METALLICA

Before stadiums, platinum records, and worldwide tours, Metallica were just four young musicians in a garage in Los Angeles.
Armed with little more than cheap gear, loud amplifiers, and a relentless hunger for speed, they began forging a sound that would soon change heavy music forever.
In the early 1980s. Metallica didn’t just join the metal scene – they helped create an entirely new one:
thrash metal

Los Angeles, the early 1980s.
The air is heavy, the floor sticky, and from a garage the first distorted guitar riffs roar.
This is where the story of Metallica begins, before they became legends – in a simple garage, with nothing but instruments, amplifiers, and a vision:
to play music that is uncompromising, fast, and wild.
In 1981, James Hetfield, a young guitarist from California, and Lars Ulrich, a drummer from Denmark, meet.
Both were fed up with half-measures in metal:
a few fast songs on otherwise slow albums, boring riffs, predictable structures.
They wanted more.
They wanted speed, anger, pure energy – and they wanted to bring that energy onto records and onto the stage.
At first, they played cover versions of well-known metal and punk songs in the garage, practicing riffs and song structures until everything clicked.
These early sessions laid the foundation for Metallica’s unique sound and remain a core part of their identity to this day – just think of the legendary ‘Garage Days’ releases, in which the band celebrates exactly these beginnings.
The band’s first live appearance came on March 14, 1982, at Radio City Hall in Anaheim, California.
It was a raw and energetic debut, but it already showed the intensity that would soon become Metallica’s trademark.
In the same month, the band recorded their first demo, ‘Power Metal’.
Though rough and still developing, the tape quickly began circulating through the underground tape-trading scene and helped Metallica build an early reputation among metal fans.
Soon, Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney joined the band.
Rehearsals in the garage were intense:
full volume, endless repetitions, discussions about tempo and riffs, the band always searching for the perfect sound.
When asked why their first vinyl, ‘Kill ’Em All’ (1983), consisted entirely of fast songs, they replied:

“We were tired of hearing only one or two fast songs on records, so we thought, let’s make a record where the shit hits the fan…”

– GARAGE STORIES: EARLY METALLICA –

Their first European tour soon followed.
On February 7, 1984, Metallica played their first German show at the Hemmerleinhalle in Neunkirchen am Brand, near Nuremberg, opening for Venom on their legendary Seven Dates of Hell tour.
For many fans in Europe, it was one of the earliest chances to witness the explosive energy of the young thrash band from California.
In those early days, Metallica often played in small clubs, sometimes in front of only a few dozen people.
But the energy was electrifying.
James Hetfield quickly developed a powerful connection with the audience.
During encores, he would raise his guitar and shout the now legendary battle cry:

“METAL UP YOUR ASS!”

The crowd would explode in response – hair flying, hands raised in metal horns, voices screaming back at the stage.
The phrase soon became a symbol of Metallica’s raw, rebellious spirit.
Backstage and in rehearsal rooms, the intensity was just as strong.
The band spent countless hours refining riffs, experimenting with song structures, and pushing their music further.
What had started in a small garage was rapidly evolving into something much bigger.
With ‘Ride the Lightning‘ (1984) and especially ‘Master of Puppets‘ (1986), Metallica proved they could do far more than simply play fast.
Their music grew darker, more ambitious and technically sophisticated.
Cliff Burton’s musical influence became particularly important during this period, helping expand the band’s sound beyond the boundaries of traditional thrash metal.

During a show at a club in San Francisco, the power suddenly went out.
James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich kept playing – using only acoustic amplification.
“The crowd went completely crazy,”
Hetfield later recalled with a laugh.
“That was Metallica in its purest form.”

Released in the summer of 1983, ‘Kill ’Em All‘ would soon be recognized as one of the defining milestones of thrash metal, combining the aggression of heavy metal with the speed and attitude of punk.
Shortly before the album’s release, the band also went through important lineup changes.
Dave Mustaine left the band and was replaced by guitarist Kirk Hammett, formerly of the Bay Area band Exodus.
Around the same time, bassist Cliff Burton joined Metallica after the band had seen him perform with his previous group Trauma.
Burton immediately stood out.
With his long hair, bell-bottom jeans, and unmistakable bass tone, he brought something entirely new to the band.
His classical influences, melodic bass lines, and fearless musical ideas added depth to Metallica’s sound and would soon become a defining element of their music.

HISTORIC SHOW: Germany 1984

Metallica’s first concert in Germany took place on February 7, 1984, in Neunkirchen am Brand.

One night in Sweden, the band members drew cards to decide who would get which sleeping bunk on the tour bus.
Cliff Burton drew the winning card and chose Kirk Hammett’s bunk near the window.
In the early hours of the morning, the tour bus lost control on an icy road and overturned.
Burton, who had been asleep in the bunk, was thrown out of the window as the bus rolled.
The vehicle landed on top of him.
Cliff Burton died at the scene.
He was only 24 years old.
The loss was devastating – not only for Metallica, but for the entire metal community.
Burton had been more than just a bassist.
He had been a creative force, a musical visionary, and a key architect of the band’s early sound.

Yet despite the tragedy, the spirit that had begun years earlier in a small Los Angeles garage never disappeared.
More than four decades later, that spirit still lives:
in the smoke-filled rehearsal rooms, the wild nights on tour, and in the fans who still shout back Hetfield’s legendary battle cry:
“METAL UP YOUR ASS!”
It all began with a simple idea:
enough slow albums, enough half-measures – let’s make a record where the shit hits the fan.
by Fok ‘bs’