Metal or tin?

What got you into metal? I am sure we've seen this question before, but let us bring it up a little...

Not so much what got you into metal... but what made you passionate about it? So much so that you push it with every breath you take!

Me, it was the emotion inside the lyrics grasped along with heavy rhythm. It was the only music that had some sort of art to it. I am talking about Dream Theater, Black Sabbath, Savatage... band like that made me really jump into standing up for metal. I get excited when someone tells me they don't like metal. I've converted a lot of "pop only" listeners. Over time they have begged me for more music!

Metal, it's in our HEARTS!

GnR's Appetite for Destruction. Prior to that album, I was only semi-familiar with whatever I heard on the radio and my dad's old collection of albums and 45s.

Hearing a song like 'Out to Get Me' or 'It's So Easy', I had never heard music or lyrics that spit out such anger and venom and had such aggression. I liked it and wanted to hear more. Haven't looked back since.

Def Leppard Pyromania and GnR Appetite for Destruction got me into Metal.

Iron Maiden. I had known about them for years but never really listened to them. Until one day when I suddenly started listening to stuff and they were the first band I really liked. I bought everything by them. This wasn't so long ago either, it was in the last few years.

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast. That was the first actual "metal band" I got into and metal became my primary fascination for the rest of the 1980s.

I've always listened to other styles of music though, so I would consider myself a metal fan but not a "metalhead".

It was back in the 70's, I heard stuff like Double Live Gonzo, Toys in the Attic, Destroyer, Live & Dangerous and just loved the heaviness of it all. Then I heard "Exciter" from Judas Priest and was blown away! Then it was bands like Motorhead, Maiden, Raven, Venom, etc. Been a fan of heavy metal and hard rock since I was in grade school.

I was listening "Faceless World" by UDO, which was the first CD I bought; got it because I liked some songs on his "Best Of" , which my dad gave to me once. Those guitar sounds, the music were the best, the most passionate things I've ever heard (still Mathias Dieth is probably my favourite guitarist). Never looked back since.

The first album/tape I ever owned was AC/DC's "LET THERE BE ROCK," which I got for Christmas when I was 11 years old. Nuff said.

... good Lord, that will be THIRTY YEARS AGO this Christmas!!

Warlock & Slayer were the two earliest metal bands that i was really into. i'm not what you'd call "passionate" about it though. i listen to a lot of different stuff.

Wow thanks so much for opening up guys! Loved all the stories and choices. It's amazing what music does to you. It changes everything. I don't know about you, but I am glad I found metal. It has so much more going on than rap or pop. Though I listen to all forms of music, because of the business I am in, I can never look away from holding Metal up high!!!

Keep the reasons coming in my friends! I love reading them, they are inspiring... and I've been sending people over this way to this message board. It's a great board!

I think it was discovering Jimi Hendrix in my teenage years which opened up a whole world of music for me, metal being one of them.

I was listening to Mortification as long as I can consciously remember, but what really made me shift into a complete diehard fan was Yngwie's Marching Out album. From that point I discovered every band I love today!

GrandNational wrote:

I think it was discovering Jimi Hendrix in my teenage years which opened up a whole world of music for me, metal being one of them.

I started with rock music in general when I was 8 years old. My first experience with heavy metal was shortly after my 10th birthday when I heard "Crazy Train" for the first time. I didn't even finish the song, I just replayed the intro riff about seven times before I actually played the entire song. I credit that song with being my first true introduction to metal. I have my own personal "big 4" of songs that sparked my lifelong obsession with heavy metal.

"Crazy Train" - Ozzy Osbourne
"99 Ways to Die" - Megadeth
"Creeping Death" - Metallica
"Wasted Years" - Iron Maiden

After that, well, the rest was history.

i only got into music as a teenager, and with a very restrictive upbringing i didnt really have any decent exposure to metal but i knew id like it. when a friend from youth group showed me a christian metal compilation cd (demolition) i knew i had to have more. though i like a wide variety of genres what i spend the most time with to this day is metal.

Ratt's Invasion of your Privacy, Lizzy Borden's Give 'em the Axe,Motley Crue's Theatre of Pain and Judas Priest's Live

The first album I ever got was KISS - Destroyer in 1976. I was 7 years old. KISS fan for life at that point! In 1978, someone gave me Van Halen 1 for my 9th birthday. In the early 80's, Def Leppard and Judas Priest led to Iron Maiden, Scorpions, etc.

1984 - heard Metallica and Slayer....


Pretty much became a fan because of 70's Metal. The NWOBHM made me a fan for life. Metallica/Slayer/Exodus/Exciter/etc just even more solidified it.

I pretty much grew up listening to Metal and loved those "new" metal bands that came out at the time - from KISS to Ozzy, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard to Iron Maiden to Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, etc. I just love the sound of loud, distorted guitars!!!!

thejokeriv wrote:

In 1978, someone gave me Van Halen 1 for my 9th birthday. !

I remember that as well. A buddy brought the record over my house and we popped it onto my turntable and our jaws hit the floor, especially when "Eruption" came on. Definitely a heavy metal album for the ages.

ultmetal wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

In 1978, someone gave me Van Halen 1 for my 9th birthday. !

I remember that as well. A buddy brought the record over my house and we popped it onto my turntable and our jaws hit the floor, especially when "Eruption" came on. Definitely a heavy metal album for the ages.

That is pretty much what I did too!

Same story as always. A friend brought Motley Crue's "Shout At the Devil" and Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" to school back in 4th grade when they were released and in music class the teacher played a few songs. I was hooked immediately. They both injected me with iron, titanium and all those other metal alloys to become a metal freak! Oddly enough Quiet Riot inspired me right then and there to become a drummer and a guitarist.

Kiss was my first "metal" band. It was the look along with the pounding music and attitude that attracted me. I also listened to Slade, Sweet and eventually Motley Crue. I bought crues first album a year before it broke nationwide. It was so raw and they were so anti-everything...just like me.

I've pretty much always been a fan of hard rock and metal music as far back as I can remember, to be honest. The first metal albums I ever owned were cassette copies of Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Scorpions' Love at First Sting and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. They all had a significant impact on me in some way. In the end though it was probably Maiden and Metallica that really got me hooked on metal. The first album I ever bought with my own money was Metallica's ...And Justice For All when I was about 6 years old, followed shortly by Ride the Lightning. The Number of the Beast was my introduction to Iron Maiden and then I found Powerslave and Live After Death, and I spent countless hours listening to those two albums over and over again while locked away in my room. From then on it was Judas Priest, Dio, Motorhead, Megadeth, Anthrax, and my tastes gradually got a bit heavier over time as I dug deeper.

I grew up in a pretty conservative neighborhood way out in the sticks. I had a hard enough time meeting anyone that even liked rock music. The only alternatives were country music, pop or if you were lucky classic rock radio. I grew up during the grunge era so that stuff was also getting a lot of media attention at the time, but I just didn't really connect with it. I guess I just liked metal because it was something different, simple as that. The songs were about subject matter that you typically didn't hear about in country or mainstream rock / pop music. The music didn't always follow the same verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-etc arrangement. It was passionate and the musicianship was incredible and unlike anything else. I appreciate a lot of different music today, but in the end metal was my first true love and it will always have a special place in my heart.

snooloui wrote:

Iron Maiden. I had known about them for years but never really listened to them. Until one day when I suddenly started listening to stuff and they were the first band I really liked. I bought everything by them. This wasn't so long ago either, it was in the last few years.

This is my story, like almost exactly. Are you me?

I also got into KISS, probably 1976 or early '77. However, they didn't really "convert me", they were one of the few "heavy" bands that I listened to (I was equally a fan of ELO and Queen during that era). It wasn't until 1982 that I started intentionally seeking out heavy music.

Simply the passion of the music. I cant really feel much emotion in other styles of music. Variety is also something.

Its very hard for me to try and explain. Have to say the SINGLE SONG that solidified my love for metal was...*cue drum roll*