*Online Music Blog*

11/11/11 has been proclaimed “Nigel Tufnel Day” in homage of his blisteringly loud custom guitar amps that “go to eleven.” To celebrate this glorious day of Heavy Metal and Rock n’ Roll, lets take a moment to crank up the volume and celebrate 11 of the all-time greatest bands to listen to with the volume at eleven!

The Top Eleven Bands to Crank the Volume to 11

11. Wolfmother

These big-haired, hard-rockin’ Aussies have only been cranking up the volume since the dawn of the new millennium but their epic anthems harkens back to the golden age of guitar driven stadium rock.

10. Motley Crue

In the words of Nikki Sixx, “Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing.” The Crew embody the coke-and-whiskey fueled LA 80s metal scene like no other before or since. They lived life the way they played their music—cranked all the up to 11!

9. Airbourne

The official bio at airbournerock.com says it best, “There’s something about the kind of potent rock and roll fury that Airbourne cranks out, all cylinders firing, that makes you want to chug a beer straight down your throat and punch the air as though it’d touched your wife inappropriately.” Part of the same new-millennium Australian metal revival as Wolfmother, Airbourne were born to rock your face.

7. Guns N’ Roses

At the end of the 80s Guns N’ Roses were the kings of the world. Appetite for Destruction was like a gateway drug for thousands of headbangers who just wanted to rock, and their shows, both good and bad, are still the stuff of legend. Perhaps one day, Slash and Axl will put aside their differences to once again blow us all away with their ear-splitting power rock.

6. Tool

In the early 90s, the big-hair party plane exploded in a fiery crash landing. The drugs and excesses of the 80s had taken their toll on a whole generation, and out of the ashes arose Tool with a new dark sound to fuel the angst of generation X.

5. Foo Fighters

After the downer that was the 90s, and the untimely death of Kurt Kobain you can’t blame David Grohl for just wanting to rock—and so the Foo Fighters were born. 7 hit albums later, the Foo Fighters brand of post-grunge rock n’ roll is still best enjoyed as loudly as possible.

4. Metallica

From the beginning, Metallica were different. Before Metallica came on the scene, there were really 2 genres of metal emerging—Bands like Iron Maiden were taking the Tolkienized stylings of Led Zeppelin to the extreme, and LA glam hair metal were ruling the scene. Metallica gave a big middle finger to the glam scene and ditched the storytelling to create a hard speed driven sound like no other. Now, with 30 years of hard rockin’ under their belts, Metallica are considered by many to the greatest heavy metal band of all time.

3. AC/DC

When brothers Angus, Malcom, and George Young took the name AC/DC from their sister’s sewing machine few could have guessed that they would become one of the greatest, most-influential rock bands in history. AC/DC took the sounds Zeppelin were pioneering, and electrified them with the brash energy that seems to permeate Australian rock. Known for having some of the loudest shows of all time, If you’re not listening to AC/DC at 11 and banging your head till your neck hurts, you’re failing epically.

2. Led Zeppelin

In the 60s Led Zeppelin took American blues, punched it in the face, and made it their bitch. The result is what we now call heavy metal. Without Zeppelin, amps would have never gone to 11 and today’s music would be very different.

1. The Who

On the 31st of May 1976, The Who played what was then the loudest concert ever recorded and that record stood for over 10 years. Powered by Pete Townshend’s ear-splitting guitar riffs, and 60s abandon, the Who are best enjoyed the way they played— loud and proud!

About the Author: Greg Buckskin loves DJ Shadow, Dr. Dre, and Phish. He writes for CableTV.com.