The best heavy metal bands of all time

The grandfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath (rated first) spawned the genre four decades ago with their self-titled debut. Behind the revolutionary riffs of guitarist Tommy Iomi, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward and singer Ozzy Osbourne tapped into a new, angry sound. The dark lyrics were 180-degrees away from the "hippy music" of the late '60s from which the boys from Birmingham, England, emerged. Critics hated it; teenage boys loved it.

Even after heavy metal's most famous front man was kicked out of the band in 1979 - for doing even more drugs than the rest of the band - Sabbath rebounded with a creative rebirth, courtesy of new lead singer Ronnie James Dio.

Anthrax's Scott Ian put it best in an interview with Blabbermouth.net: "I always get the question in every interview I do, 'What are your top five metal albums?' I make it easy for myself and always say the first five Sabbath albums."

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