My Top 5 Metallica songs

Metallica were formed in California in 1981, when Lars Ulrich their drummer put an advertisement in a local paper and James Hetfield answered the call. Lars and James decided to enter another advertisement in the same newspaper looking for a lead guitarist, enter Dave Mustaine who later went on to found Megadeath. It was only five months after James and Lars first met that the band was officially formed, the name Metallica came about after one of Lars friends, Ron Quintana, tried to come up with names for a Metal fanzine, Lars liked the sound of one of his ideas and claimed it.

In early 1982, Metallica recorded their first song "Hit the Lights" which featured on a Metal compilation, Metal Massacre, which was released by Metal Blade records, this was thanks to Lars Ulrich who had gotten the go ahead from the labels founder even before the band was fully formed. The song was successful and spurred the band on to creating their first album, this album was originally to be named Metal up your Ass, but as the name was deemed as unsuitable by the record company it went on to be named Kill 'Em All. Prior to the recording of this album, Dave Mustaine was kicked out of the band due to alcohol problem and was quickly replaced by Kirk Hammett, who has remained with them ever since. Cliff Burton was also a member at this point after Lars and James had seen him play with his band Trauma.

While Kill 'Em All didn't make a huge amount of money, it began to create an underground fan base and pave the way for them to becoming one of the most successful bands in the world.