#5) Twisted Sister - This was my first favorite band. As a 7 year old, I thought that these guys were the toughest rebels around. "We're not gonna take it", they told their highschool principal. Badass....or so I thought. Looking back they were five guys who wrote hard rock songs in major keys and wore WAY too much mascara. My dad took me to see them live with Dokken. (it was the bomb) I had no way of knowing at the time that my future wife was regularaly babysat by Dee Snyder! True story... 
#4) Bon Jovi - This is continuing with the theme of guys I thought were cool when I was a child. These guys were so cool to a 10 year old, yet seem so terribly uncool now. They did write extremely catchy, radio-friendly pop songs that sold millions and millions of albums. I'm not proud of this one, but I'd be lying if I didn't include them.
#3) The Flaming Lips - My favorite band for the last 8 years or so. The Lips are the most creative band working today. They write the music that they want, with no regard for whether it will be commercially viable, yet they are wildly popular. Their live shows are legendary, mixing humor, lasers, fake blood, animal costumes, hand puppets, etc. Their albums are as deeply layered as anything that Pink Floyd ever recorded. The world was waiting for a concept album about a small Japanese girl who defends the earth against an invaision of pink robots, and The Lips were just the band for the job.
#2) Guns N' Roses - The first truely badass band that I got into. Gn'R were essentially homeless while recording Appetite. They would sleep at whatever girl's apartment they were with that night. They drank Jack Daniels like it was water. They were the rebels that I was looking for when I was into all of the hair bands. Axl was a frontman who could be compared to Jagger, Mercury, or Plant without batting an eye, and I don't need to explain how perfect Slash was in talent, vibe, and execution. Appetite still holds up after 20 years because its 100% pure Hollywood sleaze rock n' roll.
#1) Metallica - Simply awesome. At a time when hard rock bands were wearing eyeliner and writing 3 minute pop songs, Metallica was revolutionizing Metal. They wore jeans instead of tight leather pants and cod pieces, and they barely washed their hair, much less teased it with hairspray. Inspired by British metal bands like Diamond Head, Motorhead, and any other bands with "head" in their name, Lars and James created speed metal. The unrelenting thrash of "Kill 'em All", the balls to put a ballad on "Ride the Lightening", and the most perfect metal album of all time, "Master of Puppets". Their songs were 8-10 minute epic suites of pure metal fury. Their lyrics were topical, but not cheesy. They were innovative without even trying. They got an unfair rap with the whole Napster thing, just trying to hold on to what is theirs and control what gets released. (Of course the media doesn't mention that Metallica give away more free music than any major band in the world, have you heard mention of that?) The original title for "Kill 'em All" says it all, Metal up your ass!
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