Great Britain's "Tank" was part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal in the early 80's and another band that influence some big named bands.
Quiet Riot literally exploded onto the scene in 1983 and were the first "Metal" band to top to Pop Charts. One could argue they opened the floodgates for bands bands like themselves to achieve more Pop success.
Primal Fear was all over the resurgence of Power Metal at the beginning of the new millennium.
Comprised of veteran bass player Mat Sinner and former Gamma Ray frontman Ralph Scheepers and some top-notch German players, these guys established themselves quickly in the Metal world with their strait up Power Metal onslaught...
In the early 80's Metal in America was flourishing, bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax were just getting started and there were many others waiting in wings.
Van Halen has always been known as more of a "Party Rock" band than Metal, but their style, larger-than-life persona, massive arena shows, and of course Eddie's guitar was a very influential force on Heavy Metal. Thousands of kids picked up the guitar because of Eddie, he was right behind Jimi Hendrix as far as influential and exciting players...
Warlock formed in Dusseldorf Germany after two other bands combined forces to create one super-group based around super model Doro Pesch. They rose quite quickly and did tours in America with W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Megadeth and others...
W.A.S.P. were one of the bands on the PMRC's hit list back in the 80's. Frontman Blackie Lawlass was a genius at pushing the buttons of the religious right. Just about everything they did was criticized and the Parental groups even claimed was stood for "We Are Satan's People" or "We Are Sexual Perverts"...