Listening to the Black Album which I haven't done for sometime and it's interesting when I think about the fact that it's probably the single one metal album I listened to the most through my life. I know we're all at diffrent ages so anyone older or younger than me obviously have a diffrent time perspective but to me it's pretty cool that i've listened to this album and songs since 1993 when I at 11 discovered Metallica and metal in general, can't believe that's 25 years ago. Even though Maiden is a much bigger and important band to me, this album still holds a special place for me. Dosen't mean it's my favourite album by theirs but I think you know what i'm getting at.
I totally get where you are coming from. I was 8 when The Black Album came out and my older brother (who got me into metal) was 16. I have vivid memories of us sitting at the kitchen table, drawing lots of fantasy art and listening to TBA. He really played that album to death, for about 3 years, but I just wasn't really into music at that stage. It was just always on in the background, seeping into my DNA. I only really remember knowing the song 'Sad But True' at that time because when my brother was taking the piss out of me, he'd say I was sad but true (and sing it James Hetfield style)
As I got older and my brother moved onto other stuff and I kind of forgot about Metallica. Then in about 2001 I was working my first job, I was 18, and listened pretty much to rap music (although I was getting into to some pop punk stuff). There was a guy I used to work with who was in his early 30s at the time. We had similar tastes in rap music and we'd stick CDs on at work. One day he bought in TBA and blasted it out (he just put it on, he didn't tell me what he was putting on). I was just like "I know all of these songs, what the fuck is this??". I went out and bought TBA as soon as I could and the rest is history. I pretty much binged Metallica for like 6 months straight and never went back to listening to rap music
Within the next few years I made a load of new friends, who were mostly metalheads (or into punk rock, which I also love). For the majority of us (and countless others of my generation, or any generation for that matter) TBA was THE gateway album for metal. It just has something that makes the inner metalhead in you sit up and go "What the fuck is THIS??". It may also be my most listened to album of all time. I now work with teenagers who have come from abusive backgrounds and I often explain to them how important music can be, and is to me, as a way of dealing with issues in your life. Most of the young people I work only want to listen to the popular rap/pop stuff that's in the charts (which is obviously fine, if it's what they want) but a few are definitely more alternative in what they look for in music. TBA is generally the album I recommend to these kids as it's kinda perfect. If they dig it then you know that metal is going to become their life!