[bamboon]

First band that got me into the genre was probably Angel Witch

[Sixkiller]

I picked up the first "Heavy Metal Heroes" album when I was ten at a little record shop that would get imports in. Some great stuff on there. The track that stuck out the most was Buffalo's "Cold as Night". Great song. There was a ton of great stuff on that album (which I still have) like Grim Reaper (pre-Grimmett), Witchfinder General, Btiches Sin, Jaguar, Soldier, and so on. It was a great first album. But then it cost me a ton of money to get all these NWOBHM albums. And for a ten year old, it took a lot of birthdays to get enough money for all the albums I wanted.

[borrel]

Tygers Of Pan Tang-tygerbay

Played on dutch radio show Stampij in 1981 I think, loved that song, bought the album, never looked back :)

[Animalize63]

Mine was back in 1980 when Judas Priest's "Livin' After Midnight" first came on the radio.

[tharsis777]

Iron Maiden debut album - and soon got into Smason through Maiden and on to Angel Witch, Witch Cross, Witchfinder General.

[The_Sentinel]

Iron Maiden was one of the first metal bands I got into. I knew Saxon and Grim Reaper before I really knew of NWOBHM as a distinct movement with it's own sound. I think it was either Tank or Angel Witch that really got me looking into NWOBHM and then when I first heard Virtue, I dove head first into the underground.

[Heavy Metal 80]

Maiden Saxon&Tokyo Blade

Iron Maiden debut album - and soon got into Smason through Maiden and on to Angel Witch, Witch Cross, Witchfinder General.

Witch Cross the Fit for Fight LP band is actually Danish not British-a great one though

[Ran]

I think that the first was Saxon. I had four Saxon songs in my newfangled mp3 player that I played over and over again. Later I found Diamond Head, but it wasn't until I heard Angel Witch s/t that I really learned about NWoBHM and actively started looking for NWoBHM bands.

[BelphegorPepe]

Iron Maiden of course, but Angel Witch was the one who deepen me into the NWOBHM

[riptorn]

Back around 1980 as a 10 year old kid i was reading about these NWoBHM bands in Sounds magazine and was curious.
My friends and i had just discovered AC/DC, KISS etc so i was eager to hear more of this type of music.
Finally i bought a few 45s from a local independent record shop, "Running Free" & "Sanctuary" by IRON MAIDEN & the "Death & Destiny" EP by MYTHRA.
I couldn't have got myself a better introduction, i was well & truly hooked by what i heard.
From there i bought stuff by Vardis, More, Tank, and the great "Brute Force" & "Metal For Muthas" compilations.
I then discovered the BBC's Radio 1 "Friday Rock Show", hosted by the late great Tommy "TV" Vance which introduced me to a lot of other great bands, both NWoBHM and beyond.
Kerrang! magazine had begun publishing by this time as well, and it was an invaluable source for hearing about new acts.
Exciting times.
I was too young to go to big gigs at this point, but we did get to go to the annual Kelvingrove Free Festival in Glasgow every summer.
The bills were very eclectic and mainly made up of local(ish) bands, but i did get to see a few bands there over the years who fit the NWoBHM mould.
The best of these was easily CHASAR who were really great live, but i also got to see GLASGOW, TRIDENT and the more Prog leaning ABEL GANZ.
My first proper legit gig-going experience brought me full circle, MAIDEN at the Glasgow Apollo, September 1984, the "World Slavery Tour"!
The NWoBHM has brought me endless pleasure over the years, and although my musical tastes are very broad nowadays i always come back to it.

[CultopaidoGR]

Iron Maiden was the second band I heared after Judas Priest but they consider to be more "classic" than NWOBHM. After some time I bought Pyromania, so basically Def Leppard was the band which introduced me in this genre.

[Kroswind]

I guess my experience was drastically different than most peoples here, seeing as how im apparently way younger than anyone else here (22 y/o). I've always had an interest in/preferred old music to any of the shit put out today. I decided to start a metal collection back around 2009 a few months after I graduated. I've always liked metal and classic rock the most, but aside from all the mainstream bands like iron maiden, metallic, and judas priest, I couldnt name many others besides that and I wanted to listen to more bands from this time period to find out what I missed. Turns out theres shitloads of awesome metal bands, some I'd even wager are better than most of the mainstream bands from back then, that got almost no attention. I guess I really just wanted to find out what else people were listening to back in the 80s.

I dont remember what I even searched for, it was something generic like "80s metal" on youtube or something. I honestly dont remember. But strange enough, this band was one of the top results and this was the first band I found from the nwobhm era. Totally obscure, and probably one of the craziest ways anyone could get into this genre, but I loved the band and from there on I found everything else. Now nwobhm and obscure metal bands are almost all I listen to. Such a shame a lot of these guys never got big. Most of these guys truly had talent. What I would give to live back then.

[canadaspaceman]

Earliest NWOBHM bands I remember -
Iron Maiden - "Killers", and "Number of The Beast" album tracks on radio and seen the music videos on tv,
and Saxon ("Denim and Leather" tracks on the radio).
Then a few years later, heard and bought Raven - "All For One", and Venom - "Black Metal" LP's.

[Panora]

Trojan What a Band :) ehheehehe

[canadaspaceman]

Iron Maiden "Killers", & Saxon ,
on a Friday midnight metal FM radio show in 1981/82,

Years later heard some actual vinyl records, and first bought what I liked the most - Venom, Raven, & Girlschool.
They were the easiest to find in record stores and on sale too.

Slowly bought some more later, but just the more well known bands.

By 1986, NWOBHM was kind of dead, I missed out on most of it. Thrash metal was everywhere I looked.

It wasn't until the internet age of the last 5/10 years, when I started to explore more of the obscure NWOBHM I read about in magazines, but never heard anywhere before.

[metalken]

When I was a young pimply faced 'banger of 14/15, I remember taking a bus into the downtown area of the city I lived in and went to an independent record store called "Clear Sphere" where I bought a record that the clerk/owner said I would be into if I like 'heavier' music - Marseille s/t. As it was the first record that I actually bought for myself (that my mom did not), I lived and breathed that album. It was not until a little time later that I found out that it was a part of the NWOBHM when the same record store devoted a small section of a row or records to the movement and the Marseille album was in there. Before 1980 was done, I was full on with Def Leppard, Saxon, Girlschool, and Tygers Of Pan Tang. (I still have all those in my vinyl collection.)

The following year I was turned on to Maiden, Motorhead, and many more.

[HideInPlainSight]

Depends on how we're defining NWOBHM. I heard Iron Maiden (no idea which album) back in the late 80's, but I was more into thrash/speed at the time, and didn't appreciate it. Around the same time, I dug the "Metal Hammer" compilation LP out of my mother's(!) collection, and REALLY enjoyed Venom, Raven, and Cloven Hoof off that (as well as the Metallica track, naturally - it's what I liked at the time). I still have that album, and became a die-hard (pun not really intended, I swear) Venom fan after hearing them on that LP (Mercyful Fate, too, but they aren't NWOBHM).

[HideInPlainSight]

I haven't dug around to see who's posted what, but I have that '79 Revisited cd set. If needed, I can rip it and post it.

[NJ_thrasher]

I dug the "Metal Hammer" compilation LP out of my mother's(!) collection

Your mom sounds like one cool lady.

As for me, I started getting into NWOBHM in high school, when some friends lent me a couple of different compilations along with some Maiden and Priest CDs. I got more into it in college, when I spent an inordinate amount of time hanging around in record shops.

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[drterror666]

That's a hard one. I remember I went on a 'compilation' buying spree and bought Heavy Metal Heroes II and Heavy Metal Thunder, but I guess the first true NWOBHM album I bought was Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden in 82.