Rock top-ten lists are never going to be lovable things, but they are a constant and reliable source of readers and discussion. Following Spinner‘s hotly debated 50 greatest guitar riffs comes the top 50 metal songs of all time, compiled by fabled guitar makers Gibson.
Number one is Metallica‘s 1986 song Master Of Puppets. The list was made up by editors, writers and Gibson.com readers.
Metallica also came in at eighth, with One, but the rest of the top ten was firmly dominated by Black Sabbath, who had three songs in the top ten with Iron Man (4), War Pigs (6) and Paranoid (7). Ozzy Osbourne solo came in at number three with Crazy Train.
The top ten is completed by Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades at number two, Iron Maiden‘s The Number Of The Beast and Hallowed Be Thy Name at number five and nine respectively, and Judas Priest‘s Breaking The Law at number ten.
The top ten was announced after a countdown from 50, with other bands in the high echelons including Guns N Roses, AC/DC, Rainbow and Van Halen. Gibson stipulated that bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen would be classified as merely ‘hard rock’ and thus not eligible for the list. You can peruse the full top 50 here.
