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Metallica is a heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981 by drummer and former tennis prodigy Lars Ulrich and guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield.
The band was part of the revolutionary “Bay Area” sound, similar to bands like Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, and Slayer, forming the genre which is known as thrash metal. Their big commercial breakthrough came with their fifth album “Metallica”, also known as the Black Album. They’ve been a huge influence for plenty of new metal bands.
On October 28th 1981, drummer Lars Ulrich made guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield an offer he couldn’t refuse: “I?ve got a track saved for my band on Brian Slagel’s new Metal Blade label.”
In fact, Lars didn’t have a band at that time, but he did when James joined him. The two recorded their first track on a cheap recorder with James performing singing, rhythm guitar and bass guitar duties. Lars dutifully pounded the drums, helped with musical arrangements and acted as manager. Hetfield’s friend and housemate Ron McGovney was eventually talked into taking up bass and Dave Mustaine took lead guitar.
The band adopted the name Metallica after a suggestion from Bay Area friend Ron Quintana, and they quickly began gigging in the Los Angeles area opening for bands like Saxon. Eventually recording a fully-fledged demo called No Life Til Leather, Metallica quickly saw the tape whistle around the metal tape-trading underground and become a hot commodity, with San Francisco and New York particularly receptive. |
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