Taking bands for granted (or how the NWOTM deepened my love for the old-school)

There is always something interesting brewing over at the Gogmagogical Blog. Even when the Gogmeister is posting about a band that I don't particularly care for, I can always relate to something in his witty and insightful write-ups.

A few weeks ago, he posted a review on the new Overkill album The Electric Age (an album which I love). Within his first few sentences, he offered me a plateful of food for thought.

He said,

"I have always taken Overkill for granted. For someone who is less than a devotee, it's pretty easy to do. They were always there, for about as long as I've been buying music, their ubiquitous green logo and bat-winged skull seemingly always available in multiple variations in the "O" section of any record store I visited."


Yes, this also describes me to a T.

However, I could list off many, many bands in place of Overkill that I took for granted - never knowing how much they actually kick large amounts of ass. Sure, I'm catching up on a lot of lost classics now, but it sucks to think about how many years went by without experiencing what some of these bands had to offer when they were first hitting the streets.

Argh!

If the NWOTM has done anything for me, it has enhanced my appreciation for old-school thrash metal…and this is coming from a guy who lived his teen years in the 80s.

My love for many of the new school bands made me want to invest more time in those who influenced them. In turn, my research and collecting of old-school goodies was a fantastic trip down memory lane, obtaining many CDs I used to have on tape or that I listened to many times over at my friends' houses as a kid.

Also, I got to hear some thrash classics for the first time and purposely sought out bad-ass album covers I remember staring at in the local record store (Hello, Kreator's Out of the Dark!).

I firmly believe that the NWOTM is also giving its young fans the urge to check out the old-school, so hopefully this thought will pacify the angry thrash purists just a little bit.

But back to the statements made by Gogmagogical. What bands did you take (or are taking) for granted? Is there a band you have read about or a killer album cover you saw that piqued your interest, but never checked them out (thus having no clue whether or not they are completely freakin' bad-ass)?

It's unavoidable, I guess. There are simply way too many bands to keep track and we all only have so many hours in the day. However, if there is a band that has been sticking out enough for you to notice them, for God's sake check them out! It will suck to "discover" them 20 years later and say, "Damn, I missed out!"