FORMER METAL HEADS

I used to be a major metal head. Started in around 83' when I was 11. Went from "quiet Riot" (I was 11 OK) to Motley Crue and Def Leppard. At 14 I discoverd Iron Maiden, and Judas priest. During all these times I thought I was listning to the heaviest stuff there was. Then in 86' I started to immerse myself in speed/thrash metal, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Exodus, Overkill etc. After a few years of this I went on to punk mainly because of the lyrics.

I can't remember where I first heard prog. I think my brother turned me on to it. HE was a big Rush head. I started first with bands like fates warning and dream theater and then went backwards. In 1995 I met Ed Macan the author of Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture. We formed Hermetic Science with Don Sweeney and recorded an album in 96.

Michael

Thrash / Deathspeed Metal is good when you're in a certain mood.

However, just like Pavlov's dogs...I get wood when I hear the Wife put on her soppy trash.....Coz I knoiw whats coming next................

Yup, i think a lot of us were brought to prog via metal. I was about 12 when I heard AC/DC and bought the whole shootin' match full on Zep, Sabs, Purple, Rainbow, Maiden, Leppard, Diamond Head, Saxon (oh dear), Tank, etc etc etc. I was a complete nerd for it, walls covered in pages snipped from Kerrang.

But I guess my coming of age was hearing Rush's Spirit of Radio. It was less routine, less formulaic and more interesting than most metal. Around the same time Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers was out and I loved that too. Then I heard my cousin's copy of DSOTM and that was it..... I bought all the Rush, then heard Yes's Run Through the Light on the radio when it was released and started looking into them. My broither's friend from New York brought us a load of Kansas records around 1980 too. The difficulty of finding a lot of the stuff made it seem like the holy grail to me. It was mysterious, arcane and my own, nobody else was into this sh*t. I had a secret love. It was cool.

I got incredibly bored with metal. It just seemed incredibly adolescent and I sold almost all of it, with the exception of the prog-flavoured stuff and Zeppelin.

All the while I was listening to metal and prog I was also tuning into the Pistols, PIL, Dead Kennedys, as well as pop new wave like the Pretenders, Elvis Costello, The Police, Blondie etc and other stuff like that so my metal lps were repleced by Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, New Order, The Smiths, Cure etc.

But i always came back to the prog and as I head towards the years doomed to be swamped in nostalgia I've been repurchasing some of my fave hard rock/metal record - Purple/Rainbow/Triumph/AC-DC/early Def Leppard/early Maien/Diamond Head etc. It's wonderful fun music.

I never really got thrash/death/speed whatever metal, even thought Motorhead were the first band i ever saw. I do like Metallica (And justice for all.. and the black album) but that's as far as I go.

As for the modern stuff. I just can't stand it. I'm old, it's just noise to me.

Certif1ed wrote: Joren wrote: I used to be a real metalhead, but about a year ago I discovered prog (Zappa, Tull, Crimson). As a metalhead, my favourite bands were: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Grave Digger, Raven, Saxon, Metallica, Megadeth (My favourite genre was New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. I never felt much for death metal or thrash metal.) Raven were a great band, but "bought the shark" after "All For One". ...I always thought Metallica/Megadeth invented thrash...   HEY!!! The Clown's back!!

Let's say Metallica's and Megadeth's first albums were "proto-thrash"  I didn't really enjoy the other thrash that came after that (Anthrax, for example). And Metallica and Megadeth soon got into speed metal, a lot less chaotic than thrash.

I know where you're coming from arcer - it does the same to me, on the whole. I normally find that when I listen to a prog metal album, I'm just hearing "Master of Puppets" revisited - it's hard to believe that it's nearly 20 years old!

joren I know what you mean about the storm of thrash bands that followed hot on the heels of Metallica - I find it hard to differentiate between the various forms of Metal, and prefer the single term thrash as an umbrella term. I saw Metallica with Anthrax in support in September 1986 - a month before Cliff Burton tragically died in that coach crash. It blew me away - I just couldn't believe those guys playing music of that complexity at that speed, it was completely new. I saw Slayer a month or two later, and Kreator, with Death as support act shortly after that. All those bands were amazing - but a bit wearying after a while.

Anthrax at least had a sense of humour - "Spreading the Disease" is probably their best album, especially the track "Gung-Ho", but the rest are patchy to say the least. Slayer's "Reign in Blood" lives on as a landmark of what thrash metal can be - never mind Napalm Death, who were silly (genius, but ultimately silly and unlistenable). I also liked Helloween's "Walls of Jericho", which had real potential - the trouble seemed to be that no-one wanted to be accused of taking themselves seriously (which most did), and tried erroneously to develop a sense of humour a la Anthrax. The only band that really succeeded, IMO, was Lawnmower Death. Their album "Ooh Crikey! It's Lawnmower Death" is a classic!

What Metallica and Megadeth produced in 1983/4 was definitely thrash, due to the style of playing - I don't know what "Thrash" as a separate genre is supposed to sound like, but any metal band that produces a riff by thrashing (Whiplash, Metal Militia, Fight Fire with Fire, Damage Inc./ Rattlehead, Mechanix, Peace Sells But Who's Buying) writes thrash metal in my book.

But none of that is prog metal

Certif1ed wrote: I know where you're coming from arcer - it does the same to me, on the whole. I normally find that when I listen to a prog metal album, I'm just hearing "Master of Puppets" revisited - it's hard to believe that it's nearly 20 years old! joren I know what you mean about the storm of thrash bands that followed hot on the heels of Metallica - I find it hard to differentiate between the various forms of Metal, and prefer the single term thrash as an umbrella term. I saw Metallica with Anthrax in support in September 1986 - a month before Cliff Burton tragically died in that coach crash. It blew me away - I just couldn't believe those guys playing music of that complexity at that speed, it was completely new. I saw Slayer a month or two later, and Kreator, with Death as support act shortly after that. All those bands were amazing - but a bit wearying after a while. Anthrax at least had a sense of humour - "Spreading the Disease" is probably their best album, especially the track "Gung-Ho", but the rest are patchy to say the least. Slayer's "Reign in Blood" lives on as a landmark of what thrash metal can be - never mind Napalm Death, who were silly (genius, but ultimately silly and unlistenable). I also liked Helloween's "Walls of Jericho", which had real potential - the trouble seemed to be that no-one wanted to be accused of taking themselves seriously (which most did), and tried erroneously to develop a sense of humour a la Anthrax. The only band that really succeeded, IMO, was Lawnmower Death. Their album "Ooh Crikey! It's Lawnmower Death" is a classic! What Metallica and Megadeth produced in 1983/4 was definitely thrash, due to the style of playing - I don't know what "Thrash" as a separate genre is supposed to sound like, but any metal band that produces a riff by thrashing (Whiplash, Metal Militia, Fight Fire with Fire, Damage Inc./ Rattlehead, Mechanix, Peace Sells But Who's Buying) writes thrash metal in my book. But none of that is prog metal

To me, the first prog metal album is Mercyful fate - Melissa