so,,, before you went metal... (this ought to be interesting)

[longhairmike74]

none of us were born metal,, so what did you listen to before you went metal??

and what age did you offically say "goddamnit everything else sucks,, i'm a rocker"?,

 

my parents always listened to classical & folk music, and me being the oldest, i had to make the leap all on my own.

I was big on Tiffany, Belinda Carlisle, Samantha Fox, Kim Wilde, New Order, & Men Without Hats.

aside from a handfull of hard rock tapes (bon jovi, poison, lita ford),, i didn't really come to my senses completely until i got EXTREME's fist tape at age 15.

 

this also prompted me to reconsider those annoying accoustic guitar lessons my parents started me on in 6th grade (which i stopped after a year).

i was like "s*** mom,, i want an electric" (quote embellished slightly for more dramatic effect)

[Nightrain]

my dad's faves are BEE GEES, BEATLES, and ROLLING STONES, so early on I was kinda exposed to rock (not really hard though lol) but not until MR.BIG - Lean Into It, SCORPIONS - Crazy World, and METALLICA - s/t hits me big, was around 11-12 back then and those three are among the first tapes I bought, and that's pretty much when the whole thing started. I began backtracking those 70-80s albums and keep following the scene until today.

[T-BONE]

I grew up with Beatles, Abba, Carpenters, Air Supply, Clapton, Elvis, Dan Fogelberg, Bread, Billy Joel, etc.... My cousin had a sawblade looking poster on her wall with 4 cool comicbook type faces on it and I asked what it was... Answer was KISS. So... That was that...

 

First cassette bought: Michael Jackson - Thriller

 

2: Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry

3: Quiet Riot - Metal Health

 

(Thriller goes in trash)

 

4: Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil

5: Kiss - Animalize

[Ali Rock]

I were into synth-pop in my early years like Alphaville, Howard Jones, Falco, Thompson Twins etc.

 

But in 85 a new friend got me into Accept, Dokken, Ratt, Judas Priest, Fifth Angel and Dagger. From that day, my life has been hardrock and Heavy Metal in all sorts.

 

My first big gig was Priest: Fuel for life in early 86.

[Geoff]

Bryan Adams, Belinda Carlisle, Roxette and Icehouse were amongst my early faves... all of which I still like today.

[RichieZ]

Before hard rock and Metal, I heard the Beatles. My older sis was into Bay City Rollers and hearing that I knew something wasn't clicking. It was only til about 10 til I got hooked into the hard rock and Metal bug and haven't looked back. First albums were 'IV' Led Zep and 'News Of The WOrld' Queen, then 'Foreigner' and 'Van Halen'

[RichieZ]

Bryan Adams, Belinda Carlisle, Roxette and Icehouse were amongst my early faves... all of which I still like today.

 

I still totally dig 'Heaven On Earth' by Belinda and most of Bryan Adanm's stuff

[The Rocker]

When I was a young boy(before the age of 10, in the late 70's) there was just me and my mom. I would listen to all her albums, The 4 Tops, The Platters etc.Then she met my stepdad and we movied to his town, 12-13 yrs old. I listened to everything at that time, Men At Work etc. BUT, in 1983 came, PYROMANIA, 1984, and METAL HEALTH and I was blown away. At that time I still listened to Journey, Survivor etc. but it was the Hard Rock that stuck with me. The Heaviest I got was DIO, IRON MAIDEN and PRIEST. I'm more of a Hard Rock/Melodic Rock guy!

[Jez]

The Sweet, T-Rex, Bowie, Mott The Hoople...Then the NWOBHM and Saxon, Maiden etc arrived and no looking back, although my tastes have drastically widened over the years

 

 

First single bought: The Sweet - Blockbuster

 

First Albums: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars

The Babys - S/T

[KarpetRydOFunk]

A friend of my dad would make my brother and I mixtapes. Of all the bands on those tapes Petra was the one that stood out. My brother's first cassette was Petra - Wake Up Call. Played that non-stop.

Throughout most of the nineties I started listening to Cuntry. In my highschool years I got hooked on Classic Rock, but most specifically Progressive Rock. My dad handed my Supertramp's "Crime of the Century" and said, "Play this." That album changed my life.

Around 2002 my brother got back into the Hard Rock scene with Def Leppard leading the way. I recall him asking if I wanted to see them in 2003--I believe--and, at the time, I wasn't really into them. It wasn't until 2005 or 2006, my brother's friend had a band called Avantasia on a CDr. There were moments on that disc I thought I heard John Schlitt. I was hooked. Avantasia brought me back to the Hard Rock scene, but it also opened me up to Metal. Eventually, I listened to Def Leppard, again, and was pissed I didn't see them when I had the chance. But, I've seen better artists since then, anyway.

So, here I am, now. Probably the youngest guy on this site that frequents these pages multiple times a day, because my knowledge has surpassed everyone I know, so I have to come here to keep humble.

[Dead Planet]

I listened to my older sister and brothers pop/radio music...whatever the hits were...I had the K-Tel releases on vinyl...then a friend brought Black Sabbath - Master of Reality to school on vinyl and that was it! There was no going back after that!!

[Thomas/Coastline]

Elvis all the time and I still listen to him. Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison etc.

[JamesEagle]

Bryan Adams, Belinda Carlisle, Roxette and Icehouse were amongst my early faves... all of which I still like today.

 

Come on mate, those are wayyyy too cool - 'fess up, there must be some far more embarrassing guilty pleasures out there.

 

To my eternal shame, before Whitesnake 1987 led me on to no end of rock and metal awesomeness, I was listening to...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnjJoWf2FZA

 

I will never live that down!

[cdjunky41]

The first record I ever bought was ABBA-Waterloo single. I also used to play these (and still do).

Early Bruce Springsteen

Bread

Chicago

ELO

Three Dog Night

Elton John

The Fabulous Poodles

Looking Glass

The Who

 

I was also playing Deep Purple, BTO, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Heart, Bloodrock, and Grand Funk. Everytime these bands were mentioned, there was that term Heavy Metal. As bands got heavier, My love grew for that sort of music and wanted to see who can push the envelope for being the heaviest band..

[Evil Rick]

The earliest music I remember hearing would be light FM (Carpenters, Air Supply, etc) on mom's car radio and country on dad's car radio. I got an AM/FM clock radio for my 8th birthday and had it set on a station that played an almost muzak style of very light music. I loved that station, it was so relaxing! One morning I woke up and they had switched formats to modern hits (this was early 80's) and I couldn't stand it so I switched to country. Then about '87 I started to get into hard rock because all my friends were suddenly listening to Motley Crue and Cinderella. It was then I placed my first order for "10 tapes for 1 penny" and down the road I went.

[All Nights Reserved]

Until the age of 12 I only listened to rubbish 80's disco music... then I heard the 'Asylum' album from KISS and there was no turning back. That was my first rock album and still my favourite KISS release for some reasons.

[shamus]

Two older brothers steered me in the right direction from the get go. Plenty of 70s hard rock, alot of which I eventually tracked down on cd years later. Thin Lizzy, Santers, KISS, Piper, Prism, The Monks, Angel City etc.

 

Bought my first cassette in grade 7 (Def Leppard Pyromania) and proceeded to amass a large collection of 80s rock. Wasn't 'til I was out of high school that I revisited mainstream 80s new wave and popular music. Again courtesy of one of my older brothers.

[FredGarvin]

When I was just a little kid in the mid-70s, the first album I ever got was The Beach Boys - Endless Summer...on 8-track! I wore that sucker out, as well as an 8-track of Johnny Horton's Greatest Hits. I also listened to my Dad's music like Waylon, Willie, Don Williams, etc. Then in 1977 my older brother gave me Kiss' Destroyer and Rock 'n' Roll Over on vinyl (I still have 'em) and that set me on the hard rock/metal course. My first real "metal" albums that I bought were Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance and Scorpions - Blackout.

[Geoff]

Bryan Adams, Belinda Carlisle, Roxette and Icehouse were amongst my early faves... all of which I still like today.

 

Come on mate, those are wayyyy too cool - 'fess up, there must be some far more embarrassing guilty pleasures out there.

 

To my eternal shame, before Whitesnake 1987 led me on to no end of rock and metal awesomeness, I was listening to...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnjJoWf2FZA

 

I will never live that down!

 

I did actually listen to a bit of NWA and Geto Boys when I was in school, I must admit. More through my friends at the time and my youngest brother... but they were a presence.

[Fat Freddy]

none of us were born metal,, so what did you listen to before you went metal??

 

I wouldn't exactly say I was "born" metal, but it was pretty damn close.

 

My parents had a huge record collection so as a kid in the 70s I heard a little bit of everything - Dad was an Elvis/50s doo-wop/early country music fan, Mom was into the Beatles, Jim Croce, John Denver, Olivia Newton John, etc. The "Grease" soundtrack was HUGE in my house. Haha. Back then, though, I didn't pay much attention to any of it, my parents always had music playing but for me it was just background noise.

 

However, when MTV first went on the air in late '81, I was eleven years old, I had just started sixth grade and was becoming curious about so-called "popular" music - the first day I sat down to watch this newfangled "radio with pictures" channel, I saw the videos for "Headin' Out to the Highway" by Judas Priest and "Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio" by the Ramones, and I liked'em both. That was pretty much the start of it for me.

 

The first album (cassette) I owned was AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock," which I got for Christmas in 1981. For the next year or two I didn't really identify myself as a "metal head" yet. Some of the other cassettes my brother and I owned included works by Loverboy, Asia and the J. Geils Band (hey, "Centerfold" f*ckin' rocked! Haha). but I guess I made my decision when I heard Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" in '83 -- that was the first time I'd heard the term "bang your head" and saw a band that proudly proclaimed themselves as "metal," so I sez to myself "This is metal, huh? Then I guess I like metal."

 

The rest is history, as they say.

[Big D]

I was listening to 80s pop - Ultravox especially. (Still listen to that band by the way) My little brother was a metalhead so I got used to hearing Maiden, AC/DC. Ozzy. About 1987-8 I finally thought "The hell with it. Let's give this metal stuff a try."

Never looked back.

[Jeff]

Parents listened to Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, stuff like that on 8 track all day long, then they would listen to classic country music. I didn't know much better, didn't care that much either, too busy shooting stuff with my gun, climbing trees, etc.

 

Then one day we took a visit to the city to see my grandparents who had many channels of TV. This scrolling through I found a channel called MTV and a song by a little known to me band called Journey came on, Separate Ways (Worlds Apart). I HAD to hear this song again.

 

Later I finally discovered Musicland at the mall and cassettes! I wondered what the heck that thing was on the cover of Journey's Frontiers cassette. I bought it anyway, but a cool cover had to mean cool music, right?

 

Well, Duran Duran was my first favorite band as I saw the cover for Seven And The Ragged Tiger.

 

Before you know it I had a rack stereo system in my bedroom, trying to pull in Dr. Demento, etc on 93.7 out of the Twin Cities an hour and a half away from my upstairs bedroom in the farm house.

 

Then came along the cool album cover with this little kid smoking....1984. Later on I discovered the Headbangers Ball on MTV and didn't have to just buy a cassette based on the cover any more. And there you have it. The Duran Duran posters were moved aside for Iron Maiden, later Guns N Roses, etc. etc.....

[66 mustang]

this takes in a lot for me. of course mom and dad's 8-tracks we listen to in the car. a lot of mixed stuff dad did included a lot of 50's and 60's stuff. A TON of 70's radio classic country. when I first started to pick out my own stuff was when i would record stuff off radio onto cassette. of course it was a lot of 80's pop stuff. Liked Bon Jovi's Slippery album but wasn't till I seen Def Lep and Tesla and I got the Poison Open Up album that things started to shift for me. I think the first cassettes I bought were Springsteen's Born In The USA and Jovi's Slippery When Wet