I discovered Heavy Metal like most kids my age did: from a friends older brother. Most might have heard from their own sibling but mine was younger and he was still playing with Gobots. See, he wasn’t even old enough to know that Gobots were nowhere near as cool as Transformers. Anyways, the year was about 1984 and all I knew about music was that I had a crappy half boom box (you know, w/ one speaker instead of two) and pop radio. Shit like Prince, Duran Duran and whatever else the DJs wanted to ram down my throat. I just figured that this is what it was about until I met Jimmy.
My mother worked for a daycare center just outside of New Orleans and every day after school I ended up at the day care’s “after school” program to do my homework and draw shit all over my notebooks. I happen to sit next to this kinda big guy (like myself) named Jimmy. He asked what kind of music I listed to and I told him about the Prince and Duran Duran stuff that I had been listening to on the radio. He just kinda laughed and asked if I’d ever heard Twisted Sister or Motley Crue. Of course I hadn’t so Jimmy introduces me to his older brother Jay who not only introduced me to Motley Crue and Twisted Sister but he showed me the way towards the almighty elfin god of darkness, Ronnie James Dio. Now Jay was cool. He was already in highschool and hookin’ up with hot chicks around town. He played a Peavy guitar , had long hair and was cool as fuck. He opened the doors to a world that would consume me, entertain me and most of all save me.
1984 was a great year to discover metal. Dio, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Ratt, Quiet Riot, you name it. I was all over it but there was a problem, these “popular” metal acts each only had about 2-3 albums each at this point and I was running out of new music. Like a junkie I needed more. I needed more fixes. I found myself wanting to learn everything I could about Heavy Metal. I started to go back to my guru and ask about what else was out there. He took me even deeper into the depths of the realms of Metal by introducing me to Iron Maiden. Wow, these guys were awesome. They were heavy yet they seemed to be really intelligent with their long songs and common use of big words like “albatross”. Besides, their mascot Eddie was the goddamn coolest thing I had ever seen in my life.
Growing up in New Orleans, I found myself digging in to the local scene and really getting excited over bands like Lillian Axe, Dark August, Victorian Blitz and Razor White. Razor White shows were always fun and they did lots of covers from bands I had never heard of. Matter of fact, it’s because of Razor White covering “The Boys Are Back In Town” that I even went on to discover Thin Lizzy. As time moved forward, I found myself to not only be an archaeologist of metal, unearthing such great bands as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and the legendary NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) bands such as Venom, Diamond Head and Motorhead but I found myself discovering all the other levels of the genre, the most exciting for me being thrash metal. Hearing Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer for the first time back around 1986 just ripped my fucking face off. Don’t get me wrong, I was still digging bands like Poison, Crue and Ratt but these guys were nothing but balls. No tits and ass here folks… just balls. Huge fucking spiked metal balls at that.
In 1988 my folks moved us to Atlanta, GA and it was 10th grade year of High School and my first at publics school. My first day of school I wore my Cinderella “Night Songs Tour” shirt, jeans and my hair just about grown out past my ears. I walked in terrified and right away found my tribe. A table of really bad hair, bad skin and black t-shirts. These were my people. We bonded over how Poison looked ridiculous but was a great band. We agreed that you could indeed like bands like Slayer and Testament at the same time as digging bands like Ratt and WASP. This was my life for the last 3 years of high school. We went to every fucking show we could go to and loved them. Poison, saw them 7 times. WASP, Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, you name it, we saw it. Hell, we even went to a Winger show and as much as those guys got ragged on, we all agreed that they kicked fucking ass! The only band we all really agreed sucked to no end was Slaughter. What the fuck was that about?
During my senior year of high school, Headbanger’s Ball was our party every Saturday night. Most kids were out at parties getting fucked up, getting laid (or at least trying to) but me? No way. Riki Rachtman was my bro! Every Saturday night I tuned in to see what new metal I could get my mits on. This is where I started to see new faces like Ugly Kid Joe, Collision, Animal Bag, Alice In Chains coming in to change the face of metal as we would know it. They were hybrids of many different styles and to me, this was a very exciting time. Ugly Kid Joe was one of my favorites who were like a cross between Black Sabbath, Suicidal Tendencies and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Their sound was fresh, funky and tons of fun and their live shows were unbeatable.
The “live” experience was something that just had to be experienced. Pyrotechnics, ramps, stairs, back drops, confetti and if you’re David Lee Roth, a boxing ring and giant surf board. I was looking back on my old ticket stubs and I remembered seeing KISS in 1993 on the “Revenge” tour and the show was larger than fucking life. The tickets cost $17.00. $17.00 to watch KISS rip your face off and give you a show like no other. These days, kids pay three times that amount to watch a bunch of guys stare at their shoes and scream like they’ve had their testicles cut off and served back to them with an order of fries. I used to love those shows and loved the feeling of being absolutely exhausted.
As I got older, I played in a few metal bands with my last one, Rachael’s Dead (stolen from a song title by Canadian metal band Slik Toxik) being the one that went the furthest. And by the furthest I mean that we got to play the Masquerade in Atlanta to 20 people on a Thursday night. After splitting up, I took a break from music and re-discovered music with a new face. I discovered bands like The Grateful Dead, Phish, Dave Matthews Band and dove head first into folk music such as Crosby Stills and Nash, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie and Neil Young. I even started playing folk music and americana music which I still play to this day. But you know what, once a metalhead, ALWAYS a metal head. I still dig al ot of those bands. Faster Pussycat’s debut is still one of my favorites. I still have a soft spot for the Bulletboys and Megadeth still rips my face off. I love to hear a great Testament album every now and then (OVER THE WAAAAAAAAAAL!) and I remember the summer before my senior year, Skid Row put out “Slave To The Grind” and thinking that it was the most amazing album I had heard in years. That album still does it for me. I remember my dad telling me that this music would never last and never make an impression. 20 something years later, seeing kids that are old enough to be my kids at Cinderella shows or wearing Slayer shirts still makes me crack a sheepish grin and think “Yeah dad? Well… up yours!”.
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