Kings X Dogman https://youtu.be/oPLSib2GtnU?feature=shared
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May struggle depending on the definition of metal but Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion?
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Careful! People have been run out of town on a rail for much less 
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That’s… quite a stretch
Heavy metal riff? How about the riff from Heavy Metal?
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Depends on the era, this album from 1980 quite happily lists them alongside Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc… Motorhead and Iron Maiden and the direction they took what we now think of as heavy metal were relatively new.
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Lemmy might argue they played rock and roll not heavy metal
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Lemmy was the Chuck Norris of music. What genre of music did Lemmy compose in? All of them.
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I won’t offer an opinion on whether Aerosmith is metal or not, I’ve been supporting Babymetal for a decade and there’s argument if they are metal or not, and they go far harder than Aerosmith ever did.
But Sweet Emotion is an interesting song. The band was recording the album Toys in the Attic and needed more music, and the band was asking for any song ideas. Hamilton started playing a riff he was noodling with, Tyler who was pissed at Perry at the time quickly came up with lyrics meant to piss off Joe - Sweet Emotion was a derisive nickname Steve gave Joe - and you have a song, one of their best.
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I feel like the further back you go in the heavy metal history the more heavy metal and hard rock overlap. So the answer to the question of “Is ______ metal?” depends entirely on when the song was released.
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There’s some truth to that, but also it has to do with volume. Back in the 70s there were just a few bands that played in the 120-125 decibel range, and they were considered metal. Bands like Deep Purple.
Now the definition is a lot more musically oriented - metal generally has a heaviness, but it’s a big tent (or a little one) with a lot of gatekeepers who defend the purity of of the genre. I refuse to be a gatekeeper.
The ironic thing is that Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, and classical music are all very popular among fans who count themselves as metalheads.
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Not that surprising. Most heavy metal riffs were just blues and jazz riffs in a different key. Heck, there’s a great video where a guy showed that playing black metal without distortion just sounds like surf rock.
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Bill Ward always said everything he knows about playing drums he learned from Gene Krupa
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Actually I think he did often say that 
Then again, so did TSOL, who were clearly punk.
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Forget that, do a deep dive into “Stratus” by Billy Cobham.
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Hot funk, cool punk, even if it’s old junk
It’s still rock and roll to me
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Does Prog Rock make the cut? Thinking of Rush.
Given the loudness qualifier does The Who make it? They were once the loudest band in the world
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In my opinion, neither one would make the cut. Both lack heaviness. If you want to go prog, I would include Dreamtheater or Tool well before Rush.
Rush BU2B
No heavier than this
To me that’s just hard rock, this is prog metal
