How it all started....
So on this message board I'm on, the question was posed, How did you get into metal / heavy music?
And after I gave it thought and wrote this long thing about it, I decided I should repost what I wrote here, with some elaboration of course.....
I was in to Kiss early on, but I have to admit, I liked the theatrics, not the music. I thought their music sucked. Hell, I bought "Rock-N-Roll Over" because the cover art was cool....barely even listened to it.
But...heres the story...true fucking story people....
I was raised in 2 houses that played only Jazz and R&B (my moms) or Jazz, Blues and Gospel (my grandmothers). My Grandmother is John Lee Hooker's cousin, so you KNOW blues ruled the house.
Compound this by the fact that 8 years of my early life were spent on Army bases in Europe, where the only English speaking radio you heard was the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio & Television Service), think "Good Morning Vietnam", and I really wasnt all that in to music. AFRTS, even then, played loads of "oldies" and jazz and shit like Benny Goodman....yeah, even in the 80's...but there wasnt much else to listen to. So sure, I liked blues and jazz, but I wasnt manic about it....
Then, when I was in 6th grade, living in Germany, I got a massive massive massive crush on a girl who was a year older than me. Our mothers worked together and were close friends, so I spent loads of time at her house, and like any geeky, skinny, shy little 6th grade fucktard, I didnt have the slightest clue how to talk to her.
One day, while her mother and my mother were having coffee or some such, and she was off in her room being all moody like 7th grade girls will do, I got up the nerve to say something....anything... to let her know I existed.
I walked up to her bedroom door and knocked and when she opened I had this really cool kick ass wonderful thing I was going to say to make her realize I was so cool she just had to kiss me....
...and then I heard this noise.
This wonderful, great, sweet, amazing, OhMyFuckingGod noise...and instead of the really cool kick ass wonderful thing I was going to say, I instead said, "Wow! What is THAT?"
"Thats 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC", she said. And she invited me in to listen.
After that, she played the debut album by this new British band, called, for some strange reason, 'Iron Maiden', and I was HOOKED. Totally hooked. I devoured all the metal, rock and hard rock I could find.
A little over a year later, I saw Iron Maiden live there in Germany.
We just met up again, online, a couple of years back, this special girl and I. Both all grown up, shes got a boy in college, and I have my own little son.
And I thanked her.
I thanked her for giving me metal and so much more.
She introduced me to ACDC, Iron Maiden, The Police and Judas Priest. And in my mind, she gave me MUSIC.
And for THAT, I'm eternally grateful.
So on this message board I'm on, the question was posed, How did you get into metal / heavy music?
And after I gave it thought and wrote this long thing about it, I decided I should repost what I wrote here, with some elaboration of course.....
I was in to Kiss early on, but I have to admit, I liked the theatrics, not the music. I thought their music sucked. Hell, I bought "Rock-N-Roll Over" because the cover art was cool....barely even listened to it.
But...heres the story...true fucking story people....
I was raised in 2 houses that played only Jazz and R&B (my moms) or Jazz, Blues and Gospel (my grandmothers). My Grandmother is John Lee Hooker's cousin, so you KNOW blues ruled the house.
Compound this by the fact that 8 years of my early life were spent on Army bases in Europe, where the only English speaking radio you heard was the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio & Television Service), think "Good Morning Vietnam", and I really wasnt all that in to music. AFRTS, even then, played loads of "oldies" and jazz and shit like Benny Goodman....yeah, even in the 80's...but there wasnt much else to listen to. So sure, I liked blues and jazz, but I wasnt manic about it....
Then, when I was in 6th grade, living in Germany, I got a massive massive massive crush on a girl who was a year older than me. Our mothers worked together and were close friends, so I spent loads of time at her house, and like any geeky, skinny, shy little 6th grade fucktard, I didnt have the slightest clue how to talk to her.
One day, while her mother and my mother were having coffee or some such, and she was off in her room being all moody like 7th grade girls will do, I got up the nerve to say something....anything... to let her know I existed.
I walked up to her bedroom door and knocked and when she opened I had this really cool kick ass wonderful thing I was going to say to make her realize I was so cool she just had to kiss me....
...and then I heard this noise.
This wonderful, great, sweet, amazing, OhMyFuckingGod noise...and instead of the really cool kick ass wonderful thing I was going to say, I instead said, "Wow! What is THAT?"
"Thats 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC", she said. And she invited me in to listen.
After that, she played the debut album by this new British band, called, for some strange reason, 'Iron Maiden', and I was HOOKED. Totally hooked. I devoured all the metal, rock and hard rock I could find.
A little over a year later, I saw Iron Maiden live there in Germany.
We just met up again, online, a couple of years back, this special girl and I. Both all grown up, shes got a boy in college, and I have my own little son.
And I thanked her.
I thanked her for giving me metal and so much more.
She introduced me to ACDC, Iron Maiden, The Police and Judas Priest. And in my mind, she gave me MUSIC.
And for THAT, I'm eternally grateful.
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That was... 84ish? I was 8'esque.