100 Songs that Define Heavy Metal

Metallica - "Orion" released March 3,1986 from the album "Master of Puppets" Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to filmmaker Sam Dunn about Metallica's epic instrumental, "Orion". They also discuss Slayer, Iron Maiden and some of the films he's made through his company Banger Films. Jay Ruston also discusses the production on "Orion" and author Martin Popoff provides his usual combination...

AC/DC - "Hells Bells" From the album "Back In Black" Released Halloween 1980 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel welcomes back to the show Adam Rank from NFL Network and The Jim Rome Show to discuss the first track on AC/DC's "Back in Black" album, "Hells Bells". He also discusses the production of the song with Metal Blade's Ryan Williams. There's also the usual background, facts and opinions fr...

Black Sabbath - "Symptom of the Universe" From the Album "Sabatoge", released July 28, 1975 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by actor-comedian Brian Posehn to talk about Black Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe", Brian's favorite Sabbath song from his Sabbath album. We also get the usual background, facts, figures and opinions from author Martin Popoff, who says that this is also his...

Slayer "South of Heaven" from the album of the same name. RELEASED : July 5, 1988 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks about the title track from Slayer's 1988 album "South of Heaven" with Chris Kael of Five Finger Death Punch who also co-hosts the "Beardo and Weirdo" podcast with comedian Craig Gass. Brian also discusses the production on this song with Mark Lewis, and author Martin Popoff...

Iron Maiden - "Number of the Beast" from the album of the same name Released March 22, 1982 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to Queensryche lead singer Todd La Torre about Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast". Producer Jay Ruston returns to discuss the production on the song, and author Martin Popoff offers up some unique opinions while providing facts and figures about the song. For the...

Metallica - "Creeping Death" From the album "Ride the Lightning" Released November 23, 1984 In this episode, Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by Mike Hamer of the Violent Gentlemen clothing line to discuss Metallica's "Creeping Death". Brian also discusses the production of Metallica's "Creeping Death" with Metal Blade's Ryan Williams. As always, author Martin Popoff provides histori...

Queensryche - "Roads to Madness" RELEASED September 7, 1984 on the album "The Warning" Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses the final track on Queensryche's full-length debut, The Warning: "Roads to Madness". He talks to producer Zeuss, who has produced the last three Queensryche albums and then Adam Wodon of CollegeHockeyNews. Com who is a huge fan of the band. As always, Martin Popoff...

Jimi Hendrix - "All Along The Watchtover" First released as a single September 21, 1968 and was later featured on the Electric Ladyland album, released in October 16, 1968. (Originally recorded by Bob Dyland and released on the "John Wesley Harding" album December 27, 1967. In this episode, Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by guitarist Stoney Curtis talk about the impact of Jimi Hend...

Black Sabbath - "Into The Void" Release Date July 21, 1971 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks about the importance of the Black Sabbath song "Into The Void" with singer John Corabi (who has worked with Motley Crue, Ratt, The Dead Daisies among many others). John also talks about the underappreciated impact of Grand Funk Railroad and how he was able to see the original Sabbath perform live...

Fates Warning - "A Pleasant Shade of Gray" Released April 22, 1997 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to Fates Warning singer Ray Alder about their 1997 album "A Pleasant Shade of Gray": an entire album made up of one song. He also talks about the production of the record with Bill Metoyer, who did some engineering on the album. As always, author Martin Popoff provides some historical sign...

Kiss - "Love Gun" Released June 30, 1977 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discussed the title track from the 1977 Kiss album "Love Gun". First up, he hears from author Martin Popoff about the historical significance and impact of the song. Then, this show's producer Christian Bladt discusses more of the background and production of the song. Finally, the co-host of Morning Skate Scott Laughlin...

UFO - "Let It Roll" The original studio version of UFO's "Let It Roll" was released on the album Force It on July 1, 1975.  The popular live version from the album Strangers in the Night was released on January 16, 1979 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks about UFO's "Let It Roll" with renowned producer and founder of Shrapnel Records, Mike Varney. Jay Ruston discusses the production with B...

Aerosmith - "Make It" Released January 5, 1973 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by his Metal Blade colleague Mike Faley to talk about discusses "Make It" from the debut Aerosmith album. This show's producer Christian Bladt talks about the production of that song and the enitre debut album, and, a s always, Martin Popoff provides historical context and information about the song. You...

Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses Slipknot's "Surfacing" from their debut record with the producer of that album, Ross Robinson, and Zach Johnson from the band The Ghost Inside. As always, Martin Popoff provides historical context and information about the song. You can watch the entire unedited version of the interview HERE: https://youtu.be/9EI8pSP6mRM Follow Ross Robinson on Instag...

SONG -Black Sabbath : "N.I.B" Released Friday February 13, 1970 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses Black Sabbath's "N.I.B." with the bands longtime manager, and wife of Geezer Butler. They also discuss the different eras of Sabbath, Halestorm, Ghost and even some of the best things to do in Las Vegas, where they both live. Producer Mark Lewis also discusses the production of the song a...

SONG - Mercyful Fate : "The Oath" Released September 7, 1984 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses the Mercyful Fate song "The Oath", the quasi-title track from 1984's "Don't Break The Oath" with actor-musician-host Elliott Fullam. They also discuss his heavy metal upbringing, his Little Punk People interviews, current musical endeavors and his role in both "Terrifier 2" and "Terrifier 3"...

SONG - Coheed and Cambria "Welcome Home" Release Date - September 20, 2005 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks to Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria about their song "Welcome Home", his writing process, his career, the other forms of media he uses for storytelling and much more. Ryan Williams also discusses the production of the song with Brian and author Martin Popoff shares a wealth of...

Ozzy Osbourne - "Bark at the Moon" Released November 15, 1983 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discusses his favorite Ozzy Osbourne song, "Bark at the Moon" with Adam Rank from the NFL Network and The Jim Rome After Hour. Brian also discusses the production of the song with Bill Metoyer, and as always, author Martin Popoff provides some historical context as to why this is one of the 100 songs...

Dio - "Holy Diver" Released May 25, 1983 Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel talks about the life and legacy of Ronnie James Dio and the song "Holy Diver" with Ronnie's wife and manager, Wendy Dio. Wendy also discusses her ongoing work as part of the Dio Cancer Fund, including an event coming up this Spring in Southern California. Ryan Williams returns to discuss the production on "Holy Diver" an...

Deep Purple - "Highway Star" Released March 30, 1972 on the album "Machine Head" Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by the former host of MTV's Headbanger's Ball Riki Rachtman to discuss the first really heavy song either of them ever heard as kids: Deep Purple's "Highway Star". They discuss the importance of that song, the greatness of the album and the band, plus some other musical f...

Slayer - "Chemical Warfare" Released August 4, 1984 on the EP Haunting the Chapel Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by the man known on Tik Tok as Metal Horror Madman, who has built a reputation for being passionate for metal, a defender of Slayer who goes so far as to scream about it. They discuss his discovery of Slayer, his love of the band and what stands out about "Chemical Warfa...

In this episode, Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is joined by the Executive Producer and Co-Creator of "Dark Side of the Ring" and the recent series of heavy metal documentaries, "Into the Void" about the song that he chose as the theme music for that series, Cirith Ungol's "Into the Void". Brian also talks about the production on this record with Bill Metoyer, whom Brian worked with on the p...

Accept - "Fast As A Shark" Released in November of 1982, on their album "Restless and Wild" Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel is reunited with his former co-host for the "Metal Misconduct" podcast for the NHL, Shawn Roarke, who is the director of editorial for NHL.com. They discuss some of their memories of doing that podcast, and how easily the episodes can still be found. They primary focus f...

Ministry - "Just One Fix" Released on June 14, 1992 on their album commonly known as "Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs" In this episode, Metal Blade Records CEO talks about the importance of the industrial sound to the legacy of heavy metal by focusing on Ministry's "Just One Fix". Current Ministry guitarist Monte Pittman talks about the song and how much fun it is to play it...

Metallica - "Hit The Lights" Originally Released as part of the first Metal Massacre compilation (6/14/82) In this episode, Metal Blade Records CEO takes us all the way back to the beginning, with one of the songs featured on the original Metal Massacre compilation, Metallica's "Hit The Lights", which is the first song the band ever recorded. Joining him for his walk down memory lane is Associate...