My best friend is into metal, I kind of got him into it. Funny because without him I would never have gotten into metal to begin with.
He told me about the band Tool, and I listened to them and loved them. I soon explored them alot and asked about them on a metal board where I was told to get the fuck out, and was told the names of some metal bands.
I heard Metallica, Megadeth, etc all the genre basics, and then explored the genre further. I then pushed everything my friends way and here we both are.
As for other people I know who are into metal, I have a friend at school who likes some death metal, black metal, and a few other bands some underground ones as well. The majority of what she likes is mallcore stuff though. He favorite band, however, is Suffocation.