Helloween

Helloween is a German power/speed metal band founded in the early 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. Helloween are known as one of the pioneering power metal bands.

Studio albums
Helloween (1985) - Though an EP, officially considered as a mini-LP.
Walls of Jericho (1985)
Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1 (1987)
Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 2 (1988)
Pink Bubbles Go Ape (1991)
Chameleon (1993)
Master of the Rings (1994)
The Time of the Oath (1996)
Better Than Raw (1998)
The Dark Ride (2000)
Rabbit Don't Come Easy (2003)
Keeper of the Seven Keys - The Legacy (2005)
Gambling with the Devil (2007)

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Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are a British heavy metal band from east London. The band were formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, formerly a member of Gypsy's Kiss and Smiler. Iron Maiden are one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre, having sold over 80 million albums worldwide. The band won the Ivor Novello Awards for international achievement in 2002. The band was also inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk during their tour in the United States in 2005.

The band have headlined several major events in its career, notably Rock in Rio, Ozzfest alongside Black Sabbath, Donington's "Monsters of Rock" and "Download" Festivals and the "Reading and Leeds Festivals."

Iron Maiden are influenced by Thin Lizzy, UFO and Deep Purple amongst others. Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie, is a perennial fixture in the band's horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live shows. Eddie was drawn by Derek Riggs until 1992, although there have been various incarnations by numerous artists including Melvyn Grant. Eddie is also featured in a first-person shooter video game from the band, Ed Hunter, as well as numerous books, graphic comics and band-related merchandise.

Studio albums
* Iron Maiden (1980)
* Killers (1981)
* The Number of the Beast (1982)
* Piece of Mind (1983)
* Powerslave (1984)
* Somewhere in Time (1986)
* Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
* No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
* Fear of the Dark (1992)
* The X Factor (1995)
* Virtual XI (1998)
* Brave New World (2000)
* Dance of Death (2003)
* A Matter of Life and Death (2006)

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Alcatrazz

Alcatrazz is a melodic hard rock band formed in 1983 in Los Angeles by Graham Bonnet, Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea.

The band's initial line-up consisted of Graham Bonnet (former Rainbow / Michael Schenker Group - lead vocals), Yngwie Malmsteen (guitar), Gary Shea (bass), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards, vocals) and Jan Uvena (drums, vocals). Shea And Waldo were previously members of the group New England. The majority of their material was written by Malmsteen and Bonnet, with Jimmy Waldo co-writing on a few tracks. Shea dubbed the group "Alcatrazz".

After recording the first two albums, creative differences between Malmsteen and Bonnet surfaced while on tour. Due to this and his admitted desire to begin a solo career, Malmsteen quit in 1984. Waldo replaced Malmsteen with Steve Vai despite resistance from Bonnet, and the band signed with Capitol Records. After recording the album Disturbing The Peace, Steve Vai left in order to join David Lee Roth's solo band. He was replaced by guitarist Danny Johnson, who recorded what would become Alcatrazz's final studio album, "Dangerous Games", which was released in 1986. Shortly afterwards, Johnson also quit to join the band Private Life. Disheartened by an ever revolving door of guitarists, and dwindling album sales, they split up in 1987.

God Blessed Video appeared in the 2002 videogame soundtrack Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Rock station "V-Rock", a fictional radio station in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

Bonnet has reformed the band with all new members (including former Jeff Scott Soto/Talisman guitarist Howie Simon, Impellitteri/ex-Beautiful Creatures drummer Glen Sobel, and bassist Tim Luce) and finished touring Japan as "Alcatrazz featuring Graham Bonnet" in May/June 2007. This tour was co-headlined with another ex-Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. Their new website is located at . They are currently writing their new cd to be released in late 2007.

Meanwhile, Waldo, Shea and Uvena have put together their own new incarnation of Alcatrazz with guitarist Stig Mathisen. The project is currently lacking a vocalist, but does have its own MySpace page located at . They are threatening to sue Bonnet over the use of the name Alcatrazz, because, according to them, its use violates their intellectual property rights. Yet according to official trademark records, no one owns the name. Waldo, Shea, and Uvena applied for a trademark registration at the United States Patent Office on the same day the new version of the band announced their Japanese tour, but the registration has been denied in examination by the Patent Office so far.

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Dream Theater

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band comprising James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy.

Dream Theater was formed in 1985 under the name "Majesty" by Petrucci, Myung, and Portnoy, while they all were studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, before dropping out to help support the band. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remain today along with LaBrie and Rudess. Dream Theater has become one of the most commercially successful progressive bands since the height of progressive rock in the mid-1970s, despite being relatively unknown in mainstream rock circles. Though the band has had a few extremely successful hits (notably 'Pull Me Under' in the early 1990s, which had extensive MTV rotation), it has mostly stayed underground for its career, feeding off support from fans.

The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater's members have collaborated with many other notable musicians. Guitarist John Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Johnson, Robert Fripp, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

The band's two highest selling albums are Images and Words (1992), which was awarded a gold record although it reached only #61 on the Billboard 200 charts; and Awake (1994) which reached #32 on the Billboard 200. Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the U.S., and over eight million albums and DVDs worldwide.

The band is currently promoting their latest effort, Systematic Chaos, and went on the North American leg of their world tour, which began on July 24, 2007 in San Diego, California.

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Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham. The original band line up of Ozzy Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terence "Geezer" Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums) is the same as the current line up (2007) although there have been many shifts of personnel over the years.

Black Sabbath remain a dominant influence in the heavy metal genre they helped create. VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock ranks them second, behind Led Zeppelin.

Currently, the early 1980s line-up of the band featuring Iommi, Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice are touring under the moniker Heaven and Hell, a title taken from the 1980 Black Sabbath album of the same name.

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Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band that formed in September 1968. Led Zeppelin consists of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal bands. Their rock-infused interpretation of the blues also incorporated rockabilly, reggae, soul, funk, jazz, classical, Celtic, Indian, Arabic, folk, pop, Latin, and country. The band did not release the popular songs from their albums as singles in Britain, as they preferred to develop the concept of album-oriented rock.

Over 25 years after disbanding following Bonham's 1980 death, Led Zeppelin continue to be held in high regard for their artistic achievements, commercial success, and broad influence. The band have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide, including 109.5 million sales in the United States, and they are the only band to have had all their albums reach the U.S. Billboard Top 10. Led Zeppelin are ranked No. 1 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest artists of hard rock.

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