Metal for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

I've lived most of my life as a disciple of heavy metal. It all began for me with KISS back in the mid-ish 70's, when I was sort of graduating from the lightweight pop/rock of Monkees and Beatles. The less innocent KISS opened the doors to darker and more adventurous music by Zeppelin, Sabbath, Maiden, Rush, and many many more.

70's genre pioneers streamlined their sound for the 80's

As time passed, my tastes became more refined... if you can call it that, and though I still retained a love for early progenitors like Sabbath and Priest, I developed a taste for stuff like Savatage and Megadeth's progressive style of playing. I can appreciate raucous headbanging tunes by bands like Motorhead and AC/DC while sometimes making that leap to more sophisticated artists such as Opeth and Dream Theater. Just off the top of my head, without a whole lot of thought, I've thrown together a list of my favourite metal albums:

MY TOP TEN METAL ALBUMS OF ALL TIME (sort of, but not in exact order):

Heaven and Hell, by Black Sabbath (Dio's re-invented and re-invigorated Sabbath 2.0)
Appetite For Destruction, by Guns N' Roses (80's heavy music got back on track here)
Rust in Peace, by Megadeth (few thrash albums approach the power of this masterpiece)
Destroyer, by Kiss (kicked off my love of the genre, chock full of great hooks & anthems)
Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath (pretty much invented the whole genre, riffs and all)
Sad Wings of Destiny, by Judas Priest (built upon Sab's work, even more gothic & doomy)
Screaming for Vengeance, by Judas Priest (established a sleek modern metal template)
Paranoid, by Black Sabbath (classics from the masters - top to bottom) 
Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, by Megadeth (pushed technical thrash into the spotlight)
Ride the Lightning, by Metallica (heavy, brutal, and brilliant... the future of thrash)

Honorable Mentions: 

Reign in Blood, by Slayer (props to one of the fastest and heaviest pioneers of thrash)
Diary of a Madman, by Ozzy Osbourne (life after Sabbath with guitar genius Rhoads)
Killers, by Iron Maiden (a personal favourite, loaded with early Maiden melodies)
Hall of the Mountain King, by Savatage (dramatic near-prog power metal)
Dirt, by Alice in Chains (monolithic, menacing, and depressing)

It's amazing how the metal genre has grown and spread globally. Countries as distant as Thailand, Russia, Chile, and China have thriving metal scenes, with young musicians taking up their instruments every day and fans buying band T-shirts and attending shows. The world-wide appeal is undeniable. Metal music transcends borders and cultures, and provides a forum for social and political expression. That outlet is what gives many people hope, especially when they live in regions of poverty, and political oppression and repression. Or even the American suburban teenager with strict parents and school teachers... he (or she) can escape and dream and aspire thanks to the metal music that speaks to his (or her) sensibilities. 

Texas A&M music professor Harris Berger says, "Metal fans are joined by a common sense of cultural dissent". Unlike most other musical forms, metal has often been described as a lifestyle. Punk was perhaps the only other genre by which its fans lived according to its "code", but that era of the original "real" punks has passed. Metal lives on.

As a guy over age fifty, I may not exactly live the lifestyle any longer, but I do wear black band tees around home and occasionally out in public, and I buy the odd CD to support my favourite artists (like Megadeth's latest amazing album Dystopia). Concerts are few and far between, but I make the effort if it's something really special (like Black Sabbath in 2014). 

And I love to crank up the stereo on a fairly regular basis, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

Bon appétit!