Its funny, when I was in my early teens, I pretty much refused to listen to anything but metal, but learning some piano and Irish traditional instruments towards the end of highschool started to diversify my tastes in music a whole lot more. Its not terribly unusual for me to stick on some motown, jazz, blues, Irish folk/traditional or hip hop if I'm feeling it at the time, but no matter how many types of music I listen to, metal still remains my number one passion. I'm aware there may be more technical music out there, or more "intellectual" music out there, but nothing gives me the same primal adrenaline rush I get from metal.
I know a lot of people see it as, "growing out" of metal. I find that to be a horribly pretentious statement. I like how you put it. Moving on to different things is very different to, "growing out" of something. A lot of people give me the whole, "oh you'll grow out of it" thing, failing to realise that I was brought up listening to classic rock and some of the earlier metal bands. Not only does it create a feeling for me that nothing else does, but I also find I associate it with some of my earliest happy memories in life. While I may find the same appreciation and feeling from other music, nothing else can ever be associated with those memories for me.
My dad is now a shirt and tie, short hair, clean shaven guy. He comes home from his 9-5 and sticks on a Thin Lizzy record. My mum was a punk in her teenage years, she still has the same love of punk music, but her priorities in life changed when she had kids. Both my parents are still just as passionate about music as I am, and neither of them are "bonehead, knuckle-dragging" types, they're both regular, socially conforming people who just like the music.
And once again Mike, thanks for the compliments, I appreciate them!
Am I too friendly to be "metal" now?!
