Iron Maiden is, imo, more influential than Judas Priest by quite a bit.

Steve harris loves judas priest here a part of an interview

""Like, I went to see bands like Judas Priest and Lone Star at the height of punk and they were still managing to sell out places like the Hammersmith Odeon, there were still thousands of kids into the bands, it was just that the press didn't recognise it or write about it. It was 'unfashionable', 'uncool' to do features about heavy metal.""

http://nwobhm.info/nwobhm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=316&Itemid=42

I think Judas priest influenced even maiden. kkkkkkkk
Judas for sure. Don't see, and can't think, many bands saying they are influenced by maiden, only the late 90's power metal bands and some brazilian heavy bands. Other hand... Judas is the basis of many many bands... From Venom to Savatage, and from Virgin steele to Kreator. From Metallica to Blind Guardian, from Helloween to Mercyful Fate...

Judas Priest for sure. I like Maiden's music more, but Priest was the definitive metal band after Sabbath; the first metal band to use a non doomy approach to metal, which has, directly or indirectly, influenced every metal band since. Maiden's early work may have had an influence on thrash, with its punkish approach to metal, but never approched the speed metal mayhem of Exciter, which was obviously very influential on thrash, and in turn death and black. In Maiden's defense, their 80's Dickinson albums must have been very influential on power metal.

Maiden were influenced by Priest, so any band who is influenced by them, has also been influenced by Priest. Even if at times that influence is indirect. I definitely think overall, Priest have influenced more bands, and metal as a whole, than any other metal band, Including Black Sabbath. The twin leads, the harmonies, the proggyness at times, (especially in the 70's stuff) the speed... Even the general metalhead "look" came from Priest. (more specifically, Rob Halford)

As for power metal, I also think Priest were even more influential on that genre than Maiden have been. Even the one who most see as the father of power metal (I do too, although he was helped by Piet Sielck and Michael Weikath) Kai Hansen, has listed Priest as his number one influence. And since 1990, "Painkiller" has probably been the most imitated album ever in power metal.

Tough one, i'd say maiden (regardless of judas priest somewhat influencing them). A lot more bands have been influenced by Iron Maiden rather than judas Priest.

Maiden and Priest are my all time favorite bands.

Even though I like Maiden waaay better. Judas Priest was more influential, no question about it. Main reason beign: THEY BROUGHT TWIN GUITARS INTO METAL! That's practically a standard for metal now.
Plus they were the first PURE Metal band. Sure, Sabbath was the first one, but they had a lot of Blues and even Jazz influences. Judas Priest was the first pure fucking METAL band.
And I almost forget, Halford was the first (and best in my opinion( "high pitched" vocalist.

Written by Thunderhead on 17.02.2011 at 08:09

I think Judas priest influenced even maiden. kkkkkkkk
Judas for sure. Don't see, and can't think, many bands saying they are influenced by maiden, only the late 90's power metal bands and some brazilian heavy bands. Other hand... Judas is the basis of many many bands... From Venom to Savatage, and from Virgin steele to Kreator. From Metallica to Blind Guardian, from Helloween to Mercyful Fate...

Completely agree with this. Not mentioned, Priest influenced Crimson Glory which as we know was one of the bands to spawn whole hosts of prog bands.

It's a close one but i think Maiden has influenced just a little bit more bands than Priest has.

Written by blacktooth85 on 02.04.2011 at 05:58

It's a close one but i think Maiden has influenced just a little bit more bands than Priest has.

Funny that Maiden didn't even use double bass til what 2001? lol that's a whole lotta....left in the dust.

Even if influence of Judas Priest is indubitable i voted Iron Maiden,i prefer them.

But the question isn't who you prefer......

Definitely Priest. They influenced Maiden, and Maiden influenced a lot of other metal acts. Priest influenced the influenced-er, so they win.

Written by Yasmine on 02.04.2011 at 06:09

Written by blacktooth85 on 02.04.2011 at 05:58

It's a close one but i think Maiden has influenced just a little bit more bands than Priest has.

Funny that Maiden didn't even use double bass til what 2001? lol that's a whole lotta....left in the dust.

That dosen't mean much.

Nico didn't used a double bass because he never needed... When he used, almost can't tell the diference.

But priest is still more influential.

This is a really tough question, but in my opinion it's Maiden by a hair. I think Priest were very influential to Maiden, but I think Maiden influenced more bands that came later. I listen to a lot of different genres of metal, and I think I hear more Maiden influence than I do Priest, though It's not by a wide margin. I love them both.

I think it's really split between genres here... but when I listen to metal these days I hear Iron Maiden more than I hear Judas Priest if that makes sense?

I cannot decide between them, they're two of the most influential bands in history

How the fuck can Maiden be more influential than Priest...?????????? Priest owns every single riff, solo that maiden played.....Maiden is nothing more than a bastard child of one masturbation by Priest.....they have no identity of their own....hell I was surprised at how much similar their albums sound to each other....just listen the first two are exactly similar....then the next three...then somewhere in time and seventh son....then prayer and fear...then the couple of abominations with bayley....and then the Rush, Floyd meets Priest (irony) of the remaining albums...Come on gentlemen get over Maiden.....

Although I prefer Maiden (my favourite band), Priest were more influential IMO.

I would like to say Iron Maiden (a bit biased), however it would probably have to be Judas Priest, since they have been around longer than Maiden and even influenced Iron Maiden in their early days.

IM are way more influential than Judas Priest.

It's obviously Judas Priest. If Iron Maiden were more influential, metal would be swarmed with bands like Helloween.

Written by Guest on 10.04.2012 at 16:47

metal would be swarmed with bands like Helloween.

No..No...NNNNNOOOOOO!

I sure am glad it went the other way and that Judas influenced more bands then!

Musicaly it's close, but Halford has a lot to answer for in regards to the leather and studs look.

Both are extremely influential for Heavy metal. Judas Priest influenced the early speed metal bands and Iron maiden a lot of melodic death metal bands, so i cant decide which band is more influential

This is hard to say; I said I was undecided. Judas Priest came before Iron Maiden, and introduced more, and I would say are more influential in terms of innovation. However, if you look at a lot of modern metal, I would say that a lot of it takes from Iron Maiden more than Priest, in terms if lyrics, style, sound, etc.

Hmm...this is really difficult, as each band has influenced metal in various different ways. I'll try to break down what each band has done separately:

Judas Priest: pioneered the twin guitar system, the now well known high screams in metal (and, debatably, clean singing with an operatic touch)
Introduced leather into metal
Many years of experimenting has resulted in potential influences in just about every metal subgenre you can think of
Quite a few bands can trace their roots directly back to Priest (including Iron Maiden)

Iron Maiden: pioneered high powerful vocals in metal when Bruce was first in the band
Influenced just about every single metal band that's sprung up since the 80s
Quite a large number of bands can trace their roots to Maiden

All told, whilst Priest have had the most influence on metal music overall, far more bands have been formed with audible Maiden influence in their music. It really depends on whether you think audible influence is better than general influence. If it's the former, then it's Maiden. If it's the latter, than it's Priest. Personally, I'm more inclined towards Priest because of how much variety is in their music and the fact that they take risks in their music (although I do concede Nostradamus was probably a bad move), whereas Maiden tend to write the same kind of music, only making it longer than it was in the 80's (although both bands are incredibly good and deserve their reputations for excellence).

Even though I personally prefer Maiden's music more and many (if not most) modern bands trace down their roots mostly to Maiden, Priest has been around much longer than Maiden and was instrumental in the development of metal as a whole, after Black Sabbath passed down to them their torch. I'll vote Priest in regards to pure influence.

Absolutely Iron Maiden.

Written by angel. on 07.01.2014 at 10:46

Absolutely Iron Maiden.

why would you say that? I would say Priest is way more influential on metal both musically (the twin guitar attack) and imagewise (with the leather and studs) than Maiden.