Heavy Metaller needs some class ical .

Good suggestions, gentlemen. When I started getting weaned from acid rock into classical, I started with tone poems like the Mussorgsky (I'd add the Levi/Atlanta Symphony version on Telarc), Sheherezade (Reiner and the Chicago SO on RCA) and Respighi's Roman Trilogy of the Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals. I found it interesting to tie the music to a picture or story. In this vein, I'd also suggest shorter pieces, like on Mephisto and Company on Reference Recordings (Night on Bald Mountain, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Danse Macabre) and Copland's Appalachian Spring (might as well go for the Reference Recordings new version, which has the Fanfare for the Common Man and, when you get more adventurous, Symphony No. 3). I found that I gravitated more to the Russian composers at first, as they had a "power music" like in rock that I found exciting. You might want to give these pieces and recordings a try; heck, check your local library, they may have them available for you to borrow so you don't spend money on a piece you don't like. I think you'll enjoy them.

No need for embarassment, Dekay. I must admit every time I hear the second half of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 I think of the Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes cartoons, which used that music all the time in chase scenes. My son learned Grieg from the Smurfs. And of course, with Rossini it was the Lone Ranger, as well as some of the cartoons. And our parents thought those shows were a waste of time......