Did you enjoy your Metal a lot more before the Internet Age?

I would say I did. Skipping school just to buy a Sabbath casette tape, waking up during the wee hours in the morning just to record a Testament or Death video on HEADBANGER's BALL, Picking up a Random Metal Album in a record store with some cool cover art not knowing what to expect and a lot more

Hell I could even listen to an EXODUS tape for hours of looping fun. those were the days...now the Mystery is gone, file -sharing sites abound, you can preview any tune or album that you want and have the discretion whether to buy it or not afterwards, goin' to YouTube to check out some of the things the you missed or something that is worth checking out....things like that...
I steal, I buy CDs, but as Maniac who has around 7,000-8,000 (albums) nicely-ripped 320kbps MP3s and AACs in my iPods and Hard Drives, I can't seem to get enough, Sometimes I could hardly ever listen to 80 percent of the songs that I download, Life was a lot simpler back then . I'm not exactly proud of what i'm doing but it seems like I was indeed happier listening to Metal before iPods and MP3s came out.

I know many of you can relate, It would be cool to share some of your story too

Without the internet I probably wouldn't have discovered many of the bands I listen to today, as most of my favourite music isn't nearly as "relevant" today as it was when most of you guys were teenagers. Most of my friends have no idea that Tony Martin-Sabbath, Rainbow, Rush, Uriah Heep or Yes even exist, and without the internet, I wouldn't have a clue either.

So my answer is no.

I couldn't. But looking at what I listen to now, it would be hard without the webs to even find some artists, who have become my favorites over the years: prog-power bands usually release only a couple of demos or one rare as hell LP and then split up (Wicked Maraya, Sanvoisen, Z-Lot-Z, Amethyst, XLR8R, Apollo Ra, Damien Black etc). Some of them can be found now thanks to lables such as Stormspell, but without blogs (yes, I do download kvlt kassette releases) it won't be the same. Still, I can feel the magic of blind buys and mix tapes, and long rides to record store with a friend for say a new Raven album

I enjoy the music a lot more now because i can find a lot more metal out there than before.

I still enjoy it just as much as I ever did, the difference is thanks to the Internet Age I now have the ability to check out new bands whenever I feel like it, whereas in the old days if I were curious about a band, I had to wait for 'em to get some play on a metal radio show or "Headbanger's Ball," or hope that one of my friends bought their album so I could bum it off of 'em.

I also like the opportunity it offers to speak with Metalheads from all over the world (like you fine folks) on forums such as these. As I've gotten older, most of my old "metal" friends have moved on to other things so I had almost no one to talk MeTal with!!

I enjoy about the same, the accessibility to what to hear and purchase is to me amazing.

As a kid part of the fun was the hunt in hopes of finding that rare treasure, but thanks to the internet I can usually find what I am looking for, and in a strange way because I no longer buy in huge amounts at one time, I take time to enjoy the CD more then when before I would listen to it once, then file it away.

exact33 wrote:

I enjoy the music a lot more now because i can find a lot more metal out there than before.

The (burger) King speaks the truth!

It was more hands on before the internet. Tape trading and getting a typed order form with just band name and lp tiltle made things hit and miss. I used to go to a store and buy an lp just because of the record label being the same as a band I already liked. Example, Combat, Megaforce, Music For Nations, Metal Blade ect ect. Also going to band practice and a band memeber would have something new and interesting. I did the majority of being in a band WAY before the internet.

There was a certain magic about the metal scene before the internet that will never happen again, but I still love metal as much as ever. Like some people have already said, it's a great way to discover new bands. You have the whole genre at your finger tips.

I have no desire to go back to the pre-internet days. Your music choices were very restricted then by either what was in the store or what MTV played. Now I have the entire genre seconds away. This also eliminates wasting my hard earned dollars on total crap because some idiot gave it a great review. I can't tell you how many terrible albums I bought because of a review in a magazine. Now I can listen before I buy. Also, I can now download all those long lost gems that are rare as hens teeth. It's a great time to be a Metalhead.

Both yes and no.

Yes, because so much more of it is accessable to me. I can find just about everything I want now, thanks to the internet. My Christian metal collection, f.ex., is as full as I ever want it to be, thanks to finding all my old cassette and vinyl titles on CD online. That said, having the funds to buy it all helps too!

No, becasue there is too much out there. I excess, buy too much, and am left in a state where I no longer familiarize myself with my albums, the way I used to in my youth. I also buy so much stuff that looks good in print, or online snippets that sounds promising, but when I get the CD it is mediocre at best.

Another aspect that cannot be replicated by the internet is going to the record store, buying something due to the cover art, and having the anticipation of what it's gonna sound like as you open the cellephane and put the vinyl on the turntable. That is way more enjoyable than typing into a search engine, click a mouse a few times and sounds come out of your PC/laptop?device speakers/headphones. IMHO

If I would of got into metal or music for that matter from downloading off the internet, Music wouldn't be the important aspect that it is in my life. Just like when we recorded in the garage on a 4 track reel to reel as opposed to computer today. We had no manual and you had to figure out what worked for your situation to make it sound decent.

On the flipside, the internet does make the availability of music lickity split, Yet, I enjoy listening to a few things alot rather than listen a little bit to alot of stuff. For example. It took more effort to listen to 20 lps than 200 songs on your Ipod. I know I would listen to those 20 lps more than 200 songs on an Ipod over a week-end. I could get into how much better music sounds when it's not compressed, but that is another topic.

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Picking up a Random Metal Album in a record store with some cool cover art not knowing what to expect

I can relate to that. I miss those days... But on the other hand, it's nice to be able to preview music before I buy. Because modern day music (to me) is a lot more risky to take a chance on.

piss on the old days. i like being able to find unlimited music on the cheap & have it delivered directly to my door. or sometimes instantly to my computer thanks to iTunes. plus just being introduced to bands that you would have no chance of knowing about otherwise.

i also like that you can preview albums from anyone. no more spending big cash on something, only to get it home & find out it is made up of 99% filler.

Another fun thing that the internet can't replace was going to see a "known" band and the opener(s) were "unknown" and kicked @$$.

I remember checking out a band's "shout out" list on the albums to discover other bands. Usually (at least back then) the other bands would be cool too.

The internet became prominent at pretty much the same time I stopped listening to metal in the late 90's. I was becoming a jazz fan and the internet was an invaluable research tool in helping me to quickly assimilate many different styles and players, that research would have taken years pre-internet.

Then in 2005 I started checking out the metal scene again and the internet helped me quickly get my bearings on what I had missed during the 7 years I had been away. I had very few friends that listened to metal so the internet was essentially my only resource.

However, the MOST enjoyable aspect of the internet is the ability to discover those lost artists from the late 60's and early 70's, whose albums I had never seen in my lifetime but all of a sudden they were only a mouse click away. I don't know if I would have ever heard bands like Lucifer's Friend, Camel, Nektar, Gentle Giant, Nucleus, Van Der Graff Generator, Magma, etc if it wasn't for the internet.

I wouldn't want to go back to the old way.

Pre-internet:

Pros - bands/labels had money. They could spend more time rehearsing/playing shows/in the studio/hiring musicians/honing their craft. Quality overall was much higher for this reason. Less cheating going on in the studio.

Cons - access to music was not instant. Hard to find what you wanted to hear. Recording was very expensive. Niches were more difficult to cultivate.

I'd say that I enjoyed it about the same, although I didn't get to enjoy as many bands as I do now considering all of the outrageous import prices they had in magazines back then.

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Another aspect that cannot be replicated by the internet is going to the record store

That's what I miss about "the old days". I used to love walking into one of my favorite indy record stores and heading straight for the "Employee Recommendations" listening posts. I knew which employees had musical tastes similar to mine and found a ton of bands that way that I never would have even heard OF much less heard.

James B. wrote:

Another aspect that cannot be replicated by the internet is going to the record store, buying something due to the cover art, and having the anticipation of what it's gonna sound like as you open the cellephane and put the vinyl on the turntable.

I totally agree with your thoughts on this. I loved going into Karma Records on the south side of Indianapolis and seeing L.P's in the metal section that literally frightened the sh!t out of me...Of course, my immediate thought was, I gotta have this! If I didn't buy it, maybe my friend did, which enabled me to find out if I liked the album. It was interesting way of discovering music.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I also like the opportunity it offers to speak with Metalheads from all over the world (like you fine folks) on forums such as these. As I've gotten older, most of my old "metal" friends have moved on to other things so I had almost no one to talk MeTal with!!

The age we live in certainly reaps many rewards, as your opening sentence certainly hits upon. I love making this place my daily refuge, whether it be for a few minutes or a couple hours. With that being said, your next statement also hits home. I just called a buddy of mine last week, who lives in my former home town of Indianapolis to see if he wants to go see the Anthrax, Testament & Death Angel show (which happens to fall on a Friday night). I still haven't heard a thing from him, as he's my only friend who still is into metal. I would probably go to more concerts, but I feel abandoned by former metal brethren. Damn them all to hell (movie reference)!

S.D. wrote:

I wouldn't want to go back to the old way.

I would love to at least experience the old way every once in a while, but since the Internet has become the ultimate tool for us Metalheads, there is really no reverting back to the Old way

The other thing I used to love was going to Ear X-tacy (local record store) in Louisville and grabbing a monthly Goldmine magazine, so I could peruse all the bootleg vinyl/C.D/tapes that were available. I was like a kid in a candy store. Those were just different times.

I've always loved my music even back when I first started to get into music in 1971. But I would say I enjoy metal more now, because of the internet I find 1000's of new bands.

Wargod