For those of you were into (real) metal back in the 90's...

[Solipsist]

I am curious to know what it was 'like' to be into (real) underground metal back in those days. What I mean is this... how did you attain knowledge of the bands/albums compared to how most people do today? In those years, did you ever form an understanding of metal's different genres and how they all came to be? Also, were you ever exposed to the extreme metal genres (death metal, black metal, doom metal) around that time, and if so, what was your initial reaction to it (and did you ever accept such genres along with your other music tastes at that time)? (The main reason I want to know especially about the question regarding extreme metal is because I know for a fact, tons of people back then already knew about/were into famous bands such as Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc.). And the questions are aimed more towards those who were into metal during like the early/mid 90's... not so much those who got into metal duing for example, 1999.

From my point of view, (and maybe this is going to sound ignorant to some of you) it just seems real metal (and extreme metal, in general) was much more 'elusive' in those days (in other words, it seems less people were unaware of it and/or didn't understand it). I noticed metal is so much popular nowadays post-2000 due to a number of factors (alot of them internet-related) such as the increasing tedency of downloading, the rise of metalcore in popularity, the advent of sites such as Myspace being used as mediums for advertising bands music, the awareness and usage of metal-archives.com and message boards such as this one (i heard BNRmetal.com was around during the 90's and was the "metal-archives" of back then?), increased music-related socialization (e.g. 'scene'/scenester bullshit, street teams, anyone?) etc.,etc. Of course I know the internet was around back then, but in this day and age, it is playing a much bigger role for getting people into metal (actually i think i will create a separate thread about that soon).

 

[CF87]

I was born in 1987 and a poser. I can't tell you much about anything.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

I got the black album and master of puppets around 90 or so. but I didnt listen to any other metal bands.

 

[Wires & Waves]

They're not inverted commas, the quotation marks, except single quotation marks. They're supposed to be used for a quote inside of a quote, e.g. "She said 'fuck you.'" I don't know why he used them there.

in·vert·ed comma
n. Chiefly British.

A quotation mark.

 

[Mr_Haze]

I'm only turning 20, so obviously I wouldn't know. However, when I was getting into metal I chatted with a dude who was friends with Gorguts in their early days. As far as I understand, your exposure to more extreme music depended simply on the scene in your town and who you were friends with.

 

[Carbonized]

Basically back in the 80's and 90's you bought or browsed through magazines. Exchanged letters, tape trades, blind buys and so forth. Yes i was into Napalm Death, Deicide, Gorguts, Obituary, Trouble, Solitude Aeturnus, Cathedral, Confessor etc etc back then. There were a few stores that carried that stuff and sometimes you just had to take a chance. Sometimes your only deciding factor would be an album cover and tracklist to guide you.

 

[Ol' Dirty Bastard]

I honestly didn't have much of anything to guide me. I'm going on 29, and in the 80's I was mostly into whatever was popular, as long as it was guitar oriented. Van Halen, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Ozzy, ect. It was the later 80's where I started watching the Headbangers Ball, and picked up on some heavier bands, of the typical Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth assortment. Keep in mind, there was, is, and probably never will be a scene here. I grew up in the rural area outside of a predominately latin city (Reading, PA). There used to be a punk scene, but nothing in the way of metal. There was this older chick in my school that used to wear Morbid Angel shirts, but other than that, nadda.

Now as for the more extreme stuff in the early 90's, there was a little help from the Headbangers Ball (where I first heard Carcass, Napalm Death, Entombed, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Death, Pestilence, Sepultura...), on rare occasions there would be metal reviews in the local newspaper (that was how I got into My Dying Bride and Samael), reading Metal Maniacs and Kerrang, which were the only metal mags available around here (although Kerrang is obviously debatable), and other than that, trial and error. Blind buys, and my best friend was into the same stuff. We would always recommend each other bands.

There was one shop here, which closed down 7 or 8 years ago, which had a healthy stock of metal CD's. Usually it was just new releases, but you could ask them to order something. I used to go there every friday after school and buy EVERY new metal CD they had. I pretty much had no discrimination until I got something home and listened to it. But it wasn't so bad, as a lot of the bands back then didn't suck so much. That's also where I stumbled onto black metal by chance, with the first Burzum, a couple of Darkthrone CD's and the Emperor/Enslaved split.

Then in 96 I finally got the internet...

 

[hibernal_dream]

Did anyone else find it was much easier to make blind purchases back in the mid 90's? I just remember buying so many tapes (and CD's but usually tapes) of bands I never heard of and weren't that popular and they were usually good... Heathen, Intruder, Forbidden, Helstar, Exodus, Samael, Sacrifice. You simply can't do that now - just walking into a shop and buying an album on the basis of its cover would be like throwing your money away.

 

[PanzerKunt]

"Real" metal my ass.

 

[Susperia]

God, I didn't start listening to metal till 1999, and even that was just HIM and Nightwish.

 

[Zephyrus]

Did anyone else find it was much easier to make blind purchases back in the mid 90's? I just remember buying so many tapes (and CD's but usually tapes) of bands I never heard of and weren't that popular and they were usually good... Heathen, Intruder, Forbidden, Helstar, Exodus, Samael, Sacrifice. You simply can't do that now - just walking into a shop and buying an album on the basis of its cover would be like throwing your money away.

Yeah every time I go to a record store I print out a list of albums I might want to pick up based on my research. About half the time I forget the list and I'm left in a fog as to what to get, and I'm too afraid to risk my hard-earned money on something I haven't researched first.
I need to shake this off and learn to take more risks. It just might pay off.

 

[scorpio01169]

wow you guys are forgetting the Real underground metal scene....Destruction, Possessed, Sodom, and yeah at that time Slayer was way underground. and the only way you really heard much from them was that one kid in your class that wore their shirts and lived that stuff. all the bands like Death, Carcass, Cannible Corpes, and the like came from true Death metal bands, not from metallica who arent death metal..just in the beginning were thrash metal.

 

[Nikki]

I worked my way up the metal chain. At first, my friends threw Mariah Carey in my face,so I told this one guy I knew about it. This one guy,his name was Frank,was really into metal. He was the drummer of this band,Natural Disaster(no longer together). We went into his basement,me,him,his bandmates,my brother,our friends,etc..,and partied, while being introduced to Metallica, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, then to the more extreme bands,like Carcass and Morbid Angel,this had to be in,I believe 1996(?),so I was around 8-9 years old. Went home,told my mom about what I heard,then she took me to see Metallica a few weeks later.

 

[~Derek~]

Yeah every time I go to a record store I print out a list of albums I might want to pick up based on my research. About half the time I forget the list and I'm left in a fog as to what to get, and I'm too afraid to risk my hard-earned money on something I haven't researched first.
I need to shake this off and learn to take more risks. It just might pay off.

Cool, I just remember what albums I have a liking for I've looked up online, I don't want to waste my money either. I didn't get into extreme metal until 2005, Morbid Angel was my gateway death metal band and still my favorite DM band today though I still listened to some Nu Metal at that time. I didn't get into black metal until this year and I'm glad I did, I would've missed out on some great music, Emperor being my gateway BM band and probably my favorite BM band currently. All I listened to in my middle school-high school years was mainly Nu Metal and Rap. Now I listen mainly to Death and Black Metal. The progression has been great.

 

[hibernal_dream]

I worked my way up the metal chain. At first, my friends threw Mariah Carey in my face,so I told this one guy I knew about it. This one guy,his name was Frank,was really into metal. He was the drummer of this band,Natural Disaster(no longer together). We went into his basement,me,him,his bandmates,my brother,our friends,etc..,and partied, while being introduced to Metallica, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, then to the more extreme bands,like Carcass and Morbid Angel,this had to be in,I believe 1996(?),so I was around 8-9 years old. Went home,told my mom about what I heard,then she took me to see Metallica a few weeks later.

What an awesome mom. If I was a mom i'd do that.

 

[Nikki]

What an awesome mom. If I was a mom i'd do that.

'Twas Metallica's infamous free concert outside the Corestates Center(now called Wachovia Center,heh)

 

[swizzlenuts]

Yeah every time I go to a record store I print out a list of albums I might want to pick up based on my research. About half the time I forget the list and I'm left in a fog as to what to get, and I'm too afraid to risk my hard-earned money on something I haven't researched first.
I need to shake this off and learn to take more risks. It just might pay off.

Ha this used to happen to me so much, but then I just buy online, and rarely buy at stores.

 

[Killbot]

Ha this used to happen to me so much, but then I just buy online, and rarely buy at stores.

I think I've bought all but one of my metal CDs online, there's not a single music store near me that sells any form of metal other than what hits the mainstream and even if there was, I'd still buy online due to the prices.

 

[Evomo]

a couple metalheads that worked at the music store i would buy my music at... record conventions...

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

I got into metal in 2002 so.... I suck

edit: I had to do a lot of catching up