In the early '80s, heavy metal was in danger of becoming a spandex-sporting/hairspray-soaked/makeup-smeared parody, but bands like Metallica brought metal back to its original, straight-ahead approach. With most other metal singers posing for the camera and singing about sex, drugs, and rock & roll, Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield's approach was a much-welcomed break from the norm with his tattered jeans and unkempt hair, while singing (well, shouting) about serious subject matter and bashing out intense metal riffs on either his Gibson Explorer or Flying V.
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Metallica started with a lie. Drummer Lars Ulrich was promised a track on a compilation album of local L.A. metal bands. At the time, Lars didn't even play drums yet, let alone have a band. He convinced James Hetfield that they should get together and record a song for this album. They soon filled out the band with Ron McGoveny on bass and Dave Mustaine on the lead guitar.

Metallica had seen bassist Cliff Burton in San Francisco and tried to convince him to join the band. Burton refused to move to southern California. Since the band had a greater following in the San Francisco area, the logical step was to move closer to Burton so he could join the band.

Their tapes were heavily traded around the metal underground scene. One of these tapes made it all they way to the east coast and into the hands of Jon Zazula. He convinced Metallica to travel east to New York to play some shows and record on his fledgling record company, Metal Blade Records. While in New York, the band decided to oust Mustiane and fly in Kirk Hammett to replace him.

This line up was solid. In the coming years, the band would release Kill em All, Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets. Each album managed to raise the bands popularity exponentially.

In 1986 disaster struck the band. While on tour in Europe, during an overnight drive to their next show, the band's bus skidded out of control and flipped. The accident killed bassist Cliff Burton. He was quickly replaced by Flotsam & Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted.

Over the next years, Metallica became a world dominating force to be reckoned with. In 2001 Jason Newsted parted ways with the band to be replaced by ex-Suicidal Tendencies bassist Rob Trujillo. With Rob in the band, Metallica recorded their newest and angriest album to date, St. Anger.