Reading the 'Old People thread' and the posts by Stryker & Dark Horse got me thinking that we need an official Heavy Metal thread (we can also add in 'Hard Rock' in here as there may be some crossing-over) - Depending on your age, I suppose some Punk cross-over would apply and though it's not really my thing, the Metal variations like Death\Black Metal and Glam if you like...
My introduction to Heavy Metal was through my older sister who took me to my first concert at some point around 1976 (Alice Cooper), I have no memory of the actual music other than being on peoples shoulders so I could watch (I would have been about 8) but I definitely remember the 'show'!
I got more into the music by 1982\1983 when I discovered Manowar, Judas Priest & Iron Maiden, thinking back I suppose that year (1982-1983) was a huge push for Metal with pivotal albums (yes I had the albums) by those bands, throw in Venom that had some wild Punk-Metal cross-over thing happening called 'Black Metal' and some 'new' sound from a band called Metallica.
Thanks to my sister and her friends I had a wide exposure to concert going, later on I had friends more around my age and more importantly driving age so we were able to hit numerous concerts.
I suppose it was helpful that we were in the central NJ area with so many venues around us...
We had NYC for a long haul if needed; L'Amour, Ritz\Studio54 & MSG (I went to CBGB but not for a concert), but Philly & NJ was our main-stay.
In Philly you had the Spectrum for the big shows, the Tower Theater for the mid-range shows\bands and then clubs like The Empire, Theater of the Living Arts (TLA) on South Street (still open!) and some others that I can't recall.
In NJ it was all clubs; the Satellite club was near us so that was our regular spot, City Gardens was in Trenton so not too far away, it was mostly a Punk club but had Metal there at times as well and though at that time there was a clear spilt from Punk to Metal music I had friends in both camps so I didn't care who I went with and who we saw (though oddly the only real Punk band I can recall seeing live was the Cro-Mags) I can't remember any of the others. The thing about City Gardens is that it was smack deep in an African-American neighborhood, the Metal crowd was a bit more subdued but when going with the Punk crowd, they were definitely more confrontational and I can remember several big fights in the parking lot with the locals, after it was over everyone would just go back to what they were doing and we'd head into the club! Oh yeah there was a club in Asbury Park as well but I can't remember what it was called.
Thinking back when I thought about writing this I went through my head thinking about the shows I've seen and yeah, it's a lot but here are some of my favorite memories;
These would be in no particular order but I suppose these first three are my favorite bands given I've seen them most often;
#1 is Manowar - I saw them for the Fighting the World tour, twice for the Kings of Metal tour and twice for the Triumph of Steel tour, but my best memory is during the KOM tour and in Philly (I think it was the Empire club), me and my friends got there early and on the billboard was 'Man-O-War', we saw a guy outside and told him about how it should just be one word and he thanks us and tells us the band is inside rehearsing why don't you just go in early and hang a bit - didn't have to tell us again - we head in and sure enough they are up on stage rehearsing and just some people milling around, afterwards it was very casual and so we went up and talked to Scott & Ross, they were way cool! Joey and Eric were doing their own thing so I never got to meet them but I was a member of their fan-club and on night Joey and Eric called me out of the blue just to say 'hey' and we talked for about 15 minutes, I told them about that story, they thought it was funny but they said they were more interested if I had any pictures of my girlfriend naked that I could mail them. So that connection there will always keep them #1 to me - As far as them being the 'loudest band in the world', yeah they definitely were in my book, I mean we're talking about 2-3 days after the concerts of just hearing a low hum. Now days when my wife when she tells me that my hearing is going bad, I just remind her how many Metal shows I've been to and five of those were Manowar, so yeah, of course it's bad!
#2 is Iron Maiden - Hearing Number of the Beast & Piece of Mind albums back to back (1982\1983), I mean they were just on another level! I saw them first for Piece of Mind tour, then again for Powerslave (this tour became the Live After Death album), Somewhere in Time, No Prayer for Dying and then there were a few co-headlining tours. These were all at the Spectum as expected for a band of their stature except for the last time I saw them in 2005 (maybe 2006?) was in Camden NJ at the Camden Waterfront.
#3 is Judas Priest - British Steel\POE was ok to me (I didn't like any of their earlier rock stuff) but Screaming for Vengeance was like a hit to the head! I wasn't able to see them on that tour but I did see them for Defenders of the Faith, Turbo (and yes I absolutely loved this album I don't care what anyone said at the time), Ram it Down & Painkiller twice + a later tour they were co-headlining with Alice Cooper. As with Maiden these were all at the Spectrum\NYC (MSG) as expected of a band their stature.
The rest of the bands I've seen & enjoyed (there are some I like and I am probably forgetting a lot I saw and not mentioning as I wasn't really there to see them but they were 'there')
Helloween, Armored Saint, Megadeth, Doro, WASP, Metal Church, King Diamond, The Mentors (uh, absolutely hilarious and totally offensive!), oh yeah GWAR too, though I remember more of the show than of the music
Motorhead - Oddly I likely have seen them a lot as they opened for a lot of the bands I listed.
Metallica - I saw them open - yes open - for Raven on the "Kill Em' All for One" tour in 1983 (I was there to see Raven LOL!) but yeah Metallica were noticeably on another level. Never saw them live again (though I did end up seeing Raven again as an opener at a later concert!), I liked RTL and MOP a lot but the next one (And Justice??) I thought lost a lot of the sound I liked on the earlier stuff.
Slayer - Saw them a few times as opener\mid-cards and though I can't say it's really my taste, I do like a few early songs, I will say the crowd was wild for them and they shred for sure!
Venom - I liked their raw cross-over sound (though probably the least talented group on this list) they were outstanding live though, saw them twice in NYC (the Ritz\Studio 54) and once again later in 1990 in Philly with the revamped band line-up.
Hellion - Regrettably I only saw them once, I suppose as they were more an LA band - but my goodness, not only did I like them musically but Ann Boleyn was a total smoke-show, I'll never forget being right up against the stage looking up at her the whole time as she's singing, that's literally the only thing I remember about that night, I was completely ga-ga over her.
A couple I never saw but really wished I had; Exciter (sad, sad face on this one, though shockingly they still tour occasionally so who knows) & Accept\UDO! [Reply]
Back in 1986, some of my friends were going on and on about seeing Metallica live. They had opened for Ozzy Osborne.
I decided to go to a local record store and pick out 3 random heavy metal albums (cassettes), just to see what the fuss was about. Prior to that, that hardest music I listened to was AC/DC.
One of my choices had to be Metallica, so I picked "Master of Puppets" because it was their newest release. Right next to that was another metal album with cool cover art from a band with an awesome name. It turned out to be "Peace Sells" by Megadeth. Sticking with the 'M' section, I grabbed "The Dark" by Metal Church, again based solely on the cover art and band name. I still enjoy those albums to this day.
Those choices were pure fucking luck, but I was hooked after that. A couple weeks later, i bought "Reign In Blood" by Slayer. [Reply]
About 11 years ago The Poz started a Stoner / Doom Metal thread that was imo, excellent, and people posted up a lot of awesome music over the years -- and then it just stopped.
Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush:
I grabbed "The Dark" by Metal Church, again based solely on the cover art and band name.
I have no idea how they didn't make it bigger, they were great live and the songs were outstanding. Maybe not to the Metallica level but they definitely should have been about the Megadeth level for sure. Must have been some band shake-ups or something like that derailed them?
Also Armored Saint after seeing them and hearing them I would have sworn would have hit it big - Funny thing, I saw Helloween open (who did make it big but in Europe) for Armored Saint and they both opened for Grim Reaper! I remember thinking that shouldn't Grim Reaper be opening for those two bands instead!? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Cheater5:
About 11 years ago The Poz started a Stoner / Doom Metal thread that was imo, excellent
Admittedly, my tastes are pretty limited to what I posted but there's always room for everything under the umbrella.
One of my friends at the time started getting more into Death Metal (late 80's or so), he'd play it for me and I'd tell him that I couldn't understand a word he was saying! Now days my daughter when hearing any of my more tame Metal playing tells me she can't understand a word they are saying! So it's all perspective I suppose! [Reply]
Oh, I forgot 'Thor', that was in a small club that I remember seemed smaller than the usual, seemed like a large bar. Anyway it was pretty good, he bent a sword in his mouth!
And another regret not seeing; Running Wild - though I'm not sure if they ever even did tour here in the states? I mean it wasn't like going to the internet to see upcoming tours, you either heard it through word-of-mouth, in the newspaper or through the radio for the bigger bands. [Reply]
Originally Posted by kpic:
I have no idea how they didn't make it bigger, they were great live and the songs were outstanding. Maybe not to the Metallica level but they definitely should have been about the Megadeth level for sure. Must have been some band shake-ups or something like that derailed them?
Their first two albums are classics imo. When the original lead singer left, they kinda went downhill. What a shame. [Reply]
My Metal journey started with Iron Maiden when I was about 11 years old. A friend of mine had the Killers album and the new Number of the Beast album had just come out. We lived in Spain at the time. I saved my 1 dollar a week allowance (100 pesetas more or less) and after 4 weeks bought Number of the Beast on vinyl...my mom freaked out when she saw the album cover, but somehow, my folks never really stopped me from listening.
And I was hooked. Moved on to ACDC, Alice Cooper (my fucking hero that guy) Judas Priest, Megadeth (oddly before Metallica) then on to the likes of Anthrax, Helloween and Armored Saint. Later came Testament and such...I never really liked Slayer, but my buddies did. Of course the metal train came to a stop for me after Pantera Vulgar Display of Power. God married, had kids at a very young age, and new music ceased to be a huge import to my life. I was (and still am) in a band, but I don't really know much new music at all...I guess I'm stuck in the 80's...which ain't a bad place to be... [Reply]
I feel I was a few years too young to have much exposure to early 80s heavy metal. I was more introduced to mid/late 80s punk and thrash then the evolution of both into 90s death metal.
I think I've shared this story before but as some of you may have also experienced back in day, a lot of the decision making process into picking out an album was the artwork, at least for me anyway.
I was blown away by Grim Reapers artwork and picked up a copy of something, probably Rock You To Hell, thinking it was going to be the heaviest shit ever recorded and then being so disappointed when I heard how tame it was. Same with Helloween but I actually learned to appreciate them and jammed a couple of their albums quite a bit.
That's not a knock on them by any means just a humorous, to me, look back at the strategy of buying albums before the internet and how awesome metal album artwork was and still is.
Surely there's a museum out there, in like a Toledo OH or someplace similar, with a metal album artwork exhibit. [Reply]
Originally Posted by AdolfOliverBush:
Are any of you old metalheads into newer stuff? For me Gojira, Lamb of God, and Meshuggah are go-tos.
Gojira is probably the best "modern" metal band from a purely talent stand point. They put on an absolutely amazing show at The Cotillion recently. Their stuff runs from death metal to progressive metal. Just an amazing band. Love how they continually evolve their sound, but you know it is Gojira regardless of album/song when you hear it.
I've never been able to get into Lamb of God or Meshuggah. Both are talented bands, just something misses for me. [Reply]