This I copied from wikipedia... so I did not write this.
1981 is seen as a critical year for the development of thrash metal, but work prior to 1981 helped shape the genre. Earlier influences on the genre include the 1975 Black Sabbath song "Symptom of the Universe", the first riff of the song is one of the earliest thrash riffs. The 1971 Black Sabbath songs Into the Void and Children of the Grave were also influential. [citation needed]Queen's 1974 song "Stone Cold Crazy" is cited as an early precursor of the thrash metal sound; Metallica won a Grammy Award in 1991 for their recording of the tune.[5] Similar to this song was "Ogre Battle" from Queen's 1974 album Queen II.[6]"Am I Evil" from Diamond Head's 1979 album Lightning to the Nations had a style similar to Stone Cold Crazy.[citation needed] German prog-metal band Night Sun had perhaps the fastest examples of early thrash metal appeared on the band's 1972 album Mournin' that featured the songs "Plastic Shotgun" and "Nightmare". [citation needed]The Stooges early work had a profound influence on Motörhead.[citation needed] The songs "I Got a Right" and "Gimme Some Skin", released in 1973, utilized a simple and fast paced beat that metal and punk thrash music would later come to resemble.[citation needed]
Judas Priest's 1978 song "Exciter", from the Stained Class album provided direct influence upon the development of the genre.[citation needed] The fast kick-drum intro and fast guitar solos of the track were notorious for artists of the era.[citation needed] Judas Priest was not a thrash band themselves, but thrash bands like Slayer, Venom, Testament, Metallica, and Megadeth cite them as a major influence.[citation needed]
Motörhead's fast and aggressive music was a major influence on the genre.[citation needed] Motörhead's 1979 Overkill LP may have been the inspiration for the name of the New York based band[citation needed] In 1981 Overkill would write what is often considered the first thrash metal song: "The Beast Within".[citation needed] Soon after "The Beast Within" was released, a Southern California band named Leather Charm would write the song "Hit the Lights". Leather Charm was a short-lived band that would soon break up. The primary songwriter for Leather Charm, James Hetfield, formed Metallica which would go on to feature this song.
The European thrash scene that began in early 82 was almost exclusively influenced by the most aggressive music both Germany and England were producing at the time. Bands such as Motorhead, Tank, Raven and Venom from England, along with German metallers Accept were the artists of the time that were fueling the rising teutonic thrash scene that produced Sodom, Kreator and Destruction.
The band Metal Church recorded a few rehearsals in 1980-81 that were similar to the early efforts of Metallica and Overkill,[citation needed] though not quite as thrashy. The band Venom is also considered a pioneer of the genre because of their work on the 1981 album Welcome To Hell and the 1982 album Black Metal.[citation needed] Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Testament and Exodus cite Venom as a major influence.[citation needed]
The first thrash metal demo may be Metal Church's Red Skies from late 1981. Red Skies was an instrumental demo that combined elements of thrash, speed, and power metal.[citation needed] The single did not receive much circulation and was overshadowed by their October, 1982 demo Four Hymns.
Metallica was the second act on the scene.[citation needed] Metallica released the No Life 'til Leather demo in July 1982, and was the second band to release a studio LP,after Venom released two (one in 81, One in 82), titled Kill 'Em All in July 1983. Shortly following the release of Kill 'Em All, fellow thrash band Slayer released their debut full length album entitled Show No Mercy in December 1983. The European band Artillery recorded the demo We Are the Dead in November, 1983. This demo took a more Black Sabbath oriented direction and resulted in a thrash metal form that was not as fast as the style of Metallica, but had a similar riff style.
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