Metallica was "The Gateway Band" for me. I randomly decided when I was 8 or 9 years old that Metallica was my favorite band. I remember making a mix tape off of the radio one night, and I caught the end of either "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" or "One". I can't remember which.
Fast forward to when I was 10. "Load" had just dropped and I was impressionable enough and inexperienced enough in the world of music to buy it and like it. But from there on, I started "back-cataloging". I went from "Load" to "...And Justice For All" to "Master of Puppets" and on back. I learned how to play most of "Kill 'Em All" on bass when I was 13.
And 13 was the year that I ordered Pantera's "Official Live: 101 Proof" album from a Columbia House "10 CDs for 99 cents" ad in Rolling Stone. And then I was really on my way. Slayer came in about a year later. And then it was on to bands like Sepultura, Six Feet Under, Hatebreed, System of a Down and Fear Factory.
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