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

[Dee Snarl]

I'd been getting out of metal toward the end of the 80s, mostly just because I was getting into so many other kinds of music.

By the time '90 rolled around, I was pretty much completely divorced from metal, as seemed like it was all either "Unskinny Bop" or else Cannibal Corpse (who I'm okay with now, but didn't much like at the time; it's still not my favorite).

What's most amazing to me is how I was able to miss so much metal in the 90s while still being pretty active in "underground" music or whatever. I think metal in the 90s was a lot more of a cult thing that didn't cross over into other scenes like it does today. From my perspective, metal in the Northwest was verboten, unless of course you were a diehard true believer death metal guy, which I was not.

FWIW, when I started getting back into it, in like '98, it was largely due to Terrorizer and Metal Maniacs, and Century Media samplers.

 

[unknown]

Went home,told my mom about what I heard,then she took me to see Metallica a few weeks later.

that's fricken awesome. your mom rules.

 

[Evil Dead]

Basically back in the 80's and 90's you bought or browsed through magazines. Exchanged letters, tape trades, blind buys and so forth.

That was how I did it. Also, when the advent of using the "internet" was coming about I was on mIRC and various BBS's chatting with fellow metalheads and the actual band members themselves. And of course those blind cd buys usually turned out good and you had tons of flyers stuffed in the envelopes of other bands.

 

[metal paddy]

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

you bow your head in shame pinkey babe and to admit you liked HIM

 

[Hatebreeder]

All the knowledge I have gained throughout the year and a half that I've listened to metal is self-taught. I'm not even sure how I got to the point I am right now.

 

[R.I.P.2]

All the knowledge I have gained throughout the year and a half that I've listened to metal is self-taught.

you are a true scholar, sir.

 

[Life Sucks]

I was already listening to metal in the early 1990s. I found out about new bands via Metal Maniacs and mail order catalogs.

 

[Cythraul]

I started listening to underground metal sometime during '95 or '96. I used to find out about bands by reading reviews in metal maniacs. Back then I didn't have the internet and I think this was before file sharing got big, so basically I would go up to the used cd store and look for bands that I had heard about. Most of the time I couldn't find what I wanted so I would just browse around until I found something that had an interesting cover and buy it. If I didn't like it I'd sell it back and look for something else. I discovered a lot of bands this way, including Sabbat, Celtic Frost, Venom, Dismember, Cathedral, etc. It was actually really exciting to find good albums back then. It's not as exciting anymore since it's so easy to hear any album you want via file sharing programs.

 

[Astrum]

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.

If this was the case with me, then the only good bands I would be listening to are a few local bands. Other than that I would listen to BFMV and Atreyu. Trust me.


metal forums

I wouldnt be the same person without them.

 

[Satanstoenail]

For me it was mainly community radio (3RRR and 3PBS in Melbourne) in the late 80's and early 90's that kept me up to date with what was coming out, I used to sit up on Sunday nights after everyone had gone to bed and tape all the stuff that sounded cool off the show, and then go look for it in the few record shops that specialised in selling metal. I also got info from metal magazines and street press.

The community radio in Melbourne is awesome, those two stations have been around since the 70's, exposing people to music they would never otherwise have heard.

 

[OldScratch]

The whole Metal thing was very different back in the 80's and 90's compared to what I see today. Although there were spurts where suddenly some "Metal" ala "We're Not Gonna Take It" era TS became popular with the mainstream, and of course the so-called hair-metal thing was standard fare on MTV back in 88-92 or so. But the "real" Metal was a much more exclusive(or excluded) community.

Generally, in my part of the world, you were either fully in the scene or not. For the most part few "sort of" liked Thrash, Speed, Death or proto-Black Metal. It was, as is often said, a lifestyle as much as anything. Thus, one came by the new music primarily by socialization - word of mouth, mags, or the few record-shops of that time who catered to Metal, when most blissfully ignored it. Tape trading was common as well. (there was no Metal radio, etc. where I lived)
It seemed nearly 3 out of 5 people I knew then played in a band, worked in a record store, or were oriented toward the 'business' somehow. It really was fairly close-knit.

Given that I can remember when Death Metal was an obscure novelty, and bands like Bathory, Possessed or Venom were only for the truly dark and daring, it was often a very selective and yes, underground world, musically and socially, I suppose. But still, if you were part of this greater Metal world, when it came to shows, new releases, etc. one could remain pretty well connected, all things considered. This, of course, cannot compare to the internet age...it is far, far easier now, without question. But the sense of community seems to have suffered greatly in the bargain. But maybe it just looks that way from a distance, as my direct 'scene' days are long past.

 

[HardSide]

Magazines, word of mouth, clubs. But by 1994 the underground scene already hit the internet and consumed warez sites and irc channels. Some of the old irc channels are still around and i still get all my music from them.

Another way was buying all the tapes from a store or ordering it from a catalog since CD-s came out in 1993 i beleive the tape industry fell big time so a lot of distributors were selling tapes for like 2 bucks or something so i bought them and whatever i liked i got the cd.

Other way was you go to for instance a metallica concert, you see them wear a angelwitch shirt and boom you bought the tape or the cd and you got your music. A lot of people i know got into celtic frost because of anthrax because they always wore their shirts and etc...

And lastly if all else fails i just bought off band cd's when i saw them listed on the catalogue of the specific record corporation. Such as nuclear blast always showed off their whole lineup of bands that released music in that year. So if you bough a cd that was from nuclear blast you saw a small booklet of all the bands that were signed to them and released an album in that year.


Ah such fond memories, oh and compilations also helped. A lot of underground bands back in the day covered mainstream bands such as ulrich heep or metallica.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I got into metal in the early 90's. I learned about it from reading magazines and talking to others who were into it and browsing cd stores.

 

[hibernal_dream]

For me it was mainly community radio (3RRR and 3PBS in Melbourne) in the late 80's and early 90's that kept me up to date with what was coming out, I used to sit up on Sunday nights after everyone had gone to bed and tape all the stuff that sounded cool off the show, and then go look for it in the few record shops that specialised in selling metal. I also got info from metal magazines and street press.

The community radio in Melbourne is awesome, those two stations have been around since the 70's, exposing people to music they would never otherwise have heard.

Ah yeah, I used to listen to both those shows. PBS used to have a 6 hour metal program on wednesday night, I don't know if they still do.

 

[Killbot]

you are a true scholar, sir.

 

[Susperia]

you bow your head in shame pinkey babe and to admit you liked HIM

I'm a very honest person.

 

[metal paddy]

I'm a very honest person.

Thats why i luv you babe Pinky you are indeed a heavy metal chick

 

[Susperia]

 

[Carcassian]

As the resident old bastard, I can relay the following:

The olden days were a time for networking (tape trading, r/l metal head friends), and yes, print magazines played some part in what I bought.

However, probably the greatest ways to get into more bands were by watching live bands and checking out the supports, to pore over the liner notes and blind buy albums from bands listed in the "THANX FUCKERS!!!!" lists and to have a resident small record shop. I had a small record shop in my home town where one of the dudes was into metal of all types - it was possible, therefore to buy albums from the metal (in those days there was even a seperate "thrash" section) and probably 7 times out of 10 get something worth listening to.

Of course, in those days there were a lot fewer bands, and certainly a lot fewer able to release any albums. The chances, therefore, of them being shit was correspondingly also a lot less.

In terms of Death metal - well, I guess I really got into it around the turn of 1990 ish, having been a hardcore thrasher since about 1986. I can remember being blown away by the combination of "extreme" sounds and the amazing atmosphere that the music evoked.

Black metal? I was kind of aware it was blowing up; a house mate in a previous house had got The Principle of Evil made Flesh and other cds - I remember being desperately irritated by the image of the BM bands. I listened, in the next few years, to Burzum, to Marduk, Satyricon, Darkthrone and Immortal as they "broke", and at that time only Mayhem - DMDS made any kind of sense to me. The rest of it just sounded desperately amateurish, and sold on shock value alone. Escapades such as the Euronymous / Vikernes incident and church burnings also irritated me intensely; especially as much of the print media (including mainstream newspapers) were calling these guys "Death Metal" fans.

Ho hum. I'm sure the interweb has been a great thing, and yeah, I've heard a lot more bands and had a lot more discussion about the music I love as a consequence - and maybe it's nostalgia - but I can't honestly say things are now better. It seems to me that back in the day, you had to be a lot more committed to the music than the average metal "fan" is now.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

I think you'll find us old fogies all telling very similar stories. Blind buys, (usually) the last video of the night on Headbanger's Ball, word of mouth, and tape trading were all hugely influential on my buying habits and getting me into the metal underground. However, I must seriously credit Metal Maniacs magazine with getting me into underground/extreme metal. That magazine is the reason I listen to black metal at all. They praised the shit of Emperor around the time of the release of ATWAD and I bought it. First listen I was like "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?", but then I listened again, slack jawed. That magazine, while being at least 50% total shit (always has been that way BTW), is an effective gateway into the underground for the casual metal listener; they have introduced me to countless bands.
Also, controversy was also a great way to gain interest for a band. When I read articles in the early '90's about death metal in magazines like Rolling Stone and Circus, I was intrigued, because the way those magazines sensationalized and (un)fortunately blacklisted DM made the whole genre irresistible to me. Hearing "horror" stories about lyrics glorifying Satan worship and mass murder were exactly what bands like Cannibal Corpse and Deicide needed to propel them to the top of the underground metal heap.