My introduction

After looking at all the various posts, I can tell I come from a different breed than most everyone here on this forum. I've been on a journey musically, and thought I would share my background of how I became a metalhead myself.

I grew up in a small city named Scottsboro, Alabama. It's famous for the infamous Scottsboro Boys Trial. There's also Unclaimed Baggage, where all the nations unclaimed airport baggage comes and is sold for dirt cheap. Oprah usually comes around once every few years to go to Unclaimed Baggage, which gets on her TV show and everyone in town always makes a big deal about that.

Before I really got into music, I basically listened to whatever was on the radio or happened to be in some video game I played, because video games are what I did growing up be it with friends or by myself. Being raised in a Christian home, my parents also listened to Christian music. My mom didn't take music seriously, but my dad really liked, and still likes, Petra and Russ Taff. I remember Steven Curtis Chapman being played a lot as well. I didn't take Christianity very seriously either, but my parents didn't know that. Outside the home, having lived in Alabama my whole life, all the music anyone knew was the radio, which mostly consisted of so called country music along with some pop music, and a little rap (edited of course, no cussin!). I used to hate on every single one of those genres until the past year or so, because I have since heard artists who are miles ahead of anything I would have listened to at the time. There were also classic rock stations, which my dad would sometimes listen to, but I never picked up on anything there. I like the radio stuff better at the time. I don't know why I was like that when I look back on me at the time, but I was little. Music didn't matter much to me then. However I always had a penchant for songs that had a heavier rock feel to them.

Of course my parents never approved of any of the bands I was about to seriously listen to. My only access to music than what my parents listened to was the radio and the internet. When I discovered internet radio I was thrilled! It was Yahoo's Launchcast where I discovered all the bands that would cause me to become addicted to listening to music. I remember really liking the songs off Metallica's Black Album, and I bought that cd. A friend from church at the time heard about me getting that cd and was like, "Oh you like heavy metal!" He preceeded to tell me about WinMX and eventually Limewire, which I proceeded to use it myself. I don't download music any more, but for years I did. It was my access to music I couldn't bring home for my parents to find laying around, much less find hidden somewhere. Plus it was free! He was into bands like Linkin Park, \"thebandthatshallneverbementionedagain\", Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Godsmack, and many others. At first the screaming actually scared me away, but somewhere along the line I heard something I liked and started to love the cookie monster vocals. It was Slipknot that really got me started on the screaming vocals, and I became a fan of just about every nu-metal band out there. Slipknot, Static-X, Disturbed, and Mudvayne were some of my favorite. Also, single songs weren't enough for me. I needed more, so I would download whole albums. I really can't stand listening to Limp Bizkit or Mudvayne any more, but man I loved them at the time. I still like Disturbed. I didn't listen to the Black Album for a long time after finding these bands. I was probably 15-16 at this time.

Another year later and I had the whole discography of all of these bands downloaded and listened to it while playing whatever game it was: usually Starcraft, or America's Army. I had to use headphones so no one could hear what was being played as well, unless it was Linkin Park or something like that. I played my PS2 a lot also, but I couldn't listen to music while doing that. So another friend enters the picture, who is also a Christian, and finds out we all like heavy metal (yes we called it that), and told us about all the bands he listened to. His favorite was Demon Hunter, but he also showed us Becoming the Archetype, As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, and pretty much every Christian hardcore band at the time minus Zao whom I discovered soon after. I found Living Sacrifice too, but I listen to them differently now than I did back then. I still like Zao to this day as well. This was exactly what I was looking for. From this point on I wouldn't take any band seriously unless they did some screaming/growling. If a band started doing clean vocals more, then I would become PISSED and rant on and on about how they had sold out. Plus it just didn't sound as good to me as the screaming albums. It didn't matter how much more awesome a band was becoming musically. It could have been the worst band the world had ever seen, but if the band screamed then they were one of my favorites. I really don't get it when I look back on this time. All I wanted to hear was screaming, and I listened to these bands constantly. It was a total obsession. It wasn't long before I looked outside of the boundaries of Christian music and found Fear Factory. I can't stress how much I loved Fear Factory. I didn't listen to the internet radio much after I had so many bands to listen to. I liked being able to just play the bands I knew I wanted to hear since I had it all on my computer. I also found Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and Unearth, whom I still like (especially Unearth), but didn't listen to them the same way I do now. Bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit weren't the same to me any more because I had better music. I didn't listen to them any more, so I deleted all the music I had by them along with \"thebandthatshallneverbementionedagain\", Mudvayne, and a couple others. I was fully into the metalcore scene now. I was 17-18 at this time. This was only five years ago, and man I have changed so much. It was also around this time I went to my first concert, which was Becoming the Archetype, With Blood Comes Cleansing, and more. It's a very interesting experience, mostly due to the wheel coming off the car on the way back. I usually drive to Atlanta for shows, or two hours north to Nashville. This one was near Birmingham. Heavy metal bands never come to the Huntsville area, except for local bands, which aren't too great.

I did respect some bands however, but they had to sound angry. I got into Metallica's back catalog as well as Pantera. I also discovered Slayer, but I didn't get really into them until later. I also downloaded Fear Factory's Soul of a New Machine which introduced me to death metal. It was a bit extreme to me at first, but it grew on me and I wanted more. I went to the internet looking for more death metal names, and found Opeth. I know....Opeth are NOT death metal. Nevertheless that was how I found them. I told some people on these forums that my favorite band was Norma Jean, and they went absolutely hysterical. They talked about Opeth being the best death metal band, so I thought I'd check them out despite being angry with those who laughed at me.

I found Opeth's video for the song "The Grand Conjuration" and thought, "That song was pretty cool." So I wanted an album to download. Opeth fans were all about Blackwater Park, so I went with that choice. Wow. That was all I could say after listening to that album. I had never heard anything like it. So deep, so complex, and yet so heavy, but at other times so mellow, and yet totally held my attention despite the song length. The growling vocals were nothing new to me, so I wasn't turned off by them. It was really at this point that changed how I listened to music. I wanted to listen to Opeth SOOOOO much more than any band I had heard at the time. I had a job at the local Burger King at this time, and I had begun to actually buy cds. I always downloaded first, and bought later. It had to be something I really liked to buy it, because only one or two good songs on an album make the entire album boring. I bought Opeth's entire discography very soon after minus live albums and from there I wanted more bands like Opeth. Of course no one ever sounded like Opeth that I found, but Opeth's lighter moments caused me to think to myself, "Maybe clean vocals aren't so bad."

My interests changed and the bands I listen to have branched from there on out. My friends basically dropped any interest in music once we were out of high school, so they never did really listen to any bands I got into through the years. Not only this, but new friends I would make almost never listened to anything near heavy metal. One did, and he introduced me to a plethora of bands. I quit my job at Burger King in August 2010 to go to school in Huntsville, since the drive back and forth from Scottsboro was keeping me from working except on weekends. People can call me lazy, but I like my weekends to be free. Plus I didn't like the schedule of work all night long on weekends and wake up early to go to school the rest of the week. I also don't download music any more. Therefore I don't get many albums any more and consequently my introduction to bands has come through YouTube. When I get a job that will change quickly.

Yes, I do take Christianity seriously now, but cussing won't bother me. I like old school church hyms FAR more than any of the worship bands most of my friends from church adore. I don't bash them for it, but I seriously am annoyed by the music. My parents know very well that I listen to heavy metal all the time, and cannot stand most of the Christian bands everyone wants me to listen to. I do enjoy me some Tourniquet, Living Sacrifice, and many other Christian metal bands. I still like some of the better metalcore Christian bands I was once into.

So there you have it. That's my musical background. I tried to pick up playing guitar, but I never practiced enough to have any skill playing it. People tell me I can sing very well though.

Is there a Reader's Digest version of this post that I can read?

I have a short attention span when it comes to reading on-line, so welcome. I hope we don't scare you away.

First, WELCOME! Glad you're here!

THANKS for sharing your story, I read it and enjoyed it! I'm always interested to hear how people are originally introduced to the music they love, that is more interesting to me than a list of band names any day.

So, stick around, make yourself at home, it's a good group here.

-Shawn

i read all of that hoping there would be an section about that panda bear with devil horns. welcome btw.

mc666 wrote:

i read all of that hoping there would be an section about that panda bear with devil horns. welcome btw.

We have some puppets at church, and that panda bear is one of them. I found a one of those hair band things with devil horns on it, and it fit right on top of the pandas head. Heavy friggin metal.

Quote :

Is there a Reader's Digest version of this post that I can read?

I got into nu-metal, then decided only music that screamed was any good. I found out that there was much better music out there on discovering Opeth of all bands, and since know of several bands. Where I grew up wasn't a thriving place for metal, but via the internet I've found the good stuff. Only very few people outside of the bigger cities in Northern Alabama listen to any metal at all. Everyone knows Metallica, but that's about it.

Quote :

\"thebandthatshallneverbementionedagain\"

Lol

Spec and I grew up on opposite sides of West Virginia, so I have a feeling we can both relate to how living in a rural area (and for us, pre-internet) can make it a tad difficult to discover new bands.

Quote :

Spec and I grew up on opposite sides of West Virginia, so I have a feeling we can both relate to how living in a rural area (and for us, pre-internet) can make it a tad difficult to discover new bands.

I know someone from eastern West Virginia, and yeah it's a lot like the area where I grew up. Not far from here is Sand Mountain and many people there my age love metal, and most all of them are really in to melodeath bands. But before I got out of high school I didn't know any of them. When I got a job I worked with many, and got to see them again when I went up there to help out tornado victims, etc.

Also at the part where I talked about posting on "these forums", it wasn't actually on these, the Heart of Metal, forums. I just couldn't remember the name of the site so I referred to them as "these forums".

Very cool, read the whole the thing, and welcome aboard

Welcome to the board.I also live in a rural town, in Kentucky(yes I have all my teeth)so I know how all that is.There are some great guys here with lots of musical intelligence.Hope you stick around

Thrasher73 wrote:

(yes I have all my teeth)

In a jar no doubt

Welcome btw

^^^


Oh yeah, welcome aboard Jayroh. I finally had a chance to read your whole story. Very cool!

Thanks for sharing!

welcome to the board! I think you will find some of here share some of your background. I too much prefer the hymns to the praise stuff.

Welcome.

Just in case you guys were wondering, no parents weren't Christian Nazis. They really didn't think the music was a good influence on me I reckon. They just slowly accepted it over the years, and my dad still teases me to this day about the bands whose singer he described as singing, "BARK BARK BARK ARF ARF OOOOWWWOOOOOOOH!"

The_Jayroh wrote:

Just in case you guys were wondering, no parents weren't Christian Nazis. They really didn't think the music was a good influence on me I reckon. They just slowly accepted it over the years, and my dad still teases me to this day about the bands whose singer he described as singing, "BARK BARK BARK ARF ARF OOOOWWWOOOOOOOH!"

we call those bands cookie monsters around here

Welcome! Cool story, glad I got to read it.

Welcome, glad you graduated from that Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit crap . I too like Fear Factory, Soul Of A New Machine is one of my favorite death metal albums and though they moved a little away from death after that, Demanufacture is a great album as well (apart from the lyrics to Pisschrist).

I read none of that. I make up my own opinions of people based on assumed imaginary falsehoods.

I didn't read that long opening post,but welcome to the Board !

Eyesore wrote:

I read none of that. I make up my own opinions of people based on assumed imaginary falsehoods.

I second that. I should have never looked at the photo thread because it made me disappointed to find out that Exact isn't really the burger king mascot.

DallasBlack wrote:

Welcome, glad you graduated from that Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit crap . I too like Fear Factory, Soul Of A New Machine is one of my favorite death metal albums and though they moved a little away from death after that, Demanufacture is a great album as well (apart from the lyrics to Pisschrist).

Soul of a New Machine and Archetype are the only albums I really listen to by them any more. I haven't heard their newest album yet however. To be honest with you though, I still like Linkin Park's first two albums. I don't own either of them, but if I hear the songs come on I always listen and usually sing along.

The_Jayroh wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Welcome, glad you graduated from that Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit crap . I too like Fear Factory, Soul Of A New Machine is one of my favorite death metal albums and though they moved a little away from death after that, Demanufacture is a great album as well (apart from the lyrics to Pisschrist).

Soul of a New Machine and Archetype are the only albums I really listen to by them any more. I haven't heard their newest album yet however. To be honest with you though, I still like Linkin Park's first two albums. I don't own either of them, but if I hear the songs come on I always listen and usually sing along.

Maybe it's only because I love Gene Hoglan's drumming, but I found Mechanize to be a pretty good album. Especially after catching Fear Factory live

Eyesore wrote:

I read none of that. I make up my own opinions of people based on assumed imaginary falsehoods.

and their non-use of the search function