Who is the best out of the big 4 ???

[blaaacdoommmmfan]

On 11/3/2020 at 9:49 PM, halloween said:

Should TESTAMENT have been in the big 4 in stead of anthrax?  I have always been less than impressed by their music. I think it should have been METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER , and TESTAMENT. It just sounds better.

from what i understand big 4 name came about as a result of clash of the titans tour, megadeth,slayer, anthrax all playing on same tour as headliners. it was a tour where they started to play to much bigger crowds like stadiums. the  big 4 title im assuming came about after this tour, obviously mettalica we're not on this tour but they had to be included in the big 4.  I've heard metal journalist malcom dome created the term the big 4. clear as mud right. 

On 2/5/2019 at 4:16 PM, LRT said:

So of the big 4 I've seen 3 live.  Matalica in 98, slayer and anthrax on there farewell tour. On the live performance side of things they all did great shows.  The slayer show imho was a more meaningful show.  There was a fell to it that I hadn't experienced befor at any other show.  The band seemed to be more in tune to each other.  I feel this is because they new this was the end of touring for them.  At the end of the show when Tom Araya spoke it seemed he was a little choked up and maybe she'd a tear.  There was an energy that cant be explained.  

When I saw matallica it was my first concert and it was awsome but they will never play at this stage again.  At this show got to see James beat the hell out of a guy.  This guy had thrown a bottle out of the pit.  The bottle hit cliff in the face if I remember correctly.  James was spotlighted and explained what bullshit it was.  The crowd separated and threw the guy over the fence then James proceeded to wail away.

Anthrax put a good show on but I never did understand why they made the top 4.  There were other bands at the time that I think should have been considered.  Imo I think that I prefer exodus more.

Now magadeath, I've always been a big fan of.  Even though Dave is an absolute asshole like karry king.  Would like to see them live but they arnt as young as they were.  One thing I dont fell they are washed up like matallica though now that they are drug free and no alcohol matallicas gone soft.  

So of the 4 I'd say fucking slayer, magadeath, matallica then anthrax.

slaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr😁

On 6/21/2021 at 10:11 PM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

In the late 80's my personal Big 4 was always Metallica, Slayer, Overkill and Exodus. Anthrax would probably be next, haven't really listened to them in decades now but back when the first 3 albums came out and they were playing gigs around NY a lot I'll admit I was pretty heavily into their schtick. At this point in 2021 looking back all these years later I'd say I've listened to Overkill by far the most over the years followed by Slayer. Rarely listen to any of the other 80's thrash bands anymore, I've really lost interest in that genre a long time ago.

i hear you re this. i listen more to the british big 4 thrash band acid reign. there sort of like anthrax but more thrashy. latest album is good. 

[AlSymerz]

41 minutes ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

from what i understand big 4 name came about as a result of clash of the titans tour, megadeth,slayer, anthrax all playing on same tour as headliners. it was a tour where they started to play to much bigger crowds like stadiums. the  big 4 title im assuming came about after this tour, obviously mettalica we're not on this tour but they had to be included in the big 4.  I've heard metal journalist malcom dome created the term the big 4. clear as mud right. 

 

Nah it came around before that. Clash Of the Titans was 90-91 depending on where you were in the world and it only had three of the big four. Suicidal Tendencies and Testament supported some countries and Alice In Chains supported others. But it was long after the big four was coined by the media.

[Sheol]

If I were to pick my personal top 4 thrash bands it'd be Metallica, Slayer, Kreator and Sodom. Those four are absolutely essential.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

7 minutes ago, Sheol said:

If I were to pick my personal top 4 thrash bands it'd be Metallica, Slayer, Kreator and Sodom. Those four are absolutely essential.

We all have our own preferences and I'm not disparaging you or anything Johan, I just find it so interesting how different people view these things so completely differently. I know Kreator has legions of fans but they wouldn't even make my top 25 thrash bands. I loved Pleasure to Kill back in the day but that was about it, I've fucking hated everything I've heard from them since. Something about their sound and whats-his-name's vocals that just puts me right off.

[MacabreEternal]

I think Kreator's 80s output was great and would only really point out Extreme Aggression as being perhaps the least enjoyable.  I wrote some words about them once.

 

Coma of Souls was a real good start to the 90s but it soon went downhill after that.  

[AlSymerz]

The Teutonic 4 (since the world needs labels) were for me a better group of bands, but as other have said Kreator went really down hill in the late 90's, Destruction was a band I just stopped following and Tankard, well they are Tankard and release music about drinking, it's not like much changed from them over the last 20 years. Even Sodom haven't been the same throughout the 20 years, but they were probably stronger than the other three.

[Sheol]

On 6/24/2021 at 10:13 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

We all have our own preferences and I'm not disparaging you or anything Johan, I just find it so interesting how different people view these things so completely differently. I know Kreator has legions of fans but they wouldn't even make my top 25 thrash bands. I loved Pleasure to Kill back in the day but that was about it, I've fucking hated everything I've heard from them since. Something about their sound and whats-his-name's vocals that just puts me right off.

I can totally get that Mille's voice puts some people off, same with Mustaine. I do however think that Kreator, Exodus and Sodom had  little mini-revival in the early 00's after a somewhat floundering 90's.

[AlSymerz]

I always liked MIllie's voice, it was the music that sucked in the late 90's

[Misanthrope]

Megadeth

[blaaacdoommmmfan]

On 6/24/2021 at 12:31 AM, KillaKukumba said:

Nah it came around before that. Clash Of the Titans was 90-91 depending on where you were in the world and it only had three of the big four. Suicidal Tendencies and Testament supported some countries and Alice In Chains supported others. But it was long after the big four was coined by the media.

tbh im no expert. your right. the titans tour did not have mettalica. no idea where the term originated from, in the uk malcom dome often is credited for coining term the big 4. what year big 4 name originated no clue. metal hammer claims it was after this tour but they said they  was biggest thrash bands of the scene. im assuming clash of titans just solidified the big 4 even more as this was tour where they was playing to much bigger arena venues according to metal hammer. its intersting finding out about it. did you see any of the big four in the eighties and early nineties

On 6/24/2021 at 8:40 AM, Sheol said:

If I were to pick my personal top 4 thrash bands it'd be Metallica, Slayer, Kreator and Sodom. Those four are absolutely essential.

no megadeth in your big 4, i respectfully dont agree with you, what is it you dont like about megadeth, for me there so good, good singing, great technical guitar playing and the music is so interesting to listen to. 

[AlSymerz]

The term big 4 has been applied too so much over the years metal can't even claim to have come up with it, so whoever coined it first along with four thrash metal band names stole it from somewhere else anyway.

But as I've said before it really didn't mean that much to most of the metal heads I knew in Australia during the 80's. Maybe it has something to do with the term being stolen, maybe it just wasn't marketed that way.  Either way the Big 4 of Thrash always seemed to mean more to American's than us, but it's the same for the Teutonic 4, we mostly knew them individually and for most of us Tankard and Destruction weren't in the same league as Sodom and Kreator.

I've seen all of the Big 4 in the early days, never as the big 4 because they all toured Australia individually. I've also seen Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth since then but haven't seen Metallica live since AJFA.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

So who are the Aussie Big 4? Armoured Angel, D666, Mortal Sin and Sadistik Exekution?

[AlSymerz]

I don't think I've ever heard any one ask that question

I'd probably agree with Mortal Sin, Armoured Angel and Sadistik Exekution but D666 don't deserve it. I know a lot of people like them but as far as actually making the Oz metal scene what it is the one person who trumps all those bands is Peter Hobbs and his band Hobbs Angel Of Death (among others).

[Dead1]

And to be honest Hobbs Angel of Death wasn't that great despite Peter Hobbs doing so much for the scene.   And I can't stand Sadistik Exekution.

I don't think the Aussie scene developed enough to have a big 4.  The American big 4 and Teutonic 3 all mainly started in early 1980s and were already going places by 1985-86.

 

The Aussie bands formed at peak of thrash and generally were never established  enough to become institutions before thrash (and even death) started to die in early 1990s.

So if we look at dates formed and albums released in key period when metal was very popular in Australia (up to 1992):

Armoured Angel - formed 1982 but no albums released in this period, only a one EP and that was in 1992 at which point they were death metal.

Sadistik Exekution - formed 1985, 1 album released in 1991.  Not really thrash.

Hobbs Angel of Death - formed 1987, one album released 1988 then largely inactive to 1995.

Mortal Sin - formed 1985, 3 albums released to 1992, one of which was already losing the plot.

 

Mortal Sin is the one  early Aussie band I do think became  a bit of an institution and which managed to get a look in with Aussie fans who were mainly into American stuff.  

 

Destroyer 666 only formed in 1994 and released first album in 1997 (by which time you also had bands like Bloodduster, Alchemist, Damaged, Abramelin, Nazxul, Beanflipper, Dreadnaught and fucking Pegazus etc starting to make waves.).  

 

---

 

As for Big 4: it was based on popularity.  Testament came too late to the party and never developed the following of the big 4.  Exodus were too inconsistent mainly due to being even more dysfunctionally drug fucked than Dave Mustaine  - in Holt's own words they went from being "musicians who dabbled in drugs to drug addicts who dabbled in music".

 

 

[AlSymerz]

Hobbs was an excellent band and Peter was a legend, I worked many times with the guy and there wasn't a more genuine person in Australian Metal. But I understand his music wasn't to everyone's liking, everyone has different taste, I dislike a lot of stuff most metal heads seem to love.

We never needed a Big 4 here. If we'd had an official Aussie Big 4 so the rest of the world could see it we'd then have needed a state by state Big 4 because it would have turned into a competition. We also didn't have the media interest, both local and international in the 80's to generate enough interest in such terms. Our mainstream media ignored metal as much as they could, the local mags like Hot Metal (which strangely enough has turned into some pay walled/donor pays conspiracy website these days) cared more about overseas metal, and international media only did small stories on our bands. Every state had their own scene from about 83 onwards, how strong that scene was was dependant on the people in it and many survived quiet well into the 90's and beyond as they adapted.

[Dead1]

I'd say Bloodduster, Alchemist and a few other bands helped pave the way for a truly national scene in late 1990s. 

I also think Metal for the Brain and 3 Hours of Power did a lot to foster a national scene as well.

I wish that I'd gone to one but was too young then too poor to afford a flight (pre-cheap flight eta).  By the time I had money around 2006 Metal for Braining was waning I missed out last one because I went to see Nevermore and Skinless in Sydney instead.

 

 

So out of curiosity what's the scene like where you are?

 

[AlSymerz]

My memory is shit, I can't remember when the first Metal for the Brain was, for some reason I was thinking it was the 80's.

Three Hours of Power was a huge help. There was other community radio stations that helped too but many of them had such a small transmission range that they couldn't be heard outside the suburbs. I know at one stage I used to have a 100 foot antenna which we needed for VHF TV from the city before UHF was a thing and well before digital and I was able to stick an FM antenna on top just to pick up some Melbourne stations, but FM signal does not travel well. Even so for those in the city I remember there being about 20 metal shows a week on public broadcast, but some were lucky to get more than a few listeners. We did a a radio show ourselves, got the lovely time slot of 12-2 Friday nights and 12-1 on Sunday nights!

 

The scene in Covid central is terrible because we shut down every few weeks , but pre covid it's a bit sad to say but it was mostly pop music. There is some hard rock bands and pub bands getting regular gigs and small tours but not that much. Venues know it's cheaper to pay a DJ who can play anything rather than a live band that might not score with the locals. There is still some hard working thrash/metal bands like Descerator, Harlott, In Malice's Wake etc working their butts off in the city but I'm not sure of the numbers they are getting these days.

 

[Dead1]

Desecrator are awesome live.

Ha, I used to do community radio too - 3 hour metal show on City Park Radio in Lonnie.l  slot was Thursday 9 to midnight.

[FatherAlabaster]

Friday late night metal radio was the best (Thursday would have been fine too though). We had a guy called The Unholy One doing a metal show on college radio where I grew up. I got introduced to a few cool bands through his show, and he would put some of his CDs on consignment at one of the record stores after he was through with them, so I got my hands on a couple of things that were hard to get at the time. He read all the band and album names in a growl, so when I heard him say "Naglfar" I thought he said "Nevermore" and went out and bought the Nevermore debut album, which was not at all what I was looking for at the time.

 

Something something big 4.

[AlSymerz]

Friday night shows were good for those at home, but shitty for those that had to stay sober (technically), drive to the station, stay awake for two hours, and then drive home

[FatherAlabaster]

1 hour ago, KillaKukumba said:

Friday night shows were good for those at home, but shitty for those that had to stay sober (technically), drive to the station, stay awake for two hours, and then drive home

I never realized what a sacrifice it was

[AlSymerz]

Friday night used to be gig night, it's wasn't good leaving the pub before closing.

But it was also not good turning up drunk. Because of sponsors and guidelines etc we weren't allowed to play songs with swearing in them. Each DJ got three warnings if it was in a song and not really obvious, but there was more sever cases for obvious ones. The powers that be used to listen to tapes of our shows over and over to prove us wrong, but the only time we got caught was the time we drank too much and played Overkill's Blood Money instead of Thanx For Nothing.

[Dead1]

Never had the issue of swearing etc as long as it was after 9.  We had no corporate sponsors so sky was the limit. 

I once had some old lady complain about swearing in a Twisted Sister live track.  This was near midnight and came after three hours of far more brutal stuff.

I also got threatened by some Christian nutbag but he also threatened a lot of other  presenters (even some old guy who would end each show with "godspeed").  Matter was referred to police. 

[AlSymerz]

Our station relied on local subscribers and companies, we had to do subscriber drives every 6 months to keep the station running. The owners of the station were devout Christian and for the first 5 years of ownership refused to even have hard rock. The station had a subscriber base of about 2000 and if it wasn't for the ads we had to run once an hour it would never have survived.

[Dead1]

Wow, we were so lucky at City Park Radio as we were funded with government grants.