I was just thinking about this before you posted it. I think the fact is that the meaning of "Metal" has simply taken an extreme turn since the late 80s. In modern terms, of course, those bands are simply hard-rock, but at the time, or so I'm led to believe, Heavy Metal could easily incorporate those kinds of acts. In fact, even Michael Bolton (!!) came under the banner of metal once upon a time.

It's more about how you conceptualize metal. A parallel can be drawn with contemp r&b: with only exposure to the modern hip-pop scene, you wouldn't hear a rhythm and blues song of the 60s or 70s and think to yourself "that's r&b" without some necessary explanation being given to you first. Same really goes for metal. Some kid brought up on Slipknot ain't gonna believe in a million years that Led Zep could be called metal.

I was brought up on Zeppelin, and I still find some of their albums "heavy" for a lack of a better word, but even the bands mentioned don't want to be labeled as metal, and neither do I. Rush, Thin Lizzy and Zeppelin all do fit into their own niches in the classic/progressive rock spectrum, not to say they don't incorporate some stylistic similarities to metal.

the first metal band i ever wanted to murder was probably Iron maiden

It was undoubtedly Metallica, followed by Pantera and Maiden. I never went through a nu-metal phase.

I think it's obvious most of us listened to Maiden or Sabbath for the first time :yeah:

Metallica. I'm happy to say I never had a nu-metal phase either.

Believe it or not................Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil

That and the self-titled are still great albums that I will listen to for a bit of nostalgia.....................the rest are nothing short of embarrassing

my first taste of metal came in the form of Pantera....later on I went through my Nu-metal phase....I'm not ashamed to say that I still hold onto some Nu-metal bands and listen to them purely for nostaglic reasons

I never really got into metal, mainly due to metalheads wanting to kick the shit out of me in my teens.
I did have a friend who was into it and he got me listening to Rush - 2112 and Van Halen.
2112 was probably the first entire album I sat and listened through properly. Apart from that and the odd obvious high profile metal...not much else, though I did like Hanoi Rocks for a while.
I also own a Queensryche album...Operation Mindcrime(?), which I don't even remember buying.

.......... Enough to get a Michael Monroe haircut