I always preferred music in the style of rock the most but had never been exposed to real heavy metal before, just bands like SOAD or Slipknot. Started hearing a few of my friends playing bands like Amon Amarth, Rhapsody and Alestorm at parties and I got interested. Watched a Behemoth music vid for the first time a few weeks later and laughed...now I love Behemoth and their music videos I'd say bands like Megadeth, Metallica, Mastodon and Pantera played a massive part in turning me into a metal head.

Interesting thread. I only got into metal about 12-18 months ago (wondering where I've been all these years!). I was never into music at all as a kid and into my early 20's, but then got inspired by some Slipknot I heard on TV, started looking up bands on the internet, started buying some metal magazines and discovering new stuff that way and it grew from there.

I always liked these threads so you can see how many different ways people discovered metal.

me it was my dad, he likes alot of that old school hard rock/metal like alice cooper,black sabbath,guns n roses, deep purple etc.

i brought guns n roses AFD cassette in a walkman on the bus to my first field trip in first grade

well my dad one day went and bought black sabbaths heaven and hell when i was about 9 and when i first heard neon knights and i heard dio sing i was hooked. then it was sneaking into my older brothers room to listen to metallica,slayer,ozzy when i was about 13 or so, the rest is history lol

I grew up listening to radio top 40 popular music. My favourite music was easy-listening, radio-friendly rock music. It was only later that I discovered that rock music could be played a whole lot faster, and with an emphasis on the darker side of life with the lyrics. I still like rock music but I feel that "metal" is the natural progression of rock when musicians push the boundaries further and further.

The first scream from Pro Pain in "Foul Taste Of Freedom". I still know where exactly .... school, under the roof hiding for the rain. 'hey, check this out! .... and that did it.

Written by Vikingr on 04.04.2012 at 02:22

Ah, days gone by .... why, I remember when I was just a lad, barely reaching up to my chest when the All Father Odin appeared to me in a feverish dream. A blizzard wind swirled around him and lightning crackled across the blackened sky above. There he stood, armor gleaming with each strike of lightning, a shadowy raven perched on his shoulder and a shining spear resting lightly in his hands, his one eye glinting with power and amusement. He spoke to me, his voice the sound of thunder over the crack of lightning "Mark, thou has listened to shitty mainstream music for far too long and it offends my godly ears. Honor me my son by listening to the kick ass tunes of metal, know brutality and know metal well and I will grant to you a seat at my table in my hall of corpses in Valhalla". Moments later I awoke, the snow, lightning, and Odin nowhere to be found, and from that day forward I have lived and breathed the ass kicking tunes of metal

To be honest I started listening to stuff like Uncle Cracker (don't judge, I was 10) and moved into more horrific mainstream pop. As I got older I started getting into bands like Aerosmith, Motorhead, Queen, AC/DC and Guns 'n Roses until one day 4 years ago a guy I worked with told me my tunes were weak and handed me a copy of Amon Amarths "Twilight of the Thunder God", and it's been love with metal ever since

Ok, the first part of that was awesome and I am going to totally ignore the second part because it is less badass in comparison. As for myself, there was this one summer where I was on a road trip to the maritimes with my family and my cousins either listened to really awful novelty pop or watched the same movies over and over again in the van, so I listened to a mix CD myself and some friends had put together. It just so happens that this CD was heavy on Sabbath, Ozzy and Metallica. After my seventh listen to the CD, I realized that anything I can listen to than many times in a row without blowing my brains out must be pretty awesome. And also way better than what my cousins were listening to. End of boring story.

Arguably enough, probably Guitar Hero. I was an addict for that game when it first came out (still sort of am to this day) and I found that much of the metal songs seemed interesting and fun to play and I started downloading those songs for fun and listening to them. This got me into bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and for the longest while Led Zeppelin (I distinctly remember my dad rocking out to Stairway to Heaven when I was playing it in my room). Over time when more people knew I was really getting into the harder rock stuff, I remember actually getting a copy of Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind for my 15th birthday back in 08' (along with AC/DC's Highway to Hell which I misplaced somewhere unfortunately) and it's still a sentimental piece in my collection since it's my first physical metal CD (I wasn't able to buy anymore CDs until 2011, when I had the income). My love for Iron Maiden sprang from that and this would eventually extend to bands like Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, and Fates Warning, which then extended to power metal like Rhapsody of Fire, Gamma Ray, and Blind Guardian (only this band has stood test of time for me for the genre). Iron Maiden is one of the big reasons I prefer largely "melodic" styles of metal today (as long as the "melody" isn't over done of course). I was able to get into heavier, more "extreme" metal as a result of Opeth (I was listening to a lot of prog rock on the side at the time), which then went into a love for black metal after listening to bands like Agalloch, Emperor, and Fen, and this would continue to expand. So my personal metal development is a tad complicated, but hopefully that explained enough. Thank you Guitar Hero...

Living in Finland, I guess. Also, listening to Teräsbetoni and some Nightwish when I was younger (I mean, quite young probably before age of 10.) Generally liked listening to Metal on the internet, not really being able to buy CDs back then. I also listened mostly to the Power type stuff. Now I listen to Thrash, Folk some Death basically from melodic to extreme. Also, quick note: I could be wrong about the ten or younger age.. So there you go.

I haven't been into metal as long as most on here, i started getting really into black metal after i stopped drinking.

God, you know...I think it was listening to Pantera- Vulgar Display of Power when I was in middle school. I was the most wild stuff I'd ever heard.

My dad has always liked rock and stuffs, so it all started there I think. I really got into the Norwegian hard rock band Wig Wam in 2005, then I started to listen to Lordi in 2006. Eventually I started to listen to Dream Evil, then I moved on to some powemetal like Hammerfall. Evolved the power taste with Powerwolf and Sabaton, and some years after I heard Kalmah - Hades. That's when I started to appreciate more extreme metal. Now I'm a lot into progressive death metal

8 hour trip with friend and his dad. He was playing old Metallica the whole way up and the whole way down. I'm pretty sure that set the spark.

My dad showed me Master of Puppets. Metal ever since!

So, this is my first post on this forum
First I started to listen to nu metal, especially System of a Down (I still think they are OK), but I've became traditional Metal Head when I first heard the magic of Iron Maiden. I love their riffs, their vocalists, and especially Steve Harris. He is probably the main reason (beside Phil Lynott) I started playing bass.

I started off really young but I always liked rock. My guitar teacher turned me on to Metallica when I was 9. Of course, she had me play "Enter Sandman" but at the time, I had heard nothing like it. The heaviest bands I knew before that was Nirvana and Guns N Roses. Eventually, my dad had me listen to "One" and I was sold. It wouldn't be long until I had my own copy of And Justice For All. After getting into Metallica, I heard "War Pigs" on the radio and that was something I'll never forget. It was the first time I heard Sabbath and once I began picking up their albums, they would become my favorite band. After that, I began getting into metal as a whole. I used my guitar magazines as a guide as some of them had these "best of" metal lists. Luckily for me, they were listing the good stuff. They covered everything from Maiden to Emperor. Given the range of bands, I was getting into the music pretty fast and found myself already diving into the heavier shit. By the time I was 12, I was listening to Darkthrone and Morbid Angel. At that point, I knew I was in it for life.

Coming into my dad's study (<--is that a thing?) and hearing AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock" at the age of 7-8 is what introduced me to hard rock and music in general. Shortly after, I listened to Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" (one of my favorite songs to this day) and then it was on to heavy metal (Black Sabbath, Dio, a little black album Metallica).
But when I really started digging into metal was when my guitar teacher taught me "One" by Metallica. That song made me listen to everything pre-black album by them and soon I was introduced to Megadeth, Slayer, Kreator and every thrash metal band I could possible find.

Also, somewhere in there was Rammstein's Sehnsucht, but I'm not sure if it was before AC/DC or after Judas Priest or in between...

Master of Puppets by Metallica and hot long-haired headbanger guys

Written by angel. on 12.01.2014 at 23:50

Master of Puppets by Metallica and hot long-haired headbanger guys

I can confidently say the latter never played a huge part in it for me

Written by Zap on 12.01.2014 at 23:55
I can confidently say the latter never played a huge part in it for me

Speak for yourself!

Written by Troy Killjoy on 12.01.2014 at 23:59

Speak for yourself!

Okay, I admit, Mike Patton is pretty handsome.


ALRIGHT I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM, SHUT UP ALREADY!

Written by Zap on 12.01.2014 at 23:55

I can confidently say the latter never played a huge part in it for me

hehe not for most of the guys

One band and one song lead me to become the Metal Head I am today. That band was Megadeth. They are still my favorite band to this day. When I was 12 years old i was watching vh1 classic late at night. A video by a band called Megadeth started with a bright orange haired man in a cell like room. "Hello me meet the real me, in my misfits way of life," I am quite confident that moment in my childhood lead me to become what I am today. Thank you Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson.

Iron Maiden video clip "Holy Smoke" was actually the first thing related to metal which amazed me so much. After that watching some other metal videos from bands like Cradle of Filth, Rammstein, Metallica, Megadeth, Sepultura and made my decision to stick with this genre...

I followed the freezing moon.

The metal did, have you ever seen what was in the hit charts in 1982??? Metal was the only healthy choice

Nobody was there to suggest me some metal so basically found it myself, I believe the general shit-ness of mainstream industry and pop culture led me to metal. Mayhem's Freezing Moon was one of the first songs I heard and it was love on first listen

I liked what my older brother did and he listened Metallica and Tool. Then some of my friends started to listen Rammstein, Nightwish, Sentenced, Ensiferum, Moonsorrow and even Deicide etc. I was 12 yo at the time.

Hearing Deep Purple - My Woman From Tokyo, at school, some time in early 1976

I started listening to metal in jr high. A older cousin gave away his tapes to his brother and I. I got some Metallica, Sepultura and Iron Maiden and then bought CD's.

I grew up with my parents playing zz-top, pink floyd, queen etc. It kind of developed from there. I started with bands like Metallica, Nirvana and Megadeth when I was 8-9 years old, then got into Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of filth and other "mainstream" bands by the time I was 13. What really got me interested in the darker sides of metal was actually when I first heard Darkthrones Soulside Journey. Must have been the year I was 13. From that point on there was only metal.