Top Ten Questions About Heavy Metal Musicians to Ask TopTenners

I guess James Hetfield is pretty talented since he can play Guitar better than Kirk Hammett, and Drums better than Lars Ulrich, but I guess the most talented Metal Musician goes to Jon Oliva since he can play pretty much every instrument imaginable, and is one of the best metal singers out there.

Either James Hetfield or Jon Oliva (cause he can play many other instruments)

I agree with zxm about Jon Oliva (Savatage).
Other musicians that are great at their primary duty (i.e. singer, guitarist, drummer, bassist,...) but who also have great songwriting skills, plus can do other things:
Jeff Waters, James Hetfield, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Steve Harris, Dave Mustaine, Tobias Sammet, Jon Schaffer, Hansi Kursch, Kai Hansen,+more.

I'm going to say Steve Harris for this one, since Iron Maiden is my favorite band, and he has written most of their songs all by himself.

Rob Halford, Hansi Kursch, and Jon Oliva are all great, but I guess this one goes to Ronnie James Dio because not only he wrote great lyrics, but his voice is better than that of Freddie Mercury's. I'm sorry, but it really is. He even helped make bands such as Rainbow and Black Sabbath even better than they were, and formed one of the best metal bands out there, Dio.

Technically speaking, the singers with almost no weak spots in their vocal technique are Michael Kiske and Geoff Tate. Also immensely talented (and my favorite) singers are: Dio, Hansi, Bruce D., Rob Halford, Jon Oliva, Tobias Sammet, Ian Gillan, Matt Barlow, Russell Allen, Ralf Scheepers.

Ozzy - he's got some singing ability but it's cringe worthy seeing him in the top 10 and even top 5 of every list about best metal singers. He didn't even invent the metal singing style (Ian Gillan did). Oh, and Ozzy didn't invent metal - what was the metal song he composed circa 1970 so that he invented this genre? And he's the biggest sellout in metal history. Calling him Godfather of metal is also cringe worthy. He doesn't even know what metal is - his fave metal band is AC/DC...

Ozzy Osbourne is pretty overrated, but Kirk Hammett is far more overrated since he's from a more popular band not nearly as good as Black Sabbath, and he isn't even a good guitar player. Ozzy Osbourne is famous because he, along with the rest of Black Sabbath, started heavy metal and made it as good as it is today. Kirk Hammett is only famous because of the band he was in.

I'm going to say Ritchie Blackmore because he, along with Ronnie James Dio helped make heavy metal as good as it is today, and Chuck Schuldiner is also pretty underrated since he helped laid the foundations of Death Metal.

Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore.
Ritchie Blackmore - basically he invented the template for metal songs: he merged rock music with classical (with one guitar! )
Ian Gillan - invented the metal singing style for clean vocals: operatic style, legendary screams, powerful voice, 4 octave vocal range (Freddie had the same range).

Also Jon Oliva, Jeff Waters, Tobias Sammet, Randy Black, Jorn Lande.

Ritchie Blackmore is probably my favorite since he has helped written great songs by Deep Purple and Rainbow, and played a lot of great solos. Just listen to Stargazer, and you will see how great he was at both songwriting, and guitar playing.

My favorite is Adrian Smith and Dave Murray's twin guitar works.And second its Synyster Gate's and Zacky Vengeance's guitar works

James Hetfield

Ozzy Osbourne may be a pretty good singer, but Ronnie James Dio makes him look like a talentless child unable to make a single sound.

Without a doubt - Dio. You don't even need to be a vocal expert to answer this question. Also, great personality this guy. R.I.P. Dio.

As much as I like Dave Mustaine, as he is a pretty good guitarist, I'm going to say James Hetfield was better because he is more talented, and was part of the band that fired Dave Mustaine. Not only that, but James Hetfield can play Drums, while Dave Mustaine couldn't.

James Hetfield any day.

Bill Ward is probably my favorite, since his drumming seems to be different than that of many other drummers, and he is pretty talented, and his drumming is not basic at all. When he left Black Sabbath, the band was no longer itself anymore.

Tomas Haake, Mike Mangini, George Kollias, Mike Portnoy, Flo Mounier, Gene Hoglan, Francesco Paoli, Dave Lombardo, Randy Black, Mike Terrana...and many more, esp. in death metal.

I think Mike Portnoy has got good drum skills

I hate this question because I can't answer, LOL. Both are great.

I think you all know who I was going to pick on this one.

It really depends on whether you want to listen to songs about politics and society, or more poetic songs about rainbows and stuff. I guess this would go to either Dave Mustaine (Politics and Society) or Ronnie James Dio (Poetry and Rainbow).

Bruce. But like always, Robert has more skills. But I like Bruce's voice more.

Rob vocal skills are slightly better. But I love them both.

I like both Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, and can't choose.
A newer band with very good twin lead guitars is Primal Fear. Try these songs for fast melodic solos on twin guitars: Strike, Riding The Eagle, And There Was Silence.
Also - Obscura. All their guitarists are perfectionists.

This is a close one between Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I guess Iron Maiden has the better guitarists, but Judas Priest's K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton have made really good solos in Painkiller, Electric Eye, and Freewheel Burning.

If its pair then Iron Maiden