Unsolicited Thoughts on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Metal Songs List
Earlier this month, Rolling Stone magazine released this list of the 100 greatest metal songs of all time (we listed them all out here). Obviously any GOAT list is inherently subjective, so while we’re ecstatic to see music’s best genre getting the attention it deserves in a major publication… this practice inherently invites critique. With no intended disrespect to the phenomenal artists and songs chosen, here is our analysis of their work that nobody asked for.
No Concern of Recency Bias
Rolling Stone’s list initially got our attention thanks to a flurry of internet coverage highlighting that only two songs released after January 1st, 2006 made the cut. While we’re not exactly sure how or why this happened, it sent Michael into a spiral that resulted in this playlist of 100 songs released after 2005.
Interestingly, the 11 selected songs released in the 2000s slightly edges the number of songs selected from the 1970s - however the 9 songs from the 70s have a considerably lower Average Ranking* of about 22 compared to the Average Ranking of about 59 of songs from the 00s.
*Average Ranking is calculated by adding the rankings of each song and dividing by the number of songs selected. For example, the Average Ranking of the 3 selected Iron Maiden songs (“The Trooper” at 21st, “Hallowed Be Thy Name” at 16th, & “Run to the Hills” at 10th) would be (21+16+10) / 3 = an average ranking of 15.66. The lower the Avg Ranking, the better.
To showcase how songs released in recent years might be less highly regarded, look no further than to the most recent songs to crack the list’s top 20 - Metallica’s “One” (ranked 11th) and Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” (ranked 12th) - were both released in 1988 - you know, just 35 years ago!
Best Year?
Based solely on the songs Rolling Stone selected, we wondered which year would stand supreme with the most prolific collection of metal releases. In the 54 years since Blue Cheer released “Summertime Blues” in 1968, 33 different years have featured at least one song selected (though 15 of those years have been out of the last 17). Six of these 33 years have featured more than 5 selected songs, as such we’ll examine each further:
1970 - Songs Selected (5), Artists Featured (2), Avg Ranking (8.8)
While 1970 kicks off with comparatively less songs than the other high volume years, it features the highest Avg Ranking of any year. This is almost entirely due to selections of several god-tier Black Sabbath songs (“Paranoid” ranked 13th, “Iron Man” ranked 7th, “War Pigs” ranked 5th, & “Black Sabbath” ranked 1st). The ‘anchor’ dragging 1970 down is the inclusion of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” (ranked 18th).
1980 - Songs Selected (7), Artists Featured (6), Avg Ranking (16.3)
Fast forward a decade and Rolling Stone’s list hits another high volume year. Featuring three songs in the Top 10 (Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” ranked 6th, Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” ranked 4th, & Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades” ranked 3rd) and no songs outside of the top third of the list, 1980 has the second highest Avg Ranking with a more impressive variety. It’s mildly surprising to see AC/DC’s “Back and Black” here ranked at 17th - it’s one helluva song and a nice tip of the cap to a progenitor of the genre - but also one that seemingly invites controversy especially given the band’s insistent distancing themselves from the metal moniker.
1983 - Songs Selected (8), Artists Featured (7), Avg Ranking (40.4)
It’s official, we’ve entered the hair metal era. Selections from Def Leppard (“Photograph” ranked 54th), Mötley Crüe (“Shout at the Devil” ranked 23rd), and Quiet Riot (“Bang Your Head” ranked 66th) represent each iconic band’s only entries on the list. With the second highest number of selected songs and the fourth highest average ranking buoyed by a pair of Dio classics (“Rainbow in the Dark” ranked 25th and “Holy Diver” cracking the top 10 at 9th) and Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” (ranked 21st), someone(s) at Stone clearly saw 83’ as a strong year.
1984 - Songs Selected (7), Artists Featured (6), Avg Ranking (48.6)
The hair metal love continues! Selections from Twisted Sister (“We’re Not Gonna Take It” ranked 81st), Accept (“Balls to the Wall” ranked 79th), and Ratt (“Round and Round” ranked 20th) feels similar to 1983’s hair metal choices. Ratt capturing the list’s highest ranked hair metal era song feels like something that might stir some alternative points of view - but I wasn’t there, so what do I know? This year also marks the first entries from the mighty Metallica’s sophomore album Ride the Lightning (“For Whom the Bell Tolls” ranked 39th and “Fade to Black” ranked 35th) - potentially drawing at least some ire of the Kill Em’ All era diehards.
We assume this is what every night in the 80s looked like?
1988 - Songs Selected (6), Artists Featured (6), Avg Ranking (31.3)
An interesting year with slightly fewer songs, though with an impressively high average ranking. Only one song (Bathory’s “A Fine Day to Die” ranked 76th) was outside of the list’s top third, with Metallica’s “One” (ranked 11th) and Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” (ranked 12th) as the list’s most recently inclusions to crack the top 15. Oddly, 1988 is the only year with more than three selected songs where an artist wasn’t selected more than once.
1992 - Songs Selected (12), Artists Featured (11), Avg Ranking (60.6)
Another fascinating blip - 1992 features the largest number of selected songs and artists and includes the only entries from bands including Pantera (“Walk” ranked 29th), Rage Against the Machine (“Killing in the Name” ranked 38th), Kyuss (“Green Machine” ranked 44th), Ministry’s (“Just One Fix” ranked 49th), Faith No More (“Caffeine” ranked 55th), Sleep (“Dragonaut” ranked 62nd), White Zombie (“Thunder Kiss ‘65” ranked 84th), Body Count (“There Goes the Neighborhood” ranked 85th), Dream Theater (“Pull Me Under” ranked 91st), Cannibal Corpse (“Hammer Smashed Face” ranked 93rd), and Helmet (“In the Meantime” ranked 94th). Certainly a great year as far as the quantity Rolling Stone selected, but not so much in how they were correspondingly rewarded with ranking quality that other artists / years seem to have more readily received.
Best Artist?
If you’re still reading, I’m genuinely impressed - a Venn-diagram of metalheads and people who like arguments utilizing vague numbers feels like it easily should be two distantly separated circles. If you’re ready for more, we also decided to wonder which artists would rank the highest based on Stone’s rankings. A total of 82 artists were featured in the top 100, with six bands being featured more than three times. Interestingly, only two other artists were featured twice, and as they were both solo efforts of Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio, we decided to additionally count them as individuals along with their respective work with Black Sabbath (and also Rainbow for Dio).
Black Sabbath - Songs Selected (5), Avg Ranking (11.4)
Sabbath not topping the list would have been shocking - pioneering a genre has its perks. Our biggest gripe - how could Stone not include something from the legendary Master of Reality album, where hits like “Into the Void”, “Children of the Grave”, and “Sweet Leaf” laid the foundation of stoner metal? You could probably make a decent argument for as many as 20 Sabbath songs being worthy of inclusion in the top 100.
Metallica - Songs Selected (5), Avg Ranking (23.4)
Another non-surprise to see the world’s most popular heavy music act well represented. Diehard thrash enthusiasts might bristle to see the anthemic “Enter Sandman” chosen over anything from the band’s fiery debut Kill Em’ All. I would’ve loved to watch the metal world unite in harmony if Stone had come to their senses and picked something from the universally acclaimed St. Anger.
Iron Maiden - Songs Selected (3), Avg Ranking (15.7)
Up the Irons!! A cornerstone of the genre and still selling out massive arenas, zealous fans miiiiight wonder how the band only just cracked the top 10… or how the selections only come from just a two year stretch of their 48 year career.
Slayer - Songs Selected (3), Avg Ranking (15.7)
F*CKING SLAAAAAYERR!!! Interestingly a mathematical tie with Iron Maiden in our made up average ranking metric. Every song above it on Stone’s list is admittedly a banger, but without looking can you actually think of seven songs that are more metal than “Raining Motherf*cking Blood”?
Judas Priest - Songs Selected (3), Avg Ranking (23.6)
Not unlike their British counterparts in Maiden, Judas Priest thunders onto the list with three top notch tracks. While their average rating is a hair lower, the inclusion of the ever relevant “Breaking the Law” in the top 5 actually sits pretty right to us.
Megadeth - Songs Selected (3), Avg Ranking (30.7)
An impressive three songs included but the lowest average ranking and only group with at least three selected to not crack the top 10 feels like a fittingly familiar oversight of Dave Mustaine’s band(s) of perpetually underrated badasses.
Ozzy Osbourne (w/Sabbath & solo) - Songs Selected (6), Avg Ranking (14.7)
As the voice of Black Sabbath’s four highest ranked tracks, with his solo masterpiece “Crazy Train” cracking the top 10, and with “Bark at the Moon” ranked at 56th, the Prince of Darkness reigns supreme with more Stone selected releases than anyone else and with the second highest average ranking behind Sabbath alone.
Ronnie James Dio (w/Sabbath, w/Rainbow, & solo) - Songs Selected (4), Avg Ranking (19.8)
With more songs than any band other than Metallica and Sabbath, Dio is the only artist on the list to have songs selected from three separate groups. With all four of his songs ranking in the top third of the list, Ronnie James stands tall at the peak of the metal mountain. If only they’d included “Kickapoo”.
A showdown between Sabbath’s vocalists seems fitting.
What did we learn?
Ranking subjective things isn’t super productive, and the mean (or at least median) age of Rolling Stone’s contributors is between 43 and 54.
