Metallica was formed by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield in the fall of 1981. Ulrich had, during that summer, met Brian Slagel of Metal Blade records and had secured an appeareance 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``. Guitarist Lloyd Grant (Defcon (US)) recorded a solo 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 was James's roommate, and James taught him to play bass, so that the band could play live. 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, Sammy Dijon of the band Ruthless, was in for a few rehearsals, but no actual gigs.
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. Tygers of Pan Tang vocalist Jesse Cox was considered, and John Bush was also offered the gig, but neither accepted.
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 (US) 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. Since LA was filled with Motley Crue types, they agreed. Cliff's first gig was March 5th, 1983. Ron McGovney was later seen in Phantasm. Problems with 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. They contemplated asking vocalist John Bush, now of Armored Saint, to join but then 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.)
The band decided to continue, and began searching for a new bassist. Among those that tried out was Kirk Hammett's friend, bass freak Les Claypool (Blind Illusion, Primus), who was rejected because he played too well. In the end, Flotsam & Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted was brought in November, being officially sworn in at a restaurant in Phoenix called Tommy's Joint. The "...And Justice for All" album was recorded in 1988, with a serious lack of bass presence, and then a world tour followed in 1989.
