As background, back in 2003, I did a well-received book called The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time. Long overdue is a re-polling of the people and now it has been done.

Planned is an ‘80s and a ‘90s book, but available NOW is the first of the trilogy.

As the back cover says:

Riff Raff: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘70s celebrates the 250 pounding, screeching, squealing, screaming, power chord classics issued from the ‘60s (yes, we cheat a bit) through to December 31, 1979 destined to deck the walls of The Heavy Metal Hall of Flame.

But this wasn’t your intrepid author picking them. The results are derived from a massive worldwide poll asking heavy metal fans to pick their favourites and send in a list of either ten or 25 ranked or unranked. A bunch of magic math was applied and here we have it, the cream of the crop perfect for a 20-CD box set and/or Spotify playlist.

But it doesn’t stop there, Popoff reviews and analyzes every entry, also offering a salient artist quote for every last song that makes the cut. Look also for rare photography of your favourite bands in action, as well as funky 45 sleeves that take you back to this golden era in music. A few geeked-out appendices complete our expansive trip, arranged from #250 on the march toward the #1 heavy metal song of the ‘70s as picked by you.

Sabbath, Priest, Purple, Van Halen, Kiss, Aerosmith, UFO, Thin Lizzy, and down to the likes of Montrose, Sweet, Riot and Budgie… who’s got the #1 greatest metal anthem of the ‘70s? Who rules the Top 40… the Top 100… who snuck onto the lower rungs? What bands have made the biggest impression, through rank, through quantity? How did AOR do? Punk? The UK versus America? In short, what ‘70s hard rock anthems have you the headbanging masses designated as classics? Riff Raff: The Top 250 Heavy Metal Songs of the ‘70s is sure to create a firestorm of discussion throughout all facets of the metal world.