BLSNitemair

To really be honest, it was Van Halen that started me towards the metal genre. I know they are not really Metal but they were allot harder than anything else I had been listening to at the time. I think Ozzie was my first real metal experience, that led me to all the rest.

Whiskey

I think the only album I actually really like from early metal bands is The number of the Best from 1982, its just so catchy and great vocal performance from bruce dickinson. But thats pretty much the only Iron Maiden album that I like. That and Metallica's first 4 albums.

Cinnamonics

Metallica was my entryticket, after years of loathing anything vaguely metal. And "Load" was the entry-album, hehe. After I became a fan of almost everything they ever had released up to that point (1997/1998) I got into Iron Maiden. The rest, as they say, is history, though I completely stopped being a metalhead around 2005 and turned to other genres, being completely sick of the metal. These days I include it in my diet, though, and it will probably always be a part of me.

Whiskey

WEll to me it depends on what I want to listen to......If I want something aggressive and heavy I'd listen to metal, but if I want something soft and gentle then Country or Pop would be good choices for me. I never stopped being a "metalhead" or whatever it is called though. How can I, Metal is such a good genre eh?

APFEIFFER

I grew up with parents that loved Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Black Sabbath's self titled album got a thrashing in our house hold on LP so I absolutely love that record, from there I got into Metallica when I first heard Enter Sandman on a morning music show, bought the self titled album and went on from there, from there I got into Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse and as I got older I listened to the stuff that those bands grew up on like more Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, but also with a Pop that was a jazz musician I'm starting to get into that side of music now and have an appreciation for it.

Albums that I remember buying and really stood out to me were:

Metallica - Metallica
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Slayer - Decade of Aggression
AC/DC - Razors Edge
Megadeth - Rust In Peace
Cannibal Corpse - The Bleeding
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.

I have a hard time finding metal albums these days, I mean, to me nothing that comes out now is as good as what it used to be, there are some metal bands I like now, but not love like the names above.

GoreFang

Alice cooper was the earliest thing i can remember, other then KIX at like 5 and 6 years old.

JonnyCraig

SLAYYEERR and Rage Against the Machine, gotta love their take on rap/rock, everyone else fails

The_Rocker

I don't know if you guys consider AC/DC to be Metal, but if so they got me into it.

Rjinn

I'd consider AC/DC to be heavy metal but more hard rock. They certainly established a lot of its traits which became a catalyst. They didn't really have that root of punk rock sensibility which became a part of forming metal later on, though. More blues kind.

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Sug0rt

My first experience with metal was Down With The Sickness by Disturbed, however this wasn't really what got me into metal. I would say a random suggestion from a friend in the form of Hammerfall was what really started the passion for metal, at which point I started enjoying other bands like System Of A Down and a more in-depth enjoyement of Disturbed.

Also, I've always enjoyed bands like AC/DC which was kind of a stepping stone from the kind of Rock genre to the Metal genre.

Now I'm VERY much into my Power metal; Hammerfall, Manowar, Rhapsody, Blind Guardian, the list just goes on.