VEGANGELICA

Same with me. When I was a little kid, I remember hearing/seeing Kiss. They half-scared, half-intrigued me with their personas. I can't say they really got me into their metal rock music, though, because my favorite song of theirs was "Beth."

The band that lured me into heavier sounding rock music was Def Leppard in the '80s when they were mainstream on the radio. I am still fond of Def Leppard songs like "Love bites," "Photograph," and "Hysteria" because they combine sweet and heavy so well.

Only after I joined MusicBanter did I hear Slayer and what I think of as *real* heavy metal bands like Meshuggah, Morbid Angel, or Behemoth where it sounds as if the singers are vomiting out their guts...such as in my favorite metal song, "Day of Suffering" (Morbid Angel cover) by Behemoth. These bands turned me on to the harsher sound of metal music that seems to bridge the gap between reality and a very, very bad dream. I'd never heard fury or anguish transformed so well into music before, and I liked.

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Blarobbarg

That must have been an interesting first listen!

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BastardofYoung

Slayer. Found a copy of "Divine Intervention" in a cut out bin for .99. Went home, listened to it on my walkman (as I thought my parents would freak if they heard it). Blew me away, needed more.

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last.fm

‎"I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people." - Jack Handey.

Musicfanatic

Kerry King said that that would probably be the one album that if he'd had to do it over again he would. His least favorite album was my favorite by them: Diablus in Musica.

All kiddin' aside, still enjoy Garth Brooks, but what got me into metal was of course Metallica. Don't know if they were my favorites during high school when I started my true music love, but they are now my favorite band. After that I went towards Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Slayer, Pantera, White Zombie, Rob Zombie, which I only own Hellbilly Deluxe.

I got into Motorhead rather late, back in 2006, which was about 10 years after I started to listen religiously. But they have come very close to kicking AC/DC off number two pedistal and onto number four. I'm still on the fence about doing that, which shows you just how into my metal I am.

I have yet to have delve anymore deeper than Slayer and Venom, I'm afraid. I did listen to the original Bathory on Youtube, but I wouldn't mind trying them out one day...

Stephen

Under the Sign of the Black Mark if I remember rightly. I think the self titled was my second followed by Napalm Death's debut.

Blarobbarg

Holy ****. I am amazed you still listen to metal after that. Had that been me, I would have disavowed metal forever.

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ElephantSack

Metallica was "The Gateway Band" for me. I randomly decided when I was 8 or 9 years old that Metallica was my favorite band. I remember making a mix tape off of the radio one night, and I caught the end of either "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" or "One". I can't remember which.

Fast forward to when I was 10. "Load" had just dropped and I was impressionable enough and inexperienced enough in the world of music to buy it and like it. But from there on, I started "back-cataloging". I went from "Load" to "...And Justice For All" to "Master of Puppets" and on back. I learned how to play most of "Kill 'Em All" on bass when I was 13.

And 13 was the year that I ordered Pantera's "Official Live: 101 Proof" album from a Columbia House "10 CDs for 99 cents" ad in Rolling Stone. And then I was really on my way. Slayer came in about a year later. And then it was on to bands like Sepultura, Six Feet Under, Hatebreed, System of a Down and Fear Factory.

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OF THE SUN

Rjinn

Jumping on the wagon and saying Metallica MoP. Unless AC/DC T.N.T counts when I was 12. Probably does fit in a way.

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last.fm

Kip1985

I was around 10-11 and was at the library looking at cassettes to rent out and saw Megadeth's "Youthanasia". I had never heard their music, but I always had the impression that these guys were fast and brutal. So I rented it, and was floored by the heaviness and the melody that these guys presented. Since then I have gotten into almost every subgenre of metal and rock, and have dabbled in every genre out there. I am one of those few music fans that can say I like everything, and have it be absolutely true.

Stephen

I used to go to this little basement record store in the city on one of my regular record store crawls and the guy who ran the place always had something new he was excited to play for me.