James Hetfield Vocals, Guitars (rhythm)
Kirk Hammett Guitars (lead)
Cliff Burton Bass (R.I.P. 1986)
Lars Ulrich Drums
Metallica was formed by
Lars Ulrich and
James Hetfield in the fall of 1981. Ulrich (who originally went to the US to play tennis) had, during that summer, met
Brian Slagel of
Metal Blade Records
and had secured an appearance on an upcoming compilation called Metal
Massacre but had no band. He quickly found Hetfield, who was playing in
Leather Charm at the time, and one day in December of 1981, they
recorded the rhythm tracks to a remake of a Leather Charm song, "Hit the
Lights." Hetfield tracked all guitars and bass on this recording,
except for one of the solos which was performed by guitarist
Lloyd Grant in January 1982, and the song appeared on Metal Massacre in February.
Permanent guitarist Dave Mustaine (
Megadeth)
was brought in in February of 1982, and a bassist, Ron McGovney was
found. Ron (who also designed the famous Metallica logo) was James's
roommate, and James taught him to play bass, so that the band could play
live. This line-up re-recorded "Hit the Lights" for the second pressing
of Metal Massacre. The first live show was on March 14th, at Radio City
Music Hall in Anaheim. James did only vocals, and Dave was the single
guitarist. The band at this point had several rehearsal tapes floating
about, but then in response to one of those being pressed to vinyl by
Bongus Loadus Records, decided to record their first demo, with the
Grant version of Hit the Lights and two covers. This demo was first
given out at the March 27th, 1982 gig at the Whisky, when they opened
for
Saxon. A vocalist named Sammy Dijon, of the band
Ruthless, was in for a few rehearsals but no actual gigs (so do not add him to the former members section!).
Two more studio demos were recorded in 1982, one in April and one in
July. On April 23rd, 1982, guitarist "Damien Phillips" (real name: Brad
Parker) played one gig, before quitting, because Dave wouldn't let him
do duelling leads. James took over as second guitarist live from then
on. Extensive live gigging occured, including one show at Lars's high
school on May 25th at which the final attendance was zero. On May 28th,
Jef Warner was on vocals, but this show seems to have been a glorified
rehearsal. He sang only that one gig. Also, Tygers of Pan Tang vocalist
Jesse Cox was considered, but he did not accept.
A live demo was recorded on November 29th, 1982, on a road trip to San
Francisco. This road trip would prove useful, as the opener for
Metallica on November 29th was a band called Exodus with Kirk Hammett on
guitar. Also, Metallica attended a Trauma gig, with Cliff Burton on
bass, and immediately tried to convince Cliff to join Metallica.
Cliff was convinced to join, on the condition that Metallica move to San
Francisco. Cliff's first gig was March 5th, 1983. Ron McGovney was
later seen in Phantasm. Problems between Dave Mustaine and the rest of
the band arose in late March on a road trip to the east coast. Dave was
given a bus ticket back home and unceremoniously released, while Kirk
Hammett flew in and the band did not miss a gig. At this time, the band
stayed with Anthrax and from what the band has said, it was very tough
living, as all their little money went towards the band.
The first album, "Kill 'em All," was recorded for Megaforce Records in
the summer of 1983, and after some touring, they cut a four song demo in
October. James Hetfield became the vocalist out of necessity and had
considered finding a replacement so he could be a full time rhythm
guitar player. They contemplated asking vocalist John Bush, vocalist of
Armored Saint and later to be vocalist of
Anthrax,
to join but he declined, deciding to stay with "his buddies band." In
the end Hetfield decided to take over vocals once and for all. The
second album, "Ride The Lightning," came out in the spring of 1984,
featuring riffs from Dave Mustaine and also Tom Hunting via Kirk
Hammett.
Work on a third album began in the summer of 1985, and the album,
"Master Of Puppets," was released in the spring of 1986. When James
Hetfield broke his arm in a skateboarding accident in July, 1986, six
weeks of gigs featured roadie John Marshall on rhythm guitar (he would
later join Metal Church). On September 25th, James was back. One more
gig was played on the 26th, and then on the morning of the 27th, their
tour bus hit a patch of black ice and flipped over, killing bassist
Cliff Burton. (Morbid aside: he and Kirk had switched bunks just a few
hours before.)
Master of Puppets 1986
EXCELENTE THRASH METAL DE USA
The album's central themes are "Dishonesty" and "Deception".
"The Thing That Should Not Be" is based on H.P. Lovecraft's
short story "Shadow Over Innsmouth".
The swelling bass intro to "Damage, Inc." is based on a Johann
Sebastian Bach piece, titled "Come, Sweet Death". Cliff Burton
studied Bach as a teenager.
.......................................
01. Battery
02. Master of Puppets
03. the Thing That Should Not Be
04. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
05. Disposable Heroes
06. Leper Messiah
07. Orion (instrumental)
08. Damage, Inc.
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Ride the Lightning 1984
EXCELENTE THRASH METAL DE USA
Dave Mustaine gets a co-songwriting credit for
"Ride the Lightning" and "The Call of Ktulu."
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is titled after the book by Ernest
Hemingway, and borrows its subject matter from one passage.
"Escape" is an early (and somewhat misplaced) attempt at
commercial writing. Metallica did not perform this song live
until 2012, when they performed the album in its entirety.
"Creeping Death" is lyrically about the biblical story of the
plagues of Egypt.
"The Call of Ktulu" is titled after a H.P. Lovecraft story,
although the original spelling is "Cthulhu".
.......................................
01. Fight Fire With Fire
02. Ride the Lightning
03. For Whom the Bell Tolls
04. Fade to Black
05. Trapped Under Ice
06. Escape
07. Creeping Death
08. The Call of Ktulu
Calidad 320 Kbps CBR.
Kill 'Em All 1983
EXCELENTE THRASH METAL DE USA
The band originally wanted to title the album
"Metal Up Your Ass" but were denied.
The original cover art still exists.
The title "Kill 'Em All" was what Cliff Burton
said after the record company rejected the original
"Metal Up Your Ass" cover. "Just fuckin' kill 'em all"
were his exact words.
Original LP pressings had "Bang that head that doesn't bang"
printed on the back of it. Also, the first few original CD
pressings had it printed on the back.
Bonus tracks on the first Elektra pressing are:
"Am I Evil" and "Blitzkrieg", from the 1984 Creeping Death EP.
"The Four Horsemen" is about the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse in John's Revelation.
"Phantom Lord" is titled after one of James Hetfield's
pre-Metallica bands.
.......................................
01. Hit The Lights
02. The Four Horsemen
03. Motorbreath
04. Jump In The Fire
05. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth
06. Whiplash
07. Phantom Lord
08. No Remorse
09. Seek & Destroy
10. Metal Militia
11. Am I Evil? (Bonus Track)
12. Blitzkrieg (Bonus Track)
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