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Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with music videos noted for their sense of slapstick humor.

Twisted Sister evolved from a band named Silver Star, and experienced several membership changes before settling on the classic lineup of Jay Jay French (guitars), Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda (guitars), Dee Snider (lead vocals), Mark "The Animal" Mendoza (bass), and A. J. Pero (drums) in 1982. It was this lineup which recorded the band's first four albums. Twisted Sister's first two albums, Under the Blade (1982) and You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll (1983), were critically well received and earned the band underground popularity. The band achieved mainstream success with their third album, Stay Hungry (1984), and its single "We're Not Gonna Take It", which was their only Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Their next two albums, Come Out and Play (1985) and Love Is for Suckers (1987), did not match the success of Stay Hungry, and Twisted Sister disbanded in 1988.

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adopted the nickname "Prince of Darkness".

Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967. Best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla", the band has sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States alone. The band's fusion of hard rock and psychedelia with occult, fantastical and often tongue-in-cheek lyrics had a major influence on heavy metal music. Though they have experienced limited and infrequent commercial success, the band has developed a cult following and their most popular songs remain classic rock radio staples.

Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. Known for their face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-1970s with shock rock-style live performances which featured fire-breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band has gone through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons remaining the only consistent members. The current lineup consists of Stanley, Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer.

Scorpions are a German rock band formed in Hanover in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker. Since the band's inception, its musical style has ranged from hard rock, heavy metal and glam metal to soft rock. The lineup from 1978 to 1992 was the most successful incarnation of the group, and included Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band's only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of Scorpions' studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1978, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016 respectively.

Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm and rock influence. Adult contemporary is generally a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music.

System of a Down is an American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian ; Daron Malakian ; Shavo Odadjian ; and John Dolmayan (drums), who replaced original drummer Andy Khachaturian.

Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) are a British rock supergroup, formed in London and Los Angeles in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. They were originally established with half of the members of frontman Ronnie James Dio's previous band Elf, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired the backing members and continued with Dio. Dio recorded two more studio albums with Rainbow—Rising (1976) and Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978)—before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.

Rainbow's early work primarily featured mystical lyrics with a neoclassical metal style, then went in a more pop-rock oriented direction following Dio's departure from the group. Three British musicians joined in 1979—singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Don Airey and then-former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover—and this line-up gave the band their commercial breakthrough with the single "Since You Been Gone" from their fourth studio album Down to Earth. With Joe Lynn Turner, who replaced Bonnet in 1980, Rainbow recorded three more albums—Difficult to Cure (1981), Straight Between the Eyes (1982) and Bent Out of Shape (1983)—that had commercial success similar to the band's previous albums. After breaking up in 1984, Blackmore reformed Rainbow in 1993 with a new lineup, fronted by a then-unknown Doogie White, which recorded their eighth and last studio album to date Stranger in Us All (1995). Blackmore's change in direction, from rock to Renaissance and medieval-influenced music, led to Rainbow's second dissolution in 1997. He revived the band once again in 2015, and they performed live occasionally within the next few years.

Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde. To date, the band has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, and three video albums.

In the early 1990s, Wylde had formed his own solo band Pride & Glory, playing a mixture of bluesy Southern rock with heavy metal. However, they disbanded in December 1994 after having released only one album. Wylde subsequently recorded an acoustic solo album, Book of Shadows (1996). In May 1998, after limited commercial success with Book of Shadows, Wylde and drummer Phil Ondich recorded what became Black Label Society's debut album Sonic Brew. It was decided, rather than the album being another solo album for Wylde, that they would form a long term band. It was known from the start that Nick Catanese would be retained as the second guitarist in the band (Catanese previously toured as rhythm guitarist for the Book of Shadows tour). John DeServio, who previously worked with Wylde as a temporary replacement in Pride & Glory, joined as the band's bassist for the album's tour.

Skid Row is an American rock band formed in 1986 in Toms River, New Jersey. Their current lineup comprises bassist Rachel Bolan, guitarists Dave Sabo and Scotti Hill, drummer Rob Hammersmith and vocalist Erik Grönwall. The group achieved commercial success in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with its first two albums Skid Row (1989) and Slave to the Grind (1991) certified multi-platinum, the latter of which reached number one on the Billboard 200. Those two albums also produced some of Skid Row's most popular hits, both in and outside of the United States, including "18 and Life" and "I Remember You", which peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and other charting singles such as "Youth Gone Wild", "Monkey Business", "Slave to the Grind", "Wasted Time", and "In a Darkened Room". The band's third album Subhuman Race (1995) was also critically acclaimed, but failed to repeat the success of its predecessors. Those three albums featured the band's "classic" lineup, which consisted of Bolan, Sabo, Hill, drummer Rob Affuso and frontman Sebastian Bach. The band had sold 20 million albums worldwide by the end of 1996. Amid rising tensions, Bach and Affuso both left Skid Row towards the end of that year, after which the band entered a three-year hiatus.

Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar). Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has also incorporated elements of pop rock, heavy metal, glam metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. They are sometimes referred to as "the Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". The primary songwriting team of Tyler and Perry is often known as the "Toxic Twins".

Perry and Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with Tyler, Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith; in 1971, Tabano was replaced by Whitford. They released a string of multi-platinum albums starting with their eponymous debut in 1973, followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. The band broke into the mainstream with Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976). Draw the Line and Night in the Ruts followed in 1977 and 1979. Throughout the 1970s, the band toured extensively and charted a dozen Hot 100 singles, including their first Top 40 hit "Sweet Emotion" and the Top 10 hits "Dream On" and "Walk This Way". By the end of the decade, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a following of fans, often referred to as the "Blue Army". Drug addiction and internal conflict led to the departures of Perry and Whitford in 1979 and 1981. The band did not fare well and the album Rock in a Hard Place (1982) failed to match previous successes.

Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. They have also achieved seven platinum or multi-platinum certifications, nine Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (including 1989's Dr. Feelgood, which is Mötley Crüe's only album to reach number one), twenty-two Top 40 mainstream rock hits, and six Top 20 pop singles. The band experienced several short-term lineup changes in the 1990s and 2000s; these included the introduction of vocalist John Corabi (who was Neil's replacement from 1992 to 1996) and drummers Randy Castillo and Samantha Maloney, both of whom filled in for Lee following his departure from Mötley Crüe in 1999; he returned to the band in 2004, and their current lineup has been the same as the original since then.

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, but their musical approach has changed over the years. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979, by frontman Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. They obtained a major breakthrough in Sweden in 1982 by winning the televised competition "Rock-SM" ; it was the first time this competition was held, and Europe became a larger success than the competition itself.

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.

Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English musician who has been the lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden 1981–1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage presence.

Dickinson began his career in music fronting small pub bands in the 1970s while attending school in Sheffield and university in London. In 1979, he joined British new wave heavy metal band Samson, with whom he gained some popularity under the stage name "Bruce Bruce" and performed on two studio records. He left Samson in 1981 to join Iron Maiden, replacing Paul Di'Anno, and debuted on their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. During his first tenure in the band, they issued a series of US and UK platinum and gold albums in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Exodus je američki treš metal bend osnovan u Ričmondu u Kaliforniji 1979. godine. Ovaj bend prate brojne promene sastava grupe, dve prolongirane pauze, i smrt dvojice tadašnjih članova benda. Trenutni sastav benda čine gitariste Geri Holt i Li Altus, basista Džek Gibson, bubnjar Tom Hanting, i glavni vokalista Stiv „Zitro“ Suza. Hanting je jedan od originalnih članova grupe. Izašao je iz Exodus-a čak dva puta, jednom 1989. a drugi put 2004, no vratio se 2007. godine. Holt se pridružio bendu dve godine nakon osnivanja, i jedini je član Exodus-a koji se pojavljuje u svim izdanjima.

Od svog osnivanja pa do današnjeg dana, Exodus je izbacio deset studijskih albuma, dva lajv albuma,jednu kompilaciju albuma, i jedno ponovno snimanje prvog albuma. Zajedno sa grupama kao što su Metallica (čiji je dugogodišnji glavni gitarista Kirk Hamet bio jedan od originalnih članova Exodus-a), Possessed, Testament, Death Angel, Vio-Lence, Forbidden i Lȧȧz Rockit, predstavljaju pionire treš metal scene; i prodali su preko pet miliona albuma širom sveta. Exodus je na vrhuncu svoje karijere bio sredinom osamdesetih godina prošlog veka, kada je bend izbacio tri studijska albuma― „Bonded by Blood“ 1985, „Pleasures of the Flesh“ 1987, i „Fabulous Disaster“ 1989. godine. Album „Fabulous Disaster“ dobio je izvanredne kritike od velikih izdavača, uključujući Capitol Records, sa kojim su sarađivali 1989. godine. Nakon toga, bend izbacuje još dva studijska albuma, naime „Impact Is Imminent“ 1990. i „Force of Habit“ 1992. godine. Nakon ovolikog uspeha, bend se raspušta 1994.godine. Ponovo se ujedinjuju 2001, a pre toga povremeno nastupaju zajedno od 1997. do 1998. godine. Od ponovnog ujedinjenja 2001. godine, Exodus izbacuje još pet studijskih albuma, od kojih je najskorije izašao „Blood In, Blood Out“ 2014. godine. Bend trenutno radi na još jednom albumu, koji bi trebalo da izađe krajem 2019. ili početkom 2020. godine.

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy, Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Though several guitarists and drummers have played in Motörhead, most of their best-selling albums and singles feature drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor and guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke.