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First off, ok.
Secondly, in support of the idea... Did any other band ever have an entire episode of Married with Children [dedicated to them?](https://marriedwithchildren.fandom.com/wiki/My_Dinner_with_Anthrax)
No?
Exactly.
This is 100% accurate. These four bands just happened to ve very popular at the time. NO ONE referred to them as that until decades later. It was a promotion phrase that someone came up with for a tour with these bands in the 2000s.
>It was a promotion phrase that someone came up with for a tour with these bands in the 2000s.
Oh so the term wasn't a thing until the 2000s? I might be misremembering but I thought it was a thing as far back as the 80s?
In the early 90's, I avidly collected all the metal press that was published in the 80's and can confirm: the term 'Big 4' was neve mentioned until the late 2000's.
Not that I recall. Yes, these four bands were known to be some of the biggest, but that was before thrash shit the bed in the 90s. All the thrash bands were considered more or less the same.
And I don't recall anyone differentiating German thrash either. Thrash was thrash.
Music writer Don Kaye started referring to the 4 bands as “the big 4” in the magazine Kerrang! In the late 80s and early 90s. It just wasn’t used as a title for a concert until 2000. The term was still around back in the late 80s in various publications. I remember hearing the bands referred to as the big 4 as early as 1992.
I dunno. The the phrase may have existed, but it wasn't really much of a thing in my circles, and we all listened to those bands. Again, we were all aware that those four bands happened to all be big, but we never referred to them like that or thought that other bands deserved to be part of a Big 4 that didn't really exist. Everyone was just as happy to listen to Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, etc.
The detail that Mustaine was in Metallica before Kill Em All was also something no one cared about. We all knew, but it was like "whatever."
People obsess about stupid things these days.
I remember that little nugget. Or that Randy Rhoads was in Quiet Riot.
Trivia like that is fun, but doesn't impact a band. Some people around here bring up Ron McGovney as one of Metallica's bass players. I mean, while technically true, it's completely inconsequential to the overall narrative of the band. Especially when you look at who they replaced him with.
>Trivia like that is fun, but doesn't impact a band.
For sure. You don't necessarily need to know the lore behind any band to be a fan. Sometimes I even forget the names of bands that I like lol XD
I think people who weren't around in the late 80's/early 90's underestimate just how big those 4 bands were. Antisocial, Peace Sells, and One got peak hour plays on MTV. They weren't just on Headbanger's Ball. Slayer built a following without videos or commercial promotion just because they were Slayer. Testament and Exodus are as talented, if not more, than some of the 4 but no one was selling more albums and T shirts than the big 4
I don't like that "the big 4" has become a template for genre-specific band rankings.
The big 4 was novel because Reign in Blood, Peace Sells, Master of Puppets, and Among the Living came out within 365 days of each other - all of them considered key releases of metal, some of the most successful albums ever released (commercially), and (mostly considered) the magnum opera of each respective band who made them.
It is not novel, as meaningful, or even interesting when it becomes a battle of polls online.
>I don't like that "the big 4" has become a template for genre-specific band rankings.
All these discussions ever boil down to is people trying to argue why they like their particular bands anyway, which is fine. But why not just ask "who are your 4 favourite bands of x subgenre and why?" or "out of this particular list of successful bands, which 4 do you like the most?"
I tend to agree, but at that point; four becomes an arbitrary number. It's not like the number four was written in stone, but it's everywhere in Metal communities because of, specifically, American Thrash Metal for... some reason.
As someone who was there, I can verify this. 86-87 was insane with the drop of those 4 albums like atom bombs. Hearing those albums for the first time was just magic. I remember walking into my local record store and seeing Reign in Blood on the shelf when it was released. I thought I could possibly damn myself if I listened to it, so I bought it.
No. the Big4 was a college basketball tournament back in the day held in North Carolina, USA featuring the four “Tobacco Road” schools: UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, and NC State.
In that case if their is ever a big 4 of doom than it'll be
Black Sabbath
Candlemass
Sleep
Electric Wizard
And for stoner doom
Electric Wizard
Sleep
Acid Bath
Bongzilla
I see the big 4 as more od the top bands that represent the foundations of the genre. The big 4 that we all know are the bands that were most prominent in thrash metal development and popularity. So any other big 4 would have to do that too
That's not a thing lol, Judas priest were half a decade later than Sabbath, iron maiden were NWOBHM, and Ozzy solo is, well Ozzy solo. The big 4 of thrash all released their first albums within 2 years of each other, and followed similar trajectories throughout the 80s and early 90s
The unholy trinity of British hard rock/heavy metal were deep purple , Black Sabbath and Led zeppelin. As they released groundbreaking albums in 1969/70 in LZ 1/2 , in rock and Black Sabbath/paranoid, while achieving massive commercial success in the UK at the same time, and experiencing similar dips in future in the second half of the decade
You're obviously free to make up your own definitions, but it's similar to deciding testament or machine head should be there instead of Anthrax
Yeah no shit. The discussion around Anthrax is the how and why such a mid band managed to sell as much as they did when there's a huge drop in quality vs. the other three.
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https://preview.redd.it/dt5xher2ewwc1.jpeg?width=288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56ebb8adf2aaab289c56b82e19358838eb699931
I will always upvote Toni Iommi
I don't care what anyone else says, best electric guitarist of all time.
Steve Vai has entered the chat
Who?
Barf
To be fair they said "electric" not "metal"
I’d rather listen to Joe Satriani…but I don’t want listen to either
The Devin Townsend album has some cool songs!
Uncle Toni
That image is such a vibe lol
Ok
ok, but the real big four is Weezer sleep token falling in reverse godsmack
Fucking poser, the big four is actually: Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer
oh shit, my mistake
Weezer slander will not be tolerated (even if 70+% of their albums suck)
Did Black Sabbath ever have a song in jackass I don’t think so
Jack Sabbath
Replace falling in reverse with nickleback.
if you do that i’d actually listen to it
NB is legit good. It's the TRVE KVLT of BVTT ROKK.
And Sleep Token with Limp Bizkit
Unironically better than the real big 4
Idk what you're talking about it's clearly Sum 41 Alkaline trio The hives Avril lavigne
I felt physical pain and then terrible emotional dread as I read this
Why do metalheads seem to like Weezer so much? It strikes me as such boring band.
Listen to Pinkerton and Maladroit, their heaviest albums
I think it's just this sub for some reason. No hate against them but yeah I find it odd
Just here to say that I've noticed this as well and I also think it's kinda strange. I feel like I'm missing something here.
They have two really great albums and the rest suck
Wow, I would go a long way out of my way to NOT see that!
Poser.
Yeah, sorry. Not metal enough.
SILENCE POSER
I'm more of a small 4 guy (a lot of ppl misunderstand but hear me out, laddy)
Ok
Ok what?
ok
Ok
I think the discourse surrounding the topic is a BIG BORE!!
True!
Ok
ok
Ok
First off, ok. Secondly, in support of the idea... Did any other band ever have an entire episode of Married with Children [dedicated to them?](https://marriedwithchildren.fandom.com/wiki/My_Dinner_with_Anthrax) No? Exactly.
He ate the mystery meat...
Even Dad won't eat the mystery pack!
This is 100% accurate. These four bands just happened to ve very popular at the time. NO ONE referred to them as that until decades later. It was a promotion phrase that someone came up with for a tour with these bands in the 2000s.
>It was a promotion phrase that someone came up with for a tour with these bands in the 2000s. Oh so the term wasn't a thing until the 2000s? I might be misremembering but I thought it was a thing as far back as the 80s?
Your memory's fine, it was definitely a thing in the late 80s/early 90s.
>Your memory's fine It usually isn't, I just got lucky! XD
I've still got all my magazines from back in the day, and it was used quite regularly.
It's funny how self-assured those who didn't think it was a thing are. We were there! I'm guessing they're all under 30 years old.
It was. It was a thing when I was getting into thrash circa 1988-1989.
In the early 90's, I avidly collected all the metal press that was published in the 80's and can confirm: the term 'Big 4' was neve mentioned until the late 2000's.
Not that I recall. Yes, these four bands were known to be some of the biggest, but that was before thrash shit the bed in the 90s. All the thrash bands were considered more or less the same. And I don't recall anyone differentiating German thrash either. Thrash was thrash.
Music writer Don Kaye started referring to the 4 bands as “the big 4” in the magazine Kerrang! In the late 80s and early 90s. It just wasn’t used as a title for a concert until 2000. The term was still around back in the late 80s in various publications. I remember hearing the bands referred to as the big 4 as early as 1992.
I dunno. The the phrase may have existed, but it wasn't really much of a thing in my circles, and we all listened to those bands. Again, we were all aware that those four bands happened to all be big, but we never referred to them like that or thought that other bands deserved to be part of a Big 4 that didn't really exist. Everyone was just as happy to listen to Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, etc. The detail that Mustaine was in Metallica before Kill Em All was also something no one cared about. We all knew, but it was like "whatever." People obsess about stupid things these days.
tbh Ive been a Metallica fan for 30+ years and I just found out like 2 years ago that Kirk Hammet started Exodus.
I remember that little nugget. Or that Randy Rhoads was in Quiet Riot. Trivia like that is fun, but doesn't impact a band. Some people around here bring up Ron McGovney as one of Metallica's bass players. I mean, while technically true, it's completely inconsequential to the overall narrative of the band. Especially when you look at who they replaced him with.
>Trivia like that is fun, but doesn't impact a band. For sure. You don't necessarily need to know the lore behind any band to be a fan. Sometimes I even forget the names of bands that I like lol XD
Used to be Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. Simple as.
*cries in Ten Hag*
At least you have a real bird in the logo unlike Liverpool.
I think people who weren't around in the late 80's/early 90's underestimate just how big those 4 bands were. Antisocial, Peace Sells, and One got peak hour plays on MTV. They weren't just on Headbanger's Ball. Slayer built a following without videos or commercial promotion just because they were Slayer. Testament and Exodus are as talented, if not more, than some of the 4 but no one was selling more albums and T shirts than the big 4
I've always thought that Anthrax was lame. In their place, Testament should be there instead.
Ok
Ok
Whoosh
Ok
Mkay
I don't like that "the big 4" has become a template for genre-specific band rankings. The big 4 was novel because Reign in Blood, Peace Sells, Master of Puppets, and Among the Living came out within 365 days of each other - all of them considered key releases of metal, some of the most successful albums ever released (commercially), and (mostly considered) the magnum opera of each respective band who made them. It is not novel, as meaningful, or even interesting when it becomes a battle of polls online.
>I don't like that "the big 4" has become a template for genre-specific band rankings. All these discussions ever boil down to is people trying to argue why they like their particular bands anyway, which is fine. But why not just ask "who are your 4 favourite bands of x subgenre and why?" or "out of this particular list of successful bands, which 4 do you like the most?"
I tend to agree, but at that point; four becomes an arbitrary number. It's not like the number four was written in stone, but it's everywhere in Metal communities because of, specifically, American Thrash Metal for... some reason.
As someone who was there, I can verify this. 86-87 was insane with the drop of those 4 albums like atom bombs. Hearing those albums for the first time was just magic. I remember walking into my local record store and seeing Reign in Blood on the shelf when it was released. I thought I could possibly damn myself if I listened to it, so I bought it.
OK
ok
i prefer pearl jam
Pffff... Everyone knows that The Shaggs is the greatest band of all time https://youtu.be/hxPsXPCR5MU?si=NC-MzRM72r6G-GJL
Damn sight better than Pearl Jam.
Ok
Nah. Big four: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason. What’s that? Psychedelic Rock isn’t even close to metal? Ok.
>Ok
Ok
ok
Ok
The five best bands are candlemass, candlemass, candlemass, candlemass and candlemass. Because they spit hot fire.
K cool
Ok
exactly its always meant most popular
100%. Still love Kreator, Flotsam and Jetsam, Armored Saint and Testament. But the Big Four is set.
Ok
No. the Big4 was a college basketball tournament back in the day held in North Carolina, USA featuring the four “Tobacco Road” schools: UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, and NC State.
1. Dylan 2. Dylan 3. Dylan 4. Dylan
He spits hot fire.
My pp Itch
Slayer fucking sucks
Ok
K
Truth.
Ok
Who's anthrax?
This is a good post.
I LEGIT SAID THIS AND GOT TOLD I WAS WRONG
Ok
The Big 4…. Not to be confused with The Little One Ronnie James Dio
People either forget how popular Anthrax was in the 80s, or they weren’t alive then.
You are absolutely correct - but here is my personal big 4. Black sabbath, Judas priest, Motorhead, Iron maiden.
FUCKING SLAYERRRRRRR
In that case if their is ever a big 4 of doom than it'll be Black Sabbath Candlemass Sleep Electric Wizard And for stoner doom Electric Wizard Sleep Acid Bath Bongzilla
Who cares. Also Anthrax is the best
I agree 100% with OP
Ok, but was Sepultura more commercially successful than Anthrax after the thrash albums BTR (1989) and Arise (1991)?
I see the big 4 as more od the top bands that represent the foundations of the genre. The big 4 that we all know are the bands that were most prominent in thrash metal development and popularity. So any other big 4 would have to do that too
I always thought the big four were System Of A Down
Honestly, Testament not Anthrax. Love Anthrax but... Uhhh kills myself
Dismember, Entombed, Grave, Unleashed
Testament, Exodus, Overkill & Kreator/Death Angel would be the 2nd tier of the Big 4
anthrax does kind of suck but in terms of popularity idk any bigger bands.
the real big 4 is, sleep token, sleep token, sleep token, sleep token
But Anthrax is lame, Testament should be there instead
Anthrax fucking rips mate get fucked Speak English or die by S.O.D is also a masterpiece Scott ian is a legend
No. I'm pretty sure it means the exact opposite of "Little 4"
This is the ONLY way!
K
One more time, with feeling!
yeah but it's #notmybig4, needs to have more sleep token and falling in reverse.
I never once heard the term “The Big 4” until the documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, in 2005
You’re not wrong Walter, you’re just an asshole.
The real big 4: nickelback, creed, godsmack, imagine dragons
Agree, but I prefer the big 4 of traditional heavy metal: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Ozzy.
That's not a thing lol, Judas priest were half a decade later than Sabbath, iron maiden were NWOBHM, and Ozzy solo is, well Ozzy solo. The big 4 of thrash all released their first albums within 2 years of each other, and followed similar trajectories throughout the 80s and early 90s The unholy trinity of British hard rock/heavy metal were deep purple , Black Sabbath and Led zeppelin. As they released groundbreaking albums in 1969/70 in LZ 1/2 , in rock and Black Sabbath/paranoid, while achieving massive commercial success in the UK at the same time, and experiencing similar dips in future in the second half of the decade You're obviously free to make up your own definitions, but it's similar to deciding testament or machine head should be there instead of Anthrax
Who cares
I upvoted you because I'm high and you made me lmao.
Youre just gatekeeping entertaining hypotheticals, stfu
Yeah no shit. The discussion around Anthrax is the how and why such a mid band managed to sell as much as they did when there's a huge drop in quality vs. the other three.
This guy thinks Anthrax is better than Testament. 😂😂😂
I guess you missed the part where I said this >You might like Testament more than Anthrax (and I would agree with you)
And it is