JRBain

Nay. My Small Stone goes pre-overdrive pedal, too. It sounds

Pretty much. I liked metal when I was a 14 year old with a bad attitude. Angry music was just the thing. Nothing seriously heavy, but I liked Metallica, System of a Down, POD and the like, as well as RATM and Audioslave. Largely what was popular with my friends with whom I listened to music, I guess... I grew out of it pretty quickly. It wasn't long before I became more interested in RHCP, and I moved on from them to Steve Vai, became decidedly more interested in Pink Floyd, discovered Dream Theater, and then began to rediscover Pat Metheny's music (which I'd been into since I was a small child - My parents are big fans). DT was my first major musical interest as a guitar player (which happened when I was 16). John Petrucci was the first guitar player that majorly impacted on me as a player, and that I'd call an 'influence'. I was obsessed with that band for about two years solidly, before I majored more on Pat Metheny's music, which I did the same thing with before finally diversifying and listening to a more healthy mixture. I guess I might have headed in the metal direction had I succeeded in mastering the fast picking stuff, which I still practice, and still can't do. Getting there little by little. Maybe. However, for all that, one summer (I think it was '09) I did get into Opeth in a big way. I only bought BWP and GR (being a broke student at the time, and being a broke unemployed graduate now ), but I really liked that music a lot. I still do occasionally listen - I like the music, it's just that, to concur with the sentiments of this thread, I'm just not into aggressive, angry metal anymore. Now at the age of 21, I like to listen to music that inspires, relaxes, and/or makes me happy. Metal doesn't do that, and it never has. I'm currently on a major Floyd kick.