What band first got you into Metal?
 

We all had our first experience of metal, whether it was seeing a band on TV and going "WTF! Music like that exists??" or buying an album and being blown away, or whatever.

For me, the love affair began with IRON MAIDEN, after having seen them on "Top of the Pops" singing "Run to the hills" as their "comeback" single. I had seen their album covers on "Killers" and their debut and just assumed they were dark, nasty, loud and horrible, music I would never want to hear. Once I heard RttH though I ran, almost literally, out and bought the album "The number of the Beast", loved every note, and then as this was their latest there was no way I could get other Maiden music than go back and check out those "scary" first two albums. I found I loved them both.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...Zf-cb4VeeH8QhA
Later I got into Saxon, Motorhead, then Sabbath, Purple and Leppard as well as others, but Maiden remain my first love. And so, a love affair was born, a relationship that has lasted over thirty years, and shows no sign of growing stale.

How about youse guyses? :)

Oh, very interesting thread.
I used to listen to the commercial music that every fool listens to, but once I hadn't got a cd in the car and on the radio they played Metallica's Unforgiven II. I liked it so much that when I got home I downloaded some of their songs and that's how I started listening to good music.
But that didn't open me to the metal music. For a couple of years I hadn't listened to any metal, except Metallica. I listened only to classic rock such as Led Zeppelin. But then I heard Godsmack and I really got into them, and actually they got me into metal music

Metallica. I didn't really listen to music at all until I was like twelve or thirteen, then I just started listening to the radio, and within a few months I'd become a hardcore Metallica fan. I went out and bought Master of Puppets and both Load and Reload (I was still a moron after all) at the same time. This led me to hear about something called the "Big Four" which introduced me to my second love, Megadeth, not to mention Slayer and Anthrax. After that I couldn't get enough thrash metal, and I've never looked back since.

Like most of the metalheads on MB, it all started with Metallica. I hated metal wit a passion (my two younger brothers loved it) until I was fifteenish. I was doing some chores and didn't have my iPod on me, so I asked my little brother for his. I chose Metallica's Ride The Lightning completely at random, and all of a sudden, it made sense. I was in awe.

After Metallica, I got into Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Anthrax (more or less in that order). After that I got into more experimental music, which has opened the doors for me to accept some of the more extreme subgenres of metal. I'm no expert by any means (and thus, really appreciate Unknown Soldier and Batlord, since I can basically take notes off of whatever they post), and am still exploring the genre. Tally ho.

My dad's a metalhead, so I've always been exposed to metal. But the first metal album that I really *got* was Black Sabbath's Paranoid. After some backtracking of their catalogue and a little more exposure to bands like Metallica, Slayer, Maiden, and other classics in my dad's collection, I was hooked.

When I was in primary school a friends older brother was buying everything from Iron Maiden.
Kiss collector cards were a hit all over the place and Uriah Heep or Stones was always on at home.
However I was mostly into new wave/punk until I discovered Motley Crue and Metallica.
I think the first metal album I bought legitimately was either 'Shout at the Devil' or 'Kiss - Unmasked' but not sure so will have to say KISS or Motley...

Like many other people it was a mixture of Metallica and Iron Maiden. In fact my first four metal albums went like this.

Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)
Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)
Megadeth - Peace Sells.... but Who's Buying? (1986)
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (1993)


While Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Megadeth are often the first big three metal bands people get into, who is the number 4 slot? Black Sabbath or Judas Priest?

Tough choice, I was introduced to Judas Priest before I was Black Sabbath but overall I would say Black Sabbath would hold that 4th spot.

Was listening to Sabbath and BOC for a while, along with a discovery of The Godz, but then I found Iron Maidens Killers... then Metallica's Ride the Lightning. In between all that were bands like Judas Priest, Montrose (Sammy Hagar too), Nugent, etc.

So, to answer your question, 42.


I mean Sabbath.

I'd agree, but let's not forget Saxon and Motorhead!

Scorpions, Van Halen and Def Leppard, bought the albums because I loved the covers. Liked these bands and others of their ilk in the 1980s and 1990s but always preferred stuff like Led Zeppelin over metal anyway. It wasn't until I discovered Megadeth years and years later that I got into metal properly and started exploring from there. Then one day I came across Sepultura and I became one of the faithful.

I liked Iron Maiden for a while then I had a period where I stopped listening to them. A year later I discovered Black Sabbath and rediscovered Iron Maiden.

Black Sabbath is it for me. I'm getting into the metal game really late, but Ozzy Sabbath I really, really enjoy.

Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are two I plan on delving into. Any suggestions on where to start?

Black Sabbath:
Start with Paranoid and Master of Reality, then listen to their debut & everything up to Sabotage. I haven't really listened to much Dio-Sabbath, but from what I hear, Heaven & Hell is really good.
If you like Sabbath's doomier stuff, listen to Saint Vitus.

Judas Priest:
Screaming for Vengeance is their best album, although you should also check out Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class. If you're into speed metal, Painkiller is pretty good.

Listening to now, "The Hellion", I know that song! Didn't realize it was Priest.

"Electric Eye" - I'm digging it. So far, so good.

For Maiden, I'd go for "Number of the Beast" followed by "Piece of mind" then "Powerslave" and "Somewhere in time". Skip then to "Brave new world" and on from there. If you like it slightly punkier, go for the first two albums, "Killers" and the self-titled.

Oh, and every Maiden fan says you should listen to "Live after death"...

Number of the Beast is good but I prefer Powerslave.

Both are great albums. I just have a soft spot for NotB as it was not only my first Maiden album, but my first metal album. And thus a legend was not quite born, but it was fun...

I'd say Slayer,Motorhead,and Metallica all got me listening to Metal. I only listen to Rock/Metal. I can't stand any other genre.

I would have to say Black Sabbath AND Iron Maiden both got me started into the metal genre.

That's a bit close minded. What exactly turns you off of other genres?

I think the first band that I enjoyed that's stlll considered 'metal' is Black Sabbath,
in particular, this album:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...psff5742d0.png

Back when I was a young man, a lot of the bands that were called "heavy metal"
are now considered "hard rock', since the ultra-hard stuff didn't exist yet.

The music my friends and I were into were all guitar-heavy groups--Rush, Aerosmith,
Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Van Halen, etc.--and later, most of
the NWOBHM groups (Def Leppard, Diamond Head, Iron Maiden).

Speaking of Iron Maiden, I still love those first two albums with Paul DiAnno!

I guess KORN got me into metal since that was like the 2nd cd i bought

after korn i looked into my dads top 2 fav bands Black sabbath and Led zeppelin and the rest is history


so u can say Rock music is kinda the gateway to metal 4 me anyways

was never a huge fan of Iron maiden or preist ... it just seemed a little more boring to me

Pantera was one of my early fav "metal" bands because they had more of a darker feel more grooves and more ....uhhh anger obvs has a kid thats the stuff that drew me in compared to Maiden and preist

Back in the day, these bands were considered to be 'hard rock' and I can't recall the 'heavy metal' term being used much before the mid to late 70's.
But these bands were the ones that got me started, in order...

Led Zeppelin
Deep Purple
Blue Cheer
Black Sabbath
Blue Oyster Cult

Although, of those bands, the 'heavy metal' tag probably only applies to Black Sabbath these days.
So, if that's the case, it would be this band, this album and the song 'Iron Man'

http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/...psd0cc2a12.jpg

Kiss back in the seventies: music + super heroes look. When you are 12/13 years you can't resist to such a magical combination

Probably either Black Sabbath or Slayer. Hearing Reign In Blood for the first time was one of the formative events in my music education. Of course I was also getting into Maiden by that time, so it's hard to say. I think by the time you've gotten into two or three metal bands, it becomes impossible to pin down who the next one was.

For me it was definately Metallica that started it all. When I was 13/14-ish I didn't really listen to music at all and my sister decided to put Metallica's "Damage, Inc." on in her car. I was sucked into it. I instantly went and got Master of Puppets.

As for the 4 slot... Honestly for me it was between Morbid Angel and Death. I tend to be drawn more to the extreme side of the metal genre.

Garth Brooks's "Ropin the Wind" is what got me into metal. You can't go wrong with a little Garth Brooks...

Iron Maiden. My dad bought the Flight 666 album for me, and I've liked metal and other "heavy genres" since then.

My first metal album was Bathory. That was pretty mind blowing.

Same with me. When I was a little kid, I remember hearing/seeing Kiss. They half-scared, half-intrigued me with their personas. I can't say they really got me into their metal rock music, though, because my favorite song of theirs was "Beth." :p:

The band that lured me into heavier sounding rock music was Def Leppard in the '80s when they were mainstream on the radio. I am still fond of Def Leppard songs like "Love bites," "Photograph," and "Hysteria" because they combine sweet and heavy so well.

Only after I joined MusicBanter did I hear Slayer and what I think of as *real* heavy metal bands like Meshuggah, Morbid Angel, or Behemoth where it sounds as if the singers are vomiting out their guts...such as in my favorite metal song, "Day of Suffering" (Morbid Angel cover) by Behemoth. These bands turned me on to the harsher sound of metal music that seems to bridge the gap between reality and a very, very bad dream. I'd never heard fury or anguish transformed so well into music before, and I liked. :thumb:

That must have been an interesting first listen!

Slayer. Found a copy of "Divine Intervention" in a cut out bin for .99. Went home, listened to it on my walkman (as I thought my parents would freak if they heard it). Blew me away, needed more.

Kerry King said that that would probably be the one album that if he'd had to do it over again he would. His least favorite album was my favorite by them: Diablus in Musica.

All kiddin' aside, still enjoy Garth Brooks, but what got me into metal was of course Metallica. Don't know if they were my favorites during high school when I started my true music love, but they are now my favorite band. After that I went towards Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Slayer, Pantera, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, which I only own Hellbilly Deluxe.

I got into Motorhead rather late, back in 2006, which was about 10 years after I started to listen religiously. But they have come very close to kicking AC/DC off number two pedistal and onto number four. I'm still on the fence about doing that, which shows you just how into my metal I am.

I have yet to have delve anymore deeper than Slayer and Venom, I'm afraid. I did listen to the original Bathory on Youtube, but I wouldn't mind trying them out one day...

Under the Sign of the Black Mark if I remember rightly. I think the self titled was my second followed by Napalm Death's debut.

Holy ****. I am amazed you still listen to metal after that. Had that been me, I would have disavowed metal forever.

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.

Jumping on the wagon and saying Metallica MoP. Unless AC/DC T.N.T counts when I was 12. Probably does fit in a way.

I was around 10-11 and was at the library looking at cassettes to rent out and saw Megadeth's "Youthanasia". I had never heard their music, but I always had the impression that these guys were fast and brutal. So I rented it, and was floored by the heaviness and the melody that these guys presented. Since then I have gotten into almost every subgenre of metal and rock, and have dabbled in every genre out there. I am one of those few music fans that can say I like everything, and have it be absolutely true.

I used to go to this little basement record store in the city on one of my regular record store crawls and the guy who ran the place always had something new he was excited to play for me.