[Heavy Metal 80]

Started at 12-13 with Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar etc. Got into Black/Death Metal at the age 15-16 and then found VENOM!
I started to dig more into NWOBHM (as they was labeled) and found the fantastic SUNSET BLAZE tape - have been digging for underground jewels since then.

Started round the same age with Maiden and other classic bands then moved to Epic/Power&NWOBHM but always into Traditional Metal.SUNSET BLAZE is one of the best

[Killtava]

I was 12~13 years old when I discovered the hardcore band Maximum The Hormone and some songs from 80's bands like Metallica... Sooner I got into traditional metal and thereafter I stumbled upon BATHORY!

Since then, I have been searching for metal music more than other types of music.

I'm 18 now.

[x43x]

I grew up with tons of hard rock in my house thanks to my parents, but real metal came into my life when my Uncle got Ride The Lightning, and I was hanging out with him that day.

[krEEchUr]

Growing up my mom listened to a lot of classic rock, my uncle listened to a lot of prog and my oldest sister listened to some NWOBHM. It wasn't until '82 that I first heard what I consider to be heavy metal i.e. Iron Maiden's Number of the Beast. I was 13 and totally blown away. Changes came fast as what I initially listened to evolved into the early speed metal and thrash thanks to a guy that lived around the corner named Jeff Ryan who occasionally hosted a local metal radio show. I was friends with his younger brothers but they were into the glam / hair bands of the time. He preferred Metallica, Anthrax, Exodus, etc. I ate it up dubbing everything he'd let me get my hands on. From there it just snow-balled. When I started hearing the early German bands Sodom, Kreator, Destruction and so on I loved it because it was rough around the edges and and the euro-style was very different (to me) than that of the American scene.

My musical tastes span everything from classic / prog rock to heavy metal, nwobhm, speed / thrash, death metal, black metal and even a bit of grindcore. I try to be open to different genres because I feel that each has merit unto itself. I'm not saying that I love every band, but there are jewels to be found in every category. If its to loud, heavy, fast or evil you must be older than me! Cheers bruddahs!

[iconoclast]

i grew up with mostly hard rock bands : Van Halen , Whitesnake , Aerosmith, Queen , Def Leppard , Iron Maiden , Queensryche , The Godz , Boston , Toto.

so i'm interessted in rock music ever since my first memories

but at age 12 it really started to devellop more , some of the first bands i discovered were Quiet Riot , Jaguar , Tokyo Blade , Black Axe/Wolf , Running Wild and Agent Steel.

[Motorised]

Since I consider hard rock and heavy metal as interchangeable terms I was about 8 with AC/DC, Kiss and The Angels.

[Grognard]

Man, it's hard t say. Feel like I always had it in my blood. I was born in 1968 but had two older sisters. I remember when I was rrreeeeal young they'd have their boyfriends over and they'd spin Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and so on. I was into it from the get-go. I distinctly remember holding the cover of the first Sabs LP when I was probably 4 or 5 and it scared the bejeebus outta me. But I loved it.

A little later on, about '77 or '78 was when I got my first record player and I remember the first three or four albums I bought were all by KISS. I dug KISS but was looking for something heavier. As heavy as could be. Quickly got into Priest and picked up the older Sabbath albums that still haunted me from younger days.

I finally picked up guitar when I was about 12 and started meeting people who had knowledge of and access to a whole new world of stuff.

I just never stopped. Back then (pre-MTV, pre-Internet, even largely pre-zine) it was either word of mouth or you'd hang out in the record store trying to find the baddest, darkest, most evil looking album covers and bands with the coolest sounding names and song titles. I actually found a lot of great stuff that way.

But it's killer that we are able to share and turn people on to good music in a global, instantaneous way now. Makes it easy for old farts like me to keep up and discover new bands.

[riptorn]

I'm going slightly off-topic here, but i must say that i'm pleasantly surprised by how young so many of you are.
I'd imagined/assumed that it was mostly old buggers like myself (i'm 45 next week) on here, nostalgically reliving the 'glory days'.
But no, it seems there's a healthy proportion of you that are delving deep into the past for your musical kicks, and enjoying what you hear.
I guess quality music will always find a discerning audience.
A salute to all you young whippersnappers for your great taste!

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[Mantis502]

I'd say I was about 10 or 11 when I got into stuff like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Budgie, and a bit of Iron Maiden. It didn't really go anywhere from then until I was in highschool when I started really exploring heavy metal and its many subgenres with the help of the internet.

[the6070rock]

In 1977 when I was a teen, my first true metal album i listened was SIN AFTER SIN. Fucking JUDAS !!!!

ROCK ON

[zig]

Damn. Ever since I can remember. At home we listened to different things. My father listened to Cream, Deep Purple, Zeppelin, Procol Harum mother listened to the Beatles, Stones. My sister listened to punk rock - Pistols, Exploited, Dead Kennedys. So you understand. When I was seven years already listened to Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest. On the eighth birthday I got from my uncle "Paranoid," and, now nothing was the same;) And it was a long time ago.

[drterror666]

I was 10 in 1980 when my dad gave me AC/DC's Highway To Hell on cassette (remember those! ). I never looked back!

[aeternus90]

At 14. It was 10 years ago and the band was Accept!

[Adrian SOS]

My folks used to listen to Queen, Deep Purple and The Rolling Stones, among other commercial crap, when I was a kid. They even played an old Queen compilation for me often, if only because I found Mercury's singing rather amusing. Then, fast-foward to around 2006 (13), some schoolmate of mine gave me Metallica's Re-Load (I know, the shame...) to listen to. It was like having sex for the first time; I instantly loved the bloody thing (and I had zero musical preference at the time), and soon I managed to aquire most of their discography, somewhat preferring the older stuff. Not long after I purchased my first album ever, the self-titled (the even greater shame...), and a few months later I'm listening to Sabbath, 'Deth, some black metal (!) and many more. Exponential growth from there. Heavy Metal changed my life, it's my lifestile; I'm even considering hosting a radio show! I've met a lot of cool people over the years because of it and I'm proud and honored to belong in this community.

"From the islands to the cities, from the ports into the seas; We are strong, we will always be..."

[schmygel]

I started listening to metal with 10-15 years with his father's reels, it was Aria, DIV, Accept, Manowar, Ozzy. Then in 16-18 I got to the Q-5, Metal Priests, Victory.
Yes, it's cool! And so far I love it!!!

[Voodoo Child]

In 1976 , at the age of 13. With the album "High Voltage" of AC/DC...well on

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[MNL]

When i was about 11-12 i was rocking out to Metal Health & Pyromania and then it evolved into all the killer metal of all types after that but i grew up with my pops listening to Zeppelin,The Who,Pink Floyd,Beatles,Stones,&All the rockin 60's and 70's bands so i grew up a rocker

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[canadaspaceman]

Then, fast-foward to around 2006 (13), some schoolmate of mine gave me Metallica's Re-Load (I know, the shame...) to listen to. It was like having sex for the first time; I instantly loved the bloody thing (and I had zero musical preference at the time), and soon I managed to aquire most of their discography, somewhat preferring the older stuff.

well, not their best record, but it still beats the crap out of a lot of other bands. I can't even remember what other "metal" was on TV or radio at that point in time.
Looking now at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_in_heavy_metal_music
no wonder I was so happy to meet an old friend who got me back into underground metal, specifically black metal ( I had not heard yet about the Norway scene, the murders, church burnings, etc).

When my fave music thrash metal was pushed aside by everybody around 1990-92 including radio stations, for industrial metal, grunge rock, funk metal, and death metal, I stopped caring about "the scene" and only listened to the albums I had.

[templarsteel]

It was on 1985, I was 14. My first vinyl I have bought was "Live after Death" from IRON MAIDEN

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[crimsonglory81]

'officially' i started listening to metal at the age of 12-13 in 1993 at a summer holiday with bands like metallica, sepultura and rotting christ.
but even before that i remember myself as a child eagerly waiting for headbanger's ball on TV since the age of 8-9 without knowing how that stuff is called or what it means..

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[pod113]

Can't remember here, sometime back in 1980's land. Probably 12 or something. I just remember Diana Ross and Michael Jackson were both really popular on UK mainstream radio.... obviously needed escape from multiple loops of 'chain reaction'.

First vinyl record was The Friday rock show: Metal explosion (currently listed on these forums). Then bought my first cassette soon after - a farewell to kings by Rush. I listen to just about any fragmentation now, except it has to be heavily guitar orientated and Rock music.

[mediaaddict]

I was about 13. First band I ever really got into was Twisted Sister.

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[Hec_The_Wreck]

Probably when the term was actually used for bands back in the day I was 18 circa 78-79 before that all the Hard Rock and Punk.

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[Adrian SOS]

well, not their best record, but it still beats the crap out of a lot of other bands. I can't even remember what other "metal" was on TV or radio at that point in time.
Looking now at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_in_heavy_metal_music
no wonder I was so happy to meet an old friend who got me back into underground metal, specifically black metal ( I had not heard yet about the Norway scene, the murders, church burnings, etc).

When my fave music thrash metal was pushed aside by everybody around 1990-92 including radio stations, for industrial metal, grunge rock, funk metal, and death metal, I stopped caring about "the scene" and only listened to the albums I had.

Pre-teen school kids aren't known for their underground knowledge, but yeah, it was a breath of fresh air. Most people blame the 90's, but having been a teen through the 00's you learn that music just comes up with new ways to suck (man, you are lucky you've never heard some of the shit we have to put up with over here). But metal always comes up on top, in the end. At least we can count on that.

[exsanguinator]

I was old enough to go buy sabbath,deep purple and uriah heep lp's as they were released by myself

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[VardisRules]

I was just re-reading through the posts on here as they are all interesting. I do like reading the stories about how members on this blog first got an introduction to metal. I already posted a synopsis of my journey. However, while reading this, I noticed someone said that he stayed out of the scene in the 90s and listened to old metal records during the grunge phase. I think it was canadaspaceman. It got me to thinking about grunge. I was listening to classic metal bands, thrash bands, and even hair metal up until grunge appeared. I got seriously angry about the existence of grunge when it was becoming big. I hated everything about it from the whiney negativity of the lyrics to its thrift store fashion statement. Everybody was abandoning the killer hard rock/metal of the 80s for this? Everywhere I turned, they were there, these useless automatons in their flannel shirts. They were looking all disheveled and in need of a good bath. I was seriously angry. So much so that I went heavier as a reaction to it. That is when I discovered Deicide and Morbid Angel. It was only after grunge disappeared that the anger subsided and I returned to my old self by listening to classic metal.

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[exsanguinator]

Yes,i agree totally, I think you were spying on me in the 90's with a spycam prototype or something LOL,as thats what i did exactly...
Its good to know I was not alone...
What was even worse... was hearing Enter Sandman been plugged on the radio 24/7 here,
I only listened to the Black album in full a few years ago,
If it wasnt such a hit on the mainstream,i might have given it a chance back then,but with every dude and their little sister claiming it,I played my old vinyls and traded tapes to death instead.
In hindsight,if the internet was like it is today back then,I wouldve been a much happier man...the kids of today dont realize what they have at their fingertips really
Imagine a site like this in 1986?
Well... maybe there wouldve been only 60's underground to download...LOL
But you know what i mean...

[Killtava]

I was just thinking... When I was a very small boy the Nu Metal scene exploded in mainstream with Korn's "Follow the Leader", when grunge was already dead. I don't know how it looked back in the early 90's.

Just my opinion, but I'd rather a grunge album than a Glam Metal album. I would happily pay Us$10 to see Nirvana or Pearl Jam live. The problem is when the music critics picks up Nevermind or Ten as "timeless classics", when those albums are just fun, interesting...

[leatherlyon]

I was 4!!! :O

I found CDs of Saxon's Denim and Leather and Maiden's Piece of Mind in some old case and I was set for life!

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[daniele]

Started at 12 in 1990 circa with a mix tape of donated to me by a friend. tracks list of megadeth, morbid angel, iron maiden, metallica, obituary and a pair of faith no more tracks.

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