Metallica named most influential band

The Enter Sandman band headed the poll by beating other massive groups such as Foo Fighters, Green Day, Slipknot and My Chemical Romance to the top spot.

Lars Ullrich, drummer with the Californian group that formed in 1981, was pleased by the vote, saying that being considered “the band that most changed” readers’ lives” had given him “a very warm and fuzzy feeling”.

The 47-year-old also recalled buying “the first issue of the magazine in 1981” as he “travelled all over” Britain after making a “pilgrimage to England” because he had found himself “obsessed with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal”.
Lars added that, as he “travelled all over the country”, the “first issue accompanied me everywhere”.

He also cited London band Iron Maiden – famous for British hit single Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter – as “the blueprint for everything that we have ever wanted to do”.

Iron Maiden filled the No.3 spot on the magazine’s list, with another Californian group, the three-piece punk band Green Day, in second.
Ozzy Osbourne took the No.9 spot on the countdown, with the rock magazine stating that the fact the former Black Sabbath singer “is even alive today is enough to warrant his inclusion on the list, so herculean has his drug and alcohol intake been over the years”.

The poll was conducted as part of the magazine’s 30th anniversary celebrations after launching in June of 1981.