What the hell is all this crazy iron-y and allotropic banter about you ask? Well…ever since the term “heavy metal” became a household name, artists and bands, for years, have played up/on to various metaphorical variations of those very words. We started by creating fun references, replacements, and substitutions for “heavy metal.” And then we began using all kinds of crazy ferromagnetic terminology in our everyday metallurgic vocabulary.
This is not a post about periodic elements or exothermic oxidizers, however (hell – I don’t even know what an exothermal oxidizer is). It’s about…well…you know the drill. So, without further ado, here are our Top 10 most favorite iron-ic rock and roll jimdandies…
1.) IRON MAIDEN
As I was creating this list, I debated on ranking the selections on some type of “heaviness” scale.
Since we pretty much suck when it comes to “ranking” things of the rock and roll variety (it ALL kicks ass in the end), decided to just let it flow in the way the gut ordered.
For some reason, IRON MAIDEN just had to be at the top of the list, no matter how many times we thought through it (come on…I know you’re with me, here).
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2.) “Iron Man”
But a very close second has to be the old Sabbath classic from the album Paranoid. We polled a handful of mates on this, and this was the one that came up most often – and with good reason.
Not many heavy songs wreak of the hell-acious metal iron-y that this one does. After all, the man was “turned to steel” in the “great magnetic field” and wears “heavy boots of lead.”
Aw lawd yeah! (Dah dah. Dah dah dah….dah.) Alright, Beavis…on with it…
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3.) “Iron Fist”
The gut quite naturally ordered up a segue into some MOTORHEAD at #3.
Cheers to Lemmy for being the one to follow Sabbath suit on this one. I mean, hell…we may as well start writing songs about the “Iron Man’s” individual body parts, right?
“Iron Fist” is the title track off of Motorhead’s 1982 release by the same name. Lyrics include wicked rhymes like “Beast of evil devil’s hound. Tooth and claw they pull you down.”
“Devil’s grip, the Iron Fist!” Aaaggghhh!!
4.) IRON and WINE
Alright, so after three [heavier than lead] heavy metal bangers on this soundtrack, we needed to inject a little bit of an “intermission.”
While IRON and WINE is not at all a “heavy metal” group, Sam Beam most certainly gets a welcome nod on the list for making some of the best friggin’ folk/rock chilled-out coffee house jams I’ve ever heard in my entire life. And that, my friends, is pretty damn heavy.
I reckon ole Sam and family now live in the ATX area, too (which makes ‘em even more “allotropic” in my mind).
Seriously…if you have yet to discover Sam Beam, do yourself a favor right now, and clear off whatever you’re doing [after you're done reading this killer blog post] next, go park yourself at your favorite listening station, and have a nice sit with Sam.
5.) “Ironhead”
Alright, on with some more metal. Song #2 on HELMET’S (probably most popular) album, Meantime, follows the title track here. And it rules.
I know Rob Zombie also wrote a jam called ‘Iron Head’ as well. And it’s pretty cool, too, so we’ll call this one a “tie.”
Rob’s cool and all, but HELMET (and just about anything Page Hamilton touches) remains one of our ATFs. Probably spun HELMET a few thousand times more, at least.
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6.) IRON BOSS
IRON BOSS is a killer south-y rock/metal band from Baltimore.
This is what’s so cool about getting to the rock show before the headliner goes on – you actually get to see super rad local bands that you might not have any idea about – and then feel like “you’re the only one that’s in the know.”
First saw these guys open for CLUTCH at the Nyabinghi in Youngstown, OH (this is where the big Monolith Festival was held every year). Loved ‘em so much, I think I bought one of their tees.
7.) IRON MONKEY
IRON MONKEY was an Earache Records band from England, and they played heavier than thou doom/sludge metal like a gang of mad…monkeys.
If you want to check these guys out, think SABBATH, EYEHATEGOD, and maybe a meaner version of ELECTRIC WIZARD (although EW is pretty mean, too).
The band busted up around 2000, but still carries quite a cult-like following amongst hardcore sludge metal fans. Some of the guys went on to form DUKES OF NOTHING (another heavier than hell stoner metal/punk project), where some of IM’s influence obviously carried on.
8.) IRON BUTTERFLY
This crazy soundtrack just wouldn’t be right if we neglected to place IRON BUTTERFLY into the mix.
Most people know of the classic IB hit ‘In A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ and you’ve probably seen a handful of jokes and potshots taken at the band on VH1 or Comedy Central.
They might’ve been a popular 70′s hippie-rock topic of late night bar-room conversation. But, hey, they were one of our first most “metallurgic” pioneers!
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9.) The “Iron Lung”
I know this is a blog about rock and roll music, but it’s also about all kinds of people who generally just rock ass. And METHOD MAN most certainly fits that bill. Actually, we’ve often wondered what a rock band fronted by the “Iron Lung” might sound like.
Anyhoo…”Iron Lung” is one of Mr. Meth’s many “aliases” and you can hear him spit game in ‘Triumph’ off of the Wu Tang Forever album when “The Iron Lung ain’t got ta tell you where it’s coming from…”.
(Note: There’s also a Seattle hardcore band by the name of IRON LUNG. We don’t know much about them).
10.) “Iron Horse (Born to Lose)”
Well…I know we’ve already accounted for Lemmy and his crew. But he’s just so damn hopped-up on iron all the time, we just couldn’t help it.
Actually, we would probably be remiss if we excluded “Iron Horse” from this mix. After all…it’s MOTORHEAD. And it’s about motorcycles.
“He rides a whirlwind, that cuts to the bone…Wasted forever, and ferociously stoned…”
I don’t know if I’ve ever felt ferocious and stoned at the same time, but Lemmy sure knows how to tell a colorful story, doesn’t he? On Iron Horse he flies!
HONORABLE MENTION
Craig “Ironhead” Heyward
Alright, so now I can feel like this crazy post is officially complete. Mr. Heyward sadly passed away in 2006 while fighting a malignant chordoma, at the very young age of 39.
“Ironhead” was a bruiser of a pro football running back in his prime. And I reckon he earned his nickname in college for the way he pretty much ran people over on his way to the end zone.
He was a “bulldozer” of a runner and one of the NFL’s most feared (and well respected) “big men” during his career. He was also just a pretty darn good guy.
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THE WRAP
That’s the wrap, y’all. If we’ve missed any good ones, and I’m sure that we have (I know there might’ve been a band called IRON FIRE or IRON MASK at one point, and I reckon Wu Tang had another album called Iron Flag), please share down in the comments below.
Almost forgot (way to go numbnuts)…some band by the name of MASTODON did a little diddy called “Iron Tusk” back on the Leviathan album…
And THE SWORD did a jam called “Iron Swan” (Age of Winters) that totally shreds salt trucks…
