...in rock/metal circles that is.
For me it was hearing Animal by Def Leppard the year it was released. I was only 7 but it blew me away. Despite having long since moved on to far heavier stuff I still consider Hysteria a phenomenal rock record.
Opening riff to Sgt. Pepper's. I was probably only 8 or 9, but I was instantly hooked on the sound of that distorted guitar.
Always worth a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7dQjOCLQI8
Getting into rock through that album prob explains my prog leanings too tbh.
I've been hugely into music as long as I remember. My earliest memory is of listening to my Ma's Mothers of Invention records, Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For The Money, when I was 3. However, the moment that really got me was seeing Megadeth in 1988. I had heard a fair bit of rock and metal through lads I knew in school, but Ellefson playing an extended intro to These Boots was genuinely a life changing moment. No going back after that.
Animal was pretty big for me too, great track..hmm, have to think about this but the very first thing that comes to mind in the transition from hard rock to Metal was hearing Can I Play With Madness by you know who.
Appetite for me. I strangely have no memory of my first time hearing anything from it but I remember pestering a neighbour to record it for me and being utterly obsessed by it. An enterprising older neighbour got a GNR calendar and was selling each picture individually and I must have pestered my parents for a few sheckles and ended up with half of them up on my wall. I remember him telling me that one of the pics of Steve Adler was worth more because the string vest he was wearing in the photo was worth a million dollars :laugh: at eight years old it made sense!
Yeah ,Appetite , wow, what a gamechanger that was . Before I came to that though it was all about Slippery When Wet for me and away from the big hits I'm thinking of that opening riff in Let It Rock.
What is 100% fact though is that Bon Jovi and Europe, because they were a tandem, was where it all started for me.
Bat Out of Hell for me (not at release, I'm not that old!). I'd been wild into Michael Jackson as a sprog, but that kind of harder, higher energy sound really grabbed me. I used to listen to that piano intro on vinyl over and over.
Weirdly it was Maiden who got me into metal in a way. I'm not much of a Maiden fan even now, but I heard one of their albums then and thought it was ok, but knew instantly that distorted guitar was the sound for me, but just not quite like what they were doing. The only other metal band I'd heard of at that time was Metallica so I got one of their albums and there it was.
After the usual absorption of what was in the house (trad, country, and the likes of Horslips, Mushroom and a baffling Rick Wakeman solo album) I went down the radio pop route for a while before diversifying into Fleetwood Mac and so on. My cousin was into rock/metal and gave me a few tapes by Lizzy, Purple and Maiden.
The Trooper on Live After Death was the one that set the default switch to metal, while I and a friend got big into Guns And Roses too. He went down the Ppison, Bon Jovi route but I got progressively into metal, thrash, death metal etc. but it was that version of The Trooper that was the Damascan moment for me.
Hearing the electric guitar kick in on Fight Fire With Fire for the first time was like heroin for my young brain, instantly hooked :laugh:
Hearing The Cure for the first time - "Never enough". Hooked on how "heavy" it sounded, loved the video and their style, then wanted something more heavier, noisier, darker... man, what a journey it's been since then...
ACDC- Riff Raff from If You Want Blood is where it all began for me
Edit: long as message that wasn't even really answering the original question
I was sort of always around it from my brothers. I remember listening to Nirvana, FNM, GNR up through primary school but I didn't really obsess on any of it. I remember hearing heavier stuff on and off but I can still remember the night it all clicked for me - when I was 12, watching one of them colouring in hand drawn band names on a green canvas schoolbag with Strapping Young Lad "City" on the stereo.
I was obsessed. I heard two albums that night, also Fear Factory "Soul of a New Machine", and from there I just went up digging through CDs and old magazines, and finding what I liked. Most of which I already knew from hearing it over the years without even realizing :laugh: City is still one of my favourite albums and goes on regularly.
Animal was probably the first to strike a chord, then Thunderstruck.
However, Right Next Door to Hell followed by Dust n' Bones on a C90 while I spent a few days in hospital over one Christmas was what did it though. The first rock/metal tape I bought shortly after was Use Your Illusion 2, and that was me officially signed up.
Was into pop music first like chart stuff I'm the early 80s, my cousin from NY came to visit and she popped Pink Floyd's Shine on you crazy diamond in the car one day. I realised then there was more to music.
My first metal experience was Number of the beast album being played in the youth club I guess in 84 or 85. I was like what, gimme that!
Jeff Waynes War Of The Worlds, think I was as young as 6/7 listening to that, guitars always stood out with the synths and strings.
Plenty of Commodore64 games had quality music that definitely nodded towards rock/metal :abbath:
Paradise City for me. I remember as an 8 year old thinking that the solo at the end of the song was the most insane piece of music.
I wish that I had a cooler answer for this given that my old man was a massive fan of Springsteen, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. I no doubt heard all of those (particularly "The River"/"Born To Run" and "IV") a lot. He had a huge record collection.
My old man bought me the CBS records Clash compilation and a friend's older brother gave me taped copies of "Appetite For Destruction", "Generation Terrorists" and "Kill 'Em All".
But no... I think that it's probably "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor. The title track more than the whole album. I would listen to that one cut incessantly although, to be fair, "American Heartbeat" is a great song too. I pestered my oul fella at every opportunity to put it on until he eventually got fed up and showed me how to use the turntable...
... and put the fear of god in me as to what would happen if I broke the record player. :laugh:
The Final Countdown should also get a shout now that I think of it :laugh: obviously Appetite too as my bro would blast that from his room daily, it's imprinted in my brain at this stage.
Women by Def Leppard. Still remember the exact moment I heard it, prob 1988
Seeing the music video for Moneytalks on the Beat Box was my Damascus moment. I convinced my parents to buy me The Razor's Edge on tape, and became obsessed.
Not long after that I got into Iron Maiden after seeing the video for Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter on TV. I think it was Top of the Pops.
Quote from: Maggot Colony on April 24, 2025, 09:33:17 AMSeeing the music video for Moneytalks on the Beat Box was my Damascus moment. I convinced my parents to buy me The Razor's Edge on tape, and became obsessed.
Not long after that I got into Iron Maiden after seeing the video for Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter on TV. I think it was Top of the Pops.
It was savage getting into metal in the early 90s with all that stuff on the telly. Dempsey's Den playing out with Alice in Chains... Anthrax, AC/DC, Metallica, Maiden and Megadeth on The Beat Box... The Metal Show of a Sunday. Fuck me, we were spoiled with it!
Quote from: Eoin McLove on April 24, 2025, 10:34:08 AMQuote from: Maggot Colony on April 24, 2025, 09:33:17 AMSeeing the music video for Moneytalks on the Beat Box was my Damascus moment. I convinced my parents to buy me The Razor's Edge on tape, and became obsessed.
Not long after that I got into Iron Maiden after seeing the video for Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter on TV. I think it was Top of the Pops.
It was savage getting into metal in the early 90s with all that stuff on the telly. Dempsey's Den playing out with Alice in Chains... Anthrax, AC/DC, Metallica, Maiden and Megadeth on The Beat Box... The Metal Show of a Sunday. Fuck me, we were spoiled with it!
Good times. The Beat Box was great for hard rock stuff. I'd be waiting with the VCR remote for anything rock related to record. I had a minute of Live and Let Die recorded along with snippets of AC/DC, and Def Leppard's shockingly bad video for Let's Get Rocked.
I didn't have MTV, but a friend used to record Headbanger's Ball for me. That and JK on 2FM were great for finding new music.
I was also deprived of MTV so only got to watch HBB when one of the lads recorded it. I felt so deprived :laugh:
Hard times! :laugh:
It was probably listening to some Iron Maiden at my cousin's house. I can't really remember.
I do remember being 11 though and my friend brought in taped copies of So Far... and Among the Living into school. Jesus they were something different!
Always enjoyed a bit of Queen, and the random rock song or two I'd hear as a nipper. Then I played the arse out of Rock'n'Roll Racing on the Megadrive - really badly 16-bit sounding versions of Born to Be Wild, Paranoid, Highway Star, etc.
Was getting into music "properly" around the age of 15 (as in, was interested in buying albums and starting a collection). Had a few dance compilations that didn't do too much. Heard REM's Daysleeper in the charts, bought that, played the hell out of it, wanted more - but also roudier - guitars. Asked my soon-to-be brother-in-law if he had "any music like Smells Like Teen Spirit", and he loaned me a shoebox full of his albums.
Master of Puppets was one of those albums, and the first time I heard The Thing That Should Not Be, that sold me on metal 100%.
I remember my older brother coming home with The Final Countdown on cassette, then he bought Hysteria and Girls, Girls, Girls, Slippery When Wet and New Jersey.
I shared a room with him so those albums were burned into my brain.
Absolutely loved them but one evening as the credits rolled for Top Of The Pops the video for Paradise City played.
I remember thinking this is the heaviest thing in the world, liking it but being nervous about it.
The tape was bought, a red pen was used to tick the songs with swearing so I'd remember to turn it down when my mother would be about the house.
Still have it. That album blew the doors wide open.
Back In Black/The Number Of The Beast when I was three and made the older cousins play the two tapes anytime they had to mind me. And there was always some of the more popular 80s hair tapes doing the rounds,as well as Kerrang so I'd be stuck into whatever they had going.
Then Appetite/Seventh Son a few years later sealed the deal.
Think my rule was "Does this music go well with reading 2000AD, Stephen King & Clive Barker? It does!"
Are... are you... me?
ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin'.
On Vincent Hanley's MT-USA when that show was airing.
From there I got hooked on Billy Idol's 11 of the Best comp tape which found its way into the house somehow.
Then the snowball started really rolling with Bon Jovi, Europe, Aerosmith, Whitesnake, GnR, etc.
Door opened to Sabbath, Ozzy, Priest and the Big 4 not long after.
For me it was discovering that there were different genres if that makes sense. Long story short, I was watching MTV and a Metallica video was on when a relative of mine came into the room and asked me if I liked Metallica. He said they were Heavy Metal. The seed was sown from there. The rest is history ha ha
My mam was big into Queen and would always have them playing, my older brother had a tape of Pearl Jam's Ten that I used to always stick on. Cut out halfway through Porch so never even realised it wasn't the full album until I bought a copy years later :laugh:
I suppose the first discovery on my own as it were, was hearing Offspring back when Smash came out. From there it was on to stuff like Nofx, Bad Religion, then nu metal. But picking up a copy of Master of Puppets on a whim and hearing Battery kick in sealed it for me
The parents had a vinyl of Thriller and Status Quo greatest hits. Played them to death as a five or 6 year old. When I heard Lithium by Nirvana for the first time that was the gateway to it all.
Always music in the house growing up and lived next door to a music shop until I was about 9. Had Blur and Oasis tapes and then the girl doing work experience when I was in 4th class taped me all the Nirvana albums. Spiraled from there.
I guess probably something like "Living on a Prayer" or "The Final Countdown" was the actual first step for me,when I was about 9 or 10, which lead me to the old "Monsters of Rock" shw on Sky. Figured it would just be that kind of stuff, and it was, with some Maiden and Motorhead thrown in probably. The first time I watched it though, the showed a clip of Slayer playing "hell awaits". I was fucking terrified.
The first metal song I ever heard was by Exodus. I loved it and then discovered Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer soon after that.
Actually the Metal Show on Phantom FM would have exposed me a shitload of stuff I'd never heard before, used to record loads off it each week for making mixtapes
Would love to say the classics but in all honesty Slipknot got me into metal. Particularly Iowa. I then discovered metallica, Slayer. Went down a rabbit hole of trying to find the heaviest shit I could find. I have very broad music tastes now but was definitely metal only for years.
When I was about 10 or 11 sitting in a friend's living room listening to a mix tape of Metallica songs he had put together. I remember the songs One, Sad But True and Master of Puppets made a big impact on me, even though I listened to absolutely no music at that point.
Also shout out to John Kennys Metal Show on 2FM - listening to it in the early 90s at the death metal peak had a big impact too.
I blame Appetite For Destruction, but the clincher into the heavier stuff was the first time I heard the solo in Propaganda by Sepultura. Had been listening to Nirvana and Therapy? as it was, but that time I heard that one it really did the trick for me
Was into music from a young age;was obsessed with Michael Jackson in the 80s.
Heard Metallica 'Master of Puppets' around 90/91 in primary school!, the rest is history.
Hooked after that.
My dad was a big music head. So our house always filled with a lot of music. I grew to love The Beatles especially. A couple of others that had a big influence where Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds...and the original Jesus Christ Superstar album, with Ian Gillian on it. Both of those nurtured a love of prog, before i had any idea what prog was.
Along the way, i ended up with a copy of Queen's greatest hits...which i loved. That led to Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. In our little group there was one friend who was a couple of years older. One day he brought home an Iron Maiden tape. It's hard to remember the order, but I think it was Piece Of Mind. That was it. Hooked. We devoured all the Maiden albums, then it was Slayer, Megadeth...Anthrax. I just couldn't get enough..and there was always something new to discover.
Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds was big with me and my brother alright, my young daughter recently discovered as well and loves it, knows it all off. Timeless seemingly
Mad reading all the responses here and realising just how integral to the metal scene that Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were.
I have no clue who the modern equivalents are (if they exist at all) Linkin Park? Ghost?
Quote from: The Great Cull on May 07, 2025, 08:47:44 AMMad reading all the responses here and realising just how integral to the metal scene that Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were.
While Bon Jovi didn't do it for me at the time, I knew they were adjacent to what I was looking towards.
Slippery When Wet and New Jersey are still great pop/rock albums, none of the rest did anything for me though.
Quote from: Carnage on May 07, 2025, 09:39:26 AMSlippery When Wet and New Jersey are still great pop/rock albums, none of the rest did anything for me though.
Runaway, Wanted Dead Or Alive & Bad Medicine would be the only three I'd listen to then and now. Feckin' choons!
Limp Bizkit's Rollin. 10 year old moi didn't know the first thing about anything rock related until I flicked on Kerrang one day.
An older cousin of mine then took it upon himself to fill up about 5 cassettes worth of Metallica, Maiden, GnR and Megadeth, and the rest was history.
In the early 80's I was into stuff like U2, Dire Straits & Billy Idol via my older brother. Then Appetite For Destruction landed and I was hooked. Around the same time I got into The Sex Pistols.
One evening I was watching a rerun of The Young Ones episode where they go on University Challenge, and Motorhead appear in their sitting room playing Ace of Spades.
It blew my mind completely. As soon as I had the cash, I bought the No Remorse double vinyl in a second hand shop, and listened to nothing else for weeks.
Then a lad at school told me I should try Metallica. He didn't even listen to metal, but he had heard they were the heaviest band in the world.
So I did. Hearing Master of Puppets involved a change of underpants. I was delighted to soon discover, they were not in fact the heaviest band in the world, upon hearing Slayer. Then I went down the rabbit hole and I've been there ever since.
Probably the best advice I even taken.
Def Leppard's first two albums still hold up for me. Must stick on Pryomania.
Quote from: The Great Cull on May 07, 2025, 08:47:44 AMMad reading all the responses here and realising just how integral to the metal scene that Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were.
I have no clue who the modern equivalents are (if they exist at all) Linkin Park? Ghost?
I'd say for the few younger heads I know, Slipknot seems to be their ground zero.
Quote from: Ducky on May 07, 2025, 02:05:04 PMQuote from: The Great Cull on May 07, 2025, 08:47:44 AMMad reading all the responses here and realising just how integral to the metal scene that Def Leppard and Bon Jovi were.
I have no clue who the modern equivalents are (if they exist at all) Linkin Park? Ghost?
I'd say for the few younger heads I know, Slipknot seems to be their ground zero.
Deftones seems to be another one as they're all over Instagram & Tik Tok.
Gas seeing all the War of the Worlds comments. That album was a huge part of my childhood. The aul fella only owned that one tape and used to play it constantly in the car and when he was on the exercise bike.
There's no blasbeats or pointy guitars but it is heavy and features monsters/horror I guess. Scratches a certain darker itch maybe.
I know a fella who used to start crying whenever his older brothers would play This Love on the old cassette player and the cunts did it to him every night.
I actually think he still listens to the heaviest possible shit as a sort of coping mechanism lol
Quote from: jobrok1 on April 25, 2025, 10:36:06 AMZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin'.
On Vincent Hanley's MT-USA when that show was airing.
Same. Then Welcome to the jungle on the cork city cable network TV channel
A-Ha for me, particularly the song 'The Sun Always Shines On Tv' not very metal but there are some interesting bits in that song. I still have the original cassettes in a box somewhere.....
My dad (who served in the army) bringing back bootleg cassettes in the 80s, one was a Deep Purple live album from the 70s..I remember it being a heavy album but have never been able to track it down since. And its not Made In Japan.
More 80s, seeing the video on day time tv for 'Can I Play with Madness' by Maiden , that tipped me more towards heavier rock..
Quote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 03:48:03 PMA-Ha for me, particularly the song 'The Sun Always Shines On Tv' not very metal but there are some interesting bits in that song. I still have the original cassettes in a box somewhere.....
It's a class tune that was part of my formative years in music for sure. I still listen to it often enough
Quote from: astfgyl on June 10, 2025, 08:41:31 PMQuote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 03:48:03 PMA-Ha for me, particularly the song 'The Sun Always Shines On Tv' not very metal but there are some interesting bits in that song. I still have the original cassettes in a box somewhere.....
It's a class tune that was part of my formative years in music for sure. I still listen to it often enough
Same as, still happy to stick on a bit of A-Ha as a pallet cleanser between some of the filthier stuff....
Quote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 09:03:29 PMQuote from: astfgyl on June 10, 2025, 08:41:31 PMQuote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 03:48:03 PMA-Ha for me, particularly the song 'The Sun Always Shines On Tv' not very metal but there are some interesting bits in that song. I still have the original cassettes in a box somewhere.....
It's a class tune that was part of my formative years in music for sure. I still listen to it often enough
Same as, still happy to stick on a bit of A-Ha as a pallet cleanser between some of the filthier stuff....
A-ha are a great pop band, nothing wrong with some pop music now and then to clear the head
Quote from: The Heretic on June 11, 2025, 11:07:36 AMQuote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 09:03:29 PMQuote from: astfgyl on June 10, 2025, 08:41:31 PMQuote from: Brokenbanjostring on June 10, 2025, 03:48:03 PMA-Ha for me, particularly the song 'The Sun Always Shines On Tv' not very metal but there are some interesting bits in that song. I still have the original cassettes in a box somewhere.....
It's a class tune that was part of my formative years in music for sure. I still listen to it often enough
Same as, still happy to stick on a bit of A-Ha as a pallet cleanser between some of the filthier stuff....
A-ha are a great pop band, nothing wrong with some pop music now and then to clear the head
I have that tune on this minute and I'd put the challenge out that at least 90 percent of lads who love metal will also love it.
https://youtu.be/J4aD_dZzYpI?si=u4fKL8xKSgit5Qgj
I didn't know this sketch existed until I told my non metal friend that manahattan skyline was suspiciously heavy. Thats when I found out I was a cliche
My uncle got me into Iron Maiden, Van Damme, Pamela Anderson and Tekken from as early as I can remember. Makes me feel bad I'm not the cool uncle for my nephew now.
Miss ya, big man.
Quote from: nukeabuse on June 11, 2025, 11:53:02 PMhttps://youtu.be/J4aD_dZzYpI?si=u4fKL8xKSgit5Qgj
I didn't know this sketch existed until I told my non metal friend that manahattan skyline was suspiciously heavy. Thats when I found out I was a cliche
First time seeing the original of this sketch, only seen various other takes with different music dubbed over! :laugh:
There has to be one with Venom considering how much Limmy looks like Cronos!😂
Richie Blackmore/Ronnie James Dio.
Was there not another thread like this some time ago? seem to remember posting about hearing Man on the Silver Mountain on a crackly Friday Rock show on MW with Tommy Vance (RIP)
Quote from: Uinsion on June 17, 2025, 03:09:04 PMRichie Blackmore/Ronnie James Dio.
Was there not another thread like this some time ago? seem to remember posting about hearing Man on the Silver Mountain on a crackly Friday Rock show on MW with Tommy Vance (RIP) sometime around '78
Am I the oldest on here :-)
No, Dawals was born before God was invented.
Probably 10 threads like this, memory lane is fun I guess
ZZ TOP Gimme all your lovin via Vincent Hanly on MT USA
Edit, it was Joan Jett - I Love Rock 'n' Roll played on a juke box while travelling with my mother to visit relatives and waiting for a connecting bus in Elphin Roscommon. Played it over and over, pestering the mother for change, around 1981 I suppose?