How did you all get started?

Alright, everyone! Metalheads, rockers, punks, funk lovers, techno freaks, rappers, and whoever else is lurking here! This thread is for you to share the story of how you first fell down the rabbit hole of your favorite genre.

Was it something you heard about online? Did someone finally give you a solid recommendation? Or maybe you just caught a random track playing somewhere and it stuck in your head? Tell us which singers or bands were your gateway drugs, and who holds the top spot in your playlist today.

For me, it went down like this. I walked over to a buddy's place one day and he hands me Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory. Yeah, go ahead and judge me! I know! I started out with Linkin Park. We blasted it through his speakers, and once the album finished, I was just... floored. That opened the floodgates. I moved from them to Limp Bizkit, then Korn, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Metallica... From that moment until now, I’ve cycled through endless amounts of nu-metal, heavy metal, thrash, power, black, doom, death, goth, hardcore, and punk—not even going to list them all. These days, my absolute favorite is old-school death metal. Bands like Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Grave, and Death. \m/

Pop --> Linkin Park --> In Flames --> Tool --> Indie --> Electronica

Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
Boys - Brickfield nights
Coldplay - Fur immer Punk

My early days... 🙂 Everything else just kind of happened on autopilot. 😁 Moving in the same general direction, more or less.

But this summer, I started messing around with metal 🙂 and I have this one Forum to blame for that. 🙂 I'm being dead serious.

Middle school was all techno and house
High school—mostly metal (black, death... nothing heavy, power, or thrash, lol)
College years—rock, metal, psych, goa, ambient, chillout, DnB... 🙂
After that? Who knows, I guess 🙂

thoughts??
hey!

Back in elementary school, my playlist was mostly just Elvis Presley🙂 and Queen. As I got older, I drifted toward Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and that kind of stuff—we even listened to some Coldplay back then.

The absolute peak of bad taste hit during my freshman year of high school, when I thought Slipknot and Dry Kill Logic were the greatest things ever. By sophomore and junior year, I was heavily into Coldplay, some silly punk tracks, and Bruce Springsteen. It wasn't until senior year that I finally discovered King Prawn and The Real McKenzies. That opened a door for me; I fell in love with ska and Irish punk, which I still listen to today. Lately, though, it’s just been Elvis Presley🙂 and Johnny Cash🙂 on repeat.

I’ve been surrounded by electric guitars since I was just a little kid... my first real introduction to music was hearing Maiden's Clairvoyant, and I spent such a long time searching for it... I finally tracked it down back in fifth grade 🎉, but before that, it was all about Nirvana, the Ramones, The Beatles, and some old school stuff like S&G... once I hit fifth grade, everything shifted toward what I still listen to today—mostly punk, metal, and rock... then in sixth grade, I drifted into reggae, and by seventh, I was deep into the gothic scene... of course, I’m always discovering new bands, but my heart stays within those same circles... mostly metal, punk, grunge, and gothic, though I haven't forgotten the other genres entirely... 😁

It’s becoming pretty clear how much my taste has shifted since I first started listening to music:

Nirvana -> Nine Inch Nails -> everything else.

The Beatles (1985-1991) $\rightarrow$ Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Led Zeppelin (1993-1995) $\rightarrow$ Coldplay, Laufer, Green Day (1995-1997)

Then I realized—quite late to the party, I suppose—that music actually exists outside the confines of the radio.

So, what now? Am I supposed to feel some kind of embarrassment about it?

Maybe just a little bit.

Pringles chips and music videos, Offspring, Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Vanessa Mae (though I wasn't exactly listening to anything worthwhile back then) > Nirvana > the alternative rock phase > slowly integrating electronica—Aphex Twin, drum and bass >> (almost exclusively) Goa div>

Kyle Jackson54 said:The Beatles (1985-1991) -> Bruce Springsteen, The Doors, Led Zeppelin (1993-1995) -> Coldplay, Laufer, Green Day (1995-1997)

Then I realized music actually exists outside of what's playing on the radio.

So what, am I supposed to feel embarrassed now?

Maybe a little.

There's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Okay, maybe a tiny bit of Coldplay and Laufer 🙂.

placidlynx23 said:There's seriously nothing to feel bad about. I mean, maybe just some cold beer and a little bit of Laufer 🙂.

Personally, I’d probably swap them out for Bruce Springsteen and The Doors 🙏

I’ve been into electronic music since I was a kid... If it's good, I'll listen to it, but lately my rotation is mostly trance and drum & bass (not that I'm totally ignoring everything else in the scene)

Back in 6th grade, I was all about the blues—my older brother used to play it constantly—so The Beatles pretty much ruled my world until the end of elementary school. Then, early high school hit and my rotation shifted to: Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Blue Öyster Cult, The Beatles, AC/DC, Mud, and Eric Burdon.
By the later years of high school, I was listening to: 5th Dimension, Joe Cocker, Rolling Stones, Jim Croce, E.L.O., and Azra.
During the early college days, it was all about American rock—including Haustor, Pink Floyd, Zane, Billy Joel, and basically everything else from when I first started getting serious about music. Even now, I still lean heavily on the classics whenever I need to focus while studying or just want to unwind.

Gosh, I’ve completely lost touch with the classics and opera lately... 😢 and then last night, I found myself watching Rigoletto...

Laufer is actually a pretty solid band, isn't he?

😳

EDIT: And honestly, that was back when they were releasing stuff like džinovski and gad—two genuinely decent albums from Bud Light.

😳

Nicholas Perez33 said:I'm swapping them out for Azra and The Doors. 🙏

😂 God, man. Just... damn.

Kyle Jackson54 — regarding Laufer, my issue is strictly with Damir Urban’s whole persona and his body of work. Honestly, those adolescent lyrics of his get under my skin way more than anything Trent Reznor ever put out. Other than that, I don't have any real beef with Laufer.

I can't stand Bud Light. They just aren't authentic. And honestly, even as a pop act, they don't really have any decent songs worth listening to.

I first got hooked on Linkin Park back in seventh grade, then I moved through Limp Bizkit, Paramore, and Evanescence before diving deep into Nightwish, HIM, Disturbed, Children of Bodom, SOAD, and all that good stuff...

I started out with Evanescence—then moved on to Nirvana, then Gunse, and now I’m diving into Alicia Keys. Call me a freak, I guess!

Early childhood: mostly just domestic pop hits—think Doris Day, Vanna, Danijela, and those catchy tracks from the Dora festivals 😁. Then 2001 hit, which was a massive turning point, lol: I was all about Britney Spears, Shakira, J.HO, and so on, right up until 2006. Basically, if it was climbing the US charts, I was listening to it. Around 2006, I shifted toward rock, then eventually moved into Metal (though, to be fair, what I was actually listening to wasn't even that far off from Britney Spears & Co.). That Metal phase and similar genres stayed relevant for me until late 2007. Nowadays? I listen to pretty much EVERYTHING—with the exception of total garbage that I don't even consider actual music, like country, rave, techno, house, dance, black metal, or death metal. That would be it.

My brother basically played me like a fiddle, forcing everything from Azure through Zappa all the way to Miles Davis down my throat. It was all such a drag that I ended up doing a complete 180 just to get back to the roots 🤮.

Back in elementary school, I was all about R&B—think Destiny's Child vibes—and I’d dabble in some indie stuff like The Cardigans or Nirvana, but nothing stuck. Then I pivoted to hip-hop during most of middle school 🙈, when 50 Cent and that whole era hit. That was my wake-up call. Eventually, I just swept all those CDs into a drawer because I couldn't stand them anymore.

I went totally silent for maybe three months. Just didn't know what to listen to. Then my brother pops back up and shoves Soundgarden in my face. A few tracks triggered some old memories and I was hooked. From there, I dove into Temple of the Dog and the whole grunge scene, grabbed more CDs, and finally broke free from his influence to hunt for music on my own. I circled back to the legends like Led Zeppelin and just kept digging deeper.
Along the way, I met people with totally different tastes who introduced me to goth, metal, electronic, and all that good stuff.

Honestly, my playlist is a total mess right now, but that's just because I hang out with such a diverse crowd. They've shaped everything I hear.