My introduction to metal was Judas Priest's Electric Eye. What was yours?

Van Halen - 1984, Scorpions - Best of Rockers & Ballads and Yngwie Malmsteen - Trilogy were the first hard & heavy albums I've ever heard, long time ago. Then the bands from your list, starting with Iron Maiden.

For me it was Deep Purple In Rock, I was about 13 when my dad introduced it to me, and I was blown away by the sound, especially the song Child In Time.

I listened to alot of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Black Sabbath, Rainbow and Uriah Heep around that time too, you can say I became obsessed with 70's Hard rock/Metal during my teens.

In My later teens at around 16 onwards I discovered 80's Metal, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden mostly, at 20 my friend introduced me to Mayhem, so I started listening to black metal, followed by death metal starting with Amon Amarth and Dark Tranquillity.

Not sure. Was in a weird spot. Back in the day my school ran out of space so one class - mine, 4th grade, 9 and 10 year olds - was given a class room and special bathroom in the High School surrounded by 14-18 year olds. Junior high wasn't the standard 7 & 8th, but rather 5th through 8th, so once again the youngest in school, surrounded by kids 3 years old and absorbing more of their tastes. So What was popular with them was absorbed by us.

Twisted Sister, Def Leppard (High N Dry, Pyromania), Van Halen, Iron Maiden (Killers, Number of the Beast), Rush, Judas Priest, Ozzy. Only towards the end of that heard "rumors" of Metallica, circa "Kill 'Em All", but never actually heard them. Also the era when those baseball style 3/4 sleeve shirts were The Shit.



Also had the black shits with the white sleeves, or more rare with orange or red. The cool kids had them - which means I never did.

I can say if I had to pick a song it would probably be "Crazy Train". The first full video my brother and I saw on eMpTy-Vee back in they day was "Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest. Stuck with us because the dude blows up at the end.

I first heard Metallica's Enter Sandman and it just sort of continued on from there to bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden when I played Guitar Hero before getting into more extreme, heavier groups like Opeth and Meshuggah after that.

Written by BitterCOld on 24.09.2021 at 03:30

Not sure. Was in a weird spot. Back in the day my school ran out of space so one class - mine, 4th grade, 9 and 10 year olds - was given a class room and special bathroom in the High School surrounded by 14-18 year olds. Junior high wasn't the standard 7 & 8th, but rather 5th through 8th, so once again the youngest in school, surrounded by kids 3 years old and absorbing more of their tastes. So What was popular with them was absorbed by us.

Twisted Sister, Def Leppard (High N Dry, Pyromania), Van Halen, Iron Maiden (Killers, Number of the Beast), Rush, Judas Priest, Ozzy. Only towards the end of that heard "rumors" of Metallica, circa "Kill 'Em All", but never actually heard them. Also the era when those baseball style 3/4 sleeve shirts were The Shit.



Also had the black shits with the white sleeves, or more rare with orange or red. The cool kids had them - which means I never did.

I can say if I had to pick a song it would probably be "Crazy Train". The first full video my brother and I saw on eMpTy-Vee back in they day was "Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest. Stuck with us because the dude blows up at the end.

Thanks for sharing! Now that I think about it, Crazy Train was also one of my first exposures to metal. Although I initially categorized it as rock like AC/DC's Highway to Hell.
My real interest in what I would consider pure heavy metal started with Judas Priest, as I've said before. As a result, I find those JP T-Shirts look amazing!

Written by F3ynman on 24.09.2021 at 10:55


Thanks for sharing! Now that I think about it, Crazy Train was also one of my first exposures to metal. Although I initially categorized it as rock like AC/DC's Highway to Hell.
My real interest in what I would consider pure heavy metal started with Judas Priest, as I've said before. As a result, I find those JP T-Shirts look amazing!

AC/DC was one that straddled the line, Van Halen later with 1984, but as I recall the designations were Rock and Heavy Metal. Rock was 38 Special, Asia, Pat Benatar, Rolling Stones, Billy Idol, whatever guitar and band driven music that was on the Top 40 radio.

Heavy Metal was what anything that was faster/harder/more abrasive at the time.

At some point later in time things got more stratified. But perhaps those older and far more into it were far more definitive, like we are here where something isn't just black or doom metal, but has 17 different subgenre tags first.

I'm pretty sure there exist a similar thread back many moons ago. Too lazy to do a research as I'm drained grinding linked excel sheets.

Anyway, Black Sabbath got me in a metal.

Depends on how you see things.

My parents were into all sorts of hard rock, prog rock and 70's proto-metal stuff à la Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Queen, etc., and especially my dad loved Iron Maiden's Killers, so you might say I've always been more or less exposed to that kind of music.
Then in 1991, I heard You Could Be Mine on TV or on the radio, can't remember, got hooked and bought Use Your Illusion II right away. I was 10 years old and it was the first album I ever bought by myself, such a proud moment. Must have listened to it over a thousand times but it didn't push me to explore that sort of music any further.
Finally, in 1992, a French TV channel showed parts of the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert. Metallica opened the show with Enter Sandman, and that was a fucking revelation. I remember staring in awe at the TV because I thought everything about that band was so cool, that riff, the sound, the attitude, everything. Fortunately, we had taped the concert so I watched it over and over for months. I got so obsessed with it that my parents gave me the whole discography of Metallica as a birthday present. From there, I started buying magazines to learn more about that sort of stuff, and never looked back. So yeah, all things considered, I guess it must be Metallica.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 24.09.2021 at 14:23

I'm pretty sure there exist a similar thread back many moons ago.

I thought so too but couldn't find anything, at least not in this part of the forum, so I guess it's ok.

Written by Deadsoulman on 24.09.2021 at 14:42

Depends on how you see things.

My parents were into all sorts of hard rock, prog rock and 70's proto-metal stuff à la Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Queen, etc., and especially my dad loved Iron Maiden's Killers, so you might say I've always been more or less exposed to that kind of music.
Then in 1991, I heard You Could Be Mine on TV or on the radio, can't remember, got hooked and bought Use Your Illusion II right away. I was 10 years old and it was the first album I ever bought by myself, such a proud moment. Must have listened to it over a thousand times but it didn't push me to explore that sort of music any further.
Finally, in 1992, a French TV channel showed parts of the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert. Metallica opened the show with Enter Sandman, and that was a fucking revelation. I remember staring in awe at the TV because I thought everything about that band was so cool, that riff, the sound, the attitude, everything. Fortunately, we had taped the concert so I watched it over and over for months. I got so obsessed with it that my parents gave me the whole discography of Metallica as a birthday present. From there, I started buying magazines to learn more about that sort of stuff, and never looked back. So yeah, all things considered, I guess it must be Metallica.

Cool! Thanks for sharing - yeah Enter Sandman definitely was a big influence for me too while getting into hard rock/ heavy metal

Written by BitterCOld on 24.09.2021 at 14:06


Rock was ..., whatever guitar and band driven music that was on the Top 40 radio.

Heavy Metal was what anything that was faster/harder/more abrasive at the time.

Yeah that's how I tend to divide it as well. I'm only twenty years old, so I didn't see the golden years of metal. While growing up, I rarely heard any good metal on the radio or on TV. Maybe the occasional Enter Sandman or Crazy Train. AC/DC, Queen, GunsnRoses were probably the closest thing to metal, but those are very popular to use in movie soundtracks. I didn't get exposed to "real metal" (how I would deem it) until about two to three years ago, with bands such as Slayer, Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath etc.

I've voted for Metallica, although it's hard to narrow it down to one band. My introduction to metal was mostly through videogames, first GTA Vice City (featuring a lot of 80s bands mentioned here, although not Metallica) and San Andreas (lots of grunge and alt-metal), and then Guitar Hero/Rock Band. Probably the most significant steps I took towards getting into metal early on were purchasing Metallica - AJFA and Dragonforce - Inhuman Hampage after both featured on Guitar Hero 3; I got both at the beginning of 2008, and for most of the year I was more obsessed with Dragonforce, but come December 2008, when I got about 5 metallica albums (including Death Magnetic) and the new Dragonforce album (the one with Heroes Of Our Time on), I'd lost all appetite for Dragonforce and got heavily into Metallica, as well as the likes of Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Iron Maiden around that time. Metallica are arguably the most significant, but it's probably hard for most people to point to one individual band.

Edit: Although, saying that, probably depends how strictly you define metal - before 2008, my four most-played bands were Muse, Offspring, Guns N' Roses and Linkin Park, the latter 2 of which are borderline in some ways

Edit 2: Corrected the dates because I'm an idiot

Written by musclassia on 24.09.2021 at 17:51

I got both at the beginning of 2018,

but come December 2018,

before 2018,

So you started writing reviews here before you got into metal? Mucho respecto, man

Written by Deadsoulman on 24.09.2021 at 18:33

So you started writing reviews here before you got into metal? Mucho respecto, man

That's how real pros do it.

Written by Deadsoulman on 24.09.2021 at 18:33

Written by musclassia on 24.09.2021 at 17:51

I got both at the beginning of 2018,

but come December 2018,

before 2018,

So you started writing reviews here before you got into metal? Mucho respecto, man

Hahahaha, it's impressive that I managed to write it wrong 3 times; I will be editing accordingly, but thankfully your comment will act as a nice legacy of my idiocy

You even made me go to Dragonforce's page for the first time in my life in order to check their albums' release date. You seemed so convinced about 2018 that you almost made me confused

Written by Deadsoulman on 24.09.2021 at 14:42

Finally, in 1992, a French TV channel showed parts of the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert. Metallica opened the show with Enter Sandman, and that was a fucking revelation. I remember staring in awe at the TV because I thought everything about that band was so cool, that riff, the sound, the attitude, everything. Fortunately, we had taped the concert so I watched it over and over for months. I got so obsessed with it that my parents gave me the whole discography of Metallica as a birthday present. From there, I started buying magazines to learn more about that sort of stuff, and never looked back. So yeah, all things considered, I guess it must be Metallica.

Haha, I'd gotten into them a little before that with ...And Justice. I liked Enter Sandman, but my reaction to the actual album (released after that single) was an absolute "Meh."

Written by Deadsoulman on 24.09.2021 at 19:07

You even made me go to Dragonforce's page for the first time in my life in order to check their albums' release date. You seemed so convinced about 2018 that you almost made me confused

I even looked up Death Magnetic to check that the year it came out in was 2008, and I still wrote 2018

If only I could remember the precise genesis of metal and me. But unfortunately it is all pretty blurred after all these years.
I am a little afraid that might be due to the amount of alcohol and other stuff that got consumed by people around me, and thus necessarily my own too, around that time.
But lets just say it is primarily due to the fact that all that just happened many, many years ago, and my long-term memory is generally not as good as my short-term memory.
That said, all that seems to be quite solid still today in my memory is that Slayer was probably the first metal band where I was strongly convinced by several (subsequent) albums, and still am today.
So I am just going to vote for them.

Written by musclassia on 24.09.2021 at 17:51

I've voted for Metallica, although it's hard to narrow it down to one band.

Thanks for sharing! Yeah, Metallica seems to have been really infuential for a lot of metal conversions. You can say what you like about them, but I for one am thankful that they have contributed to the metal initiation of so many people (including, to some degree, myself)

Written by Redel on 24.09.2021 at 23:06

That said, all that seems to be quite solid still today in my memory is that Slayer was probably the first metal band where I was strongly convinced by several (subsequent) albums, and still am today.
So I am just going to vote for them.

Slayer! Nice

Because I don't like to be like everyone, the first band I got into was Born Of Osiris, somehow skipped most steps and jumped straight ahead to progressive deathcore. Along them were Aversions Crown and We Came As Romans, soon to be joined by Marilyn Manson. There was also a point in time where I'd only listen to Slayer, Pantera and Sepultura because they were the only bands I had the discography of downloaded on my phone, but I don't really remember much from that era, it's a bit old now. I don't really listen to any of these bands anymore, except for the occasional Sepultura or Cowboys From Hell

I'm intrigued how Bad English was first introduced to metal?

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 25.09.2021 at 15:33

I'm intrigued how Bad English was first introduced to metal?

I think that's pretty obvious

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.09.2021 at 12:05

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 25.09.2021 at 15:33

I'm intrigued how Bad English was first introduced to metal?

I think that's pretty obvious

maybe this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6pclWsxzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appgDoruae0

Written by JoHn Doe on 27.09.2021 at 12:09


maybe this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6pclWsxzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appgDoruae0

Wow! I didn't know Bad English has his own band!

Written by F3ynman on 27.09.2021 at 17:54

Written by JoHn Doe on 27.09.2021 at 12:09


maybe this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6pclWsxzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appgDoruae0

Wow! I didn't know Bad English has his own band!

I think this is Bad English

Written by JoHn Doe on 27.09.2021 at 17:56

Written by F3ynman on 27.09.2021 at 17:54

Written by JoHn Doe on 27.09.2021 at 12:09


maybe this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu6pclWsxzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appgDoruae0

Wow! I didn't know Bad English has his own band!

I think this is Bad English

Yeah. Makes sense.

Other: my introduction to metal was Rammstein... or Korn, but I'm pretty sure it was Rammstein!

See, my dad and I would "play DJ" (I was only eight or nine, but yes, I was already cool as fuck) some evenings. He has a massive CD and LP collection, spanning a wide range of styles. He would have me put something on (I only knew like five artists, I think mostly electronic/rock/pop, no hard rock yet) and then he would try to find a song that had something in common with what I had put on.

That's how we got to Rammstein: I played a German-language song and he followed it up with Rammstein's "Rammstein". I was floored and immediately intrigued with this heavy music. Pretty sure I discovered Korn soon after, from a live video my dad taped where they played Rock Werchter (both bands were at their peak in terms of popularity, this was early 2000s or something).

After that I discovered AC/DC (again, thanks dad) and explored more hard rock/heavy metal type music. Around the same time, I started electric guitar lessons (had already done two years acoustic) and my teacher introduced me to Metallica, Pantera, and some more metal (and rock/blues) artists. I mostly fell in love with Metallica. Those four bands were the first I became really obsessed with. Metallica was the one that generated the spark that led me to dig deeper and deeper into heavy metal and thrash metal bands (hello, Megadeth, Slayer, etc.), eventually paving the way to basically every metal subgenre I like now.

Written by Zap on 28.09.2021 at 14:03


See, my dad and I would "play DJ" (I was only eight or nine, but yes, I was already cool as fuck) some evenings. He has a massive CD and LP collection, spanning a wide range of styles. He would have me put something on (I only knew like five artists, I think mostly electronic/rock/pop, no hard rock yet) and then he would try to find a song that had something in common with what I had put on.

That is an absolutely wonderful way to let your kids discover music and to guide them towards good stuff