Heavy Metal Albums

What Are the Best Heavy Metal Albums of All Time?

My friend and I love to sit around and talk about the glory days of heavy metal, when bands like Metallica, Guns n' Roses and Megadeth reigned supreme. The other day we got into a discussion about heavy metal albums, and the challenge was posed for each of us to name the best album of all time, and we each had to defend our answer.

I started things off with And Justice for All by Metallica. In terms of the shear number of great songs and most memorable lyrics, that ranks among the best heavy metal albums of all time, if not the absolute best. It was an album of pure metal, and the one that made me fall in love with that style of music.

My friend Greg said that of all the heavy metal albums he ever heard, Guns N' Roses album Appetite for Destruction was the greatest, because he felt that Guns N' Roses, more than any other metal band, brought heavy metal into the mainstream. He also argued that it had a number of hits on it, as well.

Then it was my cousin Michael's turn, and I should begin by saying that he is considerably older than the rest of us, and he said he felt the best album was Master of Reality by Black Sabbath.
He quite aptly pointed out that even though the first two heavy metal albums named were great, this was the one that got everything started.

It was my cousin Kevin's turn next, and he selected Reign in Blood by Slayer as the best of all the albums because it really brought speed metal to the forefront, and his mind, nobody was as hard as Slayer. The conversation was becoming more and more interesting, because everyone was making pretty good points and we were all getting in the mood to listen to some great music, which we would do when it was all over.

My cousin Alan took his turn next, and he is just a few years younger than Michael. He chose Motorhead's No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith as the greatest among the heavy metal albums we had already chosen, because he said that as a whole, Motorhead produced the most quality albums of any to the bands we had mentioned, and this was probably the best of all.

Nobody even mentioned my favorite metal band of all time, which is Pantera, but it didn't even really matter. Pantera had a number of great heavy metal albums, but we all had a bunch of other CDs we were all set to listen to, and we had a great time playing them that day when we were finished talking.

Live Country Music

Do you know that live Country Music is a lot of Fun?

When I was in college, I dated a girl who loved country music and would spend her free time following around various country music acts around the state of Texas with her family. She invited me to go with her one time, swearing to me that live country music is a lot of fun, and I have to say that she was right.

All of the country music I had ever heard had been recorded prior to going on that trip with my girlfriend. I knew that I loved the genre, but I was not aware of how great country music could be when it was performed live. We stopped first in a little town near Austin to hear a couple of local bands of which I had never heard.

My girlfriend knew all about them, however, and she started telling me all about them and where they were from and so forth. I soon discovered that a lot of these live country music acts had loyal followings.
There were people from all over the state that came to hear them play. The price of admission was low and people would bring in coolers full of cold drinks.

When the bands started playing, everyone screamed and cheered, and it was just a lot of fun. Everybody was so friendly. We all sang and danced and had a great time. What impressed me about this particular live country music performance was when certain songs would start up and a whole bunch of people would start applauding and whistling.

I had never heard the songs, but these people had, and apparently, they were crowd favorites. I imagined for me it would be like going to a Willie Nelson concert and having him break into ìBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain.î

We went to a lot of towns and communities throughout the state listening to live country music acts and having a great time. My girlfriend asked me if I was enjoying myself at one point, and told her that I was having a lot more fun than I ever imagined possible.

A few weeks after we got back, I saw that Garth Brooks was coming to town and got tickets. She was thrilled about that, and the concert was great. There was nothing like seeing live country music, whether it was a big superstar, or just some local acts with cult followings.

As time went by my girlfriend and I just sort of drifted apart and now I am married to the love of my life. I have not been to any live country music performances since that time, but it was a great experience to see those local acts, as well as the Garth Brooks concert, and it really showed me how much fun country music could be.