Your Introduction To Metal...

[Rider of Theli]

Brother Billy would preach about the evils of Rock 'N Roll and Heavy Metal by playing some examples of this abomination.

*chuckle* - I recall sitting in the audience at the age of 19 with my girlfriend as Billy Mayo recited the words to 'Highway to Hell' while the song played in the background. My girlfriend was so mad at me, because while Brother Mayo was explaining to the audience the horrible scene of the young man hanging himself while listening to "this very song!", I was tapping my foot to the music and - under my breath - singing along. ROFL



I'll have to write up my introduction to metal later today. It's pretty similar to many other folks here.

 

[Iced Ray]

Back in 1980, I was about 13 years old and over my friends house. We were going thru his older brother's record collection and came across Black Sabbath's Heaven & Hell. I thought the album cover was so freakin' cool that I had to listen to it. The rest is history....

 

[Hal9000]

*chuckle* - I recall sitting in the audience at the age of 19 with my girlfriend as Billy Mayo recited the words to 'Highway to Hell' while the song played in the background. My girlfriend was so mad at me, because while Brother Mayo was explaining to the audience the horrible scene of the young man hanging himself while listening to "this very song!", I was tapping my foot to the music and - under my breath - singing along. ROFL

Yea, he seemed to have a "horrible" story for every song. Years later I learned he made them up just for dramatic effect. As with any preacher, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

 

[ConnieOH]

I was brought up in a rather strict household and went to a fundamentalist christian school. We also had the guest speakers in who would play some of the "evil music" backwards and show how they had planted subliminal messages in them. The one I remember them playing is "Another One Bites the Dust" - they are saying "I want to smoke marijuana" backwards there, you know

It wasn't until I was a senior in high school before I was really exposed to rock music. I borrowed some cassettes from someone and remember AC/DC Back in Black being one of them. And that was the beginning.....Van Halen, Whitesnake, etc.

Away at college, I first heard some heavier stuff. Ah...I'll never forget...drinking grape Mad Dog and listening to Yngwie Malmsteen for the first time. Wow - that got me into a little bit heavier stuff with more guitars. The first "prog" band I listened to was DT. Oh, and I was in college before I ever heard or heard OF Pink Floyd. God, I had a sheltered childhood!

As the 80's wound down, I was not finding too much new music anymore. Then a couple years ago I discovered Internet Radio and it has been like Christmas ever since - finding new bands all the time! It's great - and I hope it never, ever ends......

 

[kittybeast]

Believe it or not, my intro to HR/HM started with raiding my older sister's record collection & jumping immediately from Alvin & the Chipmunks to The Beatles. As I delved further into it, I found Deep Purple, Sabbath, Hendrix, Cream, and host of other cool bands. :

Damn dude, sounds about the same for me. My older sisters were into Beatles, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Steppenwolf, etc. I remember waiting for the weekend for Don Kirshners Rock concert to come on TV so we could see the latest and greatest rock stars!

I feel very privelaged to have seen some of the greatest acts of Heavy Metal live in the 80's and even greater that a handful are still touring (and sounding damn good! 20 yrs. later) in this new millenium!

 

[Pabla]

My dad has always been a huge fan of classic rock... so I grew up listening to everything from Zep to Emerson Lake & Palmer... my first metal love: MAIDEN

 

[urayoan]

I was 9 years old when I first got a hold to Def Leppard "Hysteria" and Whitesnake's "Whitesnake". Got into heavier stuff with Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" one year later as well as Anthrax "Persistence of Time". From there, 19 years later, I go from a range of Rush all the way to Napalm Death.

 

[Edu_Falaschi]

Well i gotta thank my dad for introducing me to rock he always liked Dire Strait, The Beatles and Queen, but it wasn't until i started to listen to Nirvana in 5th grade that i really got into "harder" types of rock.

@SkiBumMSP: man i hate that xl102 and y101(the other rock station herte in Ric) only play alternative crap and on top of that they only play the same songs all day long. Thank god i got my ipod hooked to my working van

 

[trentdk]

My intro is much more recent, (around 2000). Mosquito and I worked together and all of us used to make fun of him and his "metal", (sounds cheesy to the untrained ear). But then one day he was like "dude, you like LOTR right? Check out this song...". It was Blind Guardian - The Lord of the Rings. I listened to that song over and over like 20 times that day. I expanded out to the Bard Song, and then the whole Nightfall in Middle-Earth album.

I was suffering from "knocking it before I tried it", and all I needed was a gateway... like LOTR themed material

First albums:
BG - NFiME
Evergrey - ISoT
Darkseed - DiD

 

[mtndewqueen88]

Haha you think 2000 is recent... I've probably only been listening for about two and a half years.
I'd have to blame Evanescence for stirring the first infatuation with music within me (I had always liked it, but damn, i was obsessed with them). Since they were on a independent label, I developed a fascination with finding bands BEFORE they hit the radio (alt metal/grunge type like finger eleven, revis, tantric...). I think stuff like that laid the groundwork for searching online. Then, I heard Lacuna Coil's "Heaven's A Lie" video on FUSE TV in the background. I barely paid attention to it, but I swear something in my head was screaming "Katie! You NEED to know this band!" Thankfully I wrote it down, and after a trip to Target I was hooked on gothic/female fronted metal. I've completely branched out now, and I can't stop finding amazing bands that blow my mind. Especially with progressive influences

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Damn dude, sounds about the same for me. My older sisters were into Beatles, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Steppenwolf, etc. I remember waiting for the weekend for Don Kirshners Rock concert to come on TV so we could see the latest and greatest rock stars!

I feel very privelaged to have seen some of the greatest acts of Heavy Metal live in the 80's and even greater that a handful are still touring (and sounding damn good! 20 yrs. later) in this new millenium!

We can compare notes in Atlanta! Don't forget about the rare occasions that Midnight Special would have cool bands

J-Dubya - Suspecting that KittyBeast might be a long lost sister!