When I was a teenager I got into Metal. 

My eldest Brother said to me that it was "just a phase". Well, over 20 years later, I still LOVE it. Mostly I love the bands I first fell in love with, but I still discover new bands and like some of the current crop. Bands linke Slipknot who bring something new, for instance. But as I get older I like less and less new bands - basically because I have heard it all before. As a kid I heard the second generation of bands copying off the first and adding new twists along with the first generation still continuing. I don't care much for the third genereation copying the copyers. So I guess I was in a privileged position of being  there for the early years of some genres such as Thrash Metal, Alternative Metal etc. I heard bands like Metallica develop and Faith No More offer something new. I saw the biggest new 80's bands liike Skid Row break into the scene and saw new styles materialise - I remember seeing Nine Inch Nails (I already loved Pretty Hate Machine) play in front of a hostile audience at Wembley supporting Guns N Roses. The crowd didn't consider them "Metal", I wonder what they think now. Metal is a broad church and I love lots of it.