I've purposely avoided Emperor, Burzum, Mayhem, etc. I may come across as prude, but those guys just seem like total fuckin assholes (arsonists, murderers, homophobes, racists, etc). There's so much stuff out there that I have trouble giving my money to them. I'll find something else new to explore instead.

Well huge props for bringing up Nuclear Assault, who deserve more love, but there's so much awesome stuff out there now (not sure if you're still listening to new stuff). You can start with Mastodon, Baroness, Kylesa, Torche, move on to In Solitude, Year of the Goat, Portrait, Witchcraft, and then go to advanced…

Dude, you summed up the first time I heard Master Of Puppets in Fall 86. Yeah, Zeppelin and Maiden were great, but hearing that album was, at the risk of sounding dramatic and hyperbolic, a life changing event. Fast, precise, beautiful, aggressive, punky, harsh - everything. After that it was Peace Sells, Among The…

When you're guarded by Satan and riding a baphomet, it happens.

I know I'm really asking for it, but I actually like "City Of Evil" and "Waking The Fallen". What can I say? I'm a false metal poser.

And don't forget Destruction please. "Eternal Devastation" is maybe the most underrated thrash album ever. The guitars are beyond awesome.

I've gotten more into Celtic Frost now than I was in the 80s. That's one of the most insane guitar tones of all time.

I love that The Crumbsuckers are getting so much love here. I never heard BOMB but Life Of Dreams is tremendous. That album cover is one of my all time favorites. SO bugged out.

Yeah I've been trying to get into Kreator for 25 years, but I had Pleasure To Kill and found it a little too sloppy (as opposed to Big 4 stuff which is razor sharp). I also had Extreme Aggression and found it kind of samey. That's said, the song "Hordes Of Chaos" gets my votes for best thrash song of the last 20 years.

Killing Technology still blows me away. It's like thrash industrial.

Dude you're missing out. I find Under The Influence to be the most "squealy" and "Years of Decay" to be their least, but it's all pretty great.

Hellers my guy so this is no knock - but the article could have gotten more into proto thrash (Motörhead, Venom, Diamond Head), where black metal came from (Hellhammer, Bathory) where Death Metal came from (Possessed, Death), how thrash evolved to the more extreme stuff (Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death) etc.…

Also it's INSANE to think in the 80s there were a lot of punks and metal heads who were at war with each other. So stupid.

We rep the west.

Yup. Believe it or not, that was the exact show I blew off.

One of my all time musical regrets is blowing off the chance to see Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros live.  Figured I'd catch him on the next tour.  And then Joe died.

And then years later, you put on your local classic rock station and heard "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" back to back with "Tom Sawyer".  Hey man, it happens to all of us eventually.

Also a blast: Stiff Little Fingers' "You Can't Say Crap On The Radio", which has that awesome Capitol Radio fade out.

@avclub-97b2d5e5f92c333976018236d76658d9:disqus, I'm a Combat Rock fanatic, so I love the Rat Patrol stuff.

Wow.  1-2 Crush on you is probably my least favorite Clash song of all time.  I find it kind of simple and un-Clash like.  Sounds like something Mick Jones had left over from his teenage years, no?