The heavy-metal world loves a good mascot.
For more than 50 years, some of our favorite bands here at Revolver HQ — from Iron Maiden to Megadeth — have been joined at the hip with their very own fun and freakish avatar, the kind of figure that manages to make their way onto album covers, T-shirts, music videos, video games and more. Some are arguably even more instantly recognizable than the actual band members!
Our personal favorites run the gamut from undead everymen and skeleton foot-soldiers to scraggly-haired headbangers and beefcake warriors. We asked Revolver readers to pick the single all-time greatest metal mascot — see the top-five vote-getters below.
5. The Guy, Disturbed
From Mötley Crüe's Allister Fiend to Children of Bodom's bony Reaper, the halls of heavy metal are filled with cool-looking, but ultimately scrawny mascots. Disturbed went the opposite direction with The Guy, almost as if the band stood above a drawing board and collectively wondered: "What if he were jacked?"
The Guy is a towering beast of a dude, forever ready to bring the sickness while swinging that long-ass chain he's got around his neck. And while on the one hand he's a man of the people — rallying us to raise our ten thousands fists — the daunting, glowing eyes and twisted smile he keeps beneath that hood leave us a little nervous about hanging out with him 24-7.
4. Deathbat, Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold's Deathbat mascot is proof positive that sometimes the first idea is the best idea. Vocalist M. Shadows told Revolver years ago that the group's iconic avatar — a shaved-to-the-bone skull that's grown flesh-and-blood wings out of its earholes — was designed by a high school friend, and was whipped up on the fly for a mere 20 bucks.
Considering the "Bat Country" flapper has remained pretty well unchanged since the turn of the century — becoming emblazoned upon countless releases, merch items and our general collective psyche ever since — it's fair to say A7X got their money's worth in that particular business deal.
3. Snaggletooth, Motörhead
When Lemmy Kilmister first reached out to artist Joe Petagno about drafting up Motörhead's official mascot, the U.K. visual artist recalled that the vocalist-bassist wanted "something like a knight or a rusty robot." Instead, they ended up landing on a even more badass totem: a helmed warpig with pierced tusks.
Dating all the way back to Motörhead's 1977 self-titled debut, Snaggletooth is more often than not a stately, crest-style presence — the crisp, clean linework of the furious floating head also makes a great go-to for tattoos and battlejackets. Then again, he also morphed into a runaway train that one time, for the cover of Orgasmatron, so the dude's got a bit of range.
Bonus points for Motörhead even giving the pig his own anthem, on 1984's No Remorse.
2. Vic Rattlehead, Megadeth
Megadeth's bony figurehead took a commanding second spot in the poll. That's likely because between the industrial shower hooks that clamp his jaw shut, and the sleep mask riveted over his eye sockets, he cuts a memorable, menacing figure. He's also showed up on numerous multi-million-sellers in the Megadeth catalog.
Rattlehead isn't as omnipresent as some other mascots — he took a 10-year leave of absence between the covers of 1992's Countdown to Extinction and 2001's The World Needs a Hero — but the strong, silent type still left a serious impression on us while working as anything from an apocalyptic real estate agent, to an Area 51 commander in chief.
Indeed, there's really only one other heavy-metal mascot that eclipses Vic...
1. Eddie, Iron Maiden
Honestly, some of you were heated at even the suggestion that the greatest metal mascot could be anyone other than Eddie, but yes… clearly Iron Maiden's cartoonishly ghoulish avatar takes the top spot.
From his humble beginnings as a fog-spewing, disembodied stage prop (the 'Ed, if you will) to becoming the central focus of a trillion T-shirts, Eddie is, without question, just as iconic a part of Maiden's legacy as their music.
His versatile nature is what clinches it. Samurai master? Satan's puppeteer? Futuristic bounty hunter? Street-level stabber? A 60-foot Sphinx? Eddie can be slotted into any situation, Bugs Bunny-style, and we go crazy for it every time.
