What got you into Metal/Rock?

Simple question.

What turned you to rock and away from mainstream radio and it's pop overload?

For me it's a combination of Def Leppard on the UK TV show 'No Limit's', Kiss single Crazy, Crazy Nights on Top of the Pops and mys best mates dad blasting Sabbath, Purple, Boston etc on his stereo. From then on it was all downhill and has been for about 24 years...

How about you?

Good one Pete...

For me, was my dad constantly playing AC/DC "If you want blood"...I was 10 years old listening to Madness & Bad Manners thinking that was music!. Thank god for DC!!



Matty..

The first single I bought was Chicory Tip - Son of my Father in 1972? then went on to get into the usual early
British glam bands i.e Sweet, T.Rex, Slade, Mott the Hoople etc.. Then I saw Alice Cooper on Top of the Pops
and a huge light bulb went off in my head ! From that I started to watch a programme called the
Old Grey Whistle Test and the world was my oyster ! I also meet up with some guys at school who were
into all the heavier British rock bands like Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep.
Getting a saturday job meant that I could also spend money on my own discoveries, which is when I found
out about music from across the Ocean. I started listening to Aerosmith, Styx, Rush, Ted Nugent, Kansas,
New York Dolls, Boston, Starz, Angel.. etc ......and of course the band that literally changed my life KISS !

Metal/ Rock is my main genre but I do listen to all kinds of music and try to keep up with what's new in the world.

I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!!! I gotta think about this. I shall return..

Marty wrote:

I LOVE THIS QUESTION!!!!! I gotta think about this. I shall return..

We'll be here.....

'Scope

UPSCOPE LOVES THIS QUESTION!!!!! He's gotta think about this. He shall return..

'Scope

Ok being the youngest of 6 kids and the oldest being 20 years older than me. All my siblings loved music and had different styles. Which was very cool for me because I got to sample everything. Plus my folks were musicians so that influenced my love of live music even more.

I would have to credit my Brother Brian who to me is the COOLEST Babysitter I ever had. He turned me on to ALICE COOPER when I was 8 years old then PINK FLOYD when I was 9.

I also have to credit my sister she got me started on Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath AT an early age. She made me an 8-track tape in 7th grade that included Zeppelin, Grand Funk, Yes, Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, & Uriah Heep. Then I turned all my friends on to it and I was the big hero for a month. People to this day tell me they think of me when they hear Led Zeppelin especially Stairway to heaven I use to open up the garage door and Crank the music real loud. All my friends would come over and hang out!! I loved being the DJ and MC. Good memories!!

'Scope wrote:

UPSCOPE LOVES THIS QUESTION!!!!! He's gotta think about this. He shall return..

'Scope

I had to go back in time...that takes me awhile at my age...

Chrissy wrote:

Marty wrote:

Ok being the youngest of 6 kids and the oldest being 20 years older than me. All my siblings loved music and had different styles. Which was very cool for me because I got to sample everything. Plus my folks were musicians so that influenced my love of live music even more.

I would have to credit my Brother Brian who to me is the COOLEST Babysitter I ever had. He turned me on to ALICE COOPER when I was 8 years old then PINK FLOYD when I was 9.

I also have to credit my sister she got me started on Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath AT an early age. She made me an 8-track tape in 7th grade that included Zeppelin, Grand Funk, Yes, Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, & Uriah Heep. Then I turned all my friends on to it and I was the big hero for a month. People to this day tell me they think of me when they hear Led Zeppelin especially Stairway to heaven I use to open up the garage door and Crank the music real loud. All my friends would come over and hang out!! I loved being the DJ and MC. Good memories!!

thats really cool....
I am still trying to figure mine out....

I know those influences sometimes go unforgotten...Now is the time to give them credit!! wooohoooo

For Upscope it was probably a combination of his sister & MTV. Sis is 3 years older & used to listen to music. She was into stuff like Loverboy, Duran Duran & J Giles band. Upscope used to listen to her records when she wasn't around. These bands had a few decent tunes (Upscope has a "Guilty Pleasure' for the song 'Centerfold' by J Giles). But the one record that she had that really caught Upscope's attention was Ozzy's 'Blizzard Of Oz!'

One day Sis brought a new record home but she didn't like it so she gave it to Upscope & he thought it was the coolest thing he had ever heard. The record was Ratt's EP. This was right around the birth of MTV & Def Leppard was getting a lot of play. From there Upscope just kind of spawned off. Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Scorpions......ect. ect. It wasn't too much later when Ratt's 'Round & Round' debuted on MTV & it was all over with then. The very next day Upscope hopped on his moped & headed to Gold Circle to buy 'Out Of The Cellar'......While looking at the cassettes Upscope came across another one that looked kinda interesting. It was Motley Crue's 'Shout At The Devil'....He gave it a shot. For the next 12 months Upscope's head phones didn't leave his ears. He rotated between 'Out Of The Cellar' & 'Shout At The Devil'........& the rest is as they say HISTORY!!!

'Scope

For me I think it was like UPscopes....MTV.......all the hair bands started coming around and I was hooked. I remember my first HUGE crush on a hair band was Bon Jovi.
My brother who is 8 yrs older then I was deep, deep, DEEP into Aerosmith, KISS, (I went as Peter Criss one year for Halloween!) Sabbath etc in the 70's, so thats when I first was exposed to it. I didnt really get into til I was in 8th grade...around '83'84....
My sister was a major fan of Queen, so everyone in the house was made to listen to that. Which wasnt bad at all...there were no complaints.

Quite simply my older brother and his mates. I was happily listening to Gary Glitter (how the mighty have fallen), The Glitter Band (still a mighty band), Sweet, T-Rex, Slade and the like, mainly on TOTP, and liking it - my bro and his mates were listening to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Zeppelin and the like.

As I mentioned in some other post I first heard Sabbaths 'Paranoid' album and, apparently, disliked it. I can't recall this tho. No doubt too much for a 6/7 years old ears! When I heard it again I loved it! Alledgedly about 6 months after the first listening according to my brother. And that was it. I started listening to all my bro's & his mates albums and grew to really like what I was hearing...along with the pop stuff I was still into! (No doubt why I still like rock & some pop bands to this day!!).

From there it progressed into a full blown love affair, especially after I first saw a live band (Queen '75). That was a major turning point. Was well into Sabbath by now. Started going to gigs (Rainbow/U. Heep/Sabbath etc) Then in April '76 discovered KISS. And that was it!!

KISS Alive! changed my life! Found I like American bands more than most of the UK bands and got into Aerosmith, VH, Angel, Starz, Journey and the like and just progressed from their.

Man, was that a trip down memory lane...

Well, I credit my older brother, who is 5 years older than me, for getting me into bands like Kiss, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Def Leppard (On Through The Night album), and stuff like that. Then as a middle schooler, I kinda got sidetracked with break dancing, although I was still really into Def Leppard and Quiet Riot. One day, though, I sort of stepped back and thought how stupid I was for trying to fit in to the whole break dancing thing. It was ridiculous! So a couple friends of mine show me this new band Motley Crue. Whoa! These guys make killer music and look insane! Almost Kiss-like. I was hooked. I'm watching MTV to catch Too Young To Fall in Love, and I see Round and Round by Ratt. That was all it took. My mom bought me a guitar, my brother and a friend gave me some pointers, and I was off. Been a metalhead since.

What got me into metal music. Rock and roll has always been around me from the beginning. My parents liked good all american rock music. As neighbor kids we all enjoyed the same as well with Boston, Steve Miller band, Doobie brothers, Journey etc.. As we got a little older some of the other older kids started listening to Van Halen and Queen, Supertramp ...I have an older life long friend who introduced me to Ac/Dc, motley crew and Kiss and I was hooked. Us festival at 13 sealed the deal started seeing bands like Ratt, def Lep. and it was just the best thing I had ever heard. Something about guys with long hair was just amazing but I liked the hard core guys who liked Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. It was Judas Priest that really sent me into a point of no return. Now while I enjoy all forms of music I still love metal till this day...now my kids do so let it continue..

For you US guys and gal's MTV seems to play a major part. Here in the UK we had no such thing and getting to see rock/metal on the telly was tantamount to getting blood from a stone.

All I can say is thank god for my mate's Dad and his record collection otherwise right now I'd probably be listening to Cliff Richard...

Marty wrote:

'Scope wrote:

UPSCOPE LOVES THIS QUESTION!!!!! He's gotta think about this. He shall return..

'Scope

I had to go back in time...that takes me awhile at my age...

Surely it doesn't take that long at 25?

Pete wrote:

For you US guys and gal's MTV seems to play a major part. Here in the UK we had no such thing and getting to see rock/metal on the telly was tantamount to getting blood from a stone.

All I can say is thank god for my mate's Dad and his record collection otherwise right now I'd probably be listening to Cliff Richard...

That it does! Never realised how much influence MTV really had. No wonder bands ended up pandering to them and tried to keep in their good books, editing videos and trying not to be too offensive.

It would seem that MTV was the prime way of getting getting your break along with exposure and picking up fans.

As Pete said, that was never the case over here. Rock mags, friends and radio (to a small degree as there were no rock stations back in the 80's just a few, and I mean 'FEW' rock shows on the radio!) were the main way to find out about bands.

Interesting difference that.

Pete wrote:

Marty wrote:

'Scope wrote:

UPSCOPE LOVES THIS QUESTION!!!!! He's gotta think about this. He shall return..

'Scope

I had to go back in time...that takes me awhile at my age...

Surely it doesn't take that long at 25?

wooohoooooooooo that made my day!!!

I guess my Metal/Rock roots were planted early without even realizing it until later.

My mom and dad listened to a variety of things, some of it being rock. One of my aunts used to listen to a lot of rock too... Steve Miller Band, Kiss, Lynard Skynnard, Frampton, Heart, Hendrix, Joplin... the list goes on. Also, I have a cousin that's about 6-8 years older than I am and she was a big Sammy Hagar/Montrose fan. I've been a Sammy fan ever since I first heard the song "Red".

The next band to catch my attention a short time later was Aerosmith. You fellas across the pond will laugh at this one, but when I saw their cameo in the god-awful flick "Sgt. Peppers" covering "Come Together" I was awestruck! I thought the song was amazing! I had no idea at the time it was a cover! LOL!! My mom got me the soundtrack and I would play that song over, and over, and over again. My aunt (the one I mention above) found her copy of the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers album and let me listen to it and I loved it. It made me appreciate the Beatles quite a bit.

MTV definitely played a role as well. The cable company where I lived didn't offer it, but my grandmother was able to get it at her house. Every time I'd go visit, I would run downstairs and change the channel as soon as I could. Even if there was a huge family gathering going on, nothing could tear me away from the TV set! Being able to see music videos in their infancy, and be able to put a face with a name was a bonus! Not only did I develop a bigger love for Rock/Metal, but I discovered Duran Duran and had a very long "fling" with them too!

Pete wrote:

Surely it doesn't take that long at 25?

X2........

'Scope

MTV not only played a major part....it was a game changer. Every kid in school was talking about MTV & their luv for this band & that band & it was all because of the exposure that MTV offered.

Upscope was so sick that he would literally RUN home from school to get to the TV. The rotation was very similar & you could pinpoint precisely when certain videos would be played. Upscope mastered the schedule so he knew exactly when 'Round & Round' & 'Wanted Man' was going to be played. In fact Upscope was so sick that he sat with a pad & paper & wrote down every song & artist that was played in order. He would do this from after school until bed time NOT MISSING ONE SONG If he had to do something he timed it by starting at the beginning of a song & returning at the end of the next song. This gave him about a 7-8 minute window. This way he didn't miss a song.

This went on for literally months & Upscope still has that pad of paper somewhere & would love to take a gander at it now days??

MTV was a sickness for many kids in the States!!

'Scope

kokeakola wrote:

Then as a middle schooler, I kinda got sidetracked with break dancing, although I was still really into Def Leppard and Quiet Riot. One day, though, I sort of stepped back and thought how stupid I was for trying to fit in to the whole break dancing thing. It was ridiculous!

Koke was into 'Break Dancing'




Bet you had the 'Parachute Pants' & all???

'Scope

'Scope wrote:

kokeakola wrote:

Then as a middle schooler, I kinda got sidetracked with break dancing, although I was still really into Def Leppard and Quiet Riot. One day, though, I sort of stepped back and thought how stupid I was for trying to fit in to the whole break dancing thing. It was ridiculous!

Koke was into 'Break Dancing'




Bet you had the 'Parachute Pants' & all???

'Scope

I did! I wore black parachute pants and a British flag shirt like Joe Elliott of Def Leppard! No shit!

What a visual.....Upscope would pay for a pic of that??

'Scope