Believe it or not, I sort of got into metal via the un-metal medium of early music videos and MTV about 1984-1985. I got into Def Leppard from their appearances on the network weekend music video shows like Friday Night Videos, where they shared the rotation with mainstream stuff like Duran Duran and ZZ Top (ZZ Pop by then). Then I saw Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark" in the regular rotation on MTV one day, and I moved into mainstream metal. By then kids were playing AC/DC, Priest, Ratt, Crue. etc on the school bus tape player. (the nice bus driver let us play our wild tapes) I started watching the metal video shows and it started to snowball. (I could only save enough money to buy one album every other month, so the video shows were a cheap way to hear and collect new stuff) Then I heard Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire" on the Friday Night Midnight Metal Shop on KQRS and became obsessed with what eventually became thrash. The wild, dark and mysterious atmosphere surrounding the early days of thrash/"speed metal" helped to draw me in. Plus I liked and adopted the uniforms and cultural trappings - the concert t-shirts, the denim jackets decorated with patches and marker, etc... I was still a nerd...but a wanna-be-metalhead nerd.

Right, I actually wrote a post that was of decent length, but then I went to edit it, and found that id just typed tldr at the bottom of the page. Long story short:

Started with Linkin Park/Limp Bizkit/Good Charlotte/Green Day. Then GnR/Velvet Revolver/Audioslave. Then Korn/Metallica. Then (and I praise the mighty Aten evey day for this) i saw Sober on the TV. From Tool to (wait for it) Avenged Sevenfold, to Killswitch Engage, to Children of Bodom, to Lamb of God, to In Flames/Dark Tranquillity/Soilwork (sold that cd), to meshuggah (read about them in a magazine that had Alexi Laiho on the front) to Entombed (read the review for meshuggah's I EP on this website and was so insulted that I went and bought some actual metal to see what this guy's problem was) to Carcass (came to NZ and WHAT A SHOW IT WAS) to slowly moving away from melodeath, to mastodon and neurosis (met a dude on the bus who gave me some tips) to where I am now.

I think this post almost belongs in the 'thats so not metal' thread. I challenge anyone who has a backstory involving more shit music (did I mention my first ever CD was N'Sync... I believe I still have that) than me to please come forward (its okay I only listen to it on sundays). I think I did every bad musical fad except emo. Good decision teenage me. Credits to No Strings Attached, Tool's Sober, Meshuggah's Chaosphere, and Mastodon's Blood Mountain. Thanks for good taste.

Well at first I was listening to Kiss and deep purple, then at my tenth birthday my dad gave me Best of the Beast by iron maiden and since that day I have been a metalhead.

I got into metal during my experience with music

1990's - I liked POP!!!!!!!
2000-2004 - Rap (The dirty kind of rap like"suck a nigga d***")
2005 - Present - Metal*

* I started listening to metal from youtube my first song I ever heard was "Dope - Die MF Die"
after 15 minutes I got listened to the hole album. After that the hole discography from 2005 I only listened to all Dope albums only. In 2006 I listened to classics like metallica, judas priest, ozzy, exodus, dio, twisted sister etc.
in 2007 I stoped listening to classics & started listening to metal-core I started to listen to bullet for my valentine - all that remains As I lay dying. In 2009 till this day I listen to the best of every genre.
Symphonic metal - Death metal - Gothic - Doom - Alternative musik - Heavy metal - power Metal- progressive metal - Metalcore...etc


I am sad that DOPE is not listen in this site though over 60 people requested these artists. I mean these are the guys that got me to metal they deserve credit. plus Die MF Die still is my favorite song over all songs.

Linkin Park, Nightwish, Iron Maiden, Children Of Bodom, and Avenged Sevenfold. And then I started discovering better bands and became a metalhead.

I know, I know...

When I was eight I had listened to every Metallica album atleast 10-11 times. Then I discovered there were many other good bands and I got into In Flames, Slayer, HIM , Korpiklaani.

I started to listen to Iron Maiden when i was about 11, but that never progressed anywhere. Neither did a short-lived love for System of a Down, but not too long ago i stumbled across In Flames and from then on I was hooked!
So.. I think it is very true that there are three ways to get into metal: start listening to a classic heavy metal band; progress from heavier mainstream bands like SOAD or Slipknot (whatever) OR listen to a band from a sub genre and listen to other metal genres after that.

For me it started in elementary school when I listened to Hall of the Mountain King in music class. I then got into classical music, and got a taste for Tchaikovsky, who apparently was known for darker themes. After a few years of listening to the masters, I one day listened to The Tea Party album Transmission in Music World, because the cover art looked interesting, and the tone just seemed to fit everything I felt and thought.

From there, I used the fledgling internet search engines to find more of that genre (being around 1996 at the time, things like Ministry, Paradise Lost and Danzig came up) so I've just sort of been steeping in sound of metal ever since.

I never turned as Metalhead i born already being a Metalhead

I was born in 1973 and in the late 70's an older cousin was always listening to Scorpions and Vna Halen and Ted Nugent. from here it progressed in the early 80's to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and stuff then i found Slayer and Dark Angel, Celtic Frost, Cro-Mags, DRI, VoiVod and Bathory and all this Nasty Savage stuff. i was lucky to be around in USA when we had a very, very Strong Metal scene and kids and older guys alike would be standing outside clubs 1 hour before local shows as far as you could see wrapping around the street corner all the way down the block and we were all patched out with jean jackets, leather and ripped up jeans/long hair.
i remember when most people suddenly turned into Seattle Nerdvana Alternative or White boy wanna be Gangsta Rappers and was like WTF happened, you guys are ALL POSERS! luckily i have seen it come back recently but i doubt ever to its original Glory days. amazing all that to me as myself and most of my true Metalhead friends never stopped Bangin our heads and fists and never will. man was i in some BRUTAL Mosh pits back in the day. people use to get messed up bad in some Slayer pits and i remember a real good one for Exodus/Forbidden. seen a awesome Hardcore band in a friend of a friends basement party in Chicago a couple times when i was younger about 16 called BOTTLES FLYIN. they got the name cause bottles were flyin when they started playing. that was fun times man.

Sepultura. friend of mine told me about this band and i watched their video "Roots Bloody Roots" when i was 13 and i couldn't believe, what i've just saw.

Got into it when I was around 12 or so. I used to skateboard and watch skate videos and I remember downloading Iron Maiden's Prowler and a few Deep Purple songs. Loved them and Iron Maiden became my favorite band, I got into Metallica, Slayer and Cradle of Filth back than too. Eventually I just started listening to whatever I liked from there and most of it happened to be different metal bands of all sorts of genres. Now I listen to mostly power metal, but I still love bands of any metal genre.

Stratovarius' 'Elements, Pt. 1' and Metallica's 'Ride The Lightning'. Since I heard those albums I've never been the same. That was 10 years ago (Metallica). Cruel world

I grew up hearing some Vivaldi, Verdi, Mozart, Beethoven and some Nazareth and Queen's albums from my Father.

Then, when I was around 13, I saw a soup opera with this in the soundtrack:



I saw the light.

Megadeth - The Killing Road
heard it on the radio back in 1995 or 1994 (the year 'Youthanasia' album was released, dont remember exactly when) ...



i was 8 or 9 years old then

Hearing Maiden's "Can I Play With Madness" on the Radio 1 Chart Show which I used to listen to every Sunday. (1988) The previous year, I had gotten into rock through Def Leppard, Guns n' Roses and glam bands like Poison. But the metal started with Maiden, then I saw Megadeth on "Top Of The Pops" who I instantly loved as well, and it just continued on and on from there. xD

Written by Irritable Ted on 01.09.2010 at 12:27
Why can't British TV and radio still be like this? Bring back Tommy Vance and the Friday Rock Show. Ok, I know he is dead, but you know what I mean.

Geez, the Tommy Vance Friday Rock show was awesome! Back in the day it was great, because right after Tommy's show finished, the Clyde 1 Rock show with Tom Russell would start. (midnight to 2PM) Although both were called "rock" shows, they played a lot of metal stuff as well. Although it was sad that even back then, metal shows would be given graveyard timeslots. (Remember Raw Power/Noisy Mothers that used to on TV in the early morning hours? lol) Though it was still far better than it is now.

Written by Angelic Storm on 01.09.2010 at 12:41

Written by Irritable Ted on 01.09.2010 at 12:27
Why can't British TV and radio still be like this? Bring back Tommy Vance and the Friday Rock Show. Ok, I know he is dead, but you know what I mean.

Geez, the Tommy Vance Friday Rock show was awesome! Back in the day it was great, because right after Tommy's show finished, the Clyde 1 Rock show with Tom Russell would start. (midnight to 2PM) Although both were called "rock" shows, they played a lot of metal stuff as well. Although it was sad that even back then, metal shows would be given graveyard timeslots. (Remember Raw Power/Noisy Mothers that used to on TV in the early morning hours? lol) Though it was still far better than it is now.

Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show was indeed great. I used to listen to it religiously. Same for the John Peel show or whatever it was called. Could get BBC radio on the regular airwaves in The Netherlands where I lived.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 01.09.2010 at 15:37
Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show was indeed great. I used to listen to it religiously. Same for the John Peel show or whatever it was called. Could get BBC radio on the regular airwaves in The Netherlands where I lived.

I was going to ask how you were able to listen to it seeing as you live in the Netherlands. It is great that you were able to though, I think most rock/metal fans back in the day who had access to it regularly tuned in to it. The Tom Russell Rock Show was Scottish, so Im not sure if anyone in England or other countries could get it. But that was great as well. He used to play thrash and death metal alongside rock and prog stuff like Rush, and Asia. Ah those were the days... now I really sound old! lol

Written by Irritable Ted on 01.09.2010 at 20:34
Wow, Noisy Mothers, that takes me back. I remember Krusher and his dog Bullseye.

"Droogies, losers, strumpets and boozers" he used to say. Happy memories.

Then Kurt Cobain came along. Bastard

heehe yep! "Rock hard, rock heavy, rock animal!" was also something he used to say.

I loved Bullseye, he was so cute. <3 I remember the time Krusher brought him out on stage at Donington and got everyone to say "Bye bye Bullseye" as it was his last Donington, before introducing Therapy?. That made my eyes well up if I remember... lol What a great show it was. \m/

Kurt Kobain? Noisy Mothers played Nirvana and other grunge bands on the show.

Written by Irritable Ted on 01.09.2010 at 22:00
Grunge killed metal for too long in the UK. It has never recovered in the media (TV, radio, magazines) even now.

Although that is partially true, its not as if all of a sudden grunge was played a lot on UK radio and TV after metal's demise in mainstream media. The problem with the UK, is so many people just follow the fads and what's "trendy", and metal has never been trendy. Even in it's commercial heyday in the late 80's/early 90's. As the "graveyard" slots for metal tv and radio shows proved. It's kinda sad that Britain, which is where metal was born, has such a pitiful metal scene compared to most other European countries and South America. I mean, just a couple of years ago Rage were on the national German song contest (Bundevision) which is a hugely publicised mainstream event over there. There's just no way such a thing could happen over here, which is sad...

Written by Angelic Storm on 01.09.2010 at 22:18

Written by Irritable Ted on 01.09.2010 at 22:00
Grunge killed metal for too long in the UK. It has never recovered in the media (TV, radio, magazines) even now.

Although that is partially true, its not as if all of a sudden grunge was played a lot on UK radio and TV after metal's demise in mainstream media. The problem with the UK, is so many people just follow the fads and what's "trendy", and metal has never been trendy. Even in it's commercial heyday in the late 80's/early 90's. As the "graveyard" slots for metal tv and radio shows proved. It's kinda sad that Britain, which is where metal was born, has such a pitiful metal scene compared to most other European countries and South America. I mean, just a couple of years ago Rage were on the national German song contest (Bundevision) which is a hugely publicised mainstream event over there. There's just no way such a thing could happen over here, which is sad...

It wouldn't happen in France either.
As for your scene, seeing it from the other side side of the channel, it seems not to be really alive and kicking actually... Which is pretty sad, given the number of great, and often genre-defining, bands that call Great Britain home...

Grunge didn't kill metal at the time, it was stuff calling itself metal, glam metal, that killed metal more or less.

Written by Darkside Momo on 01.09.2010 at 23:02
It wouldn't happen in France either.
As for your scene, seeing it from the other side side of the channel, it seems not to be really alive and kicking actually... Which is pretty sad, given the number of great, and often genre-defining, bands that call Great Britain home...

Exactly, that is the really sad thing about it. Sabbath and Priest are both pretty much credited with shaping metal into what it evolved into over the years. Many fans trace extreme metal as starting with Venom, another British band. And Skyclad were the first real folk metal band. Carcass and Napalm Death are 2 more bands who were hugely influencial in defining whole new sub-genres. All of this just makes it all the more sad that the UK has such a pitiful metal scene. So many bands who play to huge crowds all over the world come here, and the audiences are absolutely tiny. It really is a shame.

Written by Angelic Storm on 02.09.2010 at 00:27

and the audiences are absolutely tiny. It really is a shame.

What do you mean by 'tiny'?

Written by Darkside Momo on 02.09.2010 at 00:30
What do you mean by 'tiny'?

Well, there's numerous examples! lol In 2005 I saw Nevermore play in a 300 capacity venue that wasnt even half full. Stratovarius and Edguy couldnt even sell out a 440 capacity venue... and the list goes on. lol

Written by Angelic Storm on 02.09.2010 at 01:17

Written by Darkside Momo on 02.09.2010 at 00:30
What do you mean by 'tiny'?

Well, there's numerous examples! lol In 2005 I saw Nevermore play in a 300 capacity venue that wasnt even half full. Stratovarius and Edguy couldnt even sell out a 440 capacity venue... and the list goes on. lol

Now these figures would make France pass off as a super-metal country! Impressive, but sad.

Like as said the uk populace mostly just follow the us fads. A good example for that is glam metal. On mainland europe tours by such atrocities as motley crue, poison, warrant etc were cancelled all of the time due to poor sales whereas they sold out all over the uk venues such as hammersmith odeon. Bands such as metallica, slayer, anthrax, megadeth sold out mainland europe before even being noticed in the us or uk.

Written by Irritable Ted on 02.09.2010 at 11:04
I think you are mainly correct, but there seemed to be a big wave of grunge following Nirvana's entrance. Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden etc.

Rock and metal seemed to disappear overnight, promoters only wanted to fund tours for grunge acts, so a lot of world tours were cancelled. There is an interview with Kai Hansen which sums his views up perfectly. Watch from about 9mins 30 onwards.

When you look at tours of big European bands, they have large lists of dates in Germany etc, but only one in the UK, normally London. I've got DVDs of bands playing in front of huge audiences but I have seen bands like Helloween, Edguy, Hammerfall play in Nottingham where everybody could have fitted in my front room.

OK, now I blame Simon Cowell. Damn X Craptor. Promoting soulless, make as much money as you can rubbish....and the UK population take it all in. Maybe the UK population are all sheep, always following the latest craze. If Simon Cowell started a Metal Idol then maybe metal would be re-born in this country....OK maybe not. But if a good metal band got really mainstream popular, made a lot of money would we see other bands following on? Would we see another NWOBHM like the late 70s early 80s?

"He destroys heavy metal, then shoots himself". That was a great line.

Yep, everytime a metal band I like announces a European tour, I always know the chance is very high there will either be no UK dates, or just one in London. And the rare occassion a good band does come, they always play in tiny venues, and even then more often than not, the gig wont sell out. So I can understand why the bands dont want to come, even though it makes me sad. I saw Testament live last year for the first time, after waiting 19 years for them to play here. Helloween have only played here once in the 19 or so years Ive been a fan. It really is a sad state of affairs, but it is understandable why so many metal bands bypass the UK on European tours.

I actually liked some of the grunge stuff, especially Alice In Chains. But to me they were more a metal band who just happened to be lumped in with the grunge scene....

I really cant see another NWOBHM happening, sadly. The musical climate over here in the late 70's/early 80's was very different to what it is now. I always wonder when the reality shows, X Factor and similar shows will die from overkill, but they dont seem to be going anywhere yet unfortunately.

@Darkside Momo: I think most countries in Europe are "super metal countries" compared to here. And yep, it is very sad...

Written by Angelic Storm on 02.09.2010 at 16:11

@Darkside Momo: I think most countries in Europe are "super metal countries" compared to here. And yep, it is very sad...

Not France.
Go live in Holland, every single metal band in the world stops over when on tour. Good being small, farthest I have to travel for a show is two hours.
And the good thing is most power metal bands are shunned like the plague here