If anyone was a metalhead that listened to thrash or heavy metal how was it like back then? I was born in '88 so I wouldn't know that much. I listen to bands like Exodus, Testament, Heathen, Slayer, Metallica, Kreator, Sodom, Forbidden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Iron Maiden,etc.

I did for a while, until I got bored with it. FYI, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden are not considered "Thrash Metal". But as you put in your list, Metallica was at one time, believe it or not.

i listened to slayer, dark angel, death angel, and who was that guy? king diamond? (but then when nobody was around, i'd put on some hall and oates or loggins and messina or some such... i always lived a double life.)

i was into trying to play it and make up thrash songs more than listening to it. but i had a few albums. when they were on their game, slayer was pretty great, although they had some real headache-inducing stinkers too.

I know that iron maiden, Judas Priest, and Helloween isn't thrash metal. I just put them on the list because alot of metalheads listened to them in the 80s. They are popular. I listen to death angel, dark angel, sabbat, and the others I listed. I want to know how popular thrash metal and heavy metal was back than like in high schools. I'm like the only metalhead at my high school. I would fit in perfectly as a typical 80s high school metalhead. I wish I was born in the 70s so I can live the 80s. I only lived 2 years in the 80s but wish i can be a teen in the 80s.

it's funny because i remember the 80s pretty well and during the whole decade we were all listening to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s! everybody (well, i say everybody, but it was everybody i was hanging around with) was sorta anti-new wave, anti-synthopop, and so we listened to like 70s metal and psychedelic music and stuff like that. we made exceptions for bands like rush and the 80s metal and the hairband stuff but other than that, we hated 80s music in the 80s. now i'm all into it, i played in this 80s cover band for a while -- doing stuff like The Cars and The Bangles and such -- and i think it's a lot of fun now.

it's funny about iron maiden and black sabbath because they're not thrash per se but they definitely laid the groundwork for it. "sabbath bloody sabbath" is the first thrash song in my opinion, that really heavy breakdown in the middle is really pretty much like a thrash riff.

I know that iron maiden, Judas Priest, and Helloween isn't thrash metal. I just put them on the list because alot of metalheads listened to them in the 80s. They are popular. I listen to death angel, dark angel, sabbat, and the others I listed. I want to know how popular thrash metal and heavy metal was back than like in high schools. I'm like the only metalhead at my high school. I would fit in perfectly as a typical 80s high school metalhead. I wish I was born in the 70s so I can live the 80s. I only lived 2 years in the 80s but wish i can be a teen in the 80s.


That's cool to hear. But could you have "hanged" with our style as well??

http://myuseless-info.com/hrh_ratt01.jpg

That was part of the whole package of being a "Metalhead" back in the 80s. ;)

that's true it was good to be glam but there were the jeans-and-tshirt bands too.

i forgot megadeth! they were really great. it was technically proficient, and also smart.

that's true it was good to be glam but there were the jeans-and-tshirt bands too.

Not many. And back then being a "Metalhead" didn't just consist of people sporting the old skool JP or IM look, but also the more mainstream MC, etc. look. Although at school and hanging out we we're "jeans & t-shirts" as you said.

Not many. And back then being a "Metalhead" didn't just consist of people sporting the old skool JP or IM look, but also the more mainstream MC, etc. look. Although at school and hanging out we we're "jeans & t-shirts" as you said.


yeah, we were mostly just "scrubs." kinda grungy before grunge was cool. but there was definitely a lot of glammy stuff going around. i still remember stumbling onstage for a drinking contest with a kix cover band once in college. i could smell the hairspray! you might be right, the only jeans-and-tshirt bands i could think of that were at all mainstream were metallica, megadeth and slayer. a lot of the local death metal acts shied away from the glam thing too, but it was definitely all over.

took me a minute to get the acronyms but i'm up now...

yeah, we were mostly just "scrubs." kinda grungy before grunge was cool. but there was definitely a lot of glammy stuff going around. i still remember stumbling onstage for a drinking contest with a kix cover band once in college. i could smell the hairspray! you might be right, the only jeans-and-tshirt bands i could think of that were at all mainstream were metallica, megadeth and slayer. a lot of the local death metal acts shied away from the glam thing too, but it was definitely all over.

took me a minute to get the acronyms but i'm up now...


You know what was kind of funny? Seeing a band such as Judas Priest or Ozzy try to keep with the trends and go through their own "glam" era such as seen on "Turbo" and "The Ultimate Sin". But there were a few "lightweight" metal bands that had the jeans & T look such as Tesla in the 80s. As well as a few bands that were heavier, but didn't quite get the popularity such as Armored Saint. Then G'n'R came around and started brining it more mainstream, but by that time Metallica had really hit it big so I guess the ball was already in motion by then.

remember accept? you get your balls to the wall, man. they were a cool jeans-and-tee band, as i recall, sorta post ac/dc. whatever happened to them? they had that one great song and then... nada.

funny about keeping up with the trends, reminds me a little of when the stones and all them went momentarily disco around 1980.

If anyone was a metalhead that listened to thrash or heavy metal how was it like back then? I was born in '88 so I wouldn't know that much. I listen to bands like Exodus, Testament, Heathen, Slayer, Metallica, Kreator, Sodom, Forbidden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Iron Maiden,etc.


It was great back then and in my opinion it still is. I remember back in 84 my girlfreind gave me the Metallica albums Kill em All and Ride the Lightning. I was hooked on Metallica. Ride the Lightning is one of the best Metal/Thrash albums ever. But to answer your question it was great and alot of people did listen to it. I still listen to it and go to concerts. I just recently saw Judas Priest and Motley Crue. Great concerts.   

Everyone else who posted here did not mention Venom. Yes I was a major metalhead in the 1980's...and I had Venom's 'Black Metal' and 'At War With Satan' on cassette.

here's a few other 80's metal bands that I loved

Hair Metal:
Ratt
Cinderella
Poison
Motley Crue
Helix(I have their songs "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin" and "Rock You" downloaded)
Kix



Thrash Metal:
Metallica
Megadeth
Exodus
Death Angel
Testament

NWOBHM(New Wave of British Heavy Metal)
Iron Maiden
Def Leppard
Saxon

And of course Motorhead, who just plain KICK A$$!

kill em all changed my friggin' life. i looovvvveee that album. love it. i bought that at the ripe age of 15 along with "powerslave" when i was visiting my grandparents in saginaw texas, and i listened to both of them over and over again, but i definitely, as a teenager and a mess of hormones, was with kill em all just like, okay, this is the most amazing music that has ever existed. and i still love that album every time i play it.

ride the lightning is fabulous too but kill em all is in a class by itself.

Even though my tastes tend to be more "mainstream", I'm a big music fan in general, so I've listened to my share of metal too.

Thrash is about as heavy as it gets for me. I have to be in the right mood for it, but I actually quite like some of it, mostly Metallica's first three albums ("Hit the Lights", despite being about 100 times heavier than any hair metal band, is still a catchy song!).

Of the "major" bands, I liked some Megadeth and Anthrax too (the latter never really tried to change their style or soften their image, like many many bands did).

Slayer was a little too dark for my tastes though.

motorhead -- yes! they're great! there's this movie called "zombie nightmare" (again, i know about it from mst3k) that has this great metal soundtrack (terrible movie though) -- "fist," and a long-lost all-female metal band called "girlschool." ace of spades is the song that goes under the lead credits.

yeah, slayer could definitely induce migranes. and those lyrics! gnarly!

remember accept? you get your balls to the wall, man. they were a cool jeans-and-tee band, as i recall, sorta post ac/dc. whatever happened to them? they had that one great song and then... nada.

funny about keeping up with the trends, reminds me a little of when the stones and all them went momentarily disco around 1980.


Oh yeah!! Forgot Accept. Great band. But I always sorta considered them more old skool "leather and chains" look ala Priest and Maiden then T-shirts and jeans. Wouldn't you agree?

that's true it was good to be glam but there were the jeans-and-tshirt bands too.

i forgot megadeth! they were really great. it was technically proficient, and also smart.

Right on, i always prefered Megadeth over Metallica & i'm sure we all know about that rivalry. Metallica sh!t me especially these days. Cliff Burton was the only member in that band that i actually liked & then he died.
Kill Em All was the only trash album Metallica ever made & it's their only album i'm willing to listen to these days

Oh yeah!! Forgot Accept. Great band. But I always sorta considered them more old skool "leather and chains" look ala Priest and Maiden then T-shirts and jeans. Wouldn't you agree?

Actually Accept's song Fast As A Shark was almost like a pre-cursor to thrash. Before that most people say Motorhead really kinda set the groundwork for thrash. Which i think is a little more viable than Black Sabbath or any of the other pioneering bands that might have had the palm mute but weren't really thrash even in it's early stages.

motorhead -- yes! they're great! there's this movie called "zombie nightmare" (again, i know about it from mst3k) that has this great metal soundtrack (terrible movie though) -- "fist," and a long-lost all-female metal band called "girlschool." ace of spades is the song that goes under the lead credits.

yeah, slayer could definitely induce migranes. and those lyrics! gnarly!

I always thought of Slayer as being more of a speed metal band rather than thrash. Love Slayer \m/

kinda funny to be masquerading as a disney character and talking about thrash metal.

yeah, accept might have been more leather&chains, i remember thinking of them as jeans&tee but to me at the time it was sorta like there was glam, which i generally hated, and then there was everybody else, and if you weren't glam you automatically got cred from me for not being glam, even if you weren't necessarily that good.

i guess i think of megadeth as the quintessential speed-metal band, rather than thrash so much... because they had that megarapid right-hand stuff, and all those nutty tempo changes. highly technical. kill em all was the ultimate thrash album, they pretty much set their key and tempo and just ground away like a sherman tank until everyone in the mosh pit was black and blue. but the distinction between thrash and speed metal can be kinda hard to tease out. i dunno if you guys have been keeping track of the metal scene at all -- i really haven't that much -- but it's just crazy how it's proliferated, all these little subgenres. now there's death metal, doom metal, goth metal, dork metal, it's CRAZY.

i still like some other metallica albums, namely (and in order of preference) ride the lightning, and justice for all, and master of puppets. they jumped the shark with that black album thing (i guess they never saw spinal tap! lol) and never looked back. today i'm completely indifferent to them, although that documentary about them that came out a few months back is supposed to be a good movie, just in and of itself.

Actually Accept's song Fast As A Shark was almost like a pre-cursor to thrash. Before that most people say Motorhead really kinda set the groundwork for thrash. Which i think is a little more viable than Black Sabbath or any of the other pioneering bands that might have had the palm mute but weren't really thrash even in it's early stages.



The Motorhead comparison makes sense. I also have heard they were one of the first metal bands to use a punk influence (consequently, they became liked by both camps, which was unusual at the time). This does sorta mirror 80's thrash - which was based on punk instead of blues, which was what traditional rock had always been based on before.

The only Accept song I've heard is "B*lls to the Wall" - cool song. Very AC/DC (in fact, I thought it was them when I first heard it!) but kinda has a NWOBHM undercurrent too.

I've heard of "Fast as a Shark" but haven't actually heard it.

OK yes i love thrash. Of any genre or category of metal it is definitly my favourite. My favourite Trash bands in no particular order are early Exodus (Bonded By Blood/Pleasures Of The Flesh period), early Megadeth (Killing is... to Rust In Peace era) & early Kreator (Endless Pain to Coma Of Souls period).  Closest thing i've heard in recent days to the early fast thrash material of the 80s is Megadeth's song Blackmail The Universe. Unfortunatly the rest of the album is not of that calibre but still the best i've heard from them in years. Every other thrash band that's come back to release new material in recent times go for a more modern approach & it just doesn't cut it for me. You know things like deeper or more growly vocals or a deeper thicker crunchier guitar sound as opposed to the thinner & somethimes more low fi guitar sound i've come to love. Man some of those riffs from back then were not only played at break neck speed but extremly technical too. The kind of thing that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck & gives me goosebumps how f**kin good it was, OH YEAH LOL.

i totally thought balls to the wall was ac/dc too, incidentally. i didn't find out for months that it was some other band.

The Motorhead comparison makes sense. I also have heard they were one of the first metal bands to use a punk influence (consequently, they became liked by both camps, which was unusual at the time). This does sorta mirror 80's thrash - which was based on punk instead of blues, which was what traditional rock had always been based on before.

The only Accept song I've heard is "B*lls to the Wall" - cool song. Very AC/DC (in fact, I thought it was them when I first heard it!) but kinda has a NWOBHM undercurrent too.

I've heard of "Fast as a Shark" but haven't actually heard it.

No one knows for sure whether thrash was totally derivative of punk but there was definitly a lot of cross polanization that happened in the very early 80s. Punks & metalheads did not mix at first but as it got into the early 80s more punk bands were taking a metal approach to their guitar sound & style. Bands like The Exploited even did total thrash albums like Death Before Dishonour, The Massacre & even 1995's Beat The Bastards (complete with crazy solos). Before that punk was more oi crust etc etc. Before that punk, goth & new wave were kind of in the same boat & the goth scene actually evolved of the punk scene & new wave was almost like a pop cross polanization of both, but other bands chose to take a rougher Motorhead style tangent which i think was or should have been the true nature of punk to begin with.

i remember there was a real severe rivalry between the metalheads and the punk/hardcore guys in HS. i was one of the metalheads and the punk guys would look down their nose at us because they thought punk/hardcore was politically aware and metal was politically regressive and misogynist and all that. and we'd be all, look, punk music sucks though, they're not even real musicians, they're just messing around banging on their instruments and acting like they're doing something great. i used to hate that, i'd get all worked up about it, and it's funny because when you think about it punk, hardcore and metal were all cross-pollenated, mutually influencing each other even while all these arguments were going on.

The only Accept song I've heard is "B*lls to the Wall" - cool song. Very AC/DC (in fact, I thought it was them when I first heard it!)


You hit the nail on the head with this statement. Accept were kind of a heavier German version of AC/DC in many ways. Even with tonality of the singer.

i remember there was a real severe rivalry between the metalheads and the punk/hardcore guys in HS. i was one of the metalheads and the punk guys would look down their nose at us because they thought punk/hardcore was politically aware and metal was politically regressive and misogynist and all that. and we'd be all, look, punk music sucks though, they're not even real musicians, they're just messing around banging on their instruments and acting like they're doing something great. i used to hate that, i'd get all worked up about it, and it's funny because when you think about it punk, hardcore and metal were all cross-pollenated, mutually influencing each other even while all these arguments were going on.


We always seemed to get along in those days. In fact, I had a good friend who was a punk (Peace not Suicidal) and we even talked of forming a band together at one time. Punk and thrash metal are generally easy to play on guitar so it would've been an easy band to maintain. And there was a lot of "mix" back in those days as the line between hardcore punk and thrash metal started blurring for a while. I think the thing that seperated them the most wasn't the sound of the music, but more the look and culture as well as the lyrics to the songs. Hardcore punk was very anti-government/anti-establishment and while trash could touch upon those subjects at times, it was generally more "dark" and gothic (not Goth) kind of like early old skool metal but sped up like 10X.

We always seemed to get along in those days. In fact, I had a good friend who was a punk (Peace not Suicidal) and we even talked of forming a band together at one time. Punk and thrash metal are generally easy to play on guitar so it would've been an easy band to maintain. And there was a lot of "mix" back in those days as the line between hardcore punk and thrash metal started blurring for a while. I think the thing that seperated them the most wasn't the sound of the music, but more the look and culture as well as the lyrics to the songs. Hardcore punk was very anti-government/anti-establishment and while trash could touch upon those subjects at times, it was generally more "dark" and gothic (not Goth) kind of like early old skool metal but sped up like 10X.



i actually had a bunch of hardcore, dead kennedys and marginal man and that stuff. oo! black flag! but for whatever reason i was still always having this argument with people, what was better, punk/hardcore or metal. and yeah, it was always about that, p/hc was antiestablishment and metal was just indulgent, that's what i was always hearing. the advent of glam didn't help!

megadeth was i guess the big political metal band but a lot of other music was, like you say, "dark" -- tied in with teen depression and alienation and all that. but i'd always say, look, that's political too, in its own way -- that's a lot of times these blue-collar kids and suburban kids looking to find their voice, someone who's expressing what they're feeling. you see a lot of that too i think these days with marilyn manson (you know, before they started sucking) and his whole bit in that michael moore movie about how, look, i'm not bringing these grim ideas or thoughts to these kids, i'm just listening to them and this is what's on their minds.

i actually had a bunch of hardcore, dead kennedys and marginal man and that stuff. oo! black flag! but for whatever reason i was still always having this argument with people, what was better, punk/hardcore or metal. and yeah, it was always about that, p/hc was antiestablishment and metal was just indulgent, that's what i was always hearing. the advent of glam didn't help!

megadeth was i guess the big political metal band but a lot of other music was, like you say, "dark" -- tied in with teen depression and alienation and all that. but i'd always say, look, that's political too, in its own way -- that's a lot of times these blue-collar kids and suburban kids looking to find their voice, someone who's expressing what they're feeling. you see a lot of that too i think these days with marilyn manson (you know, before they started sucking) and his whole bit in that michael moore movie about how, look, i'm not bringing these grim ideas or thoughts to these kids, i'm just listening to them and this is what's on their minds.


True. Which is why I kind of liked more "mainstream" metal also as it was usually light hearted, cheesy lyrics, and just fun. You didn't get "weighed" down too much with it. Just crank it up, put the top down, and go.

It seemed that in the 90s grunge followed the same vein as thrash kind of did and made a genre' out of depressing subjects (and sucky music also though). When I was a teenager, yes I had the anger inside like a lot of kids do, but I wanted an escape from my life and just have fun for a while and not neccessarily something that I felt I could "relate" to, so I found thrash boring after a while. Plus those stupid devil/demon cliche' lyrics got to be over the top after a while and that's all some of those bands concentrated on. Kind of like how hair metal got boring with the live fast/die young get as many women as you can and get stoned while you're at it repetition got boring and cliche' also. But at least I could understand the lyrics most of the time in that genre'  ;) And they had some kickin' guitar players too which for me was something that drew me in.

True. Which is why I kind of liked more "mainstream" metal also as it was usually light hearted, cheesy lyrics, and just fun. You didn't get "weighed" down too much with it. Just crank it up, put the top down, and go.

It seemed that in the 90s grunge followed the same vein as thrash kind of did and made a genre' out of depressing subjects (and sucky music also though). When I was a teenager, yes I had the anger inside like a lot of kids do, but I wanted an escape from my life and just have fun for a while and not neccessarily something that I felt I could "relate" to, so I found thrash boring after a while. Plus those stupid devil/demon cliche' lyrics got to be over the top after a while and that's all some of those bands concentrated on. Kind of like how hair metal got boring with the live fast/die young get as many women as you can and get stoned while you're at it repetition got boring and cliche' also. But at least I could understand the lyrics most of the time in that genre'  ;) And they had some kickin' guitar players too which for me was something that drew me in.


i was a real depressed troubled teenager so i sorta liked that depressing metal, i guess. my real love, though, was the arty farty bands -- yes and pink floyd and emerson lake and palmer, king crimson, that kinda stuff. but for the same reason, i was a guitar egghead (still am!) and so, you know, gimme steve howe over some synthopop any day.

i was down with some of that grunge stuff. does stone temple pilots and alice in chains count as grunge? and i was into nirvana when that baby album came out, although it's so simple musically you burn out on it and then you don't really wanna ever listen to it again. what gets my goat is this stuff nowadays where it's metal/post-punk with the distorted guitars and the aggressive drumming etc. but it's all major scale! and the lyrics are all, you're my very special girlfriend and i love you! ugh. i guess like "good charlotte" is an example, i don't even know the names of the bands for the most part but i hear it all the time. i guess it's some post-green day thing, and it's totally a sign of the fall of western civilization. no exaggeration!

Venom is great as goes with Motorhead. I think Thrash Metal is just the fast version of Heavy Metal. Did anyone live in the Bay Area(San Jose, San Francisco, Concord) in the 80s. The BAY AREA IS THE THRASH CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. Many bands came from or always played in the Bay Area. Bands like Exodus(SF), Testament(Oakland), Vio-lence(SF), Forbidden(SF), Possessed(SF), Sadus(Antioch), Heathen (SF), Death Angel(SF), Metallica(SF and LA), and Ulysses Siren(SF). Did anyone listen to these bands and did anyone live in the BAY AREA at the time?

Venom is great as goes with Motorhead.

I think Venom is more Black Metal than thrash. I don't really care for them (saw them in concert with Slayer and Exodus at the Hollywood Palladium in '85).

I think Thrash Metal is just the fast version of Heavy Metal.

That is a very accurate assessment. 

I think Venom is more Black Metal than thrash. I don't really care for them (saw them in concert with Slayer and Exodus at the Hollywood Palladium in '85).

That is a very accurate assessment. 



see, this is the genre subgenre thing. what's the difference between black metal and doom metal? and death metal? i'm so confused!

I don't know although i'm aware of the evolution & all the cross influence, the way i see it thrash metal, speed metal, classic metal or glam, to me i like it all the same regardless of the lyrical content. These days i'm a bit over getting too into the lyrics, half the time i don't even listen to the words anymore. For example a lot of punks treat the lyrics of their music as if though it's gospel. I don't let lyrics have an effect on my mood  or opinion or perception etc & i try not to pay too much attention to them nowadays. Thash or glam, both genres had their share of kickin guitarists. Not into all this modern metal or black metal though, to me that stuff is way too depressing & bores the sh!t out of me.

see, this is the genre subgenre thing. what's the difference between black metal and doom metal? and death metal? i'm so confused!


Wow. You have heard of more subgenre's than even I have. Here's what I have known. Remember, this is only from my perspective so I may be off a little. Also remember that many of these groups flucuated between and borderlined different subgenre's at some point in their careers (such as Def Leppard. They can be considered "classic" or "hair" metal depending on the era that you look at in their career. But probably the term "hard rock" would just desribe them best).

Metal Subgenre's:

Heavy (classic) Metal: AC/DC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Ozzy, Scorpions, etc. (The "Big Guns", if you will)

Hair or Glam Metal: Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, and just about any mainstream 80's metal act that charted big hits in the middle to end of that decade.

Thrash Metal: Metallica (old), Slayer, Exodus, Megadeth, and the vast amounts of other bands that would take a page to fill if I listed even some of them.

Black Metal (Satanic and violent oriented lyrics generally): Mercyful Fate, Venom, King Diamond, etc. I wasn't into this genre' very long when I was younger and don't care for it now so I would not be the best person to make a list of them.

White Metal (Christian oriented and general clean lyrical content): Stryper, White Cross, Holy Soldier, Guardian, etc. I enjoy this subgenre' and think there are some positive messages as well as great musical talent in some of those bands. It doesn't get me "down" listening to these groups.

Well, that's about the only subgenre's of Metal I grew up with and know. I take it there are more newer ones now such as the term "Nu-Metal" I have heard of but know almost nothing about.

Hope that helped a little.

from what little i've been able to divine i think doom metal is more modern and very tied in with the scandanavian metal scene. which is HUGE, apparently -- i guess cuz it's cold and dark out there and they don't get out much. it's supposed to be, i think, slower and more lumbering and you turn the guitars down to Bb or something crazy so the action is totally slack... death metal is also more recent but less located in that particular region... doom metal is a subset of death metal. NO! actually, i think death metal was just what we called black metal on the east coast. but death metal still exists and doom metal is now a subset. i was into death metal/black metal for a little while but musically it's a little, ugh, just wall of cacophany, and yes, the lyrics are often nothing anyone with half a conscience would endorse. but i liked dark angel. i'll admit it.

what about sepultura? what would they be?

i dunno, i bet someone somewhere has a PhD in this stuff. it's really the only way to keep it sorted. i feel like i should have a doom metal album, just so i can say i have one.

see, this is the genre subgenre thing. what's the difference between black metal and doom metal? and death metal? i'm so confused!

Ok it's simple black metal is to do with Satan & blasphemy & a lot of the time black metal bands wear face paint make up eg. Immortal etc.
Doom metal is slow & dark, hard to describe but if you know Black Sabbath's song also called Black Sabbath that's probably the best way i can describe doom metal using a common reference. It's slow & doomy. Although that song is not really doom metal & that genre didn't exist till at least a decade later it's obvious songs like that set the standard & possibly influenced those sort of bands.
Death metal is usually lyrically to do with death violence & gore as done by bands like Cannibal Corps. The vocals  have the death growl which has become a commonly adopted vocal style by a wider range of metal bands in recent years.
I hope that slightly clears that up for you as vague as my explanation may be, but i must admit it can be a big hard to put your finger on what exactly defines each genre as the lines tend to be a bit blured.
I mean who needs categories anyway, i know what i like & if it's my thing when i hear it.  

I got really hardcore into early Slayer, Venom, Possessed, Nasty Savage, Megadeth.... hell, a ton of the Megaforce, Combat, and Music For Nations bands back in the early 80s. My friend Troy felt a little uneasy owning those tapes, so he gave them to me. I just loved the aggression and anger of it all! I also dug Metallica during this time. They always had a more mature and professional sound than the other bands, but part of that was the production quality of their albums. From there, I got into Napalm Death, Carcass, Morbid Angel, and other Earache Records and grindcore bands. From there it got heavier and more extreme; I got into weirdo noise stuff like Merzbow, Masonna, CCCC, Haters, Hanatarash, etc. And trust me... that stuff is pure unadulturated noise! Of course, I was also smoking an OZ of weed a week too :)

But... being the musical open-minded person that I was, I was also into Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, Ratt, Motley Crue, Queensryche, Dokken, Ozzy, etc.

What do I listen to now? Mostly 80s pop, rock, and new wave, with some Napalm Death (still dig them) and some stoner/doom stuff like Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Hidden Hand, and Eyehategod thrown in for good measure. I'll still pop in an early Slayer CD (Hell Awaits is still a classic) here and there, but I find Venom totally unlistenable now.

Must have been the dope...  ;)

Wow! This topic is lasting long! I am glad I brought it up because thrash metal and heavy metal was really big in the 80s.

DEATH METAL: Obituary, Cannibal Coprse, Vader, Deicide, Massacre, Possessed(More thrash but was one of the starters of the death metal genre), Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Cynic, Malevolent Creation and many more. Most of the bands I listed are from the Tampa Florida area where most death metal was born.

Sepultura is classified as thrash metal during (87-91). In 85-87 they were thrash and death metal. Now they suck and really need Max Cavalera(vocalist) back!

Can anyone answer if anyone lived in the BAY AREA during the 80s where THRASH was big? If you did, please tell me how it was like to live back during that time in the BAY AREA.

THANKS FOR KEEPING THIS TOPIC GOING!

Wow! This topic is lasting long! I am glad I brought it up because thrash metal and heavy metal was really big in the 80s.

DEATH METAL: Obituary, Cannibal Coprse, Vader, Deicide, Massacre, Possessed(More thrash but was one of the starters of the death metal genre), Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Cynic, Malevolent Creation and many more. Most of the bands I listed are from the Tampa Florida area where most death metal was born.

Sepultura is classified as thrash metal during (87-91). In 85-87 they were thrash and death metal. Now they suck and really need Max Cavalera(vocalist) back!

Can anyone answer if anyone lived in the BAY AREA during the 80s where THRASH was big? If you did, please tell me how it was like to live back during that time in the BAY AREA.

THANKS FOR KEEPING THIS TOPIC GOING!

I don't know dude, would you want really want Max back in Sepultura? It doesn't mean they'll release great material again just because of that. As far as i'm concerned the stuff he's doing with Soulfly now sucks just as much as what Sep are doing. He's into the whole rap/metal thing nowadays & he even got dreadlocks in the mid 90s like every other fashion victim nu-metal sucker to fit an image & the new direction he was taking. Dreadlocks are for jamacans & black dudes, word LOL. As far as i'm concerned the last decent album Sep did was Arise, i hated Chaos A.D. & Roots. What's with all that tribal crap & no kick ass riffs like Arise & earlier. Instead they went for simpler & noisy. Best song they ever did was Inquisition Symphony off the album Schizophrenia which was an instrumental with no vocals. Never thought much of Max's vocals, way too monotone with no vocal range at all, so an instrumental suited me just fine. As far as i'm concerned bands who change with the times are insecure & unsure of what they are doing & should just quit while they're ahead. I hate camelians. That's why bands like Slayer deserve some credit for being one of the only semi maistream metal bands to plough on as long as they did totally oblivious & regardless to what was going on around them. Although the last album or so was not of their usual calibre, that's still a hell of a lot longer than all the other bands of their era.

the whole rap/metal fusion thing seemed like it was pretty short-lived, and i'm not hearing much metal these days -- which usually has the rap thing going on with it, it seems -- that does much for me. i was listening to "evil empire," rage against the machine, last night while going out to that band tryout and thinking, gawd, did i used to like this album? it's just grating and overly simple. i know every riff immediately just from hearing it.

anyone ever hear of mr. bungle? early 90s metal/ska/rap crossover thing with the singer from faith no more in it. they had this one truly amazing self-titled CD, really brilliant in my opinion. and amazing technically. after that they sorta went into this really weird experimental direction but that first album, with the clown on the cover, is really amazing.

I don't like Nu Metal. Even if Max did come back, they wouldn't be as good as before. Max was sucked into the nu metal crap. Exodus is doing really good right now. They lost their old vocalist steve "zetro" souza and got Rob Dukes. Exodus and Kreator released the best thrash albums this year. Slayer need to come out with a new great album. They got dave lombardo back. I did not like their past 3 albums. Slayer is suppose to release the new album in the spring of 06.

can anyone still answer my question?

Megadeth is the only 80s thrash I like.

I don't like Nu Metal. Even if Max did come back, they wouldn't be as good as before. Max was sucked into the nu metal crap. Exodus is doing really good right now. They lost their old vocalist steve "zetro" souza and got Rob Dukes. Exodus and Kreator released the best thrash albums this year. Slayer need to come out with a new great album. They got dave lombardo back. I did not like their past 3 albums. Slayer is suppose to release the new album in the spring of 06.

can anyone still answer my question?

Didn't much like the new Exodus album as much as i like the early Exodus stuff & the Kreator one was ok but it still isn't thrash. As a matter of fact neither of those 2 albums were thrash, they were just metal. Thrash is more like songs such as Lesson In Violence & Faster Than You'll Ever Live To Be by Exodus & Black Friday by Megadeth. Those few off the top of my head have have a definate thrash riff in them. My favourite all time Exodus song is Seeds Of Hate though, that one's a killer. Although the albums you mentioned are so much better than all that other crap being released in recent years trying to pass itself off as metal, it's still not thrash & i don't know why those bands aren't using that old formula when it's obvious that anyone who's into those bands liked them for that & true fans will always say it was their best stuff. I think it's just a case of bands that started thrash are finally releasing new material so everyone just calls it thrash & just puts them in that category because that's what they did in the past & when everyone thinks of thrash they think of those band names even though their new meterial really doesn't sound much like thrash at all. I laughed when i read a review for the latest Exodus album on Amazon & the reviewer wrote that the album was one of several that are part of a Bay Area thrash comeback. The people that say stuff like that must be deaf because noone is doing thrash anymore. Closest thing i've heard to a new thrash song in about 15 years is Megadeth's Blackmail The Universe on their latest album, pitty the rest of the album is not quite as consistent. I'm not saying it's a bad album but not exactly a "thrash comeback" & not another Rust In Peace.

To the kid who started this thread - you must go to
www.soundofthebeast.com
and buy a copy of this book.

To anyone who is into metal at all, I highly recommend you pick it up - new or used!

I would still consider the new kreator stuff and exodus stuff thrash in my opinion. Its just more modern. Times change and so does music.

I would still consider the new kreator stuff and exodus stuff thrash in my opinion. Its just more modern. Times change and so does music.

Yeah it's ok for music to evolve but what i'm saying is it's just de-evolved. I had this debate with this nu-metal wanker at work who told me "so you don't think music should be allowed to evolve?" & i just said  "no, what i'm saying is it's not evolving, it's just de-evolving". By the end of the 80s all these crazy new guitar techniques were becoming popular & being tried out & then suddenly grunge happened & eveything went back to simple & then by the late 90s we ended up with nu-metal, which were're still being subjected to. Even the remaining true metal bands that helped pioneer thrash & other sub genres have taken a simpler approach & adopted it with the thick cruchy guitar everyone is using these days.  ::) The stuff of today is no way in hell of the same calibre, not even close. Growling, screaming louder, & having a deeper, thicker crunchy guitar sound doesn't make something heavy or heavier, because if that were the case then you could say that all those gay bands like Soulfly, Coal Chamber etc are heavier than say Slayer's Reign In Blood & there's no way that's a reality. Their's still morons out there that have that kind of thinking. I hate that sh!t, if those wannabe wankers want heavy they should go listen to Morbid Angel's Bleesed Are The Sick or something, now that's actually f**kin heavy, not like all those wankers trying to use a deeper guitar sound & trying to scream louder than everyone like it's some imaginary pissing contest & thinking that they're all cutting edge & that they're making really heavy music to p*ss their mommy off for cutting off their weekly allowance or something. In short not even the remaining old bands have that same hunger & ferocity & i think they are just conforming just a little bit too much out of fear of becoming obsolete or not being accepted by todays audience & i say who give's a f**k. they should stick to doing what they do & not deviate & f**k everyone else. Look at bands like Maiden they're still doing the same thing & really haven't changed their sound or formula at all & there are still people even just getting into their teens getting into their music. Bottom line is if it aint broke don't fix it, times may change but some things are timeless & don't need to change & if something's good it goes beyond & overcomes trends & breaks generational barriers. Most of these bands & albums from now will come & go & everyone will forget about & see through them but the metal albums of the 80s will hold their own for years & even decades to come. Why do you think a lot of kids into metal backtrack looking for better music then what they're got now. It's simple, because the 80s was the decade for metal & that's when it was untainted & it's purest, most honest moment.  There's my speech ladies & gentlemen LOL.

Yeah it's ok for music to evolve but what i'm saying is it's just de-evolved. I had this debate with this nu-metal wanker at work who told me "so you don't think music should be allowed to evolve?" & i just said  "no, what i'm saying is it's not evolving, it's just de-evolving". By the end of the 80s all these crazy new guitar techniques were becoming popular & being tried out & then suddenly grunge happened & eveything went back to simple & then by the late 90s we ended up with nu-metal, which were're still being subjected to.

Indeed.

Indeed.


yeah, hear hear. this lo-fi crap is gonna be the end of us.

  The first Suicidal Tendencies was frequently in the ol' cassette player when I was a teen...great stuff!

yeah, hear hear. this lo-fi crap is gonna be the end of us.

Actually i think you might have it the wrong way around. High fidelity is what's popular now with a deeper crunchier sound, whereas the older metal bands tended to go for a more low fidelity sound by turning the gain on their amps down among other things while still using quite a bit of distortion. Also the production would have helped a bit too because back then that sort of thing was pretty underground so most of these bands didn't have a massive recording budget. I prefered the rawer quality of all those albums back then, it plays a huge part in why i like the music & gives it personality. Now metal albums are produced to the eyeballs to cover up the fact that most of them suck. Also equipment & recording & mixing techniques have changed. It's funny though how nowadays if you want the sound most of these bands probably thought was crap at the time due to what they thought was their crap equipment at the time, you have to pay out the ass for re-issued "vintage" amps & pedals which don't quite sound exactly the same.  For example i hear Marshal released an amp not long ago with a supposed 80s sound & used the "vintage 80s" gimmick it to rake in the cash because kids might think it's cool or hip. They probably think if they whack the tag "vintage" on stuff they can sell stuff for more. When in actual fact it doesn't sound that much like the real deal.

Also things are usually played in a different key these days. A deeper pitch seems to be all the rage.  ::)