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Iron Maiden's only No. 1 single 'Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter' had very low sales, I believe. Still a good achievement though, seeing as the BBC banned it. Things haven't changed much - radio still hates anything with distortion.

Yes and yes. Said it before that RATM succeeded and BITW failed because RATM was a rebellious rock song, while BITW was just annoying. Smells Like Teen Spirit is a classic rock anthem, many people including myself have fond memories of it. Would love to see it get to No. 1, would be a great way to mark Nevermind's 20th anniversary year as well, with a victory over manufactured tripe! I think it will succeed if it's support keeps growing at the current rate.

My favourites would be 'The Change', 'Lost In Paradise' and 'My Heart Is Broken'. Can definitely see all three of those having singles chart potential (although perhaps not in the UK with our terrible musical taste in the singles chart), bizarre that they chose 'What You Want' as the lead single - it's by no means bad, but very average compared to most of the album. Definitely worth it picking up the Deluxe Edition, the extra tracks are good.

Well maybe Denmark was more pop-rock than Georgia's nu-metal entry, but it still qualifies as a rock entry in my book - it did have guitars, bass and drums, with distortion :P

Really pleased for Georgia and Denmark, both finished very high up the leaderboard! Goes to show that the Lordi effect is still there, and that a quality rock song can do well in the competition.

If anything, this is proof that political voting doesn't exist to the extent some people claim. The only countries Blue is doing well in the charts are in Western Europe. As expected, Eastern Europe couldn't give a rats arse about them.

Very Good 1. Georgia 2. Moldova 3. Denmark Good 4. Estonia 5. Serbia 6. Romania Average To Poor 7. Austria 8. Hungary 9. Germany 10. Slovenia 11. Azjerbaijan 12. Ireland 13. Finland 14. United Kingdom 15. Ukraine 16. Switzerland 17. Bosnia 18. France 19. Iceland 20. Russia Diabolical 21. Italy 22. Sweden 23. Lithuania 24. Spain 25. Greece

You're all crazy, Moldova was the greatest thing ever witnessed at Eurovision! At least it was in tune, unlike Mr. Popular :P

A tenner on Moldova...what a bloody brilliant performance and a ridiculously catchy song! It has the Lordi effect and people are talking about it, so I think it's gonna get it! :D

I'm gonna make a bold prediction - Georgia for a Top 5 finish. It has power, it has a catchy chorus, it is by far the strongest rock entry. Not to mention that female-fronted rock/metal bands tend to be very popular on the rest of the continent, but for some reason they never do well in the UK. I'd been saying it would qualify all along and people poo-pood that idea, so what do y'all know anyway ;)

You do have a point there, I actually forgot that Muse were a strong singles band as well. Although the extent to which either The Killers or Coldplay are true rock bands is a debatable matter!

The simple answer to that is very easily. If a band is good enough, the rock/metal community will start talking about them. People will go to their gigs and buy their albums. They'll probably download their singles illegally or listen to them on YouTube, or increasingly the band themselves will give them out for free. Why? Because if you are a rock band, in this day and age, success in the singles chart is irrelevant to your overall success. I realise this is controversial here on Buzzjack, but it's as close to a fact as you can get. Who was the last rock band to have sustained success in the UK singles chart? Probably The Darkness, and we all know what happened to them. Conversely, look at the success bands formed in the early 00s are now having, such as Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine, Lamb of God, Disturbed etc. Not in the singles chart, but more in album sales and touring. Heck, this trend is even starting to be found in pop music - aside from 'The Flood', Take That's latest album has failed to meaningfully impact the singles chart. Yet it hasn't affected the performance of the album one bit. The world has moved on. The singles charts are merely one way of measuring popularity, no longer the be-all-and-end-all of it. Particularly in the UK and US over these past few years the singles chart has merely become a selection of generic club and R&B tunes, with the odd exception. Rock music may not be in vogue in the singles chart atm - in fact it may never be again - but ALL the other evidence points towards the fact that it remains strong in album sales, and particularly in touring performance. There are hundreds of thousands of people attend Download and Sonisphere in the UK each year, yet the media like to pretend they don't even exist. Rock is not a genre in decline, but a genre in transition between the old media and the new.

The reason rock isn't in the singles charts is simply because they are irrelevant to the success of the genre. Look at the most recent evidence - Foo Fighters single 'Rope' is one of their lowest charting ever. The album hits No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic (their first US No. 1) and breaks digital records in Australia and New Zealand. Iron Maiden release the lead single from their new album as a free download, making it ineligible in the charts. The album tops the charts in over 30 countries worldwide. The fact is that rock music continues to be strong in album sales and particularly in touring/live performance, where it is easily the highest earner. Success in the singles chart is in this day and age a total irrelevance for the vast majority of rock acts. And also another thing that irks me is all this talk about UK artists 'breaking' America as though it's something impossible to do. Bullet For My Valentine, a Welsh metal band, are very popular over there with their latest album hitting No. 3 on the Billboard 200. So much for a band that Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell had never heard of on X-Factor!

No. 16 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/BHARCOVER.jpg Artist: Muse Album: Black Holes and Revelations Released: July 2006 UK Chart Position: 1 Genre: Alternative Rock/Progressive Rock Description: When I first started this thread, one of my Top 40 albums was Muse's Origin Of Symmetry, an album which I described as their best. Yet as months passed, my mind began to change...for me, this is Muse's finest hour. The main reason is that Matt Bellamy is on fire on each and every one of these tracks, with outstanding riffs and technical virtuosity. From the tapping solo in Invincible to the spaced out riffs of Map of the Problematique, this is perhaps the one album where the guitar really takes centre-stage. Of course, you can't talk about this album without mentioning Knights Of Cydonia, almost unquestionably a 21st century rock masterpiece that straddles an invisible line somewhere inbetween Queen, Pink Floyd and Metallica. BHAR undoubtedly divided Muse fans, in a similar way to Metallica's Black album, but I sit on the side of the fence that says while it was different, it was still bloody good. It is stadium rock at it's best, and I have no doubt that decades from now, rock fans will still be discovering and rediscovering this excellent album.

No. 17 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/GunsnRosesUseYourIllusionII.jpg Artist: Guns N' Roses Album: Use Your Illusions II Released: 1991 UK Chart Position: 1 Genre: Hard-Rock Description: It is easy to forget just how big a band Guns N' Roses were in the early 1990s. The release of the two Illusions albums ranks up there with some of the most hyped releases of all time, with queues forming around street corners awaiting for record stores to open. On both sides of the Atlantic and in many countries around the world, the albums hit the top of the charts in positions 1 and 2 - it was UYI II that usually came out on top, thanks to the storming lead single 'You Could Be Mine', which was also featured prominently in Terminator 2. It was in many ways the end of an era from that point of view, as few albums would capture the public's imagination in such widescale fashion after it's release - and, equally importantly, it was also the last Guns N' Roses album recorded by the classic line-up of Axl, Slash, Izzy and Duff (Appetite for Destruction drummer Steven Adler had already been fired), and therefore for many fans, the swansong of classic Guns N' Roses. GNR fans remain fiercely divided even today on a 50/50 basis as to which was the better album. Generally speaking, the concensus is the UYI I is the 'harder' album, but features a great deal of filler, while UYI II is experimental and varied, with songs taking influences from blues, country, jazz, funk, and in the case of the album's utterly bizarre closing track, even hip-hop. But, for me, UYI II shows why Guns N' Roses were more than just a run-of-the-mill hard-rock band - there is real songwriting variety and talent here from all of the band's members. The blistering rock of 'You Could Be Mine' and 'Get In The Ring' showcase GNR at their vicious best, particularly Axl's verbal abuse of as many journalists as he could name in the latter song providing one of the albums most memorable, yet surreal, moments: "That means you Andy Sesher at Hit Parader, Mick Wall at Kerrang...what you pissed off because your Dad got more p*ssy than you?". Yet it is when GNR step outside their comfort zone that one really sees the songwriting talent that they had in abundance; from Izzy's Stradlin's blues ode '14 Years', to Slash's jazz influenced riffs in 'Locomotive', to the (arguably now definitive) cover of Knockin' On Heavens Door, to Axl's anti-war rallying call in 'Civil War', this album really offers something that was not found in Appetite From Destruction. We see a softer, dare I say it, emotional side to the 'most dangerous band in the world', but without sacrificing the quality songwriting that made them such a success in the first place. This is most obvious in 'Estranged', a 9 minute epic of piano, guitar and Axl's best ever vocal performance - indeed, it frequently tops GNR fan polls as their best ever song, and perhaps more than any other GNR track shows why Axl was just as indispensable to Slash, Izzy and Duff as they proved to be to him. Use Your Illusions II may not sound like 'classic' GNR all the time, yet it is indisputably one of the most varied and complex hard-rock albums ever released, with songs that appeal to a very broad spectrum of listeners.

Foos are also No. 1 on Amazon MP3 with Adele at No. 4 - probably helping that they are album of the week and available for £3.99! :)

Just picked it up for that, thought it would be that price, Amazon are really good at discounting rock albums - last year both Avenged Sevenfold's and Iron Maiden's albums were available for £3 on Monday.

Albums: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (£3.99 download on Amazon!)

I'm shocked it didn't go to No. 1 in Holland actually, they're bloody huge there! What got the top spot?

No. 18 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Slayer_South_of_Heaven_Cover.jpg Artist: Slayer Album: South Of Heaven Released: 1988 UK Chart Position: N/A Genre: Thrash metal If Anthrax were the most experimental, Megadeth were the most technical and Metallica were the most accessible, then there's never been any doubt that Slayer were the most brutal and heavy of the so-called 'Big Four' of thrash metal. Slayer's music has the ability to make metal fans bang their heads and non-metal fans to hide behind their sofas with a combination of their evil riffs, dark lyrics and sinister vocal delivery. Oh, and did I mention the speed? Propelled by one of the greatest drummers of all-time, Dave Lombardo, Slayer's music reaches almost ludicrous velocities when at full-tilt. Perhaps that's why South Of Heaven works so well...not because of the speed, but because it showed Slayer could work WITHOUT relying on it. Instead, the tracks are more structured, contrasting slow, sinister passages with pedal-to-the-metal (excuse the pun) speed, rather than limiting themselves to one or the other. And oh boy does it work...'Silent Scream' has enough double-bass kicks to burst your ear drums, and 'Dissident Aggressor' turns a relatively tame Judas Priest song into something that could usher in the apocalypse. Ultimately, one thing is more powerful about this album than anything else, and that's the drums - I've already alluded to them several times, but that's because you can't escape them. Some bands like to have the drummer keep a steady, constant rhythm - not Slayer. Lombardo changes his pace and drum fills more often than the Lib Dems change their policies. And this is incredibly apparent in the production of the album, which at times makes the drums even more prominent and explosive than the guitar. Thankfully, this is Dave Lombardo, not Lars Ulrich, so unlike Metallica's disastrous drum-heavy production on St. Anger, South Of Heaven greatly benefits from this production, which adds a dynamnic sense of controlled speed and technicality that was missing from their previous releases. South Of Heaven showed that Slayer could do more than just the manic lunacy of Reign In Blood, and were capable of creating an album both melodic yet speedy, and dark yet accessible. ------------------- As before all feedback is welcome, and *hopefully* I will be updating this far more often now.

AFTER A MASSIVELY RIDICULOUS GAP, I AM RETURNING TO COMPLETE THE LIST OF MY FINAL 20! --------------------- No. 19 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Trouble_-_Manic_Frustration.jpg Artist: Trouble Album: Manic Frustration Released: 1992 UK Chart Position: N/A Genre: Pyschedelic rock/Doom metal/Classic rock Never heard of them? Neither had I until recently. Yet if you're a fan of doom metal, you owe these guys a HUGE gratitude. When the classic heavy-metal sound of Black Sabbath started to become a relic of metal's past, Trouble, alongside other doom pioneers Saint Vitus and Pentagram, were there to pick up the pieces. Trouble's first album, Psalm 9, is generally regarded as a classic of the doom metal genre. So, you may be asking, why is it not on this list? Well, the simple reason is that doom metal isn't one of my all-time favourite genres - yet Trouble didn't limit themselves, and Manic Frustration is therefore a perfect example of a band who were able to cross genre boundaries almost effortlessly. Lead single 'Memory's Garden' juxtaposes a Sgt. Pepper-esque acoustic backing with a riff and vocal track taken straight from the pages of Led Zeppelin's 'How To Rock Like A Man' book. Album opener, 'Come Touch The Sky', is a track of classic rock perfection, but with the guitar tone of Deep Purple's early heavy-metal work. 'Breathe' is the closest the album gets to the band's previous doom sound, the echoed vocals and excessive reverb practically drowning the track in it's own lyrical content. You want another genre? Fine, why not add some pyschedelica to the mix? 'Hello Strawberry Skies' and 'Mr. White' are the sort of drug-fuelled riff fests The Beatles would have written if they had lasted another decade. Ultimately, Manic Frustration mixes so many genres, it's like a wine-tasting evening - you give them all a try and then decide which one you want to take home for the full experience. If you enjoy the doom metal, you might want to check out their first three albums; if you like the classic-rock/metal sound, try their self-titled and albums following Manic Frustration; and if you enjoy the pyschedelica, then you'll probably enjoy all of Trouble's albums, which take more than minor inspiration from pyschedelica. Looking over my list of the Top 40 so far, and the bands yet to come, and having to choose the most underrated band there, I'd pick Trouble in a heartbeat. If you're a fan of any of the genres mentioned, you owe it to yourself to check these guys out.

Stream the ENTIRE ALBUM FOR FREE (and legally) - http://birdsneedfeet.blogspot.com/2011/04/...rs-wasting.html Not an April's Fool btw. Only on track 2 so far so have just heard Bridges Burning and Rope so far...

Full version of Bridge's Burning: http://rockitoutblog.com/2011/03/30/listen...bridge-burning/

It was a victim of it's own hype. It could never possibly live up to that. Although I still think it is a great album and I will defend it to the hilt, and it's worthwhile noting that at no point did Axl or any other band member claim it was to be one of the best albums of all-time. That was a media invention, a consequence of hype. And yeah, agree with the above poster about Izzy. People always love to go on about Slash, but Izzy wrote most of GNRs riffs.

I agree, he should turn up on time when possible, especially at festivals. But in many ways, you've proven my point - you, quite reasonably, believe that Axl turning up late for gigs is a given. GNR played over 50 shows in 34 countries throughout 2010. The vast, vast majority of these shows went off without a hitch, and those who attended generally thought they put on a great show, lasting well over 2 hours and sometimes pushing 3 hours. The band were rarely more than half an hour late, which is well within acceptable limits - I've seen Metallica twice, they were late twice. Just last week I saw Gogol Bordello in a tiny venue, and they were 45 minutes late. When I saw Guns N' Roses, they were 15 minutes late. Yet do you ever read about this side of GNR? No, instead the press gleefully parades the events at Reading Festival and Dublin, as though GNR are the touring equivalent of a headless chicken, and paying to go see them - ignoring issues of line-up, Chinese Democracy etc. - is risking your money. If I was Axl, I'd be quite understandably pissed that the media peddles such a blatantly false image of my band. Don't get me wrong, Axl can be a bit of a twat, and very often he is. What happened at Reading was inexcusable, and Dublin was handled badly, but as someone who has followed the band very closely over the last five/six years or so, he gets a terribly raw deal from the media.