Love Maiden, Judas Priest, UFO, The Cult and others.

There's some great British hard rock bands out there... but I have to admit, possibly my favourite hard rock band is Aerosmith.

Really like AC/DC too (though as mentioned above, they could equally be described as British or Scottish).

Id say we have arguably the best Metal band of the last 30 years, definatly the best metal band that are still writing new material today and still putting on amazing shows, and thats Iron Maiden.

Sorry to burst yer bubble guys, but Lizzy were an Irish hard rock band, not English/British. Lynott rules! (RIP)

However, as to British hard rock/heavy metal bands, there is only one worthy to wear the crown... step forward, Maiden! The premier exponents of the metal in the 80s, a metal band who have always remained true to their roots and never sold out, a band whose songwriters can pen some of the most thought-provoking, deep and imaginative lyrics possible, and STILL rock like f**k! The "thinking man (ow woman)'s metal band". There have been, are and will be many pretenders to their throne, but there is, and always will be, only one band who deserve the title of Kings of British Heavy Metal!

Wow! Deja Vu! I just read back over the thread, and realised that I had already posted in it previously AND I said almost the exact same thing as I have said now!
Predictable, or what?

Lizzy might have Irish origins but Scott Gorham is American, Brian Robertson and Midge Ure are Scottish, John Sykes, Snowy White, Darren Wharton are all Brits, so really an international band.

Lizzy's name, according to the man himself, was a play on how the Dublin people speak, ie "Tin" for "Thin", and of course their biggest hit, "Whiskey in the jar" is based on an old Irish traditional song. Phil was the driving force behind the band, so in essence he WAS Thin Lizzy, and I think you'll find that most people will acknowedge them as being an Irish band.

Wasn't Lynott born in West Bromwich?

Most of what I listen to is 70's/80's rock as I'm not a fan of a lot of the newer stuff, favorites are Rainbow, UFO, Purple, Gillan, Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Praying Mantis, Jethro Tull, Budgie, Girlschool, Zeppelin, Magnum, Nazareth, Tygers of Pan-Tang and early Def Leppard.

OK, let's settle this.
Phil was born in the UK yes, but spent almost all of his adult life, his formative years and his best years in Dublin. He formed Thin Lizzy in Dublin, with Gary Moore (Irish) and Brian Downey (also Irish). There's a commemorative statue of him in Grafton St (Dublin) and he's buried in Sutton (Dublin).
He was an Irish boy, through and through.

Seen many of the greats back in their seventies heyday:
Zeppelin: bit of a mess live
UFO : really rockin but the songs were a bit weak
Judas Priest: same
Rainbow: good apart from the 30minute guitar solo got a bit boring
Thin Lizzy: always full on brilliant
Pink fairies: the great forgotten geniuses, rocked out wherever they played
but the ones that blew me away most were Deep Purple absolutely cookin'!!!

Then you probably don't want to hear that I saw them a few weeks ago, up close, at the Carling Islington Academy.

High and Dry is the best, I agree. They started the set with Let It Go and finished with an encore of Mirror Mirror, then Wasted.
That encore was worth the entrance fee alone.

Wasn't Gary Moore from Belfast? Part of the UK? Although I don't think Moore was in the original line up was he?

I always thought Eric Bell was the first guitarist in Thin Lizzy.

I read that when he left, Lynott didn't want to be caught out again losing a guitarist, so he recruited 2 guitarists, 'just in case'.

I'm assuming Bell is Irish.

Brian Robertson is from Glasgow. John Sykes is English as far as I know.

Belfast is still part of Ireland (when it suits us ): it is attached to the landmass! Politically, it can be either, but I would always consider anyone born in NI as being Irish (suppose it depends on the person themself, and their political views really --- I'm sure Ian Paisley would kick you in the arse if you called HIM Irish! )

I have to admit to not knowing what hard rock is meant to be. There appears to be rock, soft rock and progressive rock too and no doubt other genres. How do you differentiate between them?

Glam Rock appears to be blokes with long hair and shiny clothes.

Anyway for me my particular favourites are:

Free (very underated indeed)
Alex Harvey Band (Again very underated)
Humble Pie
Jethro Tull

As a sidenote I happen to work with the original drummer for Def Leppard. I wonder does he have any regrets after choosing a quite family life and a career in Human Resources.

I can't argue too much with that, as I'm a huge Maiden fan.

However, if were to ask me to name a band that simply defines the term 'heavy metal', I'd have to say Judas Priest.

I'd say that Priest have remained Loyal to their metal roots while never sitting still and evolving. Apparently the new album is a concept one about Nostradamus!

that's if we only consider UK acts

add
Cream
possibly Beatles - "Helter Skelter"?
Hawkwind
Iron Butterfly

good to see someone mention Iron Butterfly - love 'em

The earliest 'metal sound' band I could find is an american band called 'Blue cheer'
Here is a youtube of them from 1968!.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-kJONg...eature=related

Me too!!!!



in my day - it was heavy metal.

Nowadays its soft rock, glam rock, cock rock, prog rock, thrash, indie, punk, emo, hardcore, grind core, death metal, hair metal, doom metal, goth metal, vampyric goth metal (WTF!?)

argh - i cant keep up!

(and ive probably missed loads out)

Grand Funk Railroad
MC5

both US heavy rock/metal bands

then there was Steppenwolf

Aye, I was just being a little bit mischievious

Lizzy were a great band, no matter where they came from!

You'll get no argument here!

Has Motorhead been mentioned yet?
Or Whitesnake (the Mickey Moody, Bernie Marsden era , not Coverdale with some poodle haired Yanks)?
Tygers of Pan Tang?
Bad Company?

All under-rated British bands.