For those who were around in the 70s

What was your first reaction to these bands?:
Black Sabbath
Judas Priest
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Ted Nugent
Van Halen

Hadley wrote:

What was your first reaction to these bands?:
Black Sabbath
Judas Priest
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Ted Nugent
Van Halen

Oh man, I love hearing these kinds of stories!

My Dad (born in '58) never gave me (born in '80) much time as a kid/teen, but one way I could make conversation with him is asking about his first exposure to certain bands and concerts. He would totally open up and I would be all ears. He told me Sabbath was like an awakening.

My sister is 7 years older than me so when I was a young kid she was in her teens and listening to Kiss, AC/DC and Van Halen.I tell ya man it was what started an early love for metal for me. I’ll never forget hearing those albums for the first time.

Born in 1970, so my child's perspective was as follows.

Black Sabbath: My best friends brother had an ep on vinyl of Electric Funeral and Iron Man. We used to have sword fights and trash his parents house while playing Electric Funeral on his mom's portable record player thing she had.

Judas Priest: Not sure if I ever heard them until the 80's. My first real taste was Unleashed in the East. My dad's girlfriend had it on vinyl, and I remember absolutely loving it. Pretty sure that was early 80's though.

Alice Cooper: Never listened to him until much later, still only care for a few songs of his.

Kiss: Never cared for them much either, until the 80's came around. Lick it Up was the first record of theirs I liked, even though my best friend had some of their older stuff, I could never get into them.

Ted Nugent: I actually had Scream Dream and Wango Tango on vinyl when I was a kid, and really loved those records.

Van Halen: Another band that I was too young for in the 70's. I'm sure I heard the radio stuff, but can't remember when I really got into them. I know they were one of my favorite bands back when I discovered them fully, and I still love the classic lineup to this day.

My musical tastes in the 70's was crap like Michael Jackson, The Bee Gees, Devo, whatever was popular on the radio I guess. Didn't really get into real music until my beloved 80's.

Black Sabbath- They were one of the bands at my very first concert in 1974, The California Jam. I was just getting familiar with their stuff via headphones, which were an integral part of my music listening back then.

Judas Priest- I owned "Sad Wings of Destiny" already and just gotten "Sin After Sin" when an older brother offered to take me to see Zeppelin in Oakland (1977) with Priest & Derringer opening up. I was stoked. His van broke down on the way there and we thought, "hey we'll catch the next show at the Coliseum in LA" One of Plant's children died and Oakland Stadium was the last US gig for them...bummer for me

Alice Cooper- More of something I heard on the radio back then. Never caught my ear enough to want to purchase anything.

Kiss- Anaheim Stadium was my first KISS show. I'd much rather had seen them in 1975 before they broke big. It was cool seeing them on TV that Halloween (Paul Lynde).

Ted Nugent- It was great back then, he didn't have to use the gimmick he does today to get attention. Some of the best concerts I've ever seen were him and his band in the 70's. Derek St. Holmes is an unsung musical hero (IMHDO)

Van Halen- It was awesome having our local band hit it big.

First of all and as a sidenote, I think you can count the number of people on this board who weren't around in the 70s on one hand. Let's face it, this is a geriatric board.

Anyway, to the original post:

What was your first reaction to these bands?:
Black Sabbath - My first (and still) reaction was/is...meh. They didn't really interest me until Dio took over the vocals; I really dig those albums. I just can't get into the whole doomy, sludgy style very much and couple that with my disdain for Ozzy's vocals and you get...Next...
Judas Priest - I loved Sad Wings and Sin After Sin. The first time I heard those albums I was blown away. After that Priest sort of lost me; not entirely as I still own and enjoy several subsequent albums but nothing after those two impacted my musical psyche the same way.
Alice Cooper - This is an interesting one. I'm not a huge Alice Cooper fan by any stretch but one of the best things I've ever seen on network TV was on something I believe was on a live program on ABC back in the late 70s/early 80s. It featured Alice doing the entire Welcome To My Nightmare album complete with monsters, robots and Vincent Price live! Who wouldn't be blown away by that?
Kiss - One of my earliest exposures to hard/heavy music. My best friend in grade school was into Kiss and he loaned me some of his vinyl albums and I was awestruck. I still dig Kiss.
Ted Nugent - I love the Ted "classics" but I feel his behavior in recent years has taken some of the luster off his work; Ted, shut your mouth and play.
Van Halen - The S/T is awesome and 1984 is good. That's all the VH I need.

I was born in the 70s, but I didn’t care about music when I was 4. I didn’t personally take notice until about 1984 when I was 9. The first cassette I got was Hall and Oats.

So these are all good answers (James I feel like setting up an interview with you) but what I'm really curious about is what everyone felt when you first heard these bands. For example, I was introduced to AC/DC in '93 and my hairs stood up on end. I remember thinking my heart was going to explode. I knew next to nothing about guitar (which I soon picked up thereafter and is sort of my oxygen in life) and that CRUNCH from Angus was enormous to me, like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the heart. Brian's voice was like nothing I've ever heard and I remember raising my voice to see if I could go that high yada yada I could go on. What was the catharsis like??

The Experience, gentlemen!

tohostudios wrote:

Judas Priest - I loved Sad Wings and Sin After Sin. The first time I heard those albums I was blown away. After that Priest sort of lost me; not entirely as I still own and enjoy several subsequent albums but nothing after those two impacted my musical psyche the same way.

That's a weird cutoff point, because the very next album they did (Stained Class) was to be their masterpiece and still their best album to this day.

Troublezone wrote:

I was born in the 70s, but I didn’t care about music when I was 4. I didn’t personally take notice until about 1984 when I was 9. The first cassette I got was Hall and Oats.

Same here. While technically a child of the 70's, I didn't catch the music bug till the early/mid-80's.

Let me clarify as dude from Fresno requested...

Black Sabbath- The rain storm on the opening of the debut hooked me as much as the music
Judas Priest Halford's vocal delivery caught my attention.
Alice Cooper- Never turned the dial if a song came on the radio.
Kiss- The "Hotter Than Hell" album was dark in imagery and had that awesome Les Paul tone. If I'd a heard a later album first, who knows if I'd continued havnig interest.
Ted Nugent- The drum sound was epic on the debut
Van Halen- My older brother shared the tales of the backyard parties in Pasadena. So I was already biased before the debut came out.

I was born in 76 and as a child I remember my mom liked Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and the Beatles. I recall being scared of the first Sabbath album. This is the first music that I remember being exposed to. Also my mom was a big Motown fan and I still love plenty of those artists myself.

I remember being very small and watching KISS on TV and I distinctly remember Gene Simmons and his demonic attire. I also remember my dad had Van Halen 1 and 2 that he played frequently. The other artists I did not discover till later on in junior high/high school during the eighties.

I was too young to really appreciate these bands but today all the ones you listed are favorites of mine.

Since I was born in 71 I was pretty small when this music came out. I have several older brothers who listened to some of these bands but I particularly remember the first Bad Company album when I was about 6 years old. I used to play it over and over. Also, Jimi Hendrix.

I remember hearing Iron Man for the first time around that age and remember it was a bit creepy but I liked it. I remember one time my parents were gone somewhere and I was home alone with two older brothers. The power went out and we had to light candles and one of my brothers would put a candle in front of his face and say "I AM IRON MAN!". Weird how a thread like this can bring back old memories.

Don't think I heard Priest at all until Livin After Midnight but the first cassette I heard by them was Screamin' For Vengeance. And like Thelemech I was scared of the BS album cover (first album).

And we lived in the Detroit area until 1979 so I knew who Alice Cooper and Ted were but had never heard their music but the albums were around.

Kiss - I'm nnot sure we had any Kiss albums but the kid who lived behind us did and while I had never heard them I remember looking at his albums thinking they looked cool.

I was born in '74, so I was "around" in the '70's, but grew up a child of the 1980's. I had an Uncle who got me into music when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I started with what was on the radio but began, through my Uncle's influence, to find stuff like Petty, Billy Squier, the Coop, Aerosmith, and Rush. When he moved out of my Grandparent's house to get married in the middle of the decade, he left behind a lot of albums and cassettes. He said I could have them. One band...Van Halen. This was my awakening. I loved the guitar sound and wizadry of EVH. This is why I was so drawn to the Metal of the 1980's were everything was centered around the riff and was very guitar driven. I was able to return the favor to my Uncle before he passed from cancer 2 years ago by introducing him to Dream Theater and Motorhead. Polar opposite ends of the spectrum for sure, but he loved both very much.

So, onto the reactions:


*Black Sabbath - scared the shit out of me. The first time I saw the cover to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, I crapped my shorts.
*Judas Priest - 10 years old and I am walking through a Kmart. I see the cover for Defenders and the Metallian looks like a Transformer to me. I have to own this! Once "Freewheel Burning"' started, things changed. Prior to Priest, and subsequently, Iron Maiden, VH was the heaviest band I was into.

*Alice Cooper - I wasn't immediately crazy about the music. I was more intrigued by the man's presence and persona. Now, I realize how brilliant he is.

*Kiss - Loved them from the jump. The tunes, the stage show, and the look. Especially the look. I was Space Ace for Halloween a couple of times. I know I am not alone in that one. Haha.

Ted Nugent - I wasn't much of a fan beyond the "hits" on the radio (94HJY Providence, RI) and it wasn't until the 1990's I bought a few discs. I like him well enough and I respect that he lives what he preaches.

Van Halen - Like I stated above, this was the gateway into all things Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. I remember hearing Jump on American Top 40 with Kasey Kasem and I was hooked. In 1984, I was in 4th grade. I remember art class, we all made t shirts with paint and glitter pens, and of course, I made a VH shirt with all the song titles to MCMLXXXIV listed on the back and the logo on the front.Ah, good times. I quickly backtracked (as I did with JP and IM) and got the earlier albums. I couldn't get enough. Like they said in the VH1 documentary, Van Halen was a party and everyone was invited. They were just so damn cool in all the vids and seemed to be having so much fcking fun!

If I may:

*Iron Maiden - A friend got Piece of Mind for his birthday from another classmate of ours, He hated it, so a week later at a sleepover, he traded it to me for a Gobot. This was the same kid who traded me 5 Whitesnake cassettes 2 years later for my Y&T "Contagious" cassette. Maiden was awesome; the logo, the mascot, the music, it was a whole audio/ visual experience.

*Whitesnake - Not very well known in America before 1987 and "Still of the Night" hit MTV. They became the new passion as VH had started to slide a bit after parting with Roth. Lored knows how many times I have played this album in the last three decades. Haha.

*Metallica - Game changer. I was on the state championship team for soccer and a kid brought Master of Puppets to practice. I had never heard anything as fast and heavy as this. It just.. blew... me...away! By the time "Justice" drops, I was into the big 4 and the next 4 after that.

My older brothers had all these records.
Van Halen was different - some kid came to the play ground -
I didn’t really even know him that well - I was on the swings with a pal -
Anyways. He had VH - and played it -cassette it sounded totally new to me.
All of it - singer screams - guitar - back up vocals - that was it.

Kiss - older neighbor up the street -
He brought to my house Kiss Alive one.
He had other records. George Carlin etc
But I grabbed the album and was astounded at the photo.

I will add there were other bands I listened to back the.

Starz
Budgie
Baker Gurvitz Army
Trapeze
White Witch
Armageddon
The Groundhogs
Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Slade
Sweet
BOC
Scorpions
UFO
Uriah Heep

Wargod60

I was born in 1970 and did not get into music til I was 12, thanks to anti- rock ralley at my local church. They spun record backwards, interpreted lyrics to be all about Satan, anti- Christian and even burned record albums. The fact that music could have such a strong reaction to a bunch of panty waist do- gooders fascinated and appalled me at the same time, even thou I was a young kid. Used their anti-rock pamphlet as a handy buying guide. My first musical love was AC/DC but here my recollections of the following bands.

I discovered all these bands/artists at around the sametime, thanks to magazines, radio, MTV and that pamphlet.

KISS- I got into KISS during the lowest point in their popularity, which was around 82. I remember people telling me they sucked blah blah blah, a year later, 'Lick it Up' would be released and these very same people were telling me how much they loved them. Yea whatever. At a flea market bought 'Rock and Roll Over' and feel in love with the album. My number one air guitar album.



Black Sabbath- I have an older brother, who I am not close to but he owned Black Sabbath 'Heaven and Hell' on crappy cassette. The first time I heard it, it did not click with me. Days later my mother bought me a used copy of Black Sabbath's self titled album and for some reason that album clicked with me immediately. I found it atmospheric, a little bit scary sounding. Still one of my favorite albums.

Judas Priest- For Christmas of 1983, my mother bought me around 15, 20 albums, among them was Judas Priest 'Screaming for Vengeance'. Thou both of my parents hated that 'heavy metal shit', they hated the thought of censorship and someone thinking that music could be created to worship Satan. The idea to both of them was absurd, so they somewhat encouraged my interest in music. She had bought me 'Screaming for Vengeance' I think based on the cover, not because she had any knowledge of what metal was or who they were. I played the album and I loved it, it was probably the heaviest album I owned up to that point. My mother I am sure regretted she ever bought me the album.

Alice Cooper- I had bought 'Greatest Hits' because I loved the song 'School's Out' which was the only song I knew from him/them. I put on the first track on the album 'I'm Eighteen' and it spoke to me. Being a Latino kid in a neighborhood that saw me and my family as interlopers because of my race was not fun, but Alice made my life easier and made me feel like being an outsider was better than, and Alice is still a hero to me.

Ted Nugent- Got into Ted Nugent thanks to my older brother having those classic albums in his collection. When I got into music, I stole them and they were kick ass albums. I did not know Derek St. Holmes sang on my favorite Nugent albums, hell did not know who he was, just assumed Nugent sang everything!. He maybe more known for his motorcity madmouth then his music now adays, which is a shame because his early albums are classics.

Van Halen- Discovered them because friends at school always and I mean always talked about them. Talked about how Eddie Van Halen was the greatest guitarist that had ever lived. I finally bought the album 'Women and Children First' and was blown away!

manny wrote:

Ted Nugent- Got into Ted Nugent thanks to my older brother having those classic albums in his collection. When I got into music, I stole them and they were kick ass albums. I did not know Derek St. Holmes sang on my favorite Nugent albums, hell did not know who he was, just assumed  Nugent sang everything!. He maybe more known for his motorcity madmouth then his music now adays, which is a shame because his early albums are classics.

Same here! It wasn't until the mid 80's or so that I knew who the singer was and it was my older brother who told me. We were driving back to Michigan from Tennessee and when we got to Detroit my brother turned on WRIF and a St. Holmes song came on the radio. I said "This sounds like Ted" and he said "that's because that's Ted's singer". I thought Ted did it all up to that point. By the way, there is a great album called Whitford/St. Holmes "Reunion" that was released a couple of years ago that is great stuff.

Being about 12 in '79 when I really started getting into music it was all 60's and 70's bands. What I remember is how you could hear stuff from The Who to Sabbath to Cheap Trick and it was all accepted as hard rock, not so splintered like now.

I was 8 years old when Alice Cooper guest starred on The Muppet Show, and I remember being absolutely terrified of him! Haha

Fat Freddy wrote:

I was 8 years old when Alice Cooper guest starred on The Muppet Show, and I remember being absolutely terrified of him! Haha

Same here. And my earliest memories of KISS was purely visual. I don't recall any music, but the look was like comic book characters come to life, complete with "secret identities" and everything.

Ground zero was 1980 for me

corplhicks wrote:

So these are all good answers (James I feel like setting up an interview with you) but what I'm really curious about is what everyone felt when you first heard these bands. For example, I was introduced to AC/DC in '93 and my hairs stood up on end. I remember thinking my heart was going to explode. I knew next to nothing about guitar (which I soon picked up thereafter and is sort of my oxygen in life) and that CRUNCH from Angus was enormous to me, like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the heart. Brian's voice was like nothing I've ever heard and I remember raising my voice to see if I could go that high yada yada I could go on. What was the catharsis like??

The Experience, gentlemen!

I had the same kind of spiritual awakening the first time I heard GnR's Appetite on my Sony Walkman back in '87. Never heard anything like it.