Well, to tell you the truth, I really don't know. Rock/Metal is just such an amazing music genre. It's actually kind of hard for me to connect to any other genre after being around Rock for so long. There are some Country and rap songs that I find pretty good, but I just don't really get hooked to either of those genres.

Kiss. They blew up ****, spat blood, breathed fire, made guitars smoke. And then there were the tunes. It was the perfect package for me. Until 1980 anyway.

Megadeth - Symphony for Destruction.

I liked Metallica, but I had only really heard Enter Sandman and One. A friend came over with the entire Symphony for Destruction CD and that was it. Then it was Metallica, Guns n Roses, Iron Maiden and Anthrax, pretty much in that order, plus the alt-rock / alt-metal that was going on at the time - Rage Against the Machine, Faith No More, Living Colour...

Metallica all the way. Master of Puppets.

I believe I discovered metal when I was about 9 or 10 when I went to my friend's house and to her brother's room. He showed me some CDs and I listened and thought it was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. I didn't even realize it until years later that my happy 9 year old butt was exposed to Mayhem. It was the atmosphere that really stuck with me and I couldn't find anything similar to it until I was around 13-14 (remember Napster? Shh.)

Ever since then, I was a metalhead by day, and a rivethead by night, yep. :)

I'm still not completely sold on Mayhem, and a nine year old with no metal experience whatsoever got into them? I feel like I should be ashamed.:laughing:

I was most definitely a "special" child with a propensity to enjoy 'shock value' growing up all over the states. I will admit I found it odd at first until he played several more songs and I was just hooked.

This was clearly pure luck, so do not feel ashamed :nono:

So, do you generally enjoy more "evil" sounding or atmospheric metal bands?

Mayhem are a pretty interesting metal band to start with. Which direction did it lead you in terms of other bands you got into?

Mayhem are ok. Some songs are a hit and miss for me. They have a pretty good drummer though.

Same here. The atmosphere on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas makes me think of the old black and white Dracula movie. It's sorta creepy, but it's got this B-movie goofiness to it that you can't take entirely seriously. "Freezing Moon" is a pretty amazing song though.

I can see you in line at the mall during Christmas to see Santa Claus and you tell the kid in line with you, like Ralphy in Christmas Story: "I like Mayhem," right after you said that you liked the Wizard of Oz. I just wonder, did anything like that happen to you when you were a child? Or was it the other way around with the kid next to you that told you that "he" liked Mayhem?

ac/dc back in the early 80's..if you want blood is still one of my favourite live albums

That's the main reason I love Mayhem! That drummer, man. I got into Vomitorial Corpulence/Antestor/Horde-esque bands afterwards (Yep. I was a thumper at one point), then found a good niche with melodic death metal. Omnium Gatherum are my favorite in that genre at the moment along with Arsis to scratch that "black vocals" itch.

What are your favorite bands/genres?

To be honest, I digressed into "core" (embarrassingly enough) by the time I was 15-16ish, and slowly built myself up to "elitist" metal when I was 19. I do love atmospheric metal, but take it easy on the "evil" because it just becomes a monotonous message of "THINK FOR YOURSELF! OMG SATAN!" Dimmu Borgir is a bit of a guilty pleasure, however. :P

Yeah, second wave black metal (i.e. the Norwegian black metal scene) isn't really my favorite, with the definite exception of Burzum. Takes itself far too seriously, and has a strange obsession with confusing being inaccessible with quality. But first wave BM like Bathory, Venom, and Hellhammer are pretty much the apex of aggressive metal IMO. Simple, raw, and evil as ****.

Tool are still my favourite band. Can't shake 'em off. Otherwise it's difficult to really pick certain top of my list artists or genres. Going down more of a prog/metal road lately though.

It was 1987 and four albums were doing seriously heavy rotation:

Def Leppard - Hysteria
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Guns n' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Whitesnake - s/t (aka Whitesnake '87).

It seemed that wherever I went there was always one of those albums playing. And that was pretty much all I listened to until I heard 'Harvester of Sorrow' on the radio just after '..And Justice For All' was released. From there, I fully immersed myself in metal although, admittedly, with the exception of Metallica and Megadeth it was at the lighter sounding end of the metal scale.

Metallica, Dream Theater and Megadeth are my favorites buy it was Metallica which got me into metals!

I started with System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Bush, and whatever other such bands came up on the radio when I was in my mom's car. When I started really listening to music, System of a Down was the big name for me. Now, of course, I listen to those artists, but not so much as I used to.

No, what metal band did you listen to? ;)

Slipknot got me into the Metal/hardcore scene. i quickly got out of that stage and Killswitch Engage really opened my eyes to the genre

My interest in Metal would possibly have to be started by Motorhead. Once I heard "Ace of Spades," I was hooked for life. Being one of the so called outcasts in "Small Dot" MI, US, I caught their name in '81 after reading about No Sleep Till Hammersmith being a huge #1 album in The UK (yes, I was a Library kid who read Billboard from cover to cover!) and thinking I had to hear them as hardly anyone else in my area did, and I was glad I did once I was lucky enough to hear a song by them. Although I knew of their popularity in other areas of the world, where I was it was almost like discovering a great secret. Liking Motorhead and even Iron Maiden (who were not that popular in Small Dot at the time either) as well as some Prog bands like King Crimson connected me with the more serious music listeners in my area.

Maybe I can mention Rainbow, who's killer live performance of "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" was aired on a syndicated (US) TV show called Rock World around the same time. It was possibly the same show that introduced me to Motorhead.

My parents would possibly say Kiss in my childhood, but once I started to really get into music, they lacked the flavor of the classic Alive! by that time with Dynasty, although a friend's copy of Music From The Elder, for all of it's faults, made me think twice about them and thankfully Creatures of the Night was their next move. Still, I say that my Pre-Motorhead Heavy Rock Alliance was more with Deep Purple.

it was Slipknot's self-titled for me. had heard their song duality on the radio and became obsessed with it, it was the most aggressive thing I'd ever heard at that point, and so when I found one of their CD's at a thrift store I had to get it. my next metal album was Amon Amarth's Twilight of the Thunder God, and from there started a passion :)

Look at me! I'm going to use a real metal band!

It was Amon Amarth. Then I moved on and completely forgot about them and every other boring melo-death band ever.

Except when I'm YouTubing and get the strange urge for With Oden On Our Side. What can I say? Catchy album.

So I'll come clean...I got into proper Metal via Nu Metal, starting with Limp Bizkit as I had Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water bought for me on my 10th birthday. Then via Korn/Slipknot my eyes were opened to the glory that is Iron Maiden, and then to Metallica and AC/DC

I kinda went off Metal at about 14 but last year I found out my uncle was pretty good mates with Yannick Gers at school and I kind of surprised myself by how excited I got, even though it's been ages since I listened to Maiden.

I'd have to say Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Metallica, and Motorhead. Iron Maiden also had some kind of effect on me getting into Metal.

The obvious choices then.

Those are just the bands that got me into Metal. I listen to WAYY more Metal bands than those.

Glad to hear it, what stuff do you like?

It all depends on what kind of Metal you're talking about. I really like Metal bands such as Hatebreed,Mudvayne,Slipknot,System of a Down,Disturbed,Avenged Sevenfold,etc.

As for really Heavy Metal bands, I like Slayer,Megadeth,Metallica,Pantera,etc. What kinds of stuff do you like?

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...t8Gz-6lRHgU9AT
This band and this album after hearing it in 1986. Still here talking crap and still loving music so thank you Maiden. Hallowed Be Thy Name still gives me goosebumps.

I'd have to say it was between Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. These days symphonic metal is my favorite along with gothic, power and progressive metal.

It's so crazy that Rage Against the Machine will celebrate their 20th anniversary next week. They seem to be pretty influential for a lot of metal-heads. The box set they are releasing is pretty sick though. It's a re-issue of the debut album with some goodies added in there. CANT WAIT

Avenged Sevenfold

Is that even a metal band? I've only heard "So Far Away" and if that's as heavy as they get, I don't think I'd call 'em that.

From what I've seen, they are said to be an "Emo" band. They could be considered as being somewhat Metal. "Almost Easy","Unholy Confessions",and "Bat Country" are pretty heavy songs.

Like Stone Sour?

Into metal was the usual introduction. I think it might be more pertinent to consider what bands got you into your favorite niche of metal.
Emperor got me into black metal and their later albums got me into the Techy side of Death Metal.

Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath got me into old metal from the 70s and 80s.

Breaking Benjamin, Korn, and Godsmack was my introduction to modern metal.

Suffocation and Insision were my first death metal bands.

And to be honest, I have no regrets with having those being my first impressions and I wouldn't change it one ****ing bit. Breaking Benjamin became my favorite band and remained my favorite band until 2010, which was when Opeth started taking control (I first discovered Opeth in 2008).

Iron Maiden. My uncle showed them to me when I was either nine or ten years old and I was blown away. I still like them, but other bands have replaced them as my favourite.


I'm not certain which song I heard, it was either Hallowed be thy Name, The Number of the Beast, or Fear of the Dark (Live) from The Best of the Beast compilation album.

'Run to the Hills' by Iron Maiden for metal. I'm not sure that Deep Purple or Van Halen count as a 'metal', more rock/hard rock but it would be 'Stormbringer' or 'Van Halen' if they do.