I thought this would be a great topic, and I didn't see it anywhere so I put it here for everyone. Here is my story of becoming one of the metal faithful.

When I was 14 my oldest sister got married, and my new bro-in-law was big into hard rock and hair metal. He was into AC/DC, Motley Crue, Ratt, Twisted Sister and bands along that line. I was helping them move into their new house and saw his cassette collection. I had never really seen any hard rock or hair metal album covers. (I'm sure I had seen them, but not paid any attention.) I saw cassettes by AC/DC, Motley Crue, Ratt, Twisted Sister and so on and I thought to myself (I know this is terrible to say now, lol) but I thought "Wonder what kind of mess that is?" So I went on moving furniture and such. Later on that day, when everyone was resting from moving, he put on some AC/DC, I can't remember for sure now which album, but I believe it was Highway To Hell. I had never heard anything like it (I listened to all country then, as terrible and lol inducing as that may be, lol). So obviously the AC/DC was like something from outer space compared to country music. I had to admit that it sounded kind of cool though. So, I asked my bro-in-law "What is that?" He said, "This is AC/DC brother." I said "That sounds kind of cool." He said "Well, let me make you a compilation cassette of AC/DC songs." And I said then "Well, I don't know man." He said "I'm gonna do it brother." (He always has called me brother). So, I said "OK." Sveral days later when I saw him again and he gave it to me, I listened to it after I got home. I found it amazing, and it sounded awesome. I was really intrigued, and awed by it, and I asked him what other bands he had like that. So then, he gave me a compilation cassette with Motley Crue, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Guns & Roses, KISS, Van Halen, and a few other bands on it. I thought that was amazing too, and haven't listened to country a day in my life since then. The rest of the story of how I got into harder metal is this. My bro-in-law for whatever reason, never liked harder metal like Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Accept, and so on for the true classic metal bands. I have never understood why, but he only liked AC/DC and hair metal. One day I saw a Hit Parader magazine with Motley Crue and Ratt on the cover. I said to myself "Hey they are some of the bands on the comp cassette Tom (my bro-in-law) gave me." I bought the magazine and somewhere in it I saw Defenders Of The Faith listed. I thought the cover looked awesome, so I got the Defenders cassette. I was in awe of the harder metallic sound, and I thought it was the best sound ever. I kept buying Priest albums afterwards. I kept buying Hit Parader, Guitar World, Guitar One and so forth and found out about all the classic bands, Zeppelin,  Deep Purple, Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Accept, Dio, Testament, Motorhead and so on, and started in on a metal album buying spree. I let my hair grow out down past my shoulders (where it still is today) and have been one of the metal faithful all these years. I know that was a long story, but I wanted to share it here and also read other stories from you guys and girls.

So you were in the same boat I was in, listening to only country. Its great that we do learn the error of our ways through some stroke of luck.