My musical beginnings in metal

A few people have been posting some music stuff lately that has made me go back to my roots and listen to some metal and I thought I would jump on board. I want to be clear though and explain that this, what I am about to show you is not necessarily what i listen to now (I would though) but it was what I experienced when I was in high school in the early 90's that shaped what type of music I believe I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

Chris Rock said it in a stand-up comedy special years ago (it was probably 20 years ago) when he said "the music you were into at the time you first got laid, is the music you are going to be into for the rest of your life."

It's been true so far (for me) and I have no intention of ever changing that because, well, i really like it and even as I get older I don't think that will change. I don't expect most people to be capable of relating to this, but when I meet someone who does we normally hit it off very well because this type of music, while reasonably popular can not, nor will it ever be, considered mainstream .... and that is just fine with me.

Obituary

_{Obituary.. where it all began for me}

Most people go down a path of musical taste built on who they happened to be hanging out with at the time and for me that is absolutely true. I had a group of friends introduce me to really hardcore metal (or at least it was considered as such at the time,) between the years of 90-94. Obituary was one of the first bands I was introduced to and at first my reaction was the same as really anyone's would be in the way of "what the F**K is that?" But this quickly changed as I started to appreciate the aggression, the fact that you weren't supposed to understand the lyrics and later because singing and playing this sort of music is actually a skill possessed by very few people.

This particular song called "Inside Out" holds a special place in my heart because at the tender age of 16 I went to Brandywine, Maryland in a van with half a dozen people for what was meant to be a massive outdoor death metal festival. If there were 100 people there at the end I would be surprised. This was the song that Obituary opened up with (they were the headliners) and when the song started, singer John Tardy was not on stage and the band did an extended intro while we made as good of a mosh pit as we could in front of the stage only to realize when the vocals started that John Tardy was in the pit with us!

To others this might seem like a silly wonderful memory to have about your favorite type of music, but I have loved this song ever since because of that day in the damn-near-empty field in whogivesashit, Maryland. I'm quite certain the promoters lost a ton of money on this festival.

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Sepultura

If you were a metal fan in the 90's you probably at least had a friend who talked to you about a Brazilian band called Sepultura. For them to reach the states in an industry that barely existed was a miracle because the metal bands in the states that weren't Metallica or Megadeth were barely known at that time.

I had to order my copy of the album Arise from a local record store out of a catalogue, made of paper, and the guy called someone and they mailed it to the shop. It took 2 weeks. That was life in the 90s folks! There was no internet!

Sepultura still exists today but for legal reasons that I am not going to get into, none of the original members actually are in the band. It's strange and well, whatever. I loved these guys and even though you can barely understand the lyrics and at the time the singer Max Cavalera barely spoke English anyway, I knew all the lyrics to these songs.

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Fear Factory

You know how we have a ton of bands today that have clean vocals and also not-so-clean vocals? I would imagine that these are quite common now as it seems that lots of bands are trying to capitalize on multiple markets. But when Fear Factory did this There was not metal market for the most part but they did it anyway.

Fear Factory played with Obituary at that same "not attended by anyone" festival that I attended in Brandywine, Maryland when I was 16 and they were absolutely incredible live. The above song is called Martyr and if anyone knows anything by FF it is probably this song.

The crazy thing about the gig I attended in Maryland is that Burton Bell, the lead singer of Fear Factory filled in on drums as well as doing all the vocals for the gig because the drummer was unavailable for some reason. That was so impressive to me then, and it still is now.

Seeing Fear Factory today live is quite funny because well, they are old, they are fat as hell, and they still rock as good as they ever did.

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So that is my musical beginnings that has lead me to like all the music that I still like to this day. We all started somewhere and for me, this is where I began. I'm not at all ashamed and I loved this music then, I like it now, and if I am fortunate enough to make it 70 or 80 years of age, I will love it then to.

So if you are younger than I am, hopefully you will help me to the front of the pit at the Wacken music festival in 2040!