1. Ozzy Osbourne. My childhood revolves around the guy in many ways. I don't like a damn thing he's done since "The Ultimate Sin" (though I liked half of "no Rest For The wicked), but everything else he did before was the soundtrack to my formative years.

2. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. For many of the same reasons I pointed out for Ozzy. They are both included because they are basically the same entity to me.

3. Martin Walkyier. Dude invented two genres of music... pagan metal with Sabbat and folk metal with Skyclad. Is THE best lyricist in metal, IMO, and is truly the Rodney Dangerfield of metal. Just no respect, even from a lot of his peers.

4. Udo Dikschnieder. Yes, he is somewhat of a one trick pony, but in his case I find that a good thing. The dude is metal, through and through. Has never pussied out, never sold out... Metal's Mascot Pitbull.

5. Dennis The Menace (Macabre drummer). When played well, the drums are what I find most alluring in metal music. Dennis ... umm... murders... the kit when he plays. Even live, rarely misses a beat. Macabre's music revolves a lot around nursery rhymes, folk songs, etc. and he somehow can drum in that style.

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"I've become an old man who tells old man stories". - JC.

This would also be a good topic for the non-Metal music forum.

Wow, that's a really tough question.

1. Gene Simmons. KISS was my introduction to R&R/Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. When I watched footage of KISS in concert, my eyes were fixed on Gene. He was absolutely demonic. He moved onstage like some Satanic reptile lizard god. In his prime, he was the very embodiment of theatrical evil. From 1974-1977, KISS was magic, and Gene was the primary focal point for me.

2. Alice Cooper. 70's-era Alice was like some depraved carnival attraction. Great music paired with cheesy stage props that looked like they were borrowed from the Jaycees Haunted House. Everything was cheap looking and tacky, but it somehow worked. A sick and twisted Vaudeville with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

3. Ozzy Osbourne. Six classic albums with Sabbath, coupled with Blizzard & Diary = Heavy Metal perfection.

4. Ted Nugent. 70's-era, pre-political Uncle Ted. My absolutely favorite Hard Rock/Metal lead guitarist of all time. Great songs plus energetic stage shows = one hell of a rockin' good time.

5. Lemmy. Why? Because he might very well be GOD.

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With Warmest Regards, Your Ol' Buddy Jesus.
(Award Winning Human Being)

2 Michiganders in your list.

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"I've become an old man who tells old man stories". - JC.

I have a list, but I want to give explanations too when I have time.

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kitteh

The first time I ever heard of Macabre is when I saw them live. Did not know they even existed until then. They filled in on a big national tour for someone who dropped off. Needless to say that I was blown away and laughed the whole time. Afterwards, all I could think about was finding out more about them. You want an awesome live act, see Macabre.

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kitteh

i've long thought that he's the most underrated drummer in all of metal. dude is amazing.

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Don't grieve for me
I'm not there
I am the gentle autumn rain
Hold up my lamp to light your way
farewell to thee

Ace Frehley....KISS was amazing and liked the sound of the guitar.

Eddie.....I can remember wearing out my brothers VH cassette on a recorder the size of a cereal box

Bruce Dickinson.....how ridiculously long he cold a note and a great storyteller thru his lyrics.

King Diamond....no explanation

Jimmy G from Murphys Law for showing me lyrics didn't always have to tell a story. They could be fun and stupid. Crucial bar bar bar bar barbar b que yahoo!!!!!

1. Steve Harris - Without Iron Maiden, I probably wouldn't like 90% Metal I like today. Iron Maiden was a major gateway band for me. Up until I heard them, I listened to 90s pop and gangsta rap as well as classic rock and hair metal. I think the heaviest thing I owned at the time was Van Halen's Fair Warning or Alice Cooper's Trash. If it weren't for the artwork of No Prayer for the Dying causing me to buy the cassette - I thought it was the coolest thing ever since I was an OG zombie fan - I probably would be thinking Metallica was the heaviest and greatest band in the world. Ooof.

2. Away - I love Voivod and their art. In fact, if it weren't for Nothingface's werid art, I never would have bought a CD of theirs. Something about Voivod really connected with me. They started me on my path to seeking out more obscure Metal bands. I have an upper arm full of Away-drawn Voivod character tattoos.

3. Ronnie James Dio - One of my earliest memories of ever listening to rock 'n roll on the radio is "The Man on the Silver Mountain." My dad told me about the band then and bought me a Deep Purple best of cassette a few weeks later because they "were better than Rainbow." (My dad also bought me Beatles, Led Zeppelin, BOC, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and Whitesnake tapes because he said I should listen to them rather than Run DMC) A few years later I would hear a Black Sabbath song on the Wayne's World soundtrack and wonder why that wasn't Ozzy. Again, my father had to explain who Ronnie James Dio was and how he replaced Ozzy. I would go out an buy Dehumanizer on tape. Yes, I started my Sabbath with Dio! I would search out his solo career and follow him through out the history of Metal. I would later first hear Ozzy-Sabbath songs on the Rhandy Rhodes Tribute cassette I would buy when my father said it had the best Ozzy songs. (I think he was talking about the Sabbath tracks, my dad's college roomate was a huge Sabbath fan and to this date my dad says he never wants to hear Paranoid or Master of Reality ever again. LOL. And plus these songs were different than the Ozzy radio play I would hear at the time (NRFTW-era).

4. Dave Mustaine - I started my Metal journey going from Def Leppard to Van Halen to Black Sabbath/Ozzy Solo to Metallica's "Black Album" to Iron Maiden to Countdown to Extinction. This was my first real shift in Metal. I thought Megadeth was way cooler than Metallica. This blew the mind of most of my middle school friends. I think Megadeth caused me to seek out stuff like Pantera, Anthrax, Overkill, Slayer and Testament.

5. Glenn Danzig - I probably should credit Metallica with my love of Danzig becasue if it weren't for my cousin's Garage Days Re-Visited cassette, I wouldn't have seeked out Danzig. The "Danzig songs" were my favorite on that tape. I remember seeing his name on the credits for the song. A few weeks later I would be snooping around in Media Play and see the Danzig section. I wound up buying III: How the Gods Kill because I thought it would be the same style since it was clearly the same dude. Ooops. I didn't know Danzig was also in the Misfits at the time.... Much like Ronnie James Dio, Glenn Danzig caused me to research music history and converted my tastes.

Honorable Mentions:
6. Dimebag Darrel - Pantera was another gateway band. One of my first CDs was Far Beyond Driven.
7. David Vincent - I bought Covenant on CD solely becasue of the Parental Advisory sticker. Morbid Angel would really alter my Metal tastes and set me apart from all the Metallica fans in my high school. Morbid Angel would cause me to buy Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse CDs (also based on their Parental Advisory stickers and band logos, I figured they had to be like Morbid Angel).
8. Oderus Urungus - I guy in my Hapkido class told me if I like Megadeth and Pantera, I would love GWAR. The rest is history.
9. Henry Rollins - The MTV rotation of "Liar" was the only 'alternative' song I liked that wasn't AIC, NIN or Ministry. Much like Danzig, Rollins would also act as a gatekeeper as I found out who he was and who he rubbed elbows with.
10. Blackie Lawless - If it weren't for my like of W.A.S.P., I never would have met MA on a W.A.S.P. forum which would have caused me never to me you clowns!!!!

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http://www.recordnerd.com/lists/9

I've just got one - Tony Iommi, because without him Metal as we know it would not exist.

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Blargh...
http://www.recordnerd.com/lists/Chaoseum

King Diamond was very hard to keep off my list. In fact, if I was on one of my many KD kicks and listening to the entire discograhy in order like I always do, he'd have made the list.

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"I've become an old man who tells old man stories". - JC.

I listed Ozzy to represent Black Sabbath as a whole.

Without Ozzy, Tony, and Geezer, Metal as we know it would not exist. Bill Ward was important, but ultimately expendable. The other three guys were not. Gotta remember that Geezer wrote nearly all the lyrics for Ozzy-era Sabbath.

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With Warmest Regards, Your Ol' Buddy Jesus.
(Award Winning Human Being)

Have you seen Sam Dunn's Metal Evolution? Bill Ward was an unusual drummer for his time. His style was not one normally found in rock music and had a strong influence on their sound and that of many future bands and drummers.

As for the main question itself? That's a very good question. One I think I'd have to give more thought before I answered it.

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In no particular order:

John Sykes - While discovering the heavier side of metal in 1983 I fell in love with John Sykes' solos on Thunder & Lighting by THIN LIZZY. It made me want to check out the rest of his stuff and that's when I discovered Tygers of Pan Tang along with a whole slew of killer NWOBHM bands. The guy still has the best guitar tone ever IMHO.

Michael Schenker - I used to see this guys name in Hit Parader magazine when I was 13 so I decided to pick up the debut MSG album. I was blown away and picked up the rest of the catalog after that. Funny thing is that I didn't get into UFO until after I got bored with MSG.

Geddy Lee - Rush was my favorite band growing up and I always thought that Geddy Lee's bass lines were the epitome of heavy.

Gary Moore - My absolute favorite guitar player. No one ever played with more emotion. Ever.

Kevin Heybourne - The riffs this guy wrote made such an impression on me during my sophomore year in high school that I still consider the debut Angel Witch album my favorite metal album ever.

All great choices.

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With Warmest Regards, Your Ol' Buddy Jesus.
(Award Winning Human Being)

Mikael Akerfeldt - For a long time he's been the musician I've looked up to the most. He's constantly trying new things and doing a damn good job at it. He has a knack for writing great songs with a ton of melody and incorporating crushing death metal perfectly, in my opinion. His guitar work isn't super flashy but he gets his point across and has some very well done leads. Also a great vocalist. By no means is he some kind of virtuoso, I just think he has a really good ear.

Ihsahn - Vegard has went from a kid who helped pioneer and turn black metal into what it is today. Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse got me into black metal. He seems very self critical about what he writes and it really shines through. His dedication to songwriting and pushing boundaries really impresses me. It's interesting to hear how much he's matured as a songwriter and as a person since Emperor's early days.

Chuck Schuldiner - Death were a pioneering band. Each successive release seemed to help redefine death metal. He wasn't the greatest musician (not saying he was mediocre at all, he was excellent) but he managed to bring together some of the best musicians in metal and create unforgettable songs. His death was a tragedy and I think that adds mystique to him and what he accomplished. So many bands wouldn't be here if it weren't for what Chuck did with Death.

Daniel Mongrain - Canadian tech death metal band Martyr created on their first 2 albums some of the best music I've ever heard. Every song on Hopeless Hopes and Warp Zone give me goosebumps. Dan manages to perfectly blend, in my opinion, very technical music with incredible melody. When I listen to a song like "Inner Peace" all I can think of is how blatant the classical influence is. I think Cynic's "Focus" is the only album that beats these two albums by Martyr. That's how good of a songwriter I think Dan is.

Dimebag Darrell - Dimebag made me love metal. Just a sick individual on guitar. Even after all of the crazy technical guitarists I've heard, his leads still evoke the most emotion in me. He was a virtuoso who totally didn't look the part but you can't ever deny his abilities. He's inspired so many people... maybe even on the level of guys like Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, Ritchie Blackmore and Randy Rhodes. I'm younger than most of the regulars on here and Pantera spoke to me as a kid more than the pioneers of the genre.

Most of these aren't metal musicians, but there ya go

Philip Glass - been listening to this guy's music since I saw Koyaanisqatsi as a grade schooler. I learned early on the beauty of repetition, how perception changes even if the notes don't.

Trent Reznor - a poppy intro to the world of industrial music and sonic sculpture. The man did an amazing job balancing his pop-oriented songwriting with seriously brutal and intricate textures. The extended coda to "Closer" is a study in skillful counterpoint and layering.

David Gilmour - my guitar hero. the fewer notes you play, the more each one matters.

Slash - yeah yeah, but when he played a guitar solo in a desert churchyard filmed via helicopter, I knew I had to learn how to play guitar. I should probably give the cameraman some credit too.

Nils Frykdahl - I haven't liked everything he's done, but Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Faun Fables reminded me that weird music can matter, and that rock music can successfully be used against itself. Il Futurismo Nasche!!!

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Until lions have their own historians, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

I'll give it a shot.

Peter Steele - One of the reasons why I got into metal music was because of Steele and Type O Negative. It showed that metal music didn't always have to be at one speed or one sound and that atmosphere is just as important.

Geddy Lee - My introduction to the progressive style came in the form of Rush, though I didn't know it at the time.

Bruce Dickinson - Metal vocals as traditionally defined are personified by this man.

Lemmy - Though the live shows are practically the same, it also shows that Lemmy and Co. are the model of consistency.

Ozzy Osbourne - Long before he became a shell of his former self, he was one a hell of a vocalist whose voice projected like no other.

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http://pucksandrocks.blogspot.com/

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http://www.recordnerd.com/lists/9

Rory Gallagher did.