I've really been enjoying reading folks' take on the thread with the 20/20 expose....metal in the old days as it were. I've found all the posts interesting, and most true to my own experience. So, I thought it might be cool to hear some thoughts from any of you who might like to share on your introduction to music and or metal....and I'll start with mine.....
First off, I just plain started early. The stories I like to hear my mom tell most about me as a kid consist of me laying on the floor in front of this old, weird stereo we had....it was like a piece of furniture, and listening to whatever we had playing. She tells me that when she put Cecelia by Simon and Garfunkle on....I'd come running from wherever I was in the house and just stare at the stereo. It was one of those things that you could "stack" records on the spindle...and when one was done, the next would drop and play.
I had brothers and sisters, so there were various record players in the house....and i remember telling my mom one year, "You know, I'm the one who reeeeeally likes music....should I have a record player?" She got me one for Christmas. One of those portables that latched shut....and had a handle to carry it around. Just a little thing with a self contained speaker. Totally shitty by today's standards. She gave me three records with it....Sesame Street Fever (ha), a Beegees record, and the Grease soundtrack. So, this would have to be 1978. I was seven years old. My brother had Kiss' Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun....and he didn't really care about them, or music even....so I basically "borrowed" those.....I remember sitting there for literally hours.....putting the needled back on my favorite song over and over again, whatever it was at the time. Mr. Speed from Rock and Roll Over got literally worn out. I also pilfered some 45's from other siblings....like Kansas' Carry On My Wayward Son, and The Eagles Life in the Fast Lane. The first time I heard the unedited version of Carry On My....I was like, "What the hell is that part?"....because 45s were generally edited.....shorter versions. I was so music crazy that I traded three star wars figures and some other toys to my brother for his copy of Alive II.
The next year, I bought my first record with money saved up from various birthdays and whatnot. It was Kiss' Dynasty. I took it home and put the needle on it....only to watch it slide all the way through I Was Made For Lovin' you......I had to place pennies on top of the record arm to keep it from skipping....the rest of the record played fine. My sister saw KISS that year, and we dropped her off at the show.....she was to ride home with a friend....this was in Madison Wisconsin. I didn't even know where we were taking her, and I cried all the way home when I found out.
My record collection grew, but mostly with the balance of Kiss' catalogue to be frank.....and I had to save every penny I could to get those records, or wait for Christmas. My mom would say, "write your Christmas list!!!!!" every year, but she basically ignored it to be frank. Mine always consisted only of records. But moving on......
In 1981 I was given an early walkman for Christmas. This thing was hilarious....it was literally like a car stereo, in that you injected the tape into the deck....and it was about the size of a car stereo too....and the fastforward button worked the same and everything. It had shoulder strap, and a great big volume knob. It was a riot, but pretty cutting edge at the time. It came with a copy of AC/DC's for those about to rock.....and Foreigner 4. I liked the Foreigner enough, but the AC/DC record just plain changed my whole polarity. I was ten years old at the time. I listened to it so much that the words wore off the tape in about 3 weeks, so that it just looked like a blank white tape....owing to the way I had to put the tape into the deck....That record, more than any other, was my true introduction to hard rock.....I was into other stuff like Billy Squier, and was buying older AC/DC records.....but everything changed in 1982.....
We used to have to go to Sprinfgield (we moved to Missouri when I was nine) to shop at a mall, or what have you....school shopping and all that.....and when we did I'd make good and sure to have saved at least 20 bucks from mowing lawns or whatever....so I could buy at least two tapes. I'd heard whispers about Iron Maiden.....and found Number of the Beast on a trip to "the big city" one time. Even the artwork mesmerized me.....so I bought it having no real idea what to expect. I listened to it when I got home.....and I remember saying to my brother "Holy SHIT, this is what I've been looking for...." I hadn't been able to listen to it in the car by the way, because I was banned from using the walkman in the car because I played it so loud that "everybody has to listen to what you are listening to...." according to my father. ha. I mean, in headphones......
Of course, it was all downhill from there.....metal started to really bust, and I looked for heavier and heavier stuff, until finally I kinda levelled out and just liked everything, give or take. I had to scrounge around, special order....whatever I could....and remember buying more than one record simply because it was on, say, megaforce records....or because the ad in the back of some magazine made it sound cool. "The new Exciter record will RIP YOUR FACE OFF!!!!"
Ha. Anyway, there are a lot more details in there worth sharing, but this is long enough.....I'd really like to hear how some of you got into metal.....or music even......did somebody turn you on to it....or, like it feels to me, was it just kind of always there, as long as you can remember. Which is a true statement I think.....I don't remember EVER not being obsessed with music....and I can remember back a LONG way.....
Do tell?
First off, I just plain started early. The stories I like to hear my mom tell most about me as a kid consist of me laying on the floor in front of this old, weird stereo we had....it was like a piece of furniture, and listening to whatever we had playing. She tells me that when she put Cecelia by Simon and Garfunkle on....I'd come running from wherever I was in the house and just stare at the stereo. It was one of those things that you could "stack" records on the spindle...and when one was done, the next would drop and play.
I had brothers and sisters, so there were various record players in the house....and i remember telling my mom one year, "You know, I'm the one who reeeeeally likes music....should I have a record player?" She got me one for Christmas. One of those portables that latched shut....and had a handle to carry it around. Just a little thing with a self contained speaker. Totally shitty by today's standards. She gave me three records with it....Sesame Street Fever (ha), a Beegees record, and the Grease soundtrack. So, this would have to be 1978. I was seven years old. My brother had Kiss' Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun....and he didn't really care about them, or music even....so I basically "borrowed" those.....I remember sitting there for literally hours.....putting the needled back on my favorite song over and over again, whatever it was at the time. Mr. Speed from Rock and Roll Over got literally worn out. I also pilfered some 45's from other siblings....like Kansas' Carry On My Wayward Son, and The Eagles Life in the Fast Lane. The first time I heard the unedited version of Carry On My....I was like, "What the hell is that part?"....because 45s were generally edited.....shorter versions. I was so music crazy that I traded three star wars figures and some other toys to my brother for his copy of Alive II.
The next year, I bought my first record with money saved up from various birthdays and whatnot. It was Kiss' Dynasty. I took it home and put the needle on it....only to watch it slide all the way through I Was Made For Lovin' you......I had to place pennies on top of the record arm to keep it from skipping....the rest of the record played fine. My sister saw KISS that year, and we dropped her off at the show.....she was to ride home with a friend....this was in Madison Wisconsin. I didn't even know where we were taking her, and I cried all the way home when I found out.
My record collection grew, but mostly with the balance of Kiss' catalogue to be frank.....and I had to save every penny I could to get those records, or wait for Christmas. My mom would say, "write your Christmas list!!!!!" every year, but she basically ignored it to be frank. Mine always consisted only of records. But moving on......
In 1981 I was given an early walkman for Christmas. This thing was hilarious....it was literally like a car stereo, in that you injected the tape into the deck....and it was about the size of a car stereo too....and the fastforward button worked the same and everything. It had shoulder strap, and a great big volume knob. It was a riot, but pretty cutting edge at the time. It came with a copy of AC/DC's for those about to rock.....and Foreigner 4. I liked the Foreigner enough, but the AC/DC record just plain changed my whole polarity. I was ten years old at the time. I listened to it so much that the words wore off the tape in about 3 weeks, so that it just looked like a blank white tape....owing to the way I had to put the tape into the deck....That record, more than any other, was my true introduction to hard rock.....I was into other stuff like Billy Squier, and was buying older AC/DC records.....but everything changed in 1982.....
We used to have to go to Sprinfgield (we moved to Missouri when I was nine) to shop at a mall, or what have you....school shopping and all that.....and when we did I'd make good and sure to have saved at least 20 bucks from mowing lawns or whatever....so I could buy at least two tapes. I'd heard whispers about Iron Maiden.....and found Number of the Beast on a trip to "the big city" one time. Even the artwork mesmerized me.....so I bought it having no real idea what to expect. I listened to it when I got home.....and I remember saying to my brother "Holy SHIT, this is what I've been looking for...." I hadn't been able to listen to it in the car by the way, because I was banned from using the walkman in the car because I played it so loud that "everybody has to listen to what you are listening to...." according to my father. ha. I mean, in headphones......
Of course, it was all downhill from there.....metal started to really bust, and I looked for heavier and heavier stuff, until finally I kinda levelled out and just liked everything, give or take. I had to scrounge around, special order....whatever I could....and remember buying more than one record simply because it was on, say, megaforce records....or because the ad in the back of some magazine made it sound cool. "The new Exciter record will RIP YOUR FACE OFF!!!!"
Ha. Anyway, there are a lot more details in there worth sharing, but this is long enough.....I'd really like to hear how some of you got into metal.....or music even......did somebody turn you on to it....or, like it feels to me, was it just kind of always there, as long as you can remember. Which is a true statement I think.....I don't remember EVER not being obsessed with music....and I can remember back a LONG way.....
Do tell?
I thought to myself "this music is unreal" I felt priviledged to have discovered it and just could not get enough, my first Maiden CD was SSOASS.
The first trade I can remember making was 3 packs of firecrackers for cassettes of Eagles Live and REO Speedwagon's Hi Fidelity. 
