metal for dummies part 1

[Hitori]

I (and probably many other musically open minded people here) have friends who don't listen to metal at all. If your friend was interested in getting to know metal by a compilation of bands who are most representative of genres etc, what songs by what bands would you pick for this person to listen to? They can only be 12... not the best songs necessarily or the ones you love the most, but the catchier ones or most accessible to those not into metal, just to give your friend an idea...

Mine would be (I think):

Dark Tranquillity- Wonders at Your Feet

Blind Guardian- Mirror Mirror

Angra- Carry On

Helloween- Save Us

Amon Amarth- Death in Fire

Katatonia- Without God

Anathema- Inner Silence

Empyrium- Ode to Melancholy (still not sure which Empyrium song)

Tenhi- something from Väre

Arcturus- something from masquerade infernale

My Dying Bride- Two Winters

Asmegin- not sure which yet...

(edit: oops! heh i made the font white at first just so you can discover the secret hidden letters... more fun that way )

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

Nice songs, very nice indeed..



....but why HELLOWEEN?!

 

[Hitori]

hey they're classics! i guess iron maiden should be there instead... and well its supposed to be a bit of every genre, but i dont know anything about black so i didnt even try.

edit: or grind or many other genres. so, just make a list then, regardless of genres

 

[Rusty]

Uhhhh. This is tough, I hardly ever think of music in terms of catchiness or accessibility, and I don't really listen to all genres of metal. A few that would be on there might be:

Opeth - The Drapery Falls
Amorphis - I don't listen enough to be able to name one song, but maybe something from Tuonela
Katatonia - Teargas
Anathema - Deep
Metallica - Enter Sandman (yeah yeah...)
My Dying Bride - A Cruel Taste of Winter
Dark Tranquillity - something from Damage Done, I'm not sure what
Arcturus - Nightmare Heaven, maybe...

Okay, I'm struggling. Needs more thought, and I've got A Cruel Taste of Winter stuck in my head right now.

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

I piss on classics
Except for literature, course

...so nevermind that opinion



Hm, black metal?
...
Well, Dimmu Borgir - 'the Mourning Palace' is almost classic..
(I think it's a bit boring tho, ..)
Try ..Emperor?


Oooh you should have Nile - Sarcophagus in it! Nile is ..real death-death metal so it should be in the list also, and this song's got some melody in it, too

 

[hyena]

the catchier ones or most accessible to those not into metal, just to give your friend an idea...

well, if he's not into metal, he is not my friend. you also mentioned "no metal at all" or something along these lines in your post. methinks you're surreptitiously trying to turn your friend to a very specific band.

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

Ooooooh
Arcturus - Nightmare Heaven
Nile - Sarcophagus
Dark Tranquillity - Single Part of Two
My Dying Bride - the Dreadful Hours
Dimmu Borgir - In Deaths Embrace (yeah well )
Opeth - the Blackwater Park (idem)
Guns n Roses - Welcome to the Jungle (heheh)
Amon Amarth - Death in Fire idd (catchy )
In Flames - Moonshield (good to accompany Opeth, DT)
Moonspell - Full Moon Madness/Opium
Moonsorrow - Sankarihauta
Vader - Final Massacre
Therion - Of Sodom and Gomorrah
...
Yeah

 

[EagleFlyFree]

i'll choose a list that's catchy and accesible at the beginning and that shows off what metal can do towards the end:

Gamma Ray - Send me a sign
Judas Priest - Living after midnight
Angra - Gentle Change
Children of Bodom - Children of Decadence
Grave Digger - The Grave Dance
Helloween - You always walk alone
Amoral - Solvent
Running Wild - White Masque
Blind Guardian - I'm alive
Dark Tranquillity - Dobermann
Helloween - Revelation
Therion - Via Nocturna


spare me of the slander for the cob song, when you gotta be catchy, you throw in a catchy song and that's that.
and well, i'd like to add more death metal in there but growls isn't exactly the warmest sound you can show to someone that's trying to get into metal... so i'll just hook them up and they can explore other stuff later

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

I don't necessarily like the idea of playing the catchy songs to people just because those are the ones that'll get them into the music...but it is necessary sometimes. So I'm not too good at making these lists, but I'll name some bands and songs.

First of all, I'd pick some other Katatonia song, probably Rainroom or Teargas, and I'd put Bright Eyes instead of Mirror, Mirror.
Otherwise:
Green Carnation - As Life Flows By
Pain Of Salvation - Reconciliation/Iter Impius
Emperor - The Tongue Of Fire/Empty
Faith No More - Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
Sentenced - Excuse Me While I Kill Myself
Disturbed - Prayer
Paradise Lost - As I Die/Forever Failure
Pantera - Fucking Hostile
Death - Empty Words
Opeth - The Leper Affinity
Iced Earth - Burnt Offerings
Kreator - Extreme Aggression
Orphaned Land - Halo Dies (The Wrath Of God)
Strapping Young Lad - All Hail The New Flesh
Mastodon - Blood And Thunder
etc. etc. etc.
and some Iron Maiden and some Metallica song. Some songs from your list too, mainly BG, DT and MDB.

If you're going to make a CD, I'd just burn MP3s. A compilation with 12 songs is hardly going to capture a very big spectre of any music genre. But if it's going to be an audio CD, then just see those songs as suggestions.

 

[Hitori]

actually, Im not making a cd and none of my friends want one. I was just wondering what you'd pick as a way to introduce someone to metal.
there.
sometimes the simpler the better and clearer.

 

[TheFourthHorseman]

Well yes, but when there are (almost) more than 12 (main) genres...

 

[solefald]

okay my little brother wa abolutey not into metal but
some years ago when he was reading the lord of the rings I gave him
nightfall in middle-earth by blind guradian and now hell yeah he is on the right path
so blind guardian would be a good entry to the metal side of life

 

[Hitori]

yup, thats why in my 3rd post i said in my edit "so, just make a list then, regardless of genres"

... starting a thread is more difficult than i thought. now i remember why i dont usually.

 

[fulminatrix_XII]

Yeah, ok catchy songs might be the easiest way to get someone into metal... But then, if that person can actually survive crazy extreme shit, then he/she is most likely to have a mind open enough to FEEL the metal, not just to listen to it - see what I mean?! Anyway, I say that cause I just made a copy of Fenriz' black metal compilation for a guy at Uni who was wondering what exactly was metal... Let's see how he takes it

 

[DragonLady1]

my list would be:

Anathema - Fragile Dreams
Queensryche - I dont believe in love
Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark
Metallica - Fade To Black
Samael - Rain
Dark Tranquillity - Emptier Still
Primordial - Gods To The Godless
Green Carnation - Writings on the Wall
Nightwish - Ghost Love Score
Opeth - The Drappery Falls
Evergrey - Masterplan
Moonspell - Fullmoon Madness
Tiamat - Gaia

ah there are so many more... but well this would already be a good start no

 

[Child of Time]

If someone asked me "how metal sounds" I'd lend him Cryptopsy's "none so vile" and then he can take it or leave it.

 

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hahaha
Now thats some spirit






....tho not very helpful..

 

[rahvin]

i'll try and come up with a list tomorrow, but, for the record ( ), i don't believe in trying to introduce someone to a genre by way of the most accessible songs. chances are i'm interested in turning people who can appreciate the subtleties, so let them be tested on something intricated enough from the start, to save us some time and blank cds.

 

[Hitori]

I see what you mean but personally, if someone didn't have the habit to read, I wouldn't recommend James Joyce's Ulysses as a first try, but something more adequate to the person's experience and reading stage.

Music is of course a whole different matter, but by "catchy and accessible" I didn't mean "not intricate or representative of the band/sound", rather a song you think the person will be able to like. That is, don't play a Revenge song to someone who has never listened to metal before.

At least I (and I may be the exception) wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate some of the bands I presently like when I was younger, I wouldn't have been able to even perceive the subtleties. I (and again, maybe it doesn't happen to those more musically oriented) needed to develop some "ear" for it.

anyways, imo this is all being overanalized, no wonder people don't start threads here if there's gonna be so much nitpicking

 

[dargormudshark]

in no order

Dio-Rainbow in the Dark
Judas Priest- Breaking The Law
Iron Maiden-Hallowed Be Thy Name
Stratovarius-Hunting High and Low
Kamelot-Forever
Dream Theater-Metropolis Pt.1
Fates Warning-Point of View
Symphony X-Inferno
Dimmu Borgir-Progenies of the Great Apocolypse
Cradle of Filth-Nymphetamine
In Flames-Only for the Weak
Death-Spirit Crusher

can't real think of a whole lot of things right now