is an American thrash metal band formed in 1980 in San Francisco Bay, California, founded by guitarist Gary Holt, Kirk Hammett current Metallica guitarist, and drummer Tom Hunting. Exodus is one of the first thrash metal bands covering a career of 30 years, has gone through numerous changes of formation, two extended hiatus and has seen the death of two members of the previous band. With nine studio albums, two live albums and two compilations, Éxodus has released a total of thirteen albums since its 1985 debut.

Kreator is a group of thrash metal formed in 1978, in Essen, Germany, but became official in 1982. Its members were very influenced by bands like Raven, Venom, Blitzkrieg, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Sex Pistols and Bad Religion . Kreator, along with his compatriots Destruction, Tankard and Sodom, are considered as the four greats of German thrash metal.

Accept is a German heavy metal band from the city of Solingen, originally formed in the 70s by the vocalist Udo Dirkschneider. They played an important role in the development of speed metal in the 80s. After their separation in 1997 and a brief resurrection in 2005, the band joined in 2009 with the former vocalist of. Quick, Mark Screw, replacing Udo Dirkschneider.

Anthrax is an American band of thrash metal, formed in New York in 1981, which made its first album of study in 1984, with the message to celebrate at all time and time. The band was one of the most important and popular in the thrash metal scene in the 1980s. It is known in other sectors for the influence it had on the combination of rap with heavy metal and his appearances with several rap bands in the scenarios. They are called the parents of rap metal for the song "Bring the Noise" recorded together with Public Enemy.

Rainbow was a British group of hard rock and heavy metal formed in 1975 on the initiative of Ritchie Blackmore. Parallel to Deep Purple and feeding from it, Rainbow slowly began to write his own story taken from the hand of the master Ritchie Blackmore, irascible man who with the smallest detail broke into anger and gave him to get involved with technical blows and cameramen. His singers who left their mark in the group were; Ronnie James Dio, one of the most iconic and influential voices in the history of heavy metal, and Joe Lynn Turner with his voice a bit softer but just as emblematic

Whitesnake is a British hard rock band founded in 1978 by David Coverdale, after his separation from the band Deep Purple, of which he was part during the period 1973-1976. During its first years, its music was essentially oriented towards hard rock, blues and soul, seeing the change something drastic of its musical style during the 80s.

Mötley Crüe is an American glam metal band that with more than 25 million copies sold only in the United States and more than 80 million worldwide, is considered one of the most important bands of the 'glam' scene in both the 1980s as today and as one of the most influential on the world stage.

Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Founded in 1979, they are well known for their lyrics dedicated to heavy metal as a concept, motorcycles and sometimes even the female gender, also covering epic and mythological themes (mainly Nordic mythology).

Def Leppard is a British hard rock and heavy metal band originally from Sheffield, England, which began in the late 1970s, and which reached its success in the 80s by bringing heavy metal to radio stations and the great public in general, thanks to the mix of melodic hard rock with a great vocal work.

Slayer is an American thrash metal band founded in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King in Huntington Park, California. To complete their training, King and Hanneman recruited bassist and vocalist of Chilean origin Tom Araya and Cuban-born drummer Dave Lombardo. The latter has been in and out of the band for several years. Slayer achieved fame thanks to the edition of Reign in Blood, described as "the heaviest album of all time" according to the magazine Kerrang !. Thanks to this fame, the group was included during the eighties within the Big Four of thrash metal along with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

Helloween is a German group of Power Metal from Hamburg, founded in 1978 with his first name of Gentry, changing to Helloween in 1983 by Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck. He is considered the father of Power Metal, however, previous bands performed themes considered as the first of the genre such as Rainbow with the theme Stargazer or Queen with the theme The Prophet's Song; even so, Helloween is considered an important precursor of the genre.

Van Halen is a Hard Rock band, originally from the United States. It was named after the founders of the band Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen in 1974, in Pasadena, California, which was later joined by singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony. Van Halen quickly achieved fame with his first self-titled debut album in 1978, and is widely regarded as a rock milestone reaching sales in the United States exceeding 10 million being rated in August 1996 as a diamond, much of the fame gained in Its beginnings are due to the skill of Eddie Van Halen, who is considered one of the most influential and innovative guitarists of all time. The band has had 3 vocalists, David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone and during the 80s had more hits in the Billboard magazine than any band of Hard Rock or Heavy Metal has had.

Pantera was a heavy metal American musical group founded in 1981 by the brothers Abbott-Darrell and Vinnie Paul in Arlington, Dallas, Texas, United States. Bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. In 1987 Phil Anselmo would become the main vocalist of the group. It remained active between 1981 and its dissolution in 2003.

Dio was a heavy metal band founded by vocalist and songwriter Ronnie James Dio in 1982. The group was born after Ronnie left Black Sabbath, taking with him the band's drummer, Vinny Appice, who had replaced Bill Ward during the tour of the album Heaven and Hell (1980). To these two components are added Vivian Campbell on guitar and Jimmy Bain, ex-Rainbow as well as Dio, on bass.

John Michael Osbourne (Birmingham, England, December 3, 1948) is a British singer, musician and composer with a career of more than forty years of activity. At the beginning, it was part of the original line-up of the prestigious and influential heavy metal band Black Sabbath, which is credited with being the creator of the genre at the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 1970s. career as a soloist at the beginning of the 80s, achieving great successes and revolutionizing the musical genre again.

Motörhead is a British heavy metal band founded in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter, Lemmy Kilmister, who has remained the only stable member over the years. Normally referred to as a power trio, Motörhead was very successful in the early 80s with several singles on the British sales charts. The albums Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, and particularly No Sleep 'til Hammersmith, cemented Motörhead's reputation as one of the leading bands of the British heavy metal scene.

Aerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes called "the bad guys in Boston." His style, hard rock based on blues, has come to incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many later rock artists. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally belonged to a band called Jam Band, later joined the singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and they formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and it was at that time that the band began to be known in Boston.

Deep Purple is a hard rock band formed in Hertford, England, in 1968, which is considered one of the pioneers of heavy metal and hard rock, although during his career he also incorporated elements of pop and progressive rock. Throughout their career they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and were recognized as the noisiest band in the world by the Guinness Book of Records in the 70s.

Megadeth is an American thrash metal band led by its founder and main songwriter, Dave Mustaine. It is one of the main heavy metal bands; He has appeared several times in the top 10 of the Billboard charts, and has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. It was created in 1983, after Mustaine was expelled from Metallica, where he held the position of lead guitarist. Since then, the band has released twelve studio albums, three EPs and two live albums.

Judas Priest is a British heavy metal band, founded initially in 1969. Its members receive their musical inspiration based on the greats of psychedelic rock, progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, such as Black Sabbath, Queen, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, although from the beginning they looked for their own sound to differentiate them from the bands of the time, thus anticipating the metallic thundering style, raw and full of energy that separated from the blues sound of heavy metal, process initiated by his predecessors, Black Sabbath, continued by Scorpions and the first Queen (although both groups always played with other styles and compositions) and finally defined by them during the mid-70s. This event would mark the beginning of the era of the New wave of British heavy metal, in the mid and late 70s, at the hands of groups such as Motorhead, Venom and Iron Maiden.

Scorpions is a German band of hard rock and heavy metal, founded in Hannover in 1965. They stand out with songs like "No One Like You", "Wind of Change", "Still Loving You" or "Send Me an Angel". The band has managed to sell between 100 and 150 million albums in the world.

Black Sabbath is an English heavy metal band formed in 1967 in Birmingham by Tony Iommi (guitar), Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums). Since then, the band has undergone many changes of formation, with more than twenty-five former members. Originally formed as a blues rock band originally called Polka Tulk and later, Earth, the group incorporated lyrics about occultism and horror with guitars tuned more seriously, changing its name to Black Sabbath and getting several gold and platinum records in the 1970s. Being one of the first and most influential heavy metal bands of all time, Black Sabbath helped develop the genre with publications such as Paranoid, an album that was four times platinum. They have sold more than fifteen million copies only in the United States.

Led Zeppelin was an English rock group, considered one of the most important of that genre and one of the most popular during the seventies. It was founded in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page, who had belonged to The Yardbirds, including John Paul Jones as a bassist and keyboard player (whom Page knew about from previous works with The Yardbirds), vocalist Robert Plant and John Bonham. to the drums (which had coincided with Plant in The Band of Joy).

Metallica is a heavy metal band from the United States. It was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles by the Danish Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, who would be joined by Lloyd Grant and Ron McGovney. These two musicians were later replaced by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist Cliff Burton, respectively. Mustaine was fired a year after joining the band due to his excessive addiction to drugs and alcohol, and founded the band Megadeth, being replaced by Kirk Hammett. On the other hand, in 1986, the death of Cliff Burton in a bus accident in Sweden caused the entry to the group of Jason Newsted, who, fifteen years later, would be replaced after his defection by the current bassist, Robert Trujillo.

Guns N 'Roses is an American hard rock band that formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California in 1985. The group, led by the leader and co-founder of the band Axl Rose, has gone through a line of numerous changes and controversies since its creation The current lineup features vocalist Axl Rose, as the group's only original member, accompanied by guitarists Ron «Bumblefoot» Thal, DJ Ashba and Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman . The band has officially released six studio albums, three EPs, a live album and a compilation.

Iron Maiden is a British heavy metal band founded in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, it is recognized as one of the most successful heavy metal bands in all history. The group has released numerous studio albums, live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, music videos and compilation boxes. After several auditions and several changes in its formation, this one settled with the vocalista Paul Di'Anno, the guitarists Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton and the battery Clive Burr. They released their self-titled debut album in 1980, quickly becoming one of the most representative groups of the new wave of British heavy metal.

AC / DC is a hard rock band formed in Sydney (Australia) in 1973 by the Scottish brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. His first concert took place on the end of the year night of 1973, coinciding with the release of his single Can I Sit Next to You Girl, whose singer was Dave Evans. From the beginning they became famous live performances, thanks in part to the extravagant style of its main guitarist, Angus Young, usually dressed in school uniform at concerts. In 1976, coinciding with the release of the album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, they moved to Great Britain, where the Young brothers came from, specifically of Scottish descent, and immediately occupied the first sales positions with albums like Let There Be Rock (1977 ) and Powerage (1978), followed by If You Want Blood You've Got It (1978) and the album Highway to Hell (1979), of which millions of copies were sold. On February 19, 1980, vocalist Bon Scott died of alcohol poisoning in the back seat of his friend Alistair Kinnear's car and was replaced by Brian Johnson, who belonged to the Geordie group.