My question to you all is, have you ever heard an album or song and wondered how you 'got by' in the past not knowing of the music in question? For instance, you discover a band and you really love the music they make. You wonder how you enjoyed music in this way before you made this discovery.

I think this is only possible in hindsight as you don't know any better. You can't think, "Wow, I can't wait to discover this amazing band and have them completely reinvent my outlook on music!". But I find, when I hear a new band or song which I really love, it contrasts with everything else and makes it seem pretty, average.

I don't even know what I am talking about here.

Dude, you may not know what you're talking about, but I do!
For me, the most blatant example is Opeth. Since I fist listened to them, the way I think of music in general has completely revolved around all sorts of things which I didn't really understand or know existed before I heard Opeth.
How did I exist before then? I really have no idea! I mean, it would be one thing if I hadn't listened to music, or at least not to metal, but I did! I'm not really sure why I did anymore though. I very clearly remember when I first listened to Opeth and discovered what are nowadays pretty much the things I listen to when I listen to metal. What did I listen to before then? What did metal mean to me? I can't even remember!
So yeah, I don't know what the answer to the question is, but I hear you. You are not alone.

Yeah I completely understand what you're saying that happend to me when I was 9 and and I recieved a Dream Theater album it completely changed my outlook on music I didn't know how to react to the music because it was so different from everything else I was used to like System of a Down and In Flames. Now stuff like that really doesn't faze me but when I heard the band Haggard it also did the same thing I had never heard classical and folk elements combined so well with metal before and it got me into an entire genre that I never would have known about. I guess everytime you hear something new that's like nothing else you've ever heard it does that because it's happend alot with me but as you said it's not something you set out to have happen it just happens.

I think that because most bands are very similar and it has become harder to create something original, when you do discover something original (or at least is done well) it will stand out to different people for different reasons. It could be just an evolution of old tastes. I myself am always looking out for new bands. The way I do this is ask people and look through websites and magazines for bands similar to those I am already into. I recently found a band called Demiricous (thanks to a Slayer article) and I am so glad that I did. Although the band don't bring anything new to metal (it's just basic thrash) they do it really well... they are very professional. To me they sound like the Slayer of the 80's with modern production and for me, the result is immense. I enjoy Slayer very much but for some reason, I feel I can enjoy them more with the discovery of Demiricous and that can only be a good thing. Maybe the reason is because I can compare the bands (they really are very similar).

Wow, yes...I've thought this so many times it's unbeleivable...Dream Theater was one of the first bands that I wondered how I lived without for so long...I don't how I ever thought I knew anything about music after getting into metal in the first place to be as general as possible but progressive metal changed my life so much...as for the whole 'You can't think, "Wow, I can't wait to discover this amazing band and have them completely reinvent my outlook on music!"' idea, I would have to completely diagree...I know of so many bands out there that currently exist that I can't get ahold of that would change the way I think again about music and will make me wonder how I never heard of their music before and how I got along without listening to their stuff before...

Well hmm thats quite and an odd question, iv never actually had to answer something like this, but ill try and reply to the best of my ability, i am into all types of Extreme Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Goregrind etc. At first i didint get those bands, becuase when i younger i gave the bands a listen and i thought it was stupid. But i grew into it as time goes on, but to answer your question, when i was growing up looking for a band or a type of music before i knew about metal, i wanted to find the most brutal, evil sounding, and most hated music, i wanted to see what it was like. Mainly because no one else was into music like that, and when i heard of more and more brutal bands and i liked them, because it was diffrent, and i was also angery, and it was sort of my fuel for my anger. It helped me cope with my problems, and the more intense and brutal the music got for me, the easyer i found it to cope with things, so i think when i find a band and i like them, i think the main reason is i like them because their diffrent, and/or they help me deal with my problems and almost give me a channel to let all my anger go, thats what i thought of, i dont know if makes any sense or not but, hopefully you will be able to see what im talking about

Yeah I get you.

I find it strange how people can cope with anger by listening to music. For me, when I am angry, listening to some heavy shit doesn't really affect me in any way. I mean, it doesn't cool me off but it doesn't drive my anger either. The only way I can seem to get rid of anger is to be violent! Or just sit and chill for 10 minutes.

For me though, there are lots of stages where every band I listen to and know of are just 'average' and I am happy listening to just about anything. When a band comes along that I become really excited about, I find it makes the rest of my music seem less entertaining than before, until the new 'exciting' band falls into that category too.

There are one or two bands that probably won't become boring for me to listen to but it's still not the same as hearing some brand new stuff that you really like. Like when your favourite band releases new material.

Why does most music seem to become less appealing the more we listen?

I think the reason for that is, if you listen to the same type of music, lets say everyday your gonna eventually get board of it, its like eating the same thing over and over again, your gonna get sick of it eventually. Thats why you need some variety, becuase if you listen to something else it will seem new and fresh to you, and once that other type of music goes dull for you, you go back what you use to listen to before and you say to yourslef "why did i stop listening to this" because it sounds fresh and new and diffrent to what you normaly would listen to, and to comment about how you dont understand how people use music to help them with their anger, just take it this way everyone has diffrent ways to relieve stress, everyone has diffrent ways to deal with anger, everyoe has diffrent ways to deal with diffrent things, its diffrent for everyone.

Yeah, that seems sort of obvious now I look back at my question!

For me, it's such a rare thing a band comes along which I become really excited about. I am a perfectionist and I look for certain things in my music and if it doesn't match my requirements I generally don't enjoy the music. I consider this a weakness and something I wish I didn't have. One of them is the production. If a record sounds bad, I find it hard to listen to. That includes most older metal bands' earlier stuff, like early Slayer and early Exodus, etc. I have listened to them but I don't really find them very exciting. I do take the year/time they were recorded into consideration and try to adapt but I think I have become spoiled with all of this more modern sounding metal.

Written by thefadedline on 12.09.2006 at 06:24

Yeah, that seems sort of obvious now I look back at my question!

For me, it's such a rare thing a band comes along which I become really excited about. I am a perfectionist and I look for certain things in my music and if it doesn't match my requirements I generally don't enjoy the music. I consider this a weakness and something I wish I didn't have. One of them is the production. If a record sounds bad, I find it hard to listen to. That includes most older metal bands' earlier stuff, like early Slayer and early Exodus, etc. I have listened to them but I don't really find them very exciting. I do take the year/time they were recorded into consideration and try to adapt but I think I have become spoiled with all of this more modern sounding metal.

me too!! it's so strange.if i listen to some negura bunget or old bathory,i can't wait to skip the track!
but ontopic,it almost happened to me when i first really listened to nightwish,outside the singles over the hills and far away and nemo...i listened to dark chest of wonders and planet hell just once,and it blew me away completely i had almost no words to say...needless to say it got me into power metal along with hammerfall.and it changed my view of music
also this happened another time with led zepelin's stairway to heaven-1 listen was enough.it just killed me and i desperately wanted to hear the song again and again and again and again....that was when i really thought"wtf?!?!how come i haven't come across this song before?"given my dad was a zeppelin fan and he still has some tapes with them somewhere.but as for giving me an amnesia as to how i viewed music before, not quite.i used to be a huge linkin park fan about april last year,and i wasn't so much in the technical aspects of creating music.so this led zeppelin song started it all but i still remember how when i listened to linkin park i felt anger and stuff.also now i think they are very overrated and nothing more but an average mallcorepoprock band
but to stay ontopic,this has never happened to me since.maybe when i first heard slayer's "seasons in the abyss" album it almost happened,but not quite.one of y fav. albums from a kick ass band though their 1990-present releases aren't that good

Man, I get you perfectly.

The first time I heard Master of Puppets, I looked at my CD collection and thought "Hang on a minute...all this is crap!"

I had a similar experience the first time I listened to Maiden and Sabbath.

I've never looked back.

Yeah, I know what you want to say, the same is with me. Whem I listen to Sentenced I always wonder how could I live without knowing them. And then I think, how good it is to know them and it's the only band that I'm 100% that I'll listen to it for my whoule life. I can still remember all my emotions while listen to it for first times... incredible! And I can still feel the same if I have a period of not listening to them, and then I put The Cold white light in my cd player...great feeling. Makes me feel that I'm like one year in the past when I discoverd them.
I don't know if I answered your question, but I had this in my mind for a long time.

Hei, the same thing happened with me,mainly when I listened some band such as Evergrey,Green Carnation or even Anathema.I knew what I expected from these bands,it seems , they are talking directly to me.It like,their music can reached into my soul.:drool:

I don't know how I lived without knowing Primal Fear. I just got tywo albums this weekend (Primal Fear and Seven Seals) and I absolutely loved them. Shame on me!

I understand what you say but I would have thought that the answer was very simple: you just didn't know what you were missing. I mean, I bet there are bands now that you don't know but when you find out about them in the future you'll be asking yourself the same thing.

Written by Daru Jericho on 25.09.2006 at 01:17

I understand what you say but I would have thought that the answer was very simple: you just didn't know what you were missing. I mean, I bet there are bands now that you don't know but when you find out about them in the future you'll be asking yourself the same thing.

But it's Primal Fear!!! One of the best power metal bands in history! Shame on me for not knowing them! How did I live without knowing them? me, a proclaimed power metal fan? Shame on me.

Yep... there was only one album that made me fill this way and it was "Hatebreeder" by Children Of Bodom... this is what converted me from a little bit of a poser and wannabe metalhead into a true one down to my blackened heart... this is still the most influential album for me ever...

Written by +{Jonas}+ on 02.10.2006 at 04:33

Written by Daru Jericho on 25.09.2006 at 01:17

I understand what you say but I would have thought that the answer was very simple: you just didn't know what you were missing. I mean, I bet there are bands now that you don't know but when you find out about them in the future you'll be asking yourself the same thing.

But it's Primal Fear!!! One of the best power metal bands in history! Shame on me for not knowing them! How did I live without knowing them? me, a proclaimed power metal fan? Shame on me.

Haha, well I guess if you're a self-proclaimed power metaller than you should know who they are! Just kidding, but PF were one of the first power metal bands I checked out when I got into the genre.

Written by +{Jonas}+ on 22.09.2006 at 04:42

I don't know how I lived without knowing Primal Fear. I just got tywo albums this weekend (Primal Fear and Seven Seals) and I absolutely loved them. Shame on me!

yes, everybody loves me, lol

anyway, back to the topic, I find this is always the case when i discover something new. This was particualarly the case when I first heard older arch enemy, with joahn on the vox, I was obviously hooked and rejected veryhting else in my collection, though I still honour their efforts, it just doesn't match up to future discoveries in all metal subgenres i like, particularly power and death.

Written by Daru Jericho on 03.10.2006 at 02:13

Haha, well I guess if you're a self-proclaimed power metaller than you should know who they are! Just kidding, but PF were one of the first power metal bands I checked out when I got into the genre.

I knew who they were, I just hadn't listened to them. *hits himself*

Written by Guest on 03.10.2006 at 10:30

yes, everybody loves me, lol

anyway, back to the topic, I find this is always the case when i discover something new. This was particualarly the case when I first heard older arch enemy, with joahn on the vox, I was obviously hooked and rejected veryhting else in my collection, though I still honour their efforts, it just doesn't match up to future discoveries in all metal subgenres i like, particularly power and death.

Precisely, teh fact that I did not know one of teh first and greatest power metal bands is disgraceful. And yes it applies when I discover something new, but amazing, like when I discovered In Extremo,. I couldn't believe how amazing it was (and is, of course), and became one of my favorite bands.

After I got into the metal scene and discovered the great metal music, I began to think that I really had missed something good and satisfying before, and I had wasted my time listening to worthless mainstream music.
Since you have said,"I don't even know what I am talking about here.", let me say frankly that I didn't understand what actually I had to write here.;)

I've never really had that problem. I feel that because I didn't know who they were before, there was no way I could really have died from withdrawl. However, If maiden were to Just be ripped from My grasp today.....*gulp*

For me i thought Pink Floyd was going to be my favourite band forever, i loved them as my favourite all the way until i was about 16? Then i heard in the same month, by chance:
Slayer - South Of Heaven
Ozzy Osbourne - Gets Me Through
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Iron Maiden - Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.

Instantly i was thinking, wow, metal is pretty cool, i bought Ozzy first, then Maiden, i never really got into Slayer, but it still had an impact. Now i dont look back at the Floyd days as often.

The first time I really understood the magic around metal was when I heard the Metallica song Master of Puppets. I often wonder how my metal taste would be today if I'd never heard Master of Puppets? I think I actually listened to metal before MoP because a small part of me thought it was cool to do that. Without Metallica and the best song ever, there wouldn't be a Warman here on MS

For me, that'd have to be Ensiferum, and Elvenking, I just can't remember life before it

Oh and when I first discovered Dream Theatre...mind-blowing stuff.

I know what your saying. I've felt that way with Otep, And lately Carpathian Forest. Its like when you listen to any of their songs your wondering, "How the fuck did I skip through this shit?" Then you never stop listening to it. This might only make sense to me, but......

it was awesome when I doscovered Iron Maiden...before that i was wasting time with Mainstreems...Those Posers Took my precious time.

Each time i discover a band, eventho they dont immediately enter my "Best Bands Ever" list, i wonder how ive been living without em. I guess we all had something like that, and if its not the case, then theres no doubt it will happen for you too sooner or later .

And this feeling is just great, because you realise you've discovered something you really like. I just love it. I always need new music, my favourite bands list changes everyday. (Its true, that list in my profile changes everyday :p).

Written by Guest on 14.09.2006 at 18:36

Man, I get you perfectly.

The first time I heard Master of Puppets, I looked at my CD collection and thought "Hang on a minute...all this is crap!"

I had a similar experience the first time I listened to Maiden and Sabbath.

I've never looked back.

AHHH i know what you mean, when i first heard the song, just the one song "Battery" i was just like "how much did that CD cost?" and i wanted it right away, because the stuff i was listening to before was just such a waist and everything and hearing that ONE song, i was speechless, i wanted to hear it again, but then there was Master of Puppets, and i wanted to hear that again, couldent get enough of it.

It was sorta also like when i was getting board of Slayer, Metallica, Kreator and Megadeth. I had been listening to some Cannibal Corpse, but not much, i went to my friends house a heard the song "Hammer Smashed Face" and that song almost opened a whole other gateway, no, galexy of music for me, i never knew music could sound this fast, this brutal this intense, and i bought the CD next week, and LOVE IT, and i still do, but its just i guess when you hear one really good song from another genre that you have never heard before, you tend to love it, and it opens your mind and your tastes of music. Its weird i cant really explain very well, but its just something totally new that you totally love, its like having pizza for the first time, your most likley going to love it the first time you try it.

It happedned to me when I firstly heard Rising Force by Yngwie Malmsteen, I am not fan of Malmsteen but when I heard that song I was somewhere about 10 years old, I was so impressed by that song that I felt miserable, how did I live without this song? After 2 weeks I forget to this song but this is not the point, I nevr think about that anymore, I want to find as much bands as possible and I have big colection so I don't feel tht I missed amny can't live songs, but if I am I will find that soon. I think about this like that when I as kid now it can touch me.