Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen performs on stage playing the guitar on their second Japanese tour, Osaka Prefectual Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan, September 1979. (Photo by Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)Getty Images

Hard-rock and heavy-metal isn’t elitist’s music, it’s the people’s music. The music of Camaros, pro sports events and streaming TV synchs. And in that way, as American as it gets, even if British bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin invented these loud-and-proud genres.

Below is my list of the 30 greatest American hard-rock and metal artists ever. Some of you will hate this list. Metalheads are going to think metal was undervalued. Some more-mainstream-oriented fans are going to ask, “Who the f--k are The Stooges?”

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With so many excellent choices available, it’s a challenging list to make. However, it’s easier than a general best American rock artists list. The hard-rock/metal qualifier automatically strikes many top acts, from country-tinged (like the Eagles) and pop-leaning (Beach Boys, Bon Jovi), to experimental (Velvet Underground) and Southern-rockers (Allmans, Skynyrd).

Many ’90s stars like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Pearl Jam drew from hard-rock and metal. But they’re more accurately filed under alternative rock. Ramones, New York Dolls and Green Day are more punk. In the case of the band Foreigner, their lead guitarist Mick Jones is British.

This list is just my take, meant to get us fans talking about our favorites. Because hard-rock and metal isn’t their music, it’s our music.

Great because: Thrash lifers who never lost their underdog appeal.

Three essential tracks: “Caught In A Mosh,” “Antisocial,” “Madhouse”

Great because: Brought vibrant, post-modern and much-needed Black perspective to late ’80s MTV.

Three essential tracks: “Cult of Personality,” “Type,” “Open Letter (To a Landlord)”

Great because: Blue-jean rock with acoustic bluesy flourishes.

Three essential tracks: “Gettin’ Better,” “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out),” “Love Song”

Great because: Don’t let the poufy styling on their debut album’s album cover fool you. Cinderella did larynx-shredding hard-rock that mashed up Aerosmith and AC/DC and, on later albums, The Rolling Stones.

Three essential tracks: “Shake Me,” “Gypsy Road,” “Coming Home”

Great because: Break-your-nose outsider metal, with a canny vocal mix of growl and croon.

Three essential tracks: “Duality,” “Psycosocial,” “Wait and Bleed”

Great because: Arthouse metal with groove for days.

Three essential tracks: “Schism,” “Stinkfist,” “The Pot”

From: Los Angeles via San Diego

Great because: Anthemic sleaze that moved masses. People forget Ratt had four platinum albums in a row.

Three essential tracks: “Round And Round,” “Lay It Down,” “You Think You’re Tough”

Great because: Haunting tunes, interweaving vocals and blistering delivery.

Three essential tracks: “Would?”, “No Excuses,” “Man in the Box”

From: Los Angeles via Maryland/Pennsylvania

Great because: From her all-female band The Runaways to solo success, Joan Jett’s always tough, cool and hot.

Three essential tracks: “Bad Reputation,” “Cherry Bomb,” “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”

Great because: Dave Mustaine’s jet riffage and defiant snarl.

Three essential tracks: “Peace Sells,” “Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!”, “Holy Wars... The Punishment Due”

Great because: Their barbed-wire aggression made most other bands sound like The Muppets by comparison.

Three essential tracks: “Cowboys From Hell,” “Walk,” “I’m Broken”

Great because: Thrash sinister enough fans carve the band’s name into their forearms.

Three essential tracks: “Raining Blood,” “South of Heaven,” “Seasons In The Abyss”

Great because: Dave Grohl went from being the best rock drummer of the ’90s to the best arena-rock songwriter of the 2000s. Thanks to Taylor Hawkins on the drumkit, the Foos never lacked wallop either.

Three essential tracks: “Everlong, “My Hero,” “Learn to Fly”

Great because: Scott Weiland’s dark-glam magnetism coiled around classic-rock punch.

Three essential tracks: “Interstate Love Song,” “Vaseline,” “Big Bang Baby”

Great because: Ann Wilson is one of the best rock singers to ever exist. Teamed with sister Nancy Wilson’s deft mix of acoustic and electric guitars, and a talented array of band members, Heart were the coolest Zeppelin clones ever.

Three essential tracks: “Barracuda,” “Magic Man,” “Crazy On You”

Great because: Yeah, they do a few pop ballads. But when guitarist Neal Schon cranked his Les Paul and Steve Perry yowled like a shopping-mall Freddie Mercury, Journey rawked.

Three essential tracks: “Stone in Love,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Anyway You Want It”

Great because: Chris Cornell’s shirtless wail and the band’s math-metal thud.

Three essential tracks: “Rusty Cage, “Outshined, “Black Hole Sun”

Great because: Studio guitar wiz Tom Sholz and tweeter-busting singer Brad Delp were a devastating duo.

Three essential tracks: “More Than A Feeling,” “Smokin’,” “Don’t Look Back”

From: New York State via New Hampshire

Great because: From fronting post-Ozzy Osbourne Black Sabbath to leading his namesake band Dio, RJD was a supernatural vocalist.

Three essential tracks: “Rainbow in the Dark,” “Heaven and Hell,” “The Last in Line”

Great because: Badass band, badass songs, badass singer.

Three essential tracks: “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Paradise City”

Great because: Feet in the gutter, heads in the stars, Mötley Crüe made danger sound super fun.

Three essential tracks: “Live Wire,” “Shout at the Devil,” “Home Sweet Home”

Great because: Catchy guitar gold that so many ’80s bands absorbed to make their own.

Three essential tracks: “Surrender,” “Come On, Come On,” “I Want You To Want Me”

Great because: A dust-devil of metallic catharsis and wild-thing spirit. Even if you don’t know The Stooges, your favorite hard-rock and metal bands do.

Three essential tracks: “Search and Destroy, “Gimme Danger,” “Down on the Street”

Great because: Boogie and hooks with 10-gallon-hat oomph. Not to mention one of the greatest blues-oriented guitarists ever, Billy F. Gibbons.

Three essential tracks: “Tush,” “Just Got Paid,” “Legs”

Great because: Shock-rock rebellion delivered with showbiz panache. Before frontman Alice Cooper segued to a solo career with “Welcome To My Nightmare,” Alice was a band not just a man.

Three essential tracks: “School’s Out,” “Under My Wheels,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

From: San Francisco via Los Angeles

Great because: Undeniable underground thrash that grew into Earth-eating superstardom.

Three essential tracks: “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” “Sad But True,” “Master of Puppets”

Great because: So many hooky and fun rock songs. And of course the game-changing performance flash and pyrotechnics.

Three essential tracks: “Black Diamond,” “I Love It Out,” “Lick It Up”

Great because: With their street-band grit and rock-gods grandeur, Aerosmith is the exact midpoint between Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

Three essential tracks: “Sweet Emotion,” “Mama Kin,” “Dream On”

Great because: Completely ripped open the sky for what electric guitars could do.

Three essential tracks: “Purple Haze,” “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” “Machine Gun”

Great because: Unmatched mix of hits, virtuosity and showmanship. Supersonic siblings guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist/backing vocalist Michael Anthony were so gifted, after six multi-platinum albums with frontman deluxe David Lee Roth, they scored four more with vocalist supreme Sammy Hagar at the mic.

Three essential tracks: “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Panama,” “Best of Both Worlds”

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