Metal After Midnight

When White Zombie broke into the scene over 20 years ago they were considered "Alternative Metal", both new and refreshing.  The truth is that the brains behind the band Rob Zombie was just taking Alice Cooper's Horror Rock in a little different direction.

Raven was an integral part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and one of the main influences behind "Speed" and "Thrash" Metal.

Most Metalheads would say that "Black Sabbath" are the true kings of Heavy Metal.  Their debut was darker and heavier than anything out there at the time.  Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple were more bluesy than the strait forward riffs of Black Sabbath.

Stryper is easily the biggest Christian Metal band of all time, but the path was very rocky.  Their debut "Yellow And Black Attack" came out in 1984 and was obviously influenced by the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden...

Most people think of the Scorpions as Germany's biggest import, and they would be right.  But another band called Accept had a major influence on Metal back in the late 70's and early 80's.  Most people know them from their 1984 hit "Balls To The Walls", but in fact they had several albums before and after that...

Saxon never really broke into the American scene despite being one of the major player in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.  They did tour here quite often but never had the radio airplay like Judas Priest or Def Leppard and they didn't quite gain the momentum of Iron Maiden...

Lemmy, what can you say, he's simply not human, his band Motorhead has legendary status among the Rock, Metal and Punk communities.  His hard-livin' lifestyle has been well-documented, but yet the band works as hard as ever.  Even though they have a very unique sound, there's are elements of their style heard in many bands of many genres...

New York City's "Twister Sister" were around for quite awhile before they hit it big.  They were part of the New York Glam scene with Kiss and the New York Dolls, but their music was much more gritty and mean.  They  literally wore women's clothing and makeup on stage and quite often mixed it up with anyone who dare give them crap about it...

It was recently announced that Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson would be touring together  (more details), and while some might think it's an odd paring because of the difference in eras, it does make sense.  Obviously Marilyn Manson took his cue from Alice Cooper's antics in the 70's...

Ozzy Osbourne... what can you say that hasn't been said.  The fact that he's still alive is amazing in itself.   He's smoked, injected and drank just about everything.  He's bit the heads off a bird and possibly a bat.  His first run with Black Sabbath helped form Heavy Metal as we know it today...

Most music critics would attribute "Heavy Metal" to Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin, but time has shown that Deep Purple has just as much influence on the Classic Metal sound as any.  The albums "Deep Purple In Rock", "Fireball", "Machine Head" and "Who Do We Think We Are" paved the way for the heavy blues-based Rock and Metal sound that would domina

Iron Maiden was the first Metal concert I had ever been to.  For some reason Ratt opened and I was there to see them.   I didn't know a lot about Maiden but I soon found out.  That was and still is the most intense concert I've even been to...