Anyone else get into a certain type of metal like say 80s Speed/Power metal and have to get every band that exists from that time or do u just pick out certain bands and stick with them?

Rather than overload myself with as many bands that I can from a metal style, I personally try and check out ones who are particularly noteworthy or influential, add something unique to their sound, or have something to say that maybe 100 other bands from their subgenre haven't said already.

An example being that if I were to check out black metal for the first time, I would check out the classics (Mayhem, Darkthrone, etc.) and bands that play a different style of the black metal sound, like Wolves in the Throne Room. But, while checking out Wolves, I also wouldn't necessarily overload my playlist with all Cascadian Black Metal. Variety is key, I think.

I listen to bands I like, then check out similar bands. If I don't like them then I don't buy them. What a stupid question.

Well when I was 15 or so, I had this interest for Slayer and bands that surrounded their genre such as Kreator and Anthrax. But as far as that time has gone, now I just listen to whatever I find remotely interesting to me. DSBM and deathcore have been my favorite metal genres lately, I have a weird listening range.

I do have a bit of a compulsion to track down as many bands in a style as possible and try to know everything about the history/context. Obviously can only really happen with small styles, and not something like 'doom'. Then I'll pick my favourites and listen to them properly. I've done it with occult rock and epic viking metal, recently.

Like i have a ton of 80s-early 90s thrash but feel i need to have every single band from that time period.Same with speed metal.

To a point. My terabyte and a half hard drive would be full though...

But yeah, I like to sample from regional scenes in a particular style of music I enjoy- hunting down albums I think I might like. Not everything, of course. That's just a lot of wasted bandwidth.

No. I usually hear something I like a lot and try to find similar stuff. Most of the time I end up delving more into that genre associated with that group but I'm not going to like every band of that genre

If you're asking whether I have a compulsion to buy everything from a given genre, then no. I have, though, checked out probably >90% of 80s PM bands that are available to listen to, but the vast majority of them just suck. There's nothing wrong with being curious, but don't waste your money on shitty bands.

There was a period of time where I thought I needed every Symphonic Metal album out there.

That stopped when I was sorting out my CD's and I realized I purchased a Winds of Plague album.

To me this is just absolutely ridiculous. Can't really say why exactly because it is so over the top ridiculous that I'm lacking words.
What the hell is the use of getting trillions of songs with nowhere enough time to actually listen to them (and by that I mean listen,
not skipping through an album and heading over to the next)?
Must be a sign-of-the-internet-times I suppose. Did I already say ridiculous?

Oh i wont be getting every thrash and speed metal band from the period i mentioned above.

Not really, I have little bursts where I'm interested in a certain style and try to get as much as possible (This year I've done old Finndeath, old tech death, crust punk, and currently everything torture doom) but this tends to last for under a month so its far from an overwhelming compulsion. I imagine most people would have periods like this.

Nah, for one thing I couldnt afford it; I'd quickly go broke. For another, lets give an example, if I found, say, a blackened death metal band I liked, and decided to buy each and every upteen thousand blackened death metal bands release that I came across, I'd end up with a lot of really crappy, third rate blackened death metal releases. And you quickly realize that's true of any genre, no matter how much you might like that genre as a whole, or certain bands of that genre. I mean, I love most speed/thrashcore bands, but even there, I run into some really crappy bands which I wouldn't fork over a dime for.

Never really done that. I've been interested in many kinds of heavy metal, for example 80's USPM, NWOBHM and traditional Doom Metal, but have never dug so deep as some others might. I usually know and listen only the best known bands in those genres, for example USPM bands like Omen, Savatage and Fates Warning. I know there's lots of good stuff I haven't heard, but my time and money are limited.

On the contrary, I avoid that kind of thing as I think that trends and ridiculously narrow sub genres are what hurts metal the most. Bands that try to copy their heroes, insist on playing the same kind of gear to sound like them, get a copycat singer, flock to the same producers over and over again, cover the same themes in lyrics and produce second grade crap are the bane of metal. The key in music is to understand the rules and then break them in your own way. That's even truer in metal than any other genre.

I agree.

Plus there will be some obscure demos which you'll not even be able to find on the internet. Not that there would even be a point in getting all the easy to find stuff when you'll be spending more time downloading and buying external hard drives.

But if you want to spend the next 10-20 years listening to only one specific metal style, go ahead.

I kinda do this with Cascadian black metal. I searched out as many bands from that scene as possible and listen to them a lot.

Edit: 666th post