Been a headbanger for ages. Probably long before a lot of you were born even ;) I remember when MTv went live, and there was such a things as "Headbanger's Ball" either Friday or Saturday night (not sure anymore, but they showed only heavy metal vids from bands like Metallica, etc). It was great! I was in high school back then. I don't listen to as much music when gaming as I used to, but still love metal & hard rock along with a variety of music. I took classical piano from ages 4-18 and I love Baroque & Classical genres the most, with Beethoven being my favorite composer. I've read several places there's a connection between "classical" and heavy metal. I don't find this surprising at all. I've also read many of the best hard rock & metal guitarists were trained in classical music in their youth esp. some of the more talented lead guitarists in the past. I definitely think there's a connection. In terms of bands, oh my, there's just too much to list! Give yourself 4 decades (or more, for some players) worth of metal fandom, and you'll know what I mean ;) But from the more recent side of things I do like AX7 a lot (along with a few of the bands I've already seen mentioned here). Some faves from various times would include Metallica, All That Remains, AILD, Korn, Linkin Park, Yngwie Malmsteen, plus a whole lot more. When in high school to college age I listened to Ozzy, some Maiden, Dokken, early RATT, Mötley Crüe, Queensryche, plus a few select hits from the "big hair" metal bands like Poison etc (hey, those type bands did write some decent rock ballads back then lol). Best to end it there and just say I'm a huge fan of music in general. There's some types I don't like at all or very little, but that's fine there's all types of music out there for all types of people to enjoy, and if silence is your thing you can have that too, no music required :)