Quick Survey: How long have you been listening to metal?

I got AC/DC's Back in Black on my 7th birthday, in 1980, and there was no looking back. Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Ratt, KISS, those were all bands that I loved in the early '80s, and they quickly gave way to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the like, which eventually led to Testament, Metallica, Anthrax, etc.

Now I have an album by a band called "Forest." WTF?
 
First glam rock album purchased - Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet, 1986 (I always have a soft spot for some of the better bands in this genre including Dokken, Europe, Ratt and White Lion among others)

First metal album purchased - Metallica, Ride The Lightning, 1987 (metal fan for life declared shortly thereafter).
 
Decadent said:
And then the rediscovery of metal after a lapse in interest...

Opeth - Morningrise (yeah... gateway band alright)
2003
Wow, what an interesting year to discover such an amazing album - especially after having been "disinterested" in the genre for so long. Was there any particular reason you chose to give this one a spin for the first time last year?
 
markgugs said:
d00d, like, Ride the Lightning came out in 1984 d00d. What took so long?
I know man, but hey, I was 10 at the time, I was still watching Transformers regularly and playing with action figures. My interest in purchasing music on my own really began at age 12 (I think it was the whole explosion of the "guitar pop rock hero" era on MTV that did it.) After a year or so of discovering the glam metal bands, I happened to read an article about Metallica in an issue of Hit Parader - they were the antithesis of every band I had been exposed to at the time. Anti-commercialists (oh the irony), Dead serious looks on all their faces - they were men on a mission. I was intrigued - went out and looked for tapes by them and purchased RTL (thought it had a really cool album cover) and the Garage Days E.P. (cheap and I think I had just enough money leftover to purchase it). One listen to For Whom the Bell Tolls and I was mesmerized, my world changed forever.
 
The real turning point
~1989-1990. Various mixed tracks from Iron Maiden and Metallica.

Dabbling at a young age
~1983 Kiss - Animalize
~1986 Europe - The final countdown
 
lizard said:
I can't remember. older cousins playing classic rock and metal. But I do distinctly remember one cousin who owned one of the building blocks of metal, Cream's Wheels of Fire.

Hell yeah! I must say that, in hindsight, Cream almost certainly broke down the barriers that allowed me to get into Metal. Got used to the long guitar improvisations, was a huge fan of Clapton's shit-hot solos (all across his career), and that Farewell Concert video...man, those renditions of Sunshine Of Your Love and White Room, especially White Room are heavy as fuck! I'd get my mates to sit down and watch them and they just didn't get it at all, the faeries :loco:

I think unhinged is officially the coolest person on this board now.