Comprodrigue

If classic heavy metal is in case, my list would look likr this
1. Iron Maiden-Somewhere in Time
2. Accept-Balls to the Wall
3. Grim Reaper-Fear no Evil
4. Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath
5. Danzig-Danzig II:Lucifuge
The rest would be pretty much Maiden. As I am going to pay a listen to Motorhead and Priest soon, list might change.

True. Also Maiden is still fulling the stadiums around the globe!

Posts like these are why I join metal forums.  Anytime spent on the internet helping others find and appreciate new music is time well spent!

Not a big fan of the band, but I always remember "Patterns in the Ivy" instrumental from "Blackwater Park". Beautiful, atmospheric track. "Coil" from "Watershed" is also great. "In my Time of Need" is very dreamy and kinda nostalgic, melancholic. For some reason there was a point back in 2011 where I listened "Heritage" for quite some time, I don't know why. I don't know, there are couple of tracks that I really like to listen when I'm in a mood for that kind of atmosphere.

really started listening to them last year and now there by far 1 of my favourite bands love the extreme complexitie and form of there music, beautiful and melodic and fast heavy riffs also there keyboard and guitar solos are the shit

Well done, amico mio! 
Your list is very focused on the late era, which is the one of the mega huge monster successes... hard to argue with the monster best seller that you have put in your list... BUT when we are talking post 1986 hair metal there is one major seller that HAS to be featured... and that is White Lion's "PRIDE" (indeed). Vito Bratta's melodic solos are unmatched. The tunes are great in their own right too, but it's his mesmerizing playing that really sets the record apart! 
It's impossibly hard for me to come up with a list... so what I can do now is pay tribute to the first movers in the scene. Without these bands, there would be no Poison, no Warrant, no Guns, no Skid, no Cinderella, and so on. No nothing!
Here are the most relevant records that spawned the whole movement in the early 80's, IMHO (which might not be so humble, but most certainly is mine).
1. Motley Crue - "Too Fast for Love". The real KICKSTARTER. The one on Leathur records. Nuff said.
2. WASP - "WASP". Sure, it came out in 1984, but Blackie had been a stapler for quite a while, crossing his path with Nikki and bringing New York to LA alongside his fellow former band mate in the NY Dolls and Killer Kane, Mr. Arthur Kane (who used to be the boyfriend of Stacia, the tall naked dancer that was featured as part of Hawkwind's stage show in their Lemmy days). Kickass.
3. Quiet Riot - "Metal Health". Famously known as the first heavy metal record to top the Billboard Pop Chart. If you ask me, it is not. Led Zeppelin did that multiple times, but obviously Led Zeppelin would be offended if you called them heavy metal. So it shall go down as the first heavy metal album in history to top the Billboard Chart and take pride in it! In 1983 they jumped ahead of competition. They made it to the Us Festival alongside Ozzy, Ratt, the Scorps, Motley, Triumph from Canada and the kings of the Strip, Van Halen (whose performance on that occasion was sub par... The best were The Scorpions, closely followed by Quiet Riot... Triumph ruled too, but their repertoire is inferior... Ozzy was coked outta his mind, which is good, but the Jake E Lee incarnation of his band was still warming up). Motormouth Dubrow lost momentum right away bad mouthing every other musician on the planet. In their Randy Rhoads days were part of the Starwood scene that also featured the self proclaimed "American Deep Purple" aka Legs Diamond, Starz, Angel (whenever they were in LA) and bands like Xciter (with George Lynch) and Dante Fox (soon to become Great White). BTW it is fairly obvious that VAN HALEN is the single most important hard rock band to come out of Los Angeles in the 70's.
4. Ratt - "Out of the Cellar". This record initially outsold "Shout at the Devil"! First example of the typical Beau Hill production. He went on to do every other band. Roxx Gang, the Storm, Warrant, Europe, Kix (check out "Midnite Dynamite", he used the exact same vocals processing that he used on Stephen Pearcy's vocals), you fucking name it! Huge seller. Super solid band and charismatic singer... up until then, of course. Pearcy overnight became notorious as THE OTHER asshole on the Strip (right next to Vince, of course). The songs were mostly courtesy of the big man, Robbin Crosby, also known as THE KING. Rightfully so, he is sorely missed. The Ratt EP is also mandatory to understand the early Strip scene.
5. Great White - Same. A wonderful record with loads of heavy metal guitars, amazing arrangements and the outstanding vocal talent of Jack Russell. I said it before, I will say it again. Had he had the looks of a Vince Neil or a Bret Michaels, GW would have been the winners and, to quote Dubrow, WINNERS TAKE ALL. He looked like the ugly motherfucker he is, so Motley Crue got the Lion's share.
6. Dokken - "Tooth and Nail". The debut album, "Breaking the Chains", showed some promise, but this one totally outshines (RIP Chris Cornell) it! Lynch gave all the Ozzy gunslingers and Van Halen wannabes a run for their money with his ingeniously constructed tapping master class in the title track. It's not about overcomplexity, it's about goddamn TASTE! And power too! Also check out the riff of "When Heaven Comes Down". Kiss already had a song with that riff ("Not for the Innocent" on the "Lick it Up" record), but it went on to become the typical Lynch riff. Funnily enough, musicians refer to those descending semitones as chromatic... but in Italy a journalist was inspired by the word to apply the concept of CHROME to basic hard rock. For that reason, Italian hair metal connoisseurs (yes, I am not the only one, there's many) refer to the sort of hard rock that leans on the heavy metal side as CHROMED hard rock (as in covered by an extra layer of slick metal). "When Heaven Comes Down" is like a blueprint for CHROMED HARD ROCK. Want more? Check out "Unchain the Night" from Dokken's follow up record, "Under Lock and Key".
7. Steeler - Same. Ron Keel teams up with Yngwie Malmsteen under Mike Varney's supervision. "Cold day in Hell" is a classic. Rik Fox on bass had ties with both WASP and Angel.
8. Stryper - "The Yellow and Black attack". I'm not the biggest Stryper fan on Earth, but when I saw them play live some 8 or 9 years ago they blew the place to the ground! They are gifted, God has been kind on them. Tim Gaines used to play in STORMER, one of the first Strip bands to use the pentagram. Then he found Christ (or the other way around), quit booze, drugs and witchery... The music was still wicked, though!
9. Black n Blue - Same. Hailing from Portland, Oregon. They came to Los Angeles with two fellow Portland bands: Wild Dogs and Malice. B'n'B were the most melodic of the three. "Hold on to 18" shoud have been HUGE. Dieter Dierks at the helm for this first record. Solid heavy metal. Tommy Thayer was good here.
10. Rough Cutt - Same. It only came out in 1985, but Rough Cutt definitely belong to the first wave of southern Californian heavy metal. Born from a rib of Ratt, the Paul Shortino led band found its place in the heart of Ronnie James and Wendy Dio. In later years a succession of singers tried out for them, including none other than Joe Leste of Bango Tango fame. Rough Cutt were very good, but just not as good as the above nine bands.
 
So here you go. These are the Top 10 albums of the Very First Wave of Southern Californian Hair Metal! Save this post for posterity, it's PLATINUM.
 
 
 
 
Very nice list, but this is a capital sin! "Back for the Attack" is Dokken's FOURTH! 
1 Breaking the Chains
2 Tooth and Nail
3 Under Lock and Key
4 Back for the Attack
 
Also... I LOVE the Neil Kernon produced "Under Lock and Key"! It does have some UBER heavy and fast tunes. "When The Lightning Strikes Again", for instance. They opened the Judas Priest "Turbo" tour while promoting this record... Lucky for them that the Priest toned down their heaviness for this tour, so there wouldn't be so much of a starking contrast! Imagine Dokken opening the "Painkiller" promotional tour!

Symphony X!!! \m/
I'm gonna say..
Lamb of God "Redneck" 
Symphony X "Dehumanized"
Gojira "Vacuity" OMG THAT SONG.. time to go listen to it
 

I was talking to a friend about Maiden just yesterday and said something similar.
The first five or six albums have that spirit and energy. Just beautiful, fun, albums. 'Book of Souls' was hailed as a comeback album and I bought it, and it's just not. It's so flat and boring. It's slow paced rock with guitars that saw the (staggeringly) three guitar players forget to turn the distortion on. 
It has a couple of cool moments, but my nanna with a mop and bucket chances on a good beat occasionally. It's grandpa metal and deserves very little praise in my estimation. Happy for others to like it though (and I do like some of it!)

If classic heavy metal is in case, my list would look likr this
1. Iron Maiden-Somewhere in Time
2. Accept-Balls to the Wall
3. Grim Reaper-Fear no Evil
4. Black Sabbath-Black Sabbath
5. Danzig-Danzig II:Lucifuge
The rest would be pretty much Maiden. As I am going to pay a listen to Motorhead and Priest soon, list might change.

Another interesting thread that I've missed. This place just keeps on giving. 
My favourite Iron Maiden album is probably 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'. It wasn't always, but I think for me where I am with music in 2017, this would be the album. It's an absolute classic. 
Quickly behind it are 'Powerslave' and 'Number of the Beast'. I think I tend to overlook 'Number of the Beast' a little bit because it's so damn obvious, but remember the VERY first time you heard 'Hallowed by thy Name'? Or the title track? 
As for the 'X-Factor' and 'Vitrual XI' controversy, I don't think I ever heard the latter album, but I've had 'X-Factor' on CD since it came out, and while I don't listen to it these days, I remember it has some pretty decent songs on it. Blaze sounds terrible, but a song like 'Sign of the Cross' is a really good tune. 

What are its essential features?
But...
And...
What makes it what it is?

Epic Req ^
I can't believe no-one seems to have mentioned Derek Riggs.. Used to love looking at the Maiden posters and finding all the little hidden details! 'Killers' always used to blow me away.

For me it's got to be Ed Repka.  I love his use of violet and purple, it makes his work seem set at dusk or in some kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland.  To be honest, a lot of his scenes remind of the most intense fight scences from DBZ (especially during the Namek Saga), which is one of the highest compliments I can give.  I am aware some may see this is an "easy answer" but I honestly can't get enough of his work.

^ I’m giving you a ‘like’ for ‘I am a Viking’ alone...

Intro or Chorus from Lunatic of Gods Creation (Deicide), the riff(s) that first got me into death metal.
Raining Blood (Slayer), Iron Man (Black Sabbath), Ace of Spades (Motörhead) how has no-one said any of these already?
The verse riff from La Vie Est Prélude... (La Mort Orgasme) (Gorguts).
A lot of riffs on Rust in Peace (Megadeth) such as the Tornado of Souls intro, the Hanger 18 sweeped riff and solo breahup riff, the Poison was the Cure main guitar riff and the Rust in Peace...Polaris verse riff alongside the Holy Wars... The Punishment Due riff @Requiem mentioned.      
Also the Peace Sells bassline/outro riff.
The Haunting (Testament) main riff.
I am a Viking intro riff (Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force) .
Also, althoughit doesn't have the "classic" status of all of the others here, I really like the verse riff from Ending (Psycroptic).

Another guitarist here ^^! I am playing guitar for 2 years now. As you mentioned legends that reminds me of a series I watched recently, it is called Cracking the Code and Troy Grady(if I am not mistaken) is creator. He told a story of his friendship with guitar and how he learnt to play. The series is followed by exellent explanations, cool animations and I learnt much things from it so I warmly recommend it to anyone who wonders how Yngwie, Michael Angelo and Eric Johnson can play that fast and clean.

I have been playing guitar for 10 years (Im 20 now). I got started because I've been listening to hard rock and blues since i was born and always wanted to learn how to play and write my own music. I practice everyday and try writing something new every day as well. its an obsession for me at this point. a very healthy obsession

Re: How Metal Affects You
hahaha point well made :L like when someone walks around with an ugly friend to make them look better, that's what other genres do to metal

Re: How Metal Affects You however.......the other music exists to show how great metal is.

Cool! Thank you, Comprodrigue. I'm not too familiar with them, so I will be sure to look into their music

Maybe someone mentioned them before me if not you will read this recommendation for a first time here. I recommend Symphony X.

You're right. I don't understand at all. I don't think I've ever spoken with anyone else who got disappointed rather than excited about discovering another good band, no matter what kind of music they were into. In fact I'd say the one common thread among all of my music friends is that we're always trying to learn more.

Your tastes may differ from Alabasters'.. that is nothing to do with it..however he is quite correct, you are missing out on soo much ...