When you first got into metal....

[Ascension]

I progressed into metal from the very beginning. 70s...into the 80s, etc. If it was considered "heavy" for the day...l was listening to it...l mean l go back to Blue Cheer & l think that was in the late 60s. Their version of Summertime Blues would be considered heavy to this day in my book. Same goes for Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

 

[oldboy]

Judas Priest-Defenders of the Faith
Ozzy-Blizzard of Ozz
WASP-s/t

 

[ratanda]

Slayer - South of Heaven
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Nuclear Assault - Survive
Over Kill - Years of Decay
Sanctuary - Refuge Denied
Megadeth - Peace Sells...

You and I probably would have hung out in jr. high.

 

[Osiris' Eyes]

I first got into metal when I was a wee lad hanging out with my uncle and bro playing board games like Wizard's Quest and Hit the Beach while cranking Rush, Black Sabbath, etc.

But thinking back, these albums (which I refer to as "The Essentials") were played time and time again on my Technics turntable:

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind & Powerslave
Dio- Holy Diver & Last in Line
Helloween- Walls of Jericho
Grave Digger- War Games
Judas Priest- British Steel
Savatage- Power of the Night
Accept- Metal Heart
Scorpions- Blackout
Queensryche- The Warning

To this day, these still bring a BIG smile to my face.

 

[digitalink]

Here is what got me started ...

Accept - Accept, Breaker, Balls to the Wall
Scorpions - Fly to the Rainbow, Lonsome Crow, In Trance, Virgin Killer, Love at First Sting.
Michael Schenker - MSG, Built to Destroy, Assault Attack, 2nd MSG.
Iron Maiden - s/t, Killers, Piece of Mind, Powerslave
Leatherwolf - s/t, Street Ready
Metallica - Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lighting, And Justice for All
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin, British Steel
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Dio - Holy Diver
Ozzy - Diary of a Madman, Blizzard of Oz, Bark at the Moon
Queensryche - s/t, Warning, Operation Mindcrime
Armored Saint - March of the Saint
Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force, Marching Out Trilogy
etc

One of the best shows attended back then:
Motorhead with the Plasmatics (talk about a pit)

 

[Wherewolf]

Slayer "Hell Awaits"
Metallica "Kill 'em All"
Mercyful Fate "Melissa"
Judas Priest "Stained Class"
Exodus "Bonded By Blood"
Forbidden "Twisted Into Form"
Toxik "World Circus"
Crimson Glory "s/t"
Fates Warning "The Spectre Within"
Watchtower "Energetic Disassembly"

**** I can sit here forever, but these came to mind first!

 

[Taliwakker]

Holy Diver-Dio
Trilogy-Yngwie
Blizzard/Diary-Ozzy
High n Dry-Def Lep
Shout at the Devil-Crue
Balls to the Wall-Accept
Out of the Cellar-Ratt

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Wow, this is going to make me feel ancient!

1) Black Sabbath - s/t
2) Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
3) Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold As Love
4) Dee Purple - Machine Head
5) Van Halen - S/T

I was into it forever during the NWOBHM

1) Def Leppard - On Through The Night
2) Tygers of Pan Tang - Wild Cat and also Spellbound
3) Saxon - Wheels Of Steel
4) and of course, Iron Maiden's s/t & Killers

 

[Dustin]

My start was a 3 year process, it started here with a few gateway bands in 90':

It all started with me discovering a copy of Bonfire's "Fireworks" album while staying home sick from school. It was sitting in a pile of "give-away" LP's (i.e. Vinyl) in my dads collection, and I decided to give it a spin. My dad was a DJ for a local radio station, and he would take promo's they got, and give them away at high school dances, weddings, car shows ect. et. Anyhow…

Winger - s/t (first album I bought with my own money)
Queen - The Miracle
White Lion - Big Game
Dokken - Under Lock and Key
Skid Row - s/t
Kix - Blow My Fuse
Mr. Big - s/t

Then started getting heavier:

Metallica - …and Justice for all
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time
Anthrax - Among the Living
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Savatage - Gutter Ballet
Fate Warning - Perfect Symmetry (A life changing album!)
Faith No More - The Real Thing (BEFORE they even had a video that became a hit!)
Testament - The New Order
Testament - Practice What You Preach
Megadeth - …Peace Sells

…and heavier:

Obituary - Cause of Death
Kreator - Coma of Souls
Voivod - Nothingface
Voivod - Dimension Hatross
Death - Spiritual Healing
Atrophy - Violent by Nature
Atrophy - Socialized Hate
Candlemass - Tales of Creation
Wrathchild America - Climbin' the Walls
Sacred Reich - Ignorance
Sepultura - Beneath the Remains
Celtic Frost - Vanity/Nemesis
Slayer - Season in the Abyss


And then I just went crazy:

Rage - Reflections of a Shadow
D.R.I. - Thrashzone
Loudness - On The Prowl
Toxik - Think This
Anacrusis - Manic Impressions
Artch - Another Return to Churchill
Flotsam & Jetsam - When the Storm Comes Down
Prong - Beg to Differ
King's X - Faith Hope Love
Crimson Glory - Transcendence
Crimson Glory - Strange and Beautiful
Vicious Rumors - s/t
Queensryche - Rage for Order
Sepultura - Arise
Leatherwolf - Street Ready
Anthrax - Persistence of time
Winger - In the Heart of the Young
Testament - Souls of Black
Fates Warning - Parallels
Galactic Cowboys - s/t
Sanctuary - Into the Mirror Black

…and it went from there for a while until I started discovering progressive rock of the 70's.

I should note: I grew up in small town/farming community in nowhere-northern Utah. Initially, I was buying stuff that I heard on the radio, and then the Headbangers Ball, but within a year, I was consumed by this music, and was buying things I read in magazines like RIP, or even by just looking at an album cover and the record label and thinking to myself, "This looks like it might be good!". I was one of probably 12 kids in the whole area that even remotely listen to this stuff. Most of my friends I grew up or went to elementary school with tell me now that they thought I had started worshiping Satan and become a psychopath back then!

Those were different times, but the best times ever when it came to discovering music on your own…

 

[SharkBlack]

Black Sabbath: Paranoid
Black Sabbath: Master of Reality
Necromandus: Orexis Of Death
Scorpions: In Trance
Scorpions:Virgin Killer
Uriah Heep: Very 'eavy Very 'umble
Uriah Heep: Demons And Wizards
Uriah Heep: Sweet Freedom
Judas Priest: Hell Bent For Leather
Judas Priest: Unleashed In The East
Judas Priest: Sin After Sin
Rush: All The Worlds A Stage
Rush: Caress Of Steel
Rush: A Farewell To Kings
Rush: Hemispheres
UFO: Phenomenom
UFO: Force It
UFO: Lights Out
Deep Purple: Burn

To name a few...

 

[LunaTEKKE]

Queensryche – EP & The Warning
Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind
Dio – The Last in Line
Scorps – Love at First Sting
Def Lep – High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania
Vandenberg – S/T and Heading for a Storm
Night Ranger – Dawn Patrol (OK, maybe not metal…)

 

[axehomeyg]

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime + Empire
Metal Church - Blessing in Disguise
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Testament - Souls of Black and The Ritual
Metallica - And Justice
Savatage - Streets
Vai - P&W
Satch - Surfing w/ Alien
Yngwie - Rising Force, The Odyssey
Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom
Dream Theater - Awake, I&W
Van Halen - FUCK (I don't give a shit, this is my FAV VH album by light years).

Man, I love these lists.

 

[Rezz]

I clearly remember standing in the small record section of a local grocery store holding Motley Crue's Shout at the Devin in one hand and Scorps Blackout in the other, and only enough money for one of them. Motley won that day. They were also my first Metal concert, opening for Ozzy while touring for Shout. I honestly have no recolection if I saw them live before or after that moment in the store.