How'd you get into metal?

[RagePSV]

Back when I was 12 (1989), my friend's dad found an Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind tape laying in his work parking lot and brought it home. My friend had no interest in it and gave it to me. I wore that tape out (still have it though) and have been hooked ever since.

 

[Dark One]

After having been primarily into hair bands for awhile, I witnessed Metallica's performance at the Monsters of Rock stadium tour in Philadelphia on June 12th, 1988.

Fan for life after that day.

Jason

 

[Rakosh]

I was 11 yrs old in 6th grade (1982) and Number of the Beast had just come out when I saw the cover plastered on a 7th grader's notebook during the hot bus ride home from school. I thought that was the most evil thing I'd ever seen, so immediately I knew I had to check it out.

It took until the next year when Piece of Mind came out before I was able to convince my parents to let me buy an Iron Maiden cassette (with my own money, no less!). I wore out that cassette listening to it every day on my Walkman knock-off (and especially on Sundays on the way to church).

...there was no turning back after that.

:Smokin:

 

[Ostracised]

I fully blame my cousin. She brought over Quiet Riot's "Condition Critical" and I was hooked. From then on there was lots of hair metal and Maiden, but "Puppets" sealed the deal. After that it has been a constant search to find the fastest, most brutal, most technical, and most unique metal-slanted bands on the planet. I spent countless hours taping WREKAGE on Friday nights, dubbing right over all my parent's old Amway cassettes-it was the easiest and cheapest way to get my fix. $8.99 was a lot of money to a kid in the 80's! Sure, I'll listen to almost anything (Reggae, Salsa, and a lot of Mid-Eastern music's out as well as most newer pop music-Orphaned Land's still cool), but metal's always first.

Now Playing:
"Turned Inside Out"
From Obituary

 

[rms]

Listened to Metalliac for awhile but was always into Hard Rock and stuff, and then a guy I used to play CS with showed me some bands and it started there...and a friend from HS showed me alot of bands and with online forums.

 

[RagePSV]

I fully blame my cousin. She brought over Quiet Riot's "Condition Critical" and I was hooked. From then on there was lots of hair metal and Maiden, but "Puppets" sealed the deal. After that it has been a constant search to find the fastest, most brutal, most technical, and most unique metal-slanted bands on the planet. I spent countless hours taping WREKAGE on Friday nights, dubbing right over all my parent's old Amway cassettes-it was the easiest and cheapest way to get my fix. $8.99 was a lot of money to a kid in the 80's! Sure, I'll listen to almost anything (Reggae, Salsa, and a lot of Mid-Eastern music's out as well as most newer pop music-Orphaned Land's still cool), but metal's always first.

Now Playing:
"Turned Inside Out"
From Obituary

I have quite the WREKAGE tape collection from the early 90's as well!

 

[rushzil2112]

It was 95 or 96 for me, when I was in sixth grade. I started playing the drums a year earlier. First song I learned on drumset was we will rock you/we are the champions from Queen, but I heard Test for Echo from Rush on the radio and it caught my attention. I bought some of their cds, and it started from there. Then I heard metallica, and that did it for me. In 9th grade, somebody told me to check out Dream Theater. That is all she wrote. After dream theater, was symphony x, iced earth, nevermore, fates warning, and now every damned thing good about all kinds of metal through and through. Just thinking my current fav cds are the new Ihsahn and Opeth, and I wouldn't have even given them the time of day back in high school, damned hating growling/screaming vocals, it sure makes you not like a lot, until you learn to love them and it is all you want sometimes. My mind keeps on opening up to more and more different stuff everyday almost.

 

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

It was 2000 when I moved school districts and met my friend Jon (the really tall guy that is always with me at PP). He saw that I was listening to Coal Chamber and Drowning Pool at the time and said "try some real metal". I was then hooked on "Vulgar Display of Power" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes". Pantera and Iced Earth are to this day are my 2 favorite bands.

 

[DAVETHEMETALGUY]

i was fortunate to have a Heavy Metal radio show on a college radio station in Tuscaloosa (WVUA) back in 1982 is when it started. i used to carry all my vinyl up there cause the guy didnt have what i wanted to hear.
So in 1993, when he left i took over and have been there ever since.
i can remember listening to Venom under my covers with my jam box. I knew right then metal was for me.
I also attended a KISS concert at the tender age of 5 in 1976...then it kinda snowballed, saw Rush open up for Thin Lizzy. damn it was life changing

 

[Kenneth R.]

I was in 9th grade. (14). My guitar playing friend asked me to help him cover a song for a class presentation. He gave me the Metallica - S&M album to listen to for reference. From there, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Opeth were my introductions to various flavors.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I believe my first real dose of metal was from the 80's thrash movement. I loved bands such as Testament, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Metallica growing up.

My first "metal" purchases were:

Anthrax - State of Euphoria
Testament - Practice What You Preach

During my college days I fell prey to the "alternative movement", but grew bored with that very quickly. Then I started working a human resources internship at a beer coaster plant in Johnson City, thus I met Fatesfan. He was playing Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" one day in his office and I overheard it. I instantly fell in love with that song!

From there, Fatesfan introduced me to other bands of progressive and power metal. I've been consistently listening to this type of metal since 2001 or 2002.

~Brian~

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Natural progression from The Beatles at a very early age (7-8) which weaned me off of "kiddie" records.
Subsequent raids on my older sister's record collection showed me Hendrix, Cream, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. I was 15 when the NWOBHM started, and really got into bands like Maiden, Saxon, Leppard, etc. I guess I always like music where the guitar was upfront and loud. 36 years later, not much has changed...

 

[OrbWeaver]

Grade school: Would occasionally hear Iron Maiden, Dio, and others played on the raido. I had no clue who they were, but I thought the music was fantastic. Especially Rainbow in the Dark. Mostly listened to showtunes, however.

Age 16: Boyfriend at the time loved metal. Unfortunately it was nu-metal, but still metal. Until then I had bought into the idea that metal was evil. Never mind that I'd heard Iron Maiden, Dio, Priest, etc...and liked them. But I didn't know they were metal. I was still listening to my showtunes, but I figured "If HE likes it, I can try to like it too." I tried. I tried so very hard to like it. But I failed miserably. Oh, there were a few bands I kind of thought were neat: Disturbed, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, but overall, I couldn't stand it.

Then one glorious day a former friend from Sweden sent me HammerFall's "The Champion." I hated it. I liked the music but I said "What's up with this singer?" Then he sent me the song "Glory to the Brave" and I fell in love. I grew to like The Champion, and played those two songs over and over. I then asked him for more HammerFall. He ended up sending me the Renegade album. For the first time in my life, I played a CD the entire way through and loved every single song on it. After that, he sent me the Glory to the Brave album. Reaction: Wash. Rinse. Repeat. After that I got more HammerFall, and branched out into other bands that were from the same genre.

I haven't looked back since. But I still listen to showtunes.

 

[thedelicateflower]

...ratt did it for me.........................

.....and i am not saying what my age was at the time...though i will say that i am still the same age i was back then..........

 

[kellsco]

Subsequent raids on my older sister's record collection showed me Hendrix, Cream, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc.

I could have been your older sister. I had all that, and then some.

I was the oldest, so I had to discover everything on my own. I really have no idea how I got into Metal, it seems like it just was always there, and I'm pretty sure it was. Maybe I'm just too old to remember clearly.

 

[J-Man]

Natural progression from The Beatles at a very early age (7-8) which weaned me off of "kiddie" records.
Subsequent raids on my older sister's record collection showed me Hendrix, Cream, Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. I was 15 when the NWOBHM started, and really got into bands like Maiden, Saxon, Leppard, etc. I guess I always like music where the guitar was upfront and loud. 36 years later, not much has changed...

Kinda the same progression, but in the 70's (73-77) i was stationed in Germany and was lucky enough to see SLADE, and i was hooked, when i came back to the USA DISCO was the craze, I was so devasted and stayed that way until the NWOBHM, but then the garage, grunge came and again I was devastated until the year 1999. That year while traveling with my company i went into a music store and asked for some metal music, but with no screaming vocals, His recommendation? ICED EARTH!!!! I was hooked hard, so i bought it and another band I had never heard of called RHAPSODY. So, then i find amazon.com ordered one by a band called Stratvarious, and below it said "people who ordered this also Ordered these "NIGHTWISH, BLIND GUARDIAN, HELLOWEEN, FREEDON CALL, ELEGY" I ordered them all my wife damn near killed me. in 2002 i was in Greece and met Mike Pantopopolous, and the rest is history.

 

[TXHOSER]

I was wallowing in the world of top 40 music until I spent the night with a friend from down the street and a guy I had never met before. I had dabbled in metal before (Maiden and KISS mostly) but pretty much listened to whatever Casey Kasem and my friends told me was cool. He brought over Ozzy's Bark and the Moon and Motley Crue's Shout at the Devil (LP w/ the all black cover. I've never seen one since) and I bought them the next day on cassette.
After that, Thriller went in the dresser drawer and it was mostly mainstream metal (Def Leppard, Rush, Ratt, etc) until Rakosh turned me on to Megadeth and King Diamond in high school.

 

[Ruthven]

Def Leppard's "Pyromania," and later I heard Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" single.

 

[MetalRose]

I know I've told this story before, but it's worth repeating:

When I was little, I used to listen to the radio and fell in LOVE with Michael Jackson. A few years later we got cable... back when MTV was still new and played Music Videos... One day, I was watching it and saw Michael Jackson. Oh boy! I loved his LONG hair and his leather pants and his energy! He was so dreamy. Then a little while later, I started seeing the Hair Metal bands- Poison, The Crue, etc. All I saw was again the long hair, leather pants and the jumping all over the stages. And althought the music was a little different, I started loving them too.

In Jr. High, I strayed a little bit, but always stuck with bands like Aerosmith and what not... At the end of Jr. High and into High School I discovered Alice in Chains, Type O Negative, Slayer and all those.

But it all boils down to Michael Jackson. If I never saw him, I most likely wouldn't be listening to heavy metal at all. Yes, Michael Jackson is responsible for my love of metal music.

-MetalRose

 

[Pellaz]

I fully blame my cousin. She brought over Quiet Riot's "Condition Critical" and I was hooked. From then on there was lots of hair metal and Maiden, but "Puppets" sealed the deal. After that it has been a constant search to find the fastest, most brutal, most technical, and most unique metal-slanted bands on the planet. I spent countless hours taping WREKAGE on Friday nights, dubbing right over all my parent's old Amway cassettes-it was the easiest and cheapest way to get my fix.

I have quite the WREKAGE tape collection from the early 90's as well!

Wow, this kinda warms my heart. Early 90s would have been before I actively deejayed on WREKage, but right around the time I started hanging out at the studio (the old location behind Alexander Memorial Coliseum). That's where I first heard, say, Therion's "To Mega Therion" and Pan-thy-Monium's "Battle of Geheeb," two songs that will forever remind me of the halcyon days of WREKage.


My metal awakening:

I was into hard rock, prog-rock and that sort of thing during the 80s, but I remember going to a friend's party around 1986 or 1987 and hearing Metallica's Master of Puppets (or Ride the Lightning). I was intrigued, but I got distracted and didn't follow up right away. It was like 'planting the seed'.....

In late 1989 or 1990 I co-founded a new international fan-club for Brit author Michael Moorcock, and to make some initial contacts, I sent letters to all of the people who'd had letters published -- with their complete addresses -- in the Elric comic books. The first person to respond back and join was a cool chap from Washington state named Randy Sarbacher, who also recommended a then-unknown band named Queensryche to me. Not long afterward I won a gift certificate from 96rock here, 'good for any cassette' at a local store. With Randy's recommendation in mind I picked up Operation: Mindcrime -- and the rest was history.

In 1988 or maybe 1989, a friend had already befriended QR and Metallica down in Fla. when they were touring together and tried to work out backstage passes for me via Metallica's Kirk Hammett. I ended up missing all of QR's set due to the mixup, but caught Metallica's, and became a fan; those early seeds had sprouted. Later I befriended Kirk also and from 1989 through 1994 we were treated pretty well on their tours.....tickets, passes, snake-pit passes, etc. I became a big fan and was a charter member of 'Tallica's fan club, back when they were still realllly cool to their fans, even reserving time after shows to go talk to fans waiting outside the venues.

Later, that practice faded.
So did Metallica.

Ironically, it was my copy of Metallica's "Breadfan" on mini-CD that got me firmly into progressive-metal to stay: Alan Ayo, a deejay here at 96rock and a friend, asked me to bring it down to the studio so he could record it onto broadcast 'cart' for airplay.
"Paul, you can have any CD you want from the promo pile."
I'd heard Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" exactly once on 96rock that week and had loved it.....
"You got that Dream Theater?"
"Awesome choice, but we don't have any CDs. How about a cassette?"
"Sure, okay! Thanks!"

I listened to it on the way home and was so astonished I pulled over to the side of the road to listen to it without road-noise. The Ytsejam mailing list, Symphony X, Superior, Fates Warning and other awesome bands followed, and that's why I'm here today.

It feels good to think back about those times and write about it now. Great idea for a thread!