List: California heavy metal musical groups

by likeorhate

•  Metallica

  Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1981. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a local newspaper, Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists. Currently, the spot is held by Robert Trujillo.

  

  36.8%
  

  36.8%
  

  26.3%
  
•  Mötley Crüe

  Mötley Crüe is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The band was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold more than 80 million album copies worldwide, including 25 million in the U.S.

  

  18.2%
  

  27.3%
  

  54.5%
  
•  Megadeth

  Megadeth is an American thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1983. Founded by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson following Mustaine's departure from Metallica, the band has since released twelve studio albums, six live albums, two EPs, twenty six singles, thirty-two music videos, and three compilations.

  

  40.0%
  

  40.0%
  

  20.0%
  
•  System of a Down

  System of a Down (also known by the acronym SOAD, or SoaD, and often shortened as System) is an Armenian-American rock band from Glendale, California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards), Daron Malakian (vocals, lead guitar), Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan (drums).

  

  11.1%
  

  33.3%
  

  55.6%
  
•  Tool (band)

  Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1990. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour.

  

  20.0%
  

  40.0%
  

  40.0%
  
•  Korn

  Korn (often stylized as KoЯn) is an American heavy metal band formed in Bakersfield, California, in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed after L.A.P.D. (a band consisting of 3 members that have been with Korn). Korn formed in 1993, the same year they released their first demo album, Neidermeyer's Mind.

  

  0.0%
  

  66.7%
  

  33.3%
  
•  Slayer

  Slayer is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981. The band was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, which has been called "the heaviest album of all time" by Kerrang!. The band is credited as one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal, along with Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth.

  

  0.0%
  

  33.3%
  

  66.7%
  
•  Rage Against the Machine

  Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band formed in 1991 in Los Angeles, California. Rage Against the Machine are notable for their innovative blend of alternative rock, punk rock, hip hop, heavy metal and funk as well as their politics and lyrics. Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Afrika Bambaataa, Public Enemy and Urban Dance Squad.

  

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  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Deftones

  Deftones is an American band from Sacramento, California, formed in 1988 consisting of Chino Moreno (lead vocals and guitar), Stephen Carpenter, Chi Cheng, Frank Delgado, and Abe Cunningham.

  

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  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Dokken

  Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band that was formed in 1978. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. Dokken was composed of founder Don Dokken on vocals, George Lynch on lead guitars, Juan Croucier on bass, and Mick Brown on drums. In 1983 Croucier left Dokken in order to join Ratt and was replaced by Jeff Pilson. Currently, Dokken and Brown remain from the original line-up.

  

  0.0%
  

  33.3%
  

  66.7%
  
•  Van Halen

  Van Halen is an American heavy metal/hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They have enjoyed large scale success since the release of their debut album Van Halen, (1978). As of 2007, Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide, and have had the most number-one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. During the 1980s they also had more Billboard Hot 100 hits than any other hard rock or heavy metal band.

  

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  100.0%
  

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•  Faith No More

  Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, frontman Mike Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Wade Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike Morris was ousted, the group began calling themselves Faith No More. After going through a series of singers which included Courtney Love, the band was joined by Chuck Mosley in 1983.

  

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•  Blue Cheer

  Blue Cheer were an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and were sporadically active from that point on until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues-rock style, and are also credited as being pioneers of heavy metal (their cover of "Summertime Blues" is sometimes cited as the first in the genre), punk rock, stoner rock, doom metal, experimental rock, and grunge.

  

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  100.0%
  

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•  Primus (band)

  Primus are an American Funk metal/Rock band currently composed of singer and bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander. The diversity of their sound has allowed Primus to gain a modest segment of fans from many different rock sub-genres. They are characterized by their irreverent approach to music. Primus release their records on Claypool's Prawn Song Records label, a parody of Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label.

  

  33.3%
  

  33.3%
  

  33.3%
  
•  Quiet Riot

  Quiet Riot was an American heavy metal band. They are best known for their hit singles "Cum On Feel the Noize" and "Bang Your Head (Metal Health). " They were founded in 1973 by guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Kelly Garni, under the original name Mach 1, before changing the name to Little Women and finally Quiet Riot in May 1975. The original line-up featured lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow, Rhoads, Garni, and drummer Drew Forsyth.

  

  100.0%
  

  0.0%
  

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•  Suicidal Tendencies

  Suicidal Tendencies (also known as S.T. or simply Suicidal) is an American hardcore punk/thrash metal band. They were formed in Venice, Los Angeles, California, in 1981 by the leader and only permanent member, singer Mike Muir. The band is credited as one of the "the fathers of crossover thrash".

  

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  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  
•  Static-X

  Static-X is an American metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. They are signed to Warner Bros. Records and have released six albums, their most recent being Cult of Static, which was released on March 17, 2009. The band rose to fame with their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip, which went platinum in 2001. However, this is the only album they have released to date that has reached such sales level.

  

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  0.0%
  

  100.0%
  
•  Poison (band)

  Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. To date, the band has sold 14.5 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted 10 singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and one #1. After 25 years, the band is still recording music and performing.

  

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  100.0%
  

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•  Body Count

  Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1990. The group was founded by Ice-T, best known for his contributions to the hip hop genre. Ice-T founded the group out of his interest in heavy metal, and took on the role of vocalist for the group, writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs, while the music was written by lead guitarist Ernie C. The group's self-titled debut album was released on Sire Records in 1992.

  

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  100.0%
  
•  W.A.S.P. (band)

  

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•  Great White

  Great White is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1978. The band gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released several albums in the late 1980s and gained airplay on MTV with music videos for songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". The band reached their peak popularity with the album ... Twice Shy in 1989. The band continued to release new material into the 1990s, although none of their material charted in the United States.

  

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•  Fear Factory

  Fear Factory is an American metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal, groove metal, thrash metal and industrial metal. The resultant sound proved to be enormously influential on the metal scene from the mid-90s and onwards.

  

  100.0%
  

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•  Sleep (band)

  Sleep is a stoner doom metal band from San Jose, California. Active during the 1990s, Sleep earned much critical and record label attention from early in their career. Critic Ed Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on heavy metal in the '90s. However, conflict with their record company had contributed to Sleep's breakup by the end of the decade.

  

  50.0%
  

  50.0%
  

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•  Y&T

  Y&T (originally known as Yesterday & Today) is an American hard rock/heavy metal band formed in 1974. They hail from the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The band released two studio albums on London Records as Yesterday & Today in the 1970s, before shortening their name to Y&T and releasing several albums on A&M Records beginning in 1981, as well as albums on Geffen Records, Avex Records, and others.

  

  33.3%
  

  66.7%
  

  0.0%
  
•  Black Label Society

  Black Label Society is a heavy metal band formed by Zakk Wylde, with seven studio albums released to date.

  

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