What band/song started it all for you

[The Butcher]

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 

[Naraka]

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.

[StoutAndAle]

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.   

[The Butcher]

The Final Countdown should also get a shout now that I think of it  obviously Appetite too as my bro would blast that from his room daily, it's imprinted in my brain at this stage.

[Barrytron]

Women by Def Leppard. Still remember the exact moment I heard it, prob 1988

[Maggot Colony]

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.

[Eoin McLove]

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.

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!

[Maggot Colony]

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.

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.

[Eoin McLove]

I was also deprived of MTV so only got to watch HBB when one of the lads recorded it. I felt so deprived 

[Maggot Colony]

Hard times! 

[Anvil]

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!   

[Ducky]

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%.

[Circlepit]

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.

[Sworntothecans]

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!"

[Carnage]

Are... are you... me?