Hooked?

[darkblade]

i'm so sorry eyeball... if there's anything i can do to help, just let me know.

 

[proulxski]

group hug

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I'm a metal fossil like you J-Dubya. I was there in the days of tape trading and buying metal albums because the cover looked like it was something you'd want to hear...scouring the import sections...and hoping to find an issue of Kerrang that may lead you to the next great band.

The album that really hooked me was UFO's Obsession back in 1980...bought it in a 99 cent bin because I dug the cover and the band name...Schenker's performance on that classic made me take up guitar....the majestic solo on the opening track, Only You Can Rock Me, sealed my fate...I had to do that! NWOBHM

Kerrang was a magic portal I found in 1980 or 81. With no internet, and Hit Parader & Circus magazines mostly sticking to the more "popular" bands, it was THE source of info for up & comers, as well as news on new releases to scour the import section for From what I understand, that mag is a shadow of its former self....

I think I too picked up Obsession in a 99 cent bin. I had heard Lights Out but Obsession was the first I purchased. Hipignosis' covers, ROCKED!

 

[Taliwakker]

1987

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Unfortunately, through middle school and most of high school I wasn't too big into music. I listened mainly to mainstream rock for the most part. Later in high school I got into some heavier (not good mind you) stuff like Stained, Limp Bizkit, Tool, and System of a Down. I feel like I am in a confession booth right now. This was the time I became a little more interested in music and started to understand more about there being more out there than what the music industry throws at you.

In late high school a good friend of mine introduced me to a japanese band he discovered called X-Japan. I was blown away by the fast paced and technical drums and the chromatic sounding guitars. This fast paced sound is what I later discovered to be "real" metal. However, there was another thing I found unique about X-Japan. They were quite experimental as they had plenty of ballads and beautiful piano pieces. They have plenty of songs that mix piano, violins, cellos, and even flutes with the fast paced metal sound. Even though I loved this band I had discovered them in like 1998 or 1999 when they had been around since the 80's and broken up in 1997 (they have just recently gotten back together; however, at the absence of their lead guitarist who commited suicide in 1998).

Later on down the line, after high school, I knew an older guy who would play all kinds of power/progressive metal all the time. At first I of course did not know exactly what power or progressive metal was; however, the more of his metal I would hear while sitting around, the more I liked it and reminded me of X-Japan. This same guy also had quite a collection of these cd's of which he sold used and new. I was interested enough one night to look at the brand new shrink wrapped cd's he was selling when I noticed a band called "Symphony X". It was V: The New Mythology Suite, and the band name and cover interested me. I asked him if he knew what they were like and so he decided to play "his" copy of it a little to see if I liked it. Of course the opening orchestral arrangement caught my attention, and as soon as it fiercly moved into the opening of Evolution I immediately told him to stop playing it because I was already persuaded.

After worshipping V for month I got all the other SyX albums and slowly started learning about metal of the underground and its various genres. I slowly got into more and more bands through the use of the mighty internet and the rest is history...

 

[Ascension]

I've always migrated toward the heavier music that was available. In the late 60's when l was in the single digits...it was Hendrix & soon after discovered Black Sabbath and Zep. Then this funky band called KISS appeared out of the blue & messed my day up. Then Nugent, Rush, etc....and the metal scene developed.

 

[clover]

Wow....you youngsters! I went from "kiddie" records stright into the Beatles thanks to my sister. I was around 8-9? Maybe 10 at the oldest? (1974).
I knew I liked rock music, even way back then. Further delving into my sisters record collection brought me to bands like Led Zep, Deep Purple, Hendrix, Cream, Uriah Heep, Sabbath, etc.
I'm older than dirt, and was listening to the grand daddys of metal. Been a fan ever since.
Hook, line, and sinker as NWOBHM was happening.......

I could call you a youngster!! I wanted to go see The Beatles when they came out to Australia in 1964, but no-one would take me (I was almost 3!!) My uncle, who is only 9 years older than me, was right into The Beatles in the '60's and I would play his records non-stop whenever I went to my grandmothers. He also had some singles that I would play all the time too, the most memorable being "Rain Dance" by The Guess Who (never did like any of their other stuff though). From there I moved on to Queen (my copy of Queen had to be special ordered and took almost 6 months to get to me from England when it first came out) and Led Zep.

Then came Metallica. I was in the Australian Army in the early '80's, and someone based with me had just come back from the US, and brought with them a copy of Kill 'Em All. From that moment, I was hooked, and the rest is history. The internet has been a wonderful invention, enabling me to search for other bands to get into, as there is a distinct lack of radio stations here playing anything other than pop or fossil music.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I've been out-fossil'ed! Hooray!

My sister (11 years older than me) got to see the Beatles in Chicago, and I was (& still am!) somewhat envious of this. Found her program from this event
when we moved out of our childhood house. I still have it, somwhere......

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Unfortunately, through middle school and most of high school I wasn't too big into music. I listened mainly to mainstream rock for the most part. Later in high school I got into some heavier (not good mind you) stuff like Stained, Limp Bizkit, Tool, and System of a Down. I feel like I am in a confession booth right now. This was the time I became a little more interested in music and started to understand more about there being more out there than what the music industry throws at you.

I was very similar, but i grew obsessive over music (even though it was false nu-metal bullshit) in late middle-school through my first year of high school. In grade 10 i got a metallica cd (the black album) and got obsessive about everything metallica for about a year.

THEN through Metallica I became interested in some of the shit on Garage Inc, most notably the Mercyful Fate medley. From there i got into Mercyful Fate and King Diamond, found out they were on this record label called Metal Blade and started looking at everything they had, as well as a few sites that had songs from Gamma Ray, Iced Earth, Kamelot, etc. But the Metal Blade website opened my eyes. I listened to every song on that website including Evolution from the new Symphony X album. I went out and bought V, God Dethroned's "Bloody Blasphemy", Dies Irae's "Immolated", and a handfull of other random discs. So from the beginning my tastes ranged from power to death.

 

[schenkadere]

Kerrang was a magic portal I found in 1980 or 81. With no internet, and Hit Parader & Circus magazines mostly sticking to the more "popular" bands, it was THE source of info for up & comers, as well as news on new releases to scour the import section for From what I understand, that mag is a shadow of its former self....

I think I too picked up Obsession in a 99 cent bin. I had heard Lights Out but Obsession was the first I purchased. Hipignosis' covers, ROCKED!

I think we just bonded J-Duya....it's a beautiful thing.

I just rekindled friendshipships with high school friends from that period.

J-Dub...do you know Billy Milano from SOD and MOD?...he's a good friend of mine...that's the thrash/hardcore crossover days...Speak English or Die...remember htat one?

 

[reidie]

About 1997, 11 years old, Wherever I may roam did it for me. The sound Metallica got on the black album was massive, blew me away at the time.

 

[EyeballKid]

Thanks for the hug guys, I can already feel my past freezing over with a nice sheet of Iron Maiden ice.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I think we just bonded J-Duya....it's a beautiful thing.

I just rekindled friendshipships with high school friends from that period.

J-Dub...do you know Billy Milano from SOD and MOD?...he's a good friend of mine...that's the thrash/hardcore crossover days...Speak English or Die...remember htat one?

LOL! Sadly, I've moved away and have little contact with anybody from that era. Kinda sad, but shit happens. You never know who'll you'll bump into further down the line. I know of him, matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I still have my Speak English Or Die vinyl stashed away (still have to get to that for that other thread...) What is he up to these days? I never got to see them live, back in the day... You and I are probably close enough to the same age, and were probably into the same shit musically back then. I looked forward to getting every issue of Kerrang I could get my hands on back then. I even bought back issues. There was nothing like it in the US. I still remember the first time I saw the Iron Maiden "Killers" cover at the record shop. It was a spiritual moment!
See? I'm not always a douche!

 

[razoredge]

OK, first my rant, in all good fun but come on, this place has music people........ theres no such thing as "classic rock"! DAMNIT! Thats a new media marketing gag. There was hardrock, southern rock, just plain rock, pop rock, rock n roll, heavy blues, blues you get the picture, dont deminish all those important early founders of heavy music by lumping them all into this recent term... fucking... "classic rock"...... uke:

sorry this old fart hates that fucking term passionately (take note: thats the first time in my life Ive used the puker)

I was probably 10 when Jimi laid Purple Haze on us, that was the end of it with me and the insect and animal bands. Naturally Inagoddadivida, Born to be Wild, Jumpin Jack Flash & Paint it Black, Cream and other Hendrix were instrumental in turning ears that approved of this heavier direction.

Then around 12 in 1970 my older cousin down in Fla. had told me about this band called Led Zeppelin. My best friend and I were wandering in a store while his mother was shopping and came across an 8track of Led Zeppelin II, we combined our change and paid for it, went out to her 66-68? suicide door Lincoln with awsome stereo for its day and poped it in and had our minds blown out.... the rest was history. Soon bands like Uriah Heep, Humble Pie, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk, Deep Purple were occuping space along side of my Led Zeppelin and Hendrix collection. Ive been in and out of it since, there were periods I turned away to some degree due to trends like Kiss, Foreigner, Foghat or just being to busy to stay on top of the latest happenings, like I was in my teens and very early 20's I missed the NWOBHM thing and was only partially up to speed by around 84, even then it was only by local preferences of who listened to what.

please try to remember the music that preceded the heavy metal term was called hardrock...... not that other thing.

BTW - do any of you other old timers remember when the first time you heard the term "heavy metal" was ? I struggle trying to remember.

 

[clover]

OK, first my rant, in all good fun but come on, this place has music people........ theres no such thing as "classic rock"! DAMNIT! Thats a new media marketing gag. There was hardrock, southern rock, just plain rock, pop rock, rock n roll, heavy blues, blues you get the picture, dont deminish all those important early founders of heavy music by lumping them all into this recent term... fucking... "classic rock"...... uke:

sorry this old fart hates that fucking term passionately (take note: thats the first time in my life Ive used the puker)

I was probably 10 when Jimi laid Purple Haze on us, that was the end of it with me and the insect and animal bands. Naturally Inagoddadivida, Born to be Wild, Jumpin Jack Flash & Paint it Black, Cream and other Hendrix were instrumental in turning ears that approved of this heavier direction.

Then around 12 in 1970 my older cousin down in Fla. had told me about this band called Led Zeppelin. My best friend and I were wondering in a store while his mother was shopping and came across an 8track of Led Zeppelin II, we combined our change and paid for it, went out to her 66-68? suicide door Lincoln with awsome stereo for its day and poped it in and had our minds blown out.... the rest was history. Soon bands like Uriah Heep, Humble Pie, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Grand Funk, Deep Purple were occuping space along side of my Led Zeppelin and Hendrix collection. Ive been in and out of it since, there were periods I turned away to some degree due to trends like Kiss, Foreigner, Foghat or just being to busy to stay on top of the latest happenings, like I was in my teens and very early 20's I missed the NWOBHM thing and was only partially up to speed by around 84, even then it was only by local preferences of who listened to what.

please try to remember the music that preceded the heavy metal term was called hardrock...... not that other thing.

BTW - do any of you other old timers remember when the first time you heard the term "heavy metal" was ? I struggle trying to remember.

OMG!!! Someone here older than me, lol!!

I was actually trying to remember the other day when it was that I first heard the term "heavy metal" used for music. I do know that when I was at university (many many years ago), for one of my chemistry subjects we had to do an assigment on a heavy metal, so I did the first couple of pages on Freddy Mercury... and then followed up with mercury the metal. My lecturer nearly had a coronary on the spot when he opened my assignment... got full marks for it though.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

BTW - do any of you other old timers remember when the first time you heard the term "heavy metal" was ? I struggle trying to remember.

LOVE the CR rant I feel the same way!

First use of Heavy Metal that I remember was probably related to Sabbath,
but that was a LONG time ago, and my memory is hazy. It almost seems like the term was always there, but obviously it wasn't.....

 

[schenkadere]

LOL! Sadly, I've moved away and have little contact with anybody from that era. Kinda sad, but shit happens. You never know who'll you'll bump into further down the line. I know of him, matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I still have my Speak English Or Die vinyl stashed away (still have to get to that for that other thread...) What is he up to these days? I never got to see them live, back in the day... You and I are probably close enough to the same age, and were probably into the same shit musically back then. I looked forward to getting every issue of Kerrang I could get my hands on back then. I even bought back issues. There was nothing like it in the US. I still remember the first time I saw the Iron Maiden "Killers" cover at the record shop. It was a spiritual moment!
See? I'm not always a douche!

I never thought you were actually a douche...not everyone can worships at the church of Govan.

Killers is one of the greatest album covers and one of my favorite albums of all time...Maiden's absolute best!

Billy's starting a USA tour today supporting his new album Red, White and Screwed...it's a great throw back to his hardcore days...good album...good production...it's the last MOD album. I'll be getting together with him the end of this month.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

So is he really as much of a dick as he comes off? That's not an asshole question, seriously curious if he's really a jackass or just opinionated?

 

[razoredge]

LOVE the CR rant I feel the same way!

First use of Heavy Metal that I remember was probably related to Sabbath,
but that was a LONG time ago, and my memory is hazy. It almost seems like the term was always there, but obviously it wasn't.....

Thanks for the backup, now I dont feel like such a jackass but I just couldnt let it go.

The first I can think of was later in the 70's, maybe 77/78, when a younger guy was telling me about the Scorpions. I just never remember hearing it in the early 70's, including for Black Sabbath, which would be fine being a somewhat isolated upsate NY country boy... but I used to read Circus and Raves up until 76 and I just dont recall any use of the term, but like you said....... looooong time ago.

 

[ramses]

Most people cite Steppenwolf as starting it, when they sang the line "heavy metal thunder" in Born to be wild. And, since at the time the song was heavy...but I watched a heavy metal documentary, and Alice Cooper takes credit. He says when he was interviewed by Rolling Stone in the early seventies, he was describing his group. To me though, when it's all said and done, whoever started it, many thanks. I think it's a great title, it fits.