THE WORST (AND BEST) GATEWAY BANDS (rock & metal)

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/finnmckenty

[@slashismyhommie8182]

You just need to always show that POD music video. I work nearby where they filmed it and actually turn left under the overpasses practically every day. The ironic thing is the music video has a car crash and that intersection is known for car crashes, every so often fatal ones that shuts down the entire area and the freeway exits right there. It's a very poorly planned intersection with on and off ramps and off ramps only have stop signs and everyone's driving aggressively mix in all the UPS trucks from the hub on top of the hill as well as semi's l, it's a fluster cluck.

[@ibikun5493]

I’m happy you know about Naruto vs Sasuke. I love you more than I already did

[@benjaminhawksleysr6573]

Black Sabbath was my gateway into heavy music. Shout out from across the Sound in Kitsap county!

[@christiandauz3742]

Rise Against?

[@optioningthabears861]

89.9 kgrg was the gateway to puget sound hard-core they give anyone who calls tickets to every concert in the sound (i went 2001-7 i went free to most shows) and buy half the tickets thus keeping the scene alive how many other college radio stations have had so many scenes they helped push I bet all the best scenes have a radio behind the scenes getting the music out

[@dylanvasicadrums]

I agree that Avenged Sevenfold, and Linkin Park Are great gateway bands ,they’re the reason why I play drums and got into deathcore and much heavier music.

[@AFacemarkedbyFea]

Fuck yes. The rev is my hero and the reason I drum

[@stephentmw]

Same here buddy.

[@SkyKid8492]

Indeed

[@adamsauers3734]

Sorry man

[@johnran6015]

I was into death metal before those bands hit so they were just bands that were mocked, however my gateway bands were fucking Skid Row and Great White so I don't think that's any better.

[@oneilprovost2287]

"When it's really well done, any genre can be good"... it took me a long time (decades) to learn this, but once I did, it opened up entire galaxies of music. Life changing, really.

[@DrunkMoblin]

This is what I love about Finn’s breakdowns so much. Even though I may not like a genre, I’ve learned of bands that I liked, and learned to just respect a lot of these musicians more.

[@beforemanhattan]

This is an underrated ideology for sure. 💯 agree. 🤘

[@kfox420]

Using "One" as the first example is so fitting. Growing up, family members listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, etc... And rock was popular at the time with Poison, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, etc... And I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. I was listening to Michael Jackson, Kid & Play, Vanilla Ice, etc... But one night at my uncle's house he let me watch Headbangers Ball, and I saw the video for Metallica's "One", and I was instantly hooked. From that point on I found Anthrax, Megadeth, Sepultura, Slayer, and so on.

[@mcfleury]

I had the video for One on my iPod classic as a teen and watched it like a zillion times, great tune great video

[@xhameed5916]

I can definitely relate. After I found Metallica in the mid 80s, I was never the same. Not a big leap to thrash, punk, etc.

[@rycolligan]

For real, I bought the cassette for “Justice” having never heard it, because it looked cool, and when “One” came on I had the closest thing in my life to a religious experience.

[@markswinson4878]

The fall of troy changed my life as far as music goes, really sent me down the rabbit hole as far as post hardcore and mathcore goes now i have a deep appreciation for so many genres of music

[@ThatOneDude521]

I’m gonna have to agree with you there. Doppelganger has to be one of my absolute favorite albums of all time just because the songs fucking rule and because it introduced me to so many other math rock and post-hardcore bands afterwards.

[@stevexrawr]

I agree I just saw them in Anaheim for the Anniversary of Manipulator and they still definitely hold up! One of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time and that show also introduced me to seeyouspacecowboy and holy shit this band was savage live!!

[@darianmongiovi1052]

Ska and reggae are very meaningful genres to me. The red pill for my love of music, it's really easy to sit back and call any genre cheesy. Grew up around a large Jamaican community, and part of the skate scene.. its always amazing to me how the different cultures in this world come together.

[@Bartholomule01]

For me it definitely starts with playing Tony Hawk games and eventually exploring the artists both from an adjacent to the ones featured on the game. I played the first two games so much and skateboarding/Pokémon were two of the biggest cultural impacts on me growing up.

[@Trizvdl]

Yeah, same, Tony Hawk and the Punk-O-Rama cd's by epitaph after that. Those were the most influental, but first rock record was The Offspring's Conspiracy Of One so in the end it's always boiling down to one specific artist most of the time

[@jamesb5393]

@@Trizvdl Yessss, 100% this! Goldfinger have been my favourite band ever since

[@lockecole6220]

god this is so relatable. there was no internet back then and playing tony hawks 1 and 2 on playstation back then introduced me to bands i did not know at the time. i love lagwagon ever since!

[@MrLildiamond78]

Tony Hawk PS2 was the game that introduced me to RATM

[@gumbydar]

Mine was Saosin. Went to my first show and it was a Saosin show. I was blown away. I immediately bought a guitar and started a band. When Saosin eventually came back to my town I got to play a show with them.

[@larrykeach]

Bro that’s actually so sick. Congrats on a hell of an achievement.

[@andrewquiroz4335]

Cove Reber or Anthony Green? I got into Anthony more recently but Cove has a special place in my heart

[@gumbydar]

@@andrewquiroz4335 it was Anthony when I first saw them but when they came back it was Cove

[@hendersongalbreath1072]

I got into metal in 1994 when I was 11. You don't really have "your own" music at that age, just whatever is on in your parents' car or at home, and for me that was soft-rock and pop. In 6th grade, a friend gave me a cassette tape with a whole bunch of bands off the radio, and one of the songs was Metallica's "One". From the second I heard that song, I was blown away by how fast and loud it got, the fact that the vocalist was just SCREAMING....I was all-in. About a year later, while playing a PC game, someone mentioned the band Mayhem and again, I was blown away. You mean it gets heavier and faster than Metallica!?!? From then on, I was completely in love with black metal, thrash, grindcore, death metal, and I was scouring the proto-internet for ANYTHING like it. I have never looked back.

[@Tech215Studios]

Haha!!! Same, literally the same except Punk. Green Day, Rancid, Goldfinger. My next door neighbor literally gave me Dookie on cassette.

[@hendersongalbreath1072]

@@Tech215Studios Hehe, nice. I got into punk a little late in the game. Of course, I knew OF the popular acts, but it wasn't until I heard "On The Frontline" by The Casualties that my ears perked up. Then I started getting into other bands like Propagandhi (even though they're more of a metal band now), the Distillers, and early AFI.

[@enviousgrey]

My gateway band was Nightwish about 15 years ago. I think Symphonic Metal in general had a pretty popular time around 2005-2010. With a lot of generic stuff as well.

[@aquillawhingate3248]

Was your first album Dark Passion Plays as well?

[@PopCrusher]

@@aquillawhingate3248 mine was actually ‘Once’. I thought that that would be my favorite album, but then I discovered ‘Oceanborn’, and I think that album really got to me. One of my favorite albums to date.

[@richarizard526]

Nightwish fucks

[@AlexKrippner]

I fell into the Christian core camp. Bought both august burns red and blessthefalls first albums at a Christian bookstore. That definitely started me down the heavy music path

[@off6848]

Blessthefall were my neighbors I jammed a few times. I was in a tech death band at the time my friends hated anybody like that but I was opened minded always just tryna jam

[@TheSuburban15]

Are you familiar with Thousand Foot Krutch? Maybe unpopular opinion, but I think they are a highly underrated rock band. Never thought of them as a Christian rock band until I searched to see if they won any awards.

[@alexanderalfaro8680]

Oh man, The Almost (band) got me into christian hardcore

[@odinsbeard1117]

This is not the first camp that got me into this music but it’s where I spent my high school years. Listening to Strongarm, Focused, Unashamed, Zao, Living Sacrifice, impending doom and my buddies in Embodyment and Society’s Finest and way too many more from all sorts of genres of Christian music. Tooth and Nail was such a huge influence on my life musically speaking!!

[@sterlingarcher2287]

ABR's Messengers is still one of my favorite all time albums and I'm still listening to them. Guardians is an excellent album. They're a rare band that has evolved musically but still stayed true to their brand of sound.

[@bestwesterner]

I used to love watching Viva La Bam and remember buying his mixtape called Viva La Bands Vol. 1 which was an incredible gateway into heavier music. Besides that I played a lot of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater/Underground 2 which really solidified my tastes for a while. Hearing Black Label by Lamb of God for the first time was siiiiiick

[@th3suffering]

I was growing up in the Seattle area (Bremerton/Silverdale) in the early 90s. Grunge was huge, obviously. But what really got me into punk rock was MxPx. They were still a mostly local band from Central Kitsap High back then and im glad to see they are still going strong today.

[@ThePunkRockMBA]

Shoutout to Kitsap county!

[@cloudbloom]

Damn I haven't thought of those dudes in 20 years. Nice shout

[@guimarques013]

Yes! MxPx (specifically Middlename) and Lagwagon were my first experience of what I called "skate music" when I was little.

[@Zorodrumz]

Move to Bremerton, we'll hang out!

[@minimalefty]

Linkin Park was my gateway band. I remember being around 11/12 years old and a kid on my bus had Hybrid Theory in his CD player. He let me listen to it and I was hooked. Ended up buying the CD about a week later and didn't take it out of my CD player for months.

[@chriszhlybear4139]

I have a similar story in 4th grade, 9-11-01 went to my buddies house after we got let out of school. His mom was going on about “You kids better learn how to shoot a gun!” So we went in his room and he put on Hybrid Theory and it blew me away.

[@MK-wx5vu]

Its funny because i absolutely loved a lot of LP songs when i was younger (10-15) but i never really liked rock/metal at that time. Three days grace really got me into metal and all the heavier stuff when i was 18 (im 21 now) But its weird how i loved LP but metal in general just went over my head entirely lol

[@1norwood1]

Roots by Sepultura got me into Metal when I heard it. A friend played it for me in around 97 and that got me into all sorts of bands which were just coming out at the time. Emperor, At the Gates, Machine Head, Fear Factory etc. I still have a lot of fond memories of all those 90's metal bands.

[@leeumhopkins]

i can understand the notion that FCPREMIX hasn’t held up super well considering that, to a lot of people, that is the only song that band is known for and sounds a bit dated but The Fall Of Troy’s catalog as a whole has held up extremely well. their first three albums were way ahead of their time and were also very different when compared to their contemporaries at the time when you consider their musicianship, songwriting, and genre blending. even more impressive when you consider the fact they were all just 19-22 years old when they were super relevant.

[@josephfrost55555]

couldn't agree more. glad you said so!

[@nopantsnasty22]

Yeah I Flippin love TFOT. I guess their a local band to me but still one of my favs.

[@Serphwratt]

I remember hearing Nirvana, Offspring, and Metallica on the radio. I would record their songs onto a cassette tape because my parents wouldn't let be buy their albums. My parents did let me get Tooth & Nail / Solid State bands like MXPX, Ghoti Hook, Living Sacrifice, Zao, Stretch Armstrong, Overcome, Everdown, and Outer Circle. I would buy Black Flag, Minor Threat, D.I., NOFX, Bad Religion, The Vandals, AFI, The Nerve Agents, and Good Riddance albums but have to hide them from my parents 😂. Now I love death metal, grindcore, doom and stoner metal.

[@valenchela_joax]

As a hardcore fan of TFOT, FCPREMIX was the first piece of mathcore/ math rock I heard in my life and formed my musical taste from there. I personally don't agree that it doesn't hold up to this day because it's got a complexity to it despite being single material. For more progressive and complex stuff from them tho any other song does the trick lmao.

[@RalseiSmokinAFatBlunt]

oh my gosh i love FCPREMIX its so good

[@thedadoftown1774]

I totally agree. The way they blended complexity and catchy melody in songs like Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles was definitely priming my young ears for more chaotic and unpredictable stuff like Dillinger Escape Plan, and down the rabbit hole from there. It's still fun to listen to. TFOT definitely holds up.

[@alexxartificial]

I would’ve loved for him to offer more praise on the band as a whole. With that being said, I’m not sure FCP is their own favorite song.

[@longlegcraig]

I love that album that song is on. plus weren’t they in high school when it came out? That’s pretty crazy plus they are still touring in 2022

[@kage6613]

Yeah idg how it doesn't hold up when it's still better composed than 90% of progcore/mathcore type stuff and doesn't sound dated at all (unlike say Rush & similarly older but more accessible prog) entire scenes today are still chasing the perfect synthesis of pop and prog that is FCPREMIX

[@EvotechDesign]

I would definitly like to see another video of this topic mentioning Bring Me The Horizon. With their evolution they are an insane gateway band to explore many different directions of heavier music and genres

[@yoanbertrand7926]

Yeah and a day to remember or bullet for my valentine

[@NytesMusic]

My gateway into Pop-punk, post-hardcore and eventually metalcore was around 2011-2012 when All Time Low dropped Somewhere in Neverland, Simple Plan dropped Summer Paradise and Paramore dropped Still into You. Those 3 songs were on repeat and after obsessing with Simple Plan for years I decided I wanted to branch out my musical interests. So I found smaller/newer bands in the genre like Neck Deep, As It Is & Real Friends. And slowly but surely started listening to the more rock songs of Bring Me The Horizon and eventually falling down a mess of a whole which now consists of bands like: Beartooth, Bring Me The Horizon, Stand Atlantic, Against The Current, Enter Shikari, Maggie Lindemann and so much more stuff all in the pop/rock/punk/metal realm.

[@timcrone9577]

Listening to “Smash” by The Offspring for a whole weekend at Boy Scout camp was my gateway into the scene. Smash blew the door wide open for me and my musical tastes. PS, I was that Trumpet player you’re referring to. Ska isn’t Dead!! 🤘🎺

[@melissa9663]

Yesss Smash is one of my all-time favourite albums. 💯

[@chernobylcoleslaw6698]

And when did you get into real punk? 😏😏

[@amavelfigueiredo]

My gateway band was Yellowcard. I loved the uniqueness of having a violin player in the band. As for future gateway bands, I think Yungblud will be a big one because he's got variety in his songs that could introduce people to pop, punk, emo and rap.

[@SkyKid8492]

Tantric for me

[@skeletontoes7692]

I'll always respect yellowcard because they were from my city and would come to basically every punk show, hand out flyers, and advertise themselves before internet advertising was really a thing. No-one can discount the footwork and effort they put in to make it.

[@frankmenepace1766]

I was extremely lucky to grow up with a family of Metalheads, in fact my dad is still easily the most metal person I know and has a collection of several thousand cds. I grew up around and had access to it in a way that no one else I personally know has, so it's hard to say what my "gateway" band was, however the first band I remember him showing me as a kid was Primus, of all things lol

[@almost.sweettalk.caffeine]

Primus sucks 🤘🏻

[@frankmenepace1766]

@@almost.sweettalk.caffeine they sure do friend 🤘

[@StefanMedici]

Your dad sounds like a legit legend.

[@lostpunkrock]

Side note on Ska. Ska is music what happens when you get amazing musicians together and they just make fun music. Like love or hate the sound of ska you really cant hate on the talent of having all of those moving parts together and it just sounding as one clean unit. Guitars are tight and lets be real the strumming patterns in ska are way more complex than most other genres Also hands down ska prob has some of the best grooving bass lines in the rock genre. Drums find the perfect balance between the groove of the bass and the upbeat guitars. Then you add in a brass section and its insane. Will 100% agree that the vocals are nothing deep but hey its all for fun.

[@nicolej7808]

Fully agree. Like I get if Ska just isn't for you, everyone has their own tastes but it's fun! Why hate on it? Lol When I was in hs I went to ska shows and saw rbf, less than jake, streetlight manifesto (which is full stop an amazing band even for people who aren't typically into the genre. I even knew metal heads who loved them) at warped tour and you could literally feel everyone in the crowd happy and having a great time.

[@TheUnderwriter81]

@@nicolej7808 Exactly. It's fun music and fun music is something everyone could use more of nowadays, not just 13 year olds

[@lostpunkrock]

@@nicolej7808 Oh man Im sooo jealous of that lineup.

[@itsdokko2990]

hey, as a 100% confimed metalhead, i fucking love Ska, and as a bass player, their bass lines are tasty

[@PubstarHero]

Shhh, these people forgot about fun years ago.

[@MysticPhonk-cp1rc]

Avenged Sevenfold played an HEAVY role in shaping my taste in music. I grew up on Waking the Fallen and City of Evil, I couldn't have asked for a better gateway band and I'm very glad their stuff holds up really well

[@hbc431]

avenged sevenfold bring me the horizon metallica and slioknot were the first metal bands i got into i can reliate to that hard

[@SymphanyinSorrow]

The first couple Three Days Grace albums are still killer today. Flyleaf's first album too for sure. I still adore FCPREMIX as well, though not their best song. Big Fall of Troy fan in general though.

[@alvinr6344]

I was obsessed with Avenged Sevendfold's album City of Evil; it had from prog stuff, heavy stuff, introverted feels stuff. They were my favorite band until Periphery came along

[@focusman420]

That album has some serious slappage

[@jasons2210]

For me, it was a combination of old Madden soundtracks, Tony Hawk Soundtracks, and then the Guitar Hero/Rockband days. I was in late middle/early high school when the music video games blew up and thats what really got me in to rock/metal. Then my dad started taking my brother and I to a lot of concerts of some great classic rock names that Im so glad I was able to see. That also had a big influence on the music I liked growing up (and still do to this day)

[@jamesfurz7406]

This, THPS is to blame for it all!! :)

[@jadedmillion8991]

Man, I remember being five years old and we had Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast. My love for The Offspring and Bad Religion started their. Then my cousin introduced me to Tony Hawk Pro Skater to some ICONIC tunes... Man and considering I had a Dreamcast you bet your ass I was unironically listening to the classic Butt Rock in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. Crush40 has some absolute bangers.

[@RudolfHorvath]

My mom was into Hard Rock and I remember hearing it quite often. Then I somehow stumbled upon Iron Maiden, I don't even remember how, but I do remember being fascinated by Eddie. It made me interested in the sound and I started listening to a lot of power and speed metal. It quickly got boring though, then I made friends with a guy playing WoW who recommended me to check out Slipknot. Slipknot was definitely the band that got me into extreme metal and I was obssessed with them. I don't know, their music just spoke to me at the time. They had it all really - the songs, the message and visuals. They were a band that got me into picking up drums and actually playing music. Then I got into Progressive music for a while because I wanted to study music and thought everything else was boring. Then when I got into a music school, I dropped out after 3 months because I hated the elitist attitudes. Some time after that I found The Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die. Been listening to this kind of music since then.

[@thewal1ofsleep]

What's interesting about Slipknot is that they actually got more extreme later on. Their first album is definitely heavier and darker than the early stuff from Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones or Coal Chamber, but it still has the corny DJ scratching and rapping. I lost interest in Slipknot before they even put out their second album, as I got into underground punk, hardcore and extreme metal, but I remember hearing a later Slipknot song and was surprised by how heavy it was and how there were a lot of thrash and death metal elements.

[@k1ngf1sh50]

I'm 35, I want to say I just discovered your channel and love it because I've lived through all of this and it's super relatable. My family all listened to rock and metal for as long as I can remember and my uncle was a black metal fan so I even loved that at a young age. Initially the first two being Ozzy and the offspring, then kinda branched all over the place into cradle of filth, pink floyd, iron maiden and nirvana.

[@lttledreamer]

i was 15 in 2014 and 5sos helped me get more into pop punk in general!! besides them though, nirvana, gnr, slipknot, and metallica helped get me into different rock and metal sub genres. thankful for all of them

[@yasserjamilq8]

Three Days Grace was a very important band for me who now listens to Opeth, Gojira and all kinds of other extreme metal bands. Sure they didn't reinvent the wheel but I still think of out all those bands back in the day, they were probably one of the best imo. As a teenager they really helped get through tough times. I think their music came from a real place especially when you do a little research on the ex lead singer Adam Gontier. Reminds me of smackdown vs raw days when riot and animal I have become would play on a loop! Good days!

[@manifeststation5354]

you Dig Katatonia? like a solid mix of three/Opeth

[@yasserjamilq8]

@Manifest Station oh wow that's some combination! I have heard of them but will check them out properly, thanks.

[@domsnow6418]

@@manifeststation5354 proper band for sure

[@stonerboi7801]

Once Adam left tho they kinda shit these days but I miss them Adam has released some good songs with TDG vibes since then

[@Greendayboy01]

Adam has a legendary and extremely unique voice. He and Ben from breaking Benjamin was pretty much the voice of a generation of hard rock/metal fans

[@Neo_Roquefort]

My gateway into hip hop was Linkin Park. I honestly love the late 90's-early 00's rap and hip hop style mainly from Linkin Park's Reanimation album The big 3 bands to get me into metal was Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace What got me deep into Pop Punk was All Time Low. I always remembered the 2000's pop punk boom on the radio, but I forgot about the genre entirely until I was watching a "don't try to sing: emo version" video and the second clip was Dear Maria, Count Me In. I got hooked and went diving into their discography along with listening to State Champs

[@aaronpanesar]

Respect to you for naming Reanimation ... 👏🏼 Once I was into Metal, Reanimation kept my love for hip hop and rap alive. Kept me in a good balance all these years

[@ryanrickard401]

As a person who was absolutely obsessed with third-wave Ska in high school, I apologize for how upset we get when criticized. My friend and I were driving to a reel big fish show years ago and he said RBF is the jimmy buffet of our generation. 100% agree lol. That said, I think band geek kids of the future will possibly be more influenced by Streetlight Manifesto than RBF or LTJ. Anyways, love your videos, stay well!

[@williamfulk9574]

I love all the 3rd wave ska too but you learn to live with the fact that those who aren’t into it, really hate it.

[@jamesfurz7406]

@@williamfulk9574 And their lives suck.... ahh well, poor them.

[@celticmoose33]

@@williamfulk9574 Pretty much. I just wish people would dig a little deeper than just RBF or Goldfinger, there were/are a lot of really good ska punk bands who don't have that whole mozzarella stick vibe, like Kill Lincoln and Be Like Max just to name a couple. But if you don't like horns in your punk well you aren't going to like any of it.

[@ronjames4151]

Reel big fish do have some great songs

[@danielhady3021]

Reel Big Fish are great! I loved seeing them live. They are legit musicians too.

[@rebellioussoup6528]

In terms of ska, I LOVE Less Than Jake. Been around forever and still sounds great live, and switching between two distinct vocalists help deferentiate their songs if you tend to space out

[@6dragondaddy913]

Love LTJ. Great band even now.

[@michaelruddy9610]

One of my favorite shows ever. Not a fan of the RBF comments.

[@SuperSecretAgentNein]

My gateway was Rancid. I remember seeing their video for Ruby Soho on MTV and at first I thought it was old, and then realized it was a current band and was blown away that people still dressed like the minor villains from an 80’s action movie. I was into it.

[@NekBravery]

I discover Three Days Grace when i was in my friend's house and we were playing a Smackdown vs Raw game (i was listening to metal before, but mostly mainstream bands) and suddenly i was listening the soundtrack of the game and said "Wait, this is awesome!" and took note of the bands name and that's how i started listening to 3DG

[@lostpunkrock]

I remember watching a Bon Jovi acoustic performance where he said something that stuck with me. It was something along the lines of "If you are going to listen to bands and call them your heroes/influences listen to who influenced them and it will open a whole new world for you" Legit how I got into the beatles, bob dylan and Hendrix. Punk my intro was spiderman theme song when the ramones did it and Greenday dookie album. Ska was goldfinger superman Metal was white zombie more human than human and then later on korn, ratm and slipknot Tool was legit stockholm syndromed into liking (had two friends who were obsessed and would legit give me a choice of aenema and lateralus while we drove around)

[@Luissv72]

I listened to rock and metal on and off (Nickelback, TGD, BB, FFDP) but the band that really made me go into heavy music beyond just casual listening was I Prevail in 2016 when I was 17-18

[@FlareFoot57]

New Found Glory had some excellent riffs and rhythmic placements that make my interest in metalcore make a lot of sense. The song that always comes to mind is "Head On Collision", with the isolated riff during the bridge, as well as the ending that sounds like it could have been made in the 2010's. I have to thank my cool older brother for getting me into them, as well as Blink-182, Rufio, Linkin Park, etc.

[@michaelcirelli345]

I remember first hearing “One” on Guitar Hero back in the day, and thought it was absolutely Wild! Hooked ever since, from there progressed to Slayer, Cannibal Corpse. Now, well over a decade later, I’ve gone full neckbeard with the Br00talest DM in Disavowed, Deeds of Flesh, Cenotaph etc.

[@Not_Sal]

For me, my gateway bands were mostly mainstream bands in the 2000s like Green Day, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Gorillaz. I was also very into wrestling which got me into metal. Specifically I discovered Killswitch Engage from WWE.

[@Henjo29]

I liked Reel Big Fish's first album. I remember seeing them on Much Music (It was still a bit obscure for MTv) before I went to Navy boot camp. I bought the album after I got out. I put them into the category of junk food music. Enjoyable, but not fulfilling. They did however have more to offer than other ska/punk bands at the time. They weren't my introduction to ska, but I can see how they were for a lot of people. I saw them live in New London, Connecticut in the late 90's (probably 97'). I though that they were a great live band. Very fun and pretty much a mirror image of their album.

[@jadew2072]

Junk food music is such a great description

[@Itsric_0]

My gateway band was ADTR during the homesick era, which then led me to blink-182 when they were touring together. I have to thank them for getting me in to pop-punk music 👍🏽

[@giovanitejeira2308]

I started listening to rock and metal when I was 12 at my best friend's house. My first bands were linkin park, system of a down, limp bizkit. Now I'm 30 and I'm discovering bands like Black Sabbath , The Stooges, The Doors.

[@khanbomb]

The bands that got me into rock and metal were Skillet, Three Days Grace and Seether The Nerdy Ginger had their songs in his videos and I fell in love with the genre. I still listen to Three Days Grace and Seether

[@johnschaffer6968]

Also for me, Disturbed and Sevendust were big ones for me getting into heavier music in middle/high school

[@dr.juerdotitsgo5119]

Michael Jackson got me into music. Metallica got me into metal. Blood Duster got me into grindcore. Exploited got me into punk, Magazine got me into post-punk, Frank Zappa got me into everything else there is. Great video!

[@RainerWarrior666]

Blood Duster... \m/

[@foolishtyrannosaurus3843]

Frank Zappa hell yeah man!!

[@dr.juerdotitsgo5119]

@@RainerWarrior666 Their album "Yeest" is a grindcore perfection. Humor, gory trash B-movies, perfect use of blast beats.

[@xenos_n.]

My gateway into harder music was definitely the Christian bands from Tooth and Nail. My favorite early on was Ninety Pound Wuss.

[@BeerCityBandit]

Hell yeah, dude! My parents only let me listen to Christian rock for the longest time, and I didn't get exposed to anything else until high school. So early on I was into Relient K, MxPx, P.O.D., and Skillet, and later I got into heavier stuff like Emery, Demon Hunter, UnderOath, As I Lay Dying, and Norma Jean.

[@CeeJayThe13th]

Ninety Pound Wuss is a fantastic name lmao

[@dalenewberry4610]

My gateway into punk specifically (after being a long time metal fan already) were the Christian bands Scaterd Few and The Crucified

[@greglane334]

Same here but it was just by chance. Found an Underoath album at a pawn shop as a kid and it opened me up to the more melodic stuff as opposed to straight DM and shit

[@BeerCityBandit]

@@dalenewberry4610 Yooo! Crucified goes hard! My pastor used to have a Crucified T Shirt. He was an old school punk who opened an all ages music venue in Grand Rapids, Michigan called Skelletones. After it closed, he opened a church, and all the punk kids and old band members from the local scene that had grown up started going there. The biggest one I guess would be the keyboardist from Still Remains. They were kind of a big deal for us. Lol.

[@TheOgreMan]

The bands that got me into the type of music I primarily listen to were Green Day, Three Days Grace, The All-American Rejects and Papa Roach. While I don’t listen to them as much anymore, I can’t help but love them still to this day

[@wiishopwednesdayrecords2959]

Reel Big Fish unironically some of the best songwriters of our generations

[@Leviathan5599]

I got into metal and hard rock from black sabbath. Just something about the dark sound and groovy riffs really spoke to me.

[@takendays5802]

You’ll love this Finn. First band for me was the Offspring. My parents bought my older brother a bunch of cds that would eventually become mine. I’ll never forget how cool I thought the artwork for conspiracy of one was. I’d pop that in every night before I went to bed, dreaming about playing those songs and being on stage!

[@fauxbravo]

I think Conspiracy of One is a pretty underrated album. It has a lot of bangers. It's probably their last album that's solid almost all the way through. Splinter was the first album where I started skipping tracks.

[@derkmajirk2308]

@@fauxbravo Check out their album Days Go By from 2012. It’s an amazing heavy fast paced punk album.

[@fauxbravo]

@@derkmajirk2308 I like about half of it, haha. Their new album is decent, too, but I still don't like all of it. They still know how to write a great song, they just seem less consistent about it for the last 15 years or so.

[@joshuapollack2921]

Raised on classic rock but AC/DC started my journey, a few years later, it was Master of Puppets that really made me get into metal

[@isabellasalgueroc5468]

I am 21 years old and can say that 5 Seconds of Summer was vital for many in my generation to get into music outside the mainstream, initially just based on the fact that they liked those other bands, and with time we just fell down the rabbit hole and here we are lol. You nailed it with Neck Deep and Real Friends. However, can I just say I never understood why people call 5SOS a boyband instead of just a pop rock band like idk One Republic? And they are all very instrumentally talented and do write and compose all of their stuff (except for Amnesia, which was written by the Good Charlotte guys).

[@TheMostGloriousBeard]

Man, back in 2008 when it was the summer before my last year in high school, Ozzy released that one album he did; Black Rain. I ended up buying it but he ended up having a promo which was giving tickets away for Ozzfest for that summer. The lineup was solid too. We arrived there a little late and Static-X was on. They were my first introduction to heavier music at that concert. Soon after though, Lamb of God came on and I was hooked. Ozzy was my gateway but Static-X and Lamb of God carried me through the threshold.

[@layne05]

My mom and dad were both into a lot of rock bands when I was younger. I never really liked anything I heard except for a few '80's bands (Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Journey), but they were both into everything. My dad (who has since passed) was a fan of The Offspring, TOOL. Danzig, Rancid, and Suicidal Tendencies. My mom was and still is a fan of Metallica, TOOL, A Perfect Circle, and Alice In Chains (I'm sure there's more for both my mom and dad but that's the ones off the top of my head). They both listened to the same bands for the most part by the way. Anyway, I hated everything rock or metal related back then (from the ages of 0-7). I just preferred the pop music on the radio until I started playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. At the end of that game there's a music video cinematic of Avenged Sevenfold for the song Carry On. I instantly fell in love with the song, and the rest is history. Since then I've gotten into all of these bands and artists: Metallica Neutral Milk Hotel Weezer Green Day The Misfits Nirvana The Offspring Avenged Sevenfold The Descendents The Ramones Megadeth The Beatles Bad Religion Pencey Prep Pinkly Smooth Tool No Doubt Black Sabbath Iron Maiden Black Flag Hollywood Undead blink-182 Billy Cobb Cancerslug Operation Ivy Oh, and my favorite band: My Chemical Romance And all because I played a Call of Duty game when I was seven. So, thanks Avenged Sevenfold for getting me into rock music. As you can tell, I eventually came around to most of the bands my parents listened to.

[@bananaman4589]

What got me into punk was Tony’s Hawks Pro Skater, combined with MTV playing Blink-182 and New Found Glory. What got me into metal started with Three Days Grace, then The Poison by Bullet For My Valentine.

[@ianmacleod2185]

tony hawk pro skater for sure, had lots of great music

[@Jimmykarnage]

Thps got me into bad religion and Anthrax

[@CryptidGrinder]

How did either of those bands get you into metal?

[@Jimmykarnage]

@@CryptidGrinder I didn't say they did

[@FinalBaton]

''AMV-core'', that was amazing Lol! Your knowledge of how scenes come across, is WAY too high dude, and your commentary always funny. on a related note : since I began watching your channel I've developped a strong fascination for military wife-core and am now obssessed with the idea of seeing a live Skillet show at a county fair ground, way at the back near the Funnel cake and Navy recruiting stands, and pound Coors light all day and hopefully by the end of the night, my drunk ass won't have enroled in the Navy!

[@jordanjohnson6487]

I was looking for someone to mention AMV-core

[@chaoticignorant483]

"military wife-core" Love it! Hinder, Buckcherry, Shinedown, it's basically another term for butt-rock.

[@ZackSeifMusic]

It’s funny you mentioned those early 2000s bands and how they aged. Sure it’s not the best stuff out there but in the 2017-2019 timeframe (before stadiums shutdown) I no lie saw Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Three Days Grace, and Linkin Park at massive stadium shows. I think their reach and influence goes a bit deeper and is still reaching people today. Not as much as the first decade of their existence, but damn do all of those bands put on incredible shows in front of hundreds of thousands of people every tour. rip Chester

[@Scrinwaipwr]

6:48 3rd wave ska totally holds up. Essentially combining pop-punk and reggae, the two of the most summer genres there are? Ska provides a big part of my soundtrack every summer!

[@dansadowski2866]

Ska forever

[@SuperSecretAgentNein]

I dunno if I hear a reggae influence but fair.

[@Scrinwaipwr]

@@SuperSecretAgentNein ska is basically reggae sped up.

[@sloppynyuszi]

@@Scrinwaipwr depends what ska fans you talk to 😅 to many Reggae is Ska slowed down 😄 Because ska came first 🤫

[@Scrinwaipwr]

@@sloppynyuszi aye, proper old school ska did. So it definitely depends what someone means when they say ska.

[@kosio0808]

Absolutely loved that you began the video with Metallica. I remember 14 years ago in high school, i was into whatever the TV was playing from the charts, and then on this fateful day my guitar teacher played this CD with pre-black album metallica stuff. Never been the same :D

[@thevanillamilkshakes]

The Offspring for sure. I knew music before but it was always background noise to me until I heard Americana. Then I got into Epitaph and Nitro bands and now I have Gayle and Cannibal Corpse on the same playlist! ❤️

[@Pixelsdg1]

Same for me! Then went onto like blink 182, korn, slipknot, mudvayne, linking Park etc etc. But Americana was the jumping point

[@fauxbravo]

Same path for me. MTV got me into Offspring around 1997-8. Then Epitaph and Nitro bands, with a combination of checking out bands in the liner notes of CDs. Punkorama 5 ended up blowing my mind.

[@James-xs9mn]

Breaking Benjamin is still a great band, their most recent studio album Ember is awesome IMO.

[@joef7801]

I was and am still a butt rocker/nu metaller from growing up in the late 90s/2000s in northeast Pennsylvania where that type of music ran rampant! (A lot of Octane-inspired radio stations) I got into different genres when I started going to college, making friends and dating different girls. When Pandora came along, and eventually Apple Music and Spotify, then the magical algorithm guided me from my nostalgic tastes from Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit to Volumes and Palisades. Then comes along your channel and I’m getting into NY hardcore, slam, deathcore, and Charli XCX! And to get on somewhat of a tangent, this channel has been a gateway into getting into personal finance and improving myself! Shoutout to the sponsor for this video, your adulting/ personal finance videos, and your shoutout to Ramit Sethi and his book- I listened to it on audible and already took stock of my finances in order to get where I want to be! You’re the man, Finn, for making all these videos from genre coverage, to adulting as core kids, to big fours bands, to evolution of techniques in music production, to what Corey Taylor thinks about so and so! (lol couldn’t resist that last one, but in all seriousness, all great stuff)

[@cope847]

My gateway band (the first band I obsessed over) was Korn. Which led me to Soulfly which led me to Sepultura and then down the metal rabbit hole I went.

[@YaBoiSquiggz]

When I was about 6 I remember seeing Avril Lavigne on MTV and I really seemed to like her music alot. Told my uncle about my newfound Avril obsession and he came to our house with some mixtapes he downloaded off Limewire that had all these different emo/pop punk bands like Paramore, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, and much more. This then got me into grungier shit like Nirvana and then later on into punk/hardcore and grindcore in my teens. The pop punk pipeline is real.

[@jamesacus6811]

12:45 yes! Me and my cousin were talking about this the other day, avenged sevenfold are like the modern Metallica. They’re a fucking great band that a non metal listener could get into. Also they’re amazing artists, the fact that they can genre bend the way they have and do it well (Go from…hail to the king…🤷‍♂️ to the stage😎) is just a testament to how good they are as a band.

[@xijinpingsfavoritehemorrho1328]

Those songs really hurt me. The band died with Rev, cant believe how far A7X fell, some of the greatest rock songs ever... to the fuckin stage.. ugh.

[@Kevin-nt8fm]

@@xijinpingsfavoritehemorrho1328 The Stage Deluxe Edition is fantastic IMO. I couldn’t disagree with you more.

[@moonkream]

I was an electro boy back then and Breathe Carolina were some of my favorite djs. They blew my mind when I discovered the collab with Danny Worsnop, and those were the keys to the emo gates

[@Anyontm]

Ironically, Breathe Carolina started out a band rather than DJs with their electropop album Hello Fascination. Cool that it came full circle for you.

[@moonkream]

@@Anyontm Ya right man, I did their evolution backwards haha. Their album Hell Is What You Make It has some of the best electropopcore I've ever heard

[@loganwilson4425]

Dude breathe carolina wass my shitttt

[@minifest6969]

8:27 Speaking about AMVs, I was surprised that you didn't brought up Mindless Self Indulgence. There is so many MSI AMVs out there (especially for the song "Shut Me Up")!

[@ryanahr2267]

Possibly the best idea for a video you've ever had, man. I was raised in a hardcore fundamentalist Christian home, so all my gateways are Christian artists. It all started with a Christian arena rock band called Petra. They started performing well before my birth but my parents liked them so I grew up listening to them. Then we moved down south and got involved with Bob Jones University, which meant that even Christian rock wasn't allowed. Then I got hold of X 2003. X was a series of compilation discs that released year from 2003 to 2012 and featured a ton of heavy bands from a variety of genres. Relient K got me into pop/punk, the Supertones got me into ska and Thousand Foot Krutch got me into nu metal, which eventually lead to actual metal. Later on Underoath got me into hardcore and a whole mess of weird, in-between subgenres. All four of those bands featured several times each on the X discs. My first major secular band was Linkin Park, followed closely by Evanescence. A friend burned me copies of Fallen and Meteora when we were in college, and I wore those discs out. Also, this video made me realize just how close together Evanescence and Flyleaf started, as well as Relient K and Hawk Nelson. One final note, and that's about ska. I'm pretty sure I was one of those people that got pissy in the comments section of your ska video. I'm not sorry for feeling that way but I'm not gonna bring up the argument again, at any rate.

[@Cleman-02220]

Three days grace was the band that got me into metal and hard rock. They were my gateway. 3 years ago I was convinced that imagine dragons was rock, and now my new favorite bands are Slipknot, Ozzy Osbourne, Slaughter to Prevail, Metallica, Megadeth, Falling in Reverse, and System of a Down. Just to name a few, and I still listen to Three Days Grace to this day

[@camdrouilhet6892]

Bro you can’t be throwing around SOAD on this channel LOL. Finn will get tRigGered

[@takodabostwick8507]

Avenged Sevenfold are up in my top 25 for bands of all time! They're definitely that great, but I had to put other rock, punk and metal bands above them since most of the other bands have been around longer and have also made a more bigger impact on me personally!

[@TheRedDeath25]

Chevelle absolutely holds up. The new album is amazing! ❤️

[@shadows-sweet-embrace]

Yes!!!!!!!

[@brysontrotman5865]

What really got me into metal core was when I first heard the album "with roots above and branches below" (TDWP), specifically the Danger:Wildman intro.... That shit had me hooked! But the album that introduced me to Hardcore was the album "Fury and the Fallen Ones" by The Ghost Inside

[@taylorgwaltney4712]

Learning guitar is what got me into punk. My guitar teacher was a really big fan of Linkin Park and Green Day and Blink-182 and bands like that so he taught me a lot of their songs on guitar and I learned to love the music too

[@brennansehr4152]

I believe Linkin Park and A Day To Remember are two of the most common gateway bands. Definitely for me. Accessible tracks with some heaviness sprinkled in. If they didn’t exist I wouldn’t be listening to Spite today.

[@TheTGOAC]

A day to remember was definitely my gateway to the core scene. Hearing the downfall of us all for the first time was swiftly followed by founding out parkway drive, emmure, bring me the horizon and all the favorites

[@AHeroAlmost]

blink-182 was the band for me .. They got me intro “rock” and sparked my interest into looking into it more, which lead to me getting into heavier stuff or more experimental stuff out of curiosity.. Surprised ADTR weren’t mentioned ..

[@jeremiahthompson7266]

Killswitch Engage is a huge band I still follow everything with. They’re HUGE in metal these days. They’re largely influential for the better part of 20 years. Also, why doesn’t Finn ever mention Atreyu? They are still influential as well.

[@kylewise678]

Killswitch is a great gateway because they offer multiple avenues; from them you could get into heavier, more underground metalcore, into hardcore, into thrash, into old school metal thanks to the Holy Diver cover, and also of course into melodic death metal (and from there you have a gateway into regular death and grind)

[@jaysew1199]

Atreyu sort of ended up going butt rock though. I remember hearing Warrior last year and laughing. Early stuff is influential for sure, but I feel like they've been meh for 10+ years now.

[@jeremiahthompson7266]

@@jaysew1199 I feel Atreyu grew up, matured. No one wants 20-, 30-, 40-something emo goths. They evolved their sound into more metal from their screamo stuff, and sound far better. Yeah, they’re not influential anymore, but their early days saw heavy commercialism all over the world, MTV and Fuse played their hits hourly, they were on every tour.

[@sterlingarcher2287]

LMAO, I am was literally all of these.. It was like you took me through my high school musical journey chronologically and it was a pretty surreal trip down memory lane. Basically you laid out the foundation in this video, and I've been a metal head ever since.

[@lm3412]

My gateway band was some kids from my high school. I went to my school's Battle of the Bands as a freshman and a few seniors performed with their metalcore band, which was the first time I had ever heard screamed vocals, and it hooked me INSTANTLY. Obviously they didn't have any albums out but I was able to look up the band on the vocalist's shirt, which was Asking Alexandria, and it was straight down the 2010 metalcore Pandora rabbithole from there.

[@aidanrogers718]

I got into metal through Linkin Park in 2017 after Chester had passed away and then i really got into more heavier stuff through radio stations like Octane while driving around with my dad 👌 now I’m into bands like Erra, Ice Nine Kills, Falling in Reverse, Bring me the Horizon, Lorna Shore, etc. So thank you Chester and Linkin Park for being my gateway into such an awesome genre 🔥

[@StzaCrizzack]

hahhaha

[@garettturbettmusic]

DragonForce got me into metal and my love of more “unorthodox” metal bands. DragonForce is still killing it! Haven’t put out a bad album yet!

[@devondoll7801]

Respect for Chevelle for having no rhyming lyrics and still being poetically rhythmic

[@MaxC.94]

As someone who's edited AMVs off and on since I was 10 years old (primary hobby from 10-16, really, from the Linkin Park + Naruto AMV made in Windows Movie Maker era), I definitely discovered the most music of all sorts of genres through editing and watching videos. Most of them were gateway bands, too, which massively shaped the music I listen to today. If you look up Volksy or VOLKSVAGON, that's the channel I made after my original got taken down when the first copyright crackdown came after KZbin was bought by Google. Had a lot more popular videos from the Linkin Park + Naruto era before, but that first wave of copyright crackdowns really killed a lot of popular channels, many of who I stayed in contact with for years.

[@jonathanmaner1157]

Saw The Fall of Troy back in 2005-2006 with Poison the Well and Horse the Band. That band rules. So talented.

[@codym3840]

I feel so seen after hearing the section about Christian alternatives to secular music. Skillet, Flyleaf, POD, and Relient K were like my biggest influences musically in Jr high school before I branched out into heavy music and worked up the courage to listen to secular music with swearing and not talking about Jesus lol.

[@sixoffcenter80]

Teenage me was completely oblivious to Flyleaf being a Christian band

[@Jimmykarnage]

Thousand foot krutch and Pillar was my shit back in the day. And ofcourse POD

[@danielflorio4739]

Avenged Sevenfold is so underrated. All their albums are great and get too much hate from metal elitists. I still listen to them a lot.

[@lucyknox1745]

My gateway bands were Linkin Park (my older brother was a huge fan), Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace and HIM. Evanescence was my first concert ever in 2007 and it is the best one I have ever been to and will never forget.

[@charlesgratiot]

Hey Finn, I'd love to see a video on the gateway bands of the late 90s/ early 00's like on the road rules soundtrack which is how I found thrice and brand new, but beyond them, atreyu, as I lay dying, black dahlia murder, Killswitch engage every time I die, poison the well,, and then maybe some more of the alt emo type bands like my chemical romance, taking back Sunday, coheed and Cambria, alkaline trio, all of those first big victory/trustkill/metal blade bands that really saw the whole mainstream music scene change. I started listening to this stuff when I was 16 and I'm 37 now and still can go see almost all of these bands and so regularly. And I still haven't seen really any sort of rock music movement beyond what directly followed many of these bands since. Just a thought

[@linkinparkcky88]

Fall of troy is one of my favorite bands. You never like anything .

[@TheWenzinator]

I feel like you have talked about it a few times on the channel. Tony Hawk Pro Skater really introduced me to some of these awesome bands and then from there discovering Ska,Hard Rock and all those other genres!

[@johnbenedictxviii]

I kind of had three gateways, lol: 1. some of the video games I played as a kid - Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero/Rock Band, Devil May Cry (got me into Industrial music), etc 2. there was this fan-made Metal Slug flash game on Newgrounds which was my introduction to extreme metal, because it had "Lake Bodom" by Children of Bodom as the background music 3. two properties with Jack Black - the School of Rock (that Ramones montage still brings a big smile to my face) and the comedy-fantasy hack & slash/RTS game he was in called Brutal Legend, whose soundtrack I believe is still a solid starting point for newbies when it comes to metal

[@caseygewirtzman5648]

Great video! Pretty insightful, and fun nostalgia trip for me. Linkin Park, Blink, and Limp Bizkit we’re my gateway bands. I hope you do more like these.

[@antthomas7916]

My mom got me into punk and skate culture. She was pretty heavy into the hard-core scene and dated some sharps and guys in bands in the 80's. So as soon as I showed interest in punk, she introduced me to the good and lesser heard of punk bands.

[@infinitetgaming]

My mom listened to The Used's self-titled first album and LINKIN PARK's Hybrid Theory, as well as pretty much every album from Insane Clown Posse when I was a little kid, and I also played a lot of WWE and Tony Hawk around that time, but the thing that made me absolutely fall in love with music as a whole, was the Rock Band games, specifically Rock Band 2 & LEGO Rock Band.

[@nicholasromig5506]

I was an alternative kid in the 90s, and I knew more entry level punk stuff like Offspring and the Ramones, but I didn't get into more underground stuff until I boosted a cassette of old Dead Kennedys stuff from my uncle's old room at my grandparents' house. the world of music suddenly shifted drastically.

[@tylerbasham1491]

A7x system of a down and that first all that remains album this older kid that lived across the street turned me onto damn 15yrs ago now...hope you're living good and clean Nick!

[@christianyaple6973]

That riff from Reject is so good. Cool Living Sacrifice mention; their music still holds up imo.

[@Hellion6325]

The Fall of Troy introduced me to Protest the Hero when I was a teenager... I'm still spiraling down the prog rabbit hole lol...