What got you into this hellish heavy metal music?

Most kids had Playboy magazines under their beds, then there is you guys (LOL).

First bands like Def Leppard and early Motley Crue and then later bands like Priest and Maiden and then Metallica.

jettafiend wrote:

I grew up in a strict Christian household as my dad was a pastor. In about 6th grade, I went to shoot hoops with my uncle and he was listening to Poison's Flesh and Blood album in his truck, LOUD! I was blown away by the sounds and the way that it felt in my chest. I was hooked. Later that same summer, a friend of mine down the street came over and brought Stryper's THWTD and Deliverance's S/T album. I cranked it up and promptly got into trouble for listening to rock n' roll. I was told that I could only listen to "Christian" music, so I saved my paper route $$ and cleaned out the metal section at the local Christian bookstore. Sacred Warrior, Whitecross, Barren Cross, Vengeance Rising, Haven, Tourniquet, etc.

Shortly before entering highschool the dreaded grunge wave hit, but my dad, trying to be helpful, brought home a video about the dangers of Heavy Metal. The video featured bands like AC/DC, Overkill, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Exodus, Gn'R, Metallica, and I was absolutely floored. I watched the video the next day and took notes on all the albums that I wanted to own. I think his idea backfired a bit.

I am still working on that part. The vast majority of my 20's was devoted to punk and I listened to almost no metal at all other than the stuff that I already had, so now I am playing catch-up and rediscovering quite a few gems that I missed along the way.

I will say tho, that my dad has really turned me on to a lot of the 60's and 70's rock/metal that he used to own back in the day, and spins every now and again on youtube and such. Stuff like early BOC, Blue Cheer, the Kinks, and Status Quo. He was huge into Brit-Rock and Garage Rock during his formative years, so maybe the love of metal is genetic?

That is how discovered hard rock/metal, at an anti rock ralley, like you said it backfired, all those pamplets did was make a handy buying guide

I was born into a Satanic cult in the backwoods of West Virginia. In between fellatio on farm animals, my parents played heavy metal music. Years later once my parents were in federal prison, my state-appointed therapist sodomized me with a Louisville Slugger whilst listening to Simply Red. Needless to say I decided to stick with listening to heavy metal rather than soul-influenced British pop, it was less traumatic.

Sometime around 76-77 I saw a picture of Gene Simmons, covered in blood, wielding an axe-shaped guitar, & spitting a fireball in the air. I then began pestering my aunts/uncles & friends older siblings about this thing called Kiss. That led to my exposure to Zepplin, Hendrix, Sabbath, Aerosmith, Uncle Ted, etc.

This probably sounds odd but I actually have MTV to thank for getting me into hard rock and metal. MTV first went on the air in 1981, which was exactly the right time for me... I was eleven years old, entering sixth grade and just starting to get curious about "popular" music.
I overheard some kids at school raving about this cool new music TV channel (I believe they described it as "like radio, but with pictures!") so I went home and checked it out. That afternoon, mixed in with stuff by Styx, Loverboy, Pat Benatar, Quarterflash and the like, I saw the videos for Judas Priest's "Headin' Out to the Highway" and the Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio?" -- and that was all it took, I was hooked. The rest is history, as they say!

...that afternoon also ignited a life long crush on Pat Benatar, by the way.

An anti-Rock video featuring a guy named Pastor Gary Greenwald. Man, I owe that guy a lot.

I wasn't supposed to listen to Rock music at all, so I hid my cassette tapes in my chemistry set and other places no one would look.

BTW what in the hell was going on in the 80's, where suddenly churches had record burnings ( like a local church in my neighborhood did) , playing albums backwards and anti rock ralleys?

As an adult, I just find this stuff, silly at best and bit scary at worst?

It was not just so called secular artist that got preached against, but bands like Stryper, Amy Grant (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and even a dead guy named Keith Green, and these were Christian artist!!! Weird!

manny wrote:

BTW what in the hell was going on in the 80's, where suddenly churches had record burnings ( like a local church in my neighborhood did) , playing albums backwards and anti rock ralleys?

As an adult, I just find this stuff, silly at best and bit scary at worst?

It was not just so called secular artist that got preached against, but bands like Stryper, Amy Grant (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and even a dead guy named Keith Green, and these were Christian artist!!! Weird!

lol....... I remember that, and Robby Halford in court singing noe of his songs, accused of backwards masking devil-voodo-scthuff........

I went to a camp as a teen, and some of the more "Holy teens", found some SKid Row casettes, and Poison, and a few others in a cabin. I heard them around the corner talking about how bad these bands were, and then they found the skid row, and the one guy said "Oh Skid Row, they are really really bad" I walked around the corner, and a few of the Holy Riser's were having a stomp fest on the cassettes, wish I would have had a PMP back then, it would have been golden.

I got a Quiet Riot cassette for Christmas when I was around 11, I hated it. It was a bunch of noise. A few years later, I took it out, dug it, and started spending money on stuff that didn't get played on the radio.

Quote :

BTW what in the hell was going on in the 80's, where suddenly churches had record burnings ( like a local church in my neighborhood did) , playing albums backwards and anti rock ralleys?

Not for nothin' but were such activities mainly a Southern/rural thing? Cuz I grew up in New Jersey and I never heard about any such thing goin' on at churches in my neck of the woods.

....though I did get kicked out of a confirmation class when I was about fourteen, cuz our instructor (a recent transplant from Texas, and a real hellfire-and-brimstone type) started in on us with all of the "rock music is evil" nonsense, complete with all of the classic urban legends - Ozzy Osbourne kills puppies on stage, Alice Cooper drinks blood, KISS stood for Kids In Satan's Service, AC/DC was an acronym for Anti-Christian Devil Children, etc.... and I couldn't help myself, I started laughing. When she heard me and asked what was so funny I said "YOU are. Those stories are total baloney," and I was then asked to leave, which I did, gladly. (My parents weren't too happy to find me sitting outside the classroom building when they came to pick me up, by the way.)

The following week I tried to talk my Mom into letting me return to class with this t-shirt on, just to see what reaction I'd get. She wouldn't let me do it.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Not for nothin' but were such activities mainly a Southern/rural thing?

No. Dummies abound countrywide.

SpectreFate wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Not for nothin' but were such activities mainly a Southern/rural thing?

No. Dummies abound countrywide.

Good point. Actually it should probably be "worldwide."

Fat Freddy wrote:

SpectreFate wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Not for nothin' but were such activities mainly a Southern/rural thing?

No. Dummies abound countrywide.

Good point. Actually it should probably be "worldwide."

I was trying to be kind.

Fat Freddy wrote:

SpectreFate wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Not for nothin' but were such activities mainly a Southern/rural thing?

No. Dummies abound countrywide.

Good point. Actually it should probably be "worldwide."

The closest thing I got to a lecture was the time when someone had spray-painted "Judas Priest Rules" (or something like that) on the side of my school. We were brought into the assembly hall and lectured more about giving up the culprits and the consequences of vandelism. Towards the end, our prinicpal, Sister Patrick, went on a rant about "Judas was NOT a priest and he in fact was the apostle that betrayed Jesus, yadda, yadda, yadda."

My parents were pretty ok with the music I listened to. The only one I remember them objecting to was George Throrogood. "All of his songs are about drinking".

Quote :

My parents were pretty ok with the music I listened to.

Mine too. (Though I suspect if they'd ever overheard my brother and I listening to, say, the Mentors, or Overkill's "F**k You," they might've had something to say about it...haha.) The most we ever heard from either Mom or Dad would be something like "This is what you spend your money on? Good grief."

We chalked it up to Mom & Dad being fans of the Beatles and Elvis when they were growin' up, since both of those artists had their share of "music of the Devil" accusers back in their heydays. So when Tipper and the PMRC started making noise about "evil" music they must've figured, "Ehhh, here we go again."

My parents were mostly OK with what I listened(though my mom did refuse to buy me Slayer- Hell Awaits because it had that one song called Necrophiliac, couldn't really blame her for that one LOL!)

manny wrote:

BTW what in the hell was going on in the 80's, where suddenly churches had record burnings ( like a local church in my neighborhood did) , playing albums backwards and anti rock ralleys?

As an adult, I just find this stuff, silly at best and bit scary at worst?

It was not just so called secular artist that got preached against, but bands like Stryper, Amy Grant (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and even a dead guy named Keith Green, and these were Christian artist!!! Weird!

That's what is didn't understand either. I don't think the people that were making the accusations were listening to the lyrics at all. Stryper, Petra, Deliverance, and Tourniquet had lyrics that were more blatantly gospel oriented than anything that was being put out in the CCM market. Tourniquet is evil because of the violent nature of the lyrics, being strait out of the Bible of course, so lets read Frank Peretti instead who wrote graphically Christian "horror" novels with a biblical theme. The disconnect still boggles my mind. To me, Being a Christian does not mean you check your brain at the door, and yet that is exactly what these people did. Stryper is still a favorite whipping boy, and caught tons of crap for the covering. what's next I wonder...

I tended to gravitate towards "crunchy" power chord type stuff as a pup in the early to mid 1970's. Growing up mostly around outlaw bikers, hippies, and later on with players in the music scene of So. Calif (Inland Empire at first, then stretching outwards to El Lay) made musical influences quite varied. Once the jump was made from the garage to playing at paying gigs, everything was about harder/heavier music.

In regards to the "churches" who burned music and other things.....(IMHDO) They are the ones who use 'religion" and "fear" to control the congreagtion(s) and somehow seem to miss
the aspect of relationship with whom they claim to serve.

James B. wrote:

In regards to the "churches" who burned music and other things.....(IMHDO) They are the ones who use 'religion" and "fear" to control the congreagtion(s) and somehow seem to miss
the aspect of relationship with whom they claim to serve.

EXACTLY!! Thank you!

jettafiend wrote:

To me, Being a Christian does not mean you check your brain at the door, and yet that is exactly what these people did.

indeed. Christianity should be a realm of intellectuals, passionate about truth, logic, growth, and yet also someplace where anybody of any reach can turn. Many churches have been failing on both counts for many years, and on the other side, the masses have been brainwashed to be lazy and are too complacent to care who they judge and why. I don't know of a heal-all answer but we have been in trouble for a while now.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

jettafiend wrote:

To me, Being a Christian does not mean you check your brain at the door, and yet that is exactly what these people did.

indeed. Christianity should be a realm of intellectuals, passionate about truth, logic, growth, and yet also someplace where anybody of any reach can turn. Many churches have been failing on both counts for many years, and on the other side, the masses have been brainwashed to be lazy and are too complacent to care who they judge and why. I don't know of a heal-all answer but we have been in trouble for a while now.

Yeah, I agree. Some people need to get in there and start kicking a hole in the Religious country club mentality, but who?

I think all of us who agree technically are but the problem is the ship sails further every day, think about how difficult it is to un-brainwash one person from how they believe life is.... multiply that by thousands. It's overwhelming. But we're not called to save the world from every mistake. Only to live in that constant walk and do the very best to the best of our ability.

jettafiend wrote:

I grew up in a strict Christian household as my dad was a pastor.

We have the same upbringing. At one point I even knew more Christian hymns/ songs than mainstream music in general.

My father was so strict that I had to rebel, just to pis s him off. So I had no choice but to listen to LOUD music even though I hated it (at first)

I'm a 32 year old male with a wife and two kids. I own a successful business and raise my kids in a well-structured, loving environment. They are ideal children for their age. I run my life independent of my parents, having cut apron strings a long time ago. My wife and I will celebrate five beautiful years together in July. I work hard. For the most part, I am self-sufficient. I'm also going somewhere with this.

Today, my Mom came over to visit. Guess what I put on display on the coffee table for her to see? Hell Awaits, Covenant, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Why? Because part of me is still a child wanting to piss her the F*ck off for all the King James she shoved down my throat.

Guess no one's perfect. But I do love my mom, regardless.

My old man...he always played metallica, maiden, \"thebandthatshallneverbementionedagain\", and alice in chains in the car when he would take me to school when i was little he was a huge thrasher in the 80's and he gave me all his cds when i started listening to it full time he pretty much opened the door for all the older bands and i have recently returned the favor by showing him new bands like lamb of god and amon amarth and mastadon