I got into Pantera early too, right about Coyboys From Hell time, and followed it up until the end. Now I think Down is just as cool, except I find myself smokin' one to it rather than moshing with my drunk friends.
Man it could have been anything, Im older than hell so it coulda been some old buttrock like Ratt, Or Dokken Ozzy, Metallica's Master Of puppets or even Megedeths Peace sells, Truth is I just dont remeber Oh well!!
I had Skid Row in fourth grade and I could sing along to every note. That changed when I hit pube, though (which kind of makes me wonder about Sebastian Bach, lol)
Good thread, let me see, If my memory serves me right, AC/DC was my very first purchase at age nine or so, it was a very big change from my parents country music upbringing. It slowly climbed upward from there, around the age of sixteen, my cousin moved in for a short time, and brought with him Pantera, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, and so on. The sky was the limit,lol.
I don't know if you would count Alice in Chains, but I bought their first album Facelift when it came out. As for a first extreme metal purchase.. I think it was Cannibal Corpse - "Tomb of the Mutilated".
First extreme metal purchase was either Morbid Angel's Domination or Obituary's The End Complete. If you can count Slayer as extreme metal, I picked up Reign in Blood about a decade ago - that pretty much popped my cherry for the real shit.