Top 10 Early Metal Songs with the Best Screams (1970-1979)

The Top Ten

  1. Child in Time - Deep Purple

    1970. Legendary screams, especially at the end of the song. Ian Gillan screams generously for about 2 minutes. Hands down, one of the best vocal performances of all time (not only for the screams).

    This song has some non-metal elements, but metal prevails.

  2. Bird of Prey - Uriah Heep

    1970. A great intro scream by David Byron. Hands down. And his vocals are awesome throughout the entire song.

  3. Hard Lovin' Man - Deep Purple

    1970. In general, Ian Gillan's screams are incredibly well controlled and performed. He started the art of correct screaming in metal.

    This song is very important for many reasons, but regarding screams, Gillan used multiple screams systematically, not only one scream or a series of screams put in one place. He did more than that. Screams appear at certain intervals in certain places in the song.

    This idea is important. It's been used by metal singers ever since. Example: Blind Guardian used systematic multiple screams in a similar way in Tanelorn (2010).

  4. The Wall - Squadran

    1979. A very good intro scream and several shorter ones later. Man, this guy's screams sound like King Diamond's, although this song came out before King Diamond. And his singing style is obviously influenced by Rob Halford. Squadron are from NYC.

  5. Highway Star - Deep Purple

    1972. A great intro scream and screamed vocals several times later (example: "I love it and I need it, I bleed it, yeah").

  6. Dissident Aggressor - Judas Priest

    1977. A very good intro scream by Rob Halford. This song is already a very developed metal song (because it's from 1977).

  7. Tired of Me - Accept

    1979. A pretty good intro scream by Udo, but I didn't put this song very high because it's on the borderline between metal and hard rock.

  8. Ride the Sky - Lucifer's Friend

    1970. An intro scream by John Lawton, who later replaced David Byron in Uriah Heep.

  9. The Ripper - Judas Priest

    1976. A very short intro scream by Halford. In the 70s, he didn't scream much. This song is a mix of metal and hard rock, but I think it's more metal.

  10. Speed King - Deep Purple

    11. The Contenders

  11. Victim of Changes - Judas Priest

    This song is not a metal song and wasn't added by me. I even explained that in the list description right under the list title.

  12. Ogre Battle - Queen

    Like I said before, this song has really good screams.

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