[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]The band Metallica was formed on October 15
1981 by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Starting at the very beginning
on February 10 1962 Cliff Burton was born. On November 18 of the same
year Kirk Hammett was born. On March 4 1963 Jason Newstead was born. On
August 3 James Hetfield was born and on December 26 Lars Ulrich was
born. These are the main members in the band Metallica.[/color][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]It was 1977 when Jason
Newstead formed his first band Diamond with Kevin Kendrick, Todd
Smiedendorf and Tom Depoy in Niles, Michigan U.S.A. it was also in this
year that the Newstead family relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the
September of this year James Hetfield started his first year at Downey
high school and befriended Ron Mcgovney who would latter become the
first bassist in Metallica.[/color][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]In 1978 James Hetfield
joined his first band Obsession with Jim Arnold, Rich and Ron Veloz.
1979 was the year when James's mother passed away and this led to the
family relocating to L.A California[/color][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]ames formed a band
called Phantom Lord in 1980 - 1981 with Jim Mulligan and Hugh Tanner. It
was also in this year that James first got together with Lars Ulrich.
This happened after replying to an advert in local paper the Recycler
where Lars was advertising to find like minded musicians. This lead to
the infamous falling cymbal and bad playing experiences. James felt that
he couldn't play with Lars at his current skill le.[/color][/font][font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]el[/color][/font][font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]Ron Mcgovney joined
Phantom Lord which renamed to Leather Charm but the band fell apart when
the drummer and guitarist left. It was in this year that Lars persuaded
friend Brian Slagel to include a band he could get together to have a
slot on a heavy metal compilation LP that he was producing. Lars
approached James with the idea of forming a band but this time with the
offer of getting a song onto a record which would become the
"Metal Massacre L.P[/color][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]he band METALLICA is
formed on October 15 1981.[/color][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]ctober 31
Jason Newstead and Tom Hamlin relocate to Phoenix Arizona from
Kalamzoo, [/color][/font][font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]a[/color][/font][font:009b=Verdana][color:009b=#ffffff]MI.[/color][/font][font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]1982 was the year in
which Metallica really took off by the end of the year they would have
played their first headlining gig, changed their bass player, recorded
four demo tapes and had their first appearance on an official record
(Metal Massacre).[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]The first demo that
Metallica produced was recorded in January of 1982 it was a one track
demo of Hit the Lights Lloyd Grant overdubbed the guitar solo. In March
the band recorded their second demo it was a three track demo one
original song, the second version of hit the lights and 2 cover songs
killing Time / Let It Loose. The band recorded this demo so that they
could get the opening slot with Saxon at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in
California.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]It was on March 14 that
Metallica played there first gig at radio city Anaheim in California.
The demo that the band recorded proved to be worthwhile as they got the
slot opening for Saxon and played there on March 28.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]In April Metallica
recorded their third demo tape untitled but later to be called "The
Power Metal Demos" this demo tape was four original songs the 3rd
version of Hit The Lights, The Mechanix, Jump In The Fire and
Motorbreath.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]Metallica's only
appearance as a 5 piece happened on April 23 with Damien Phillips (aka
Jeff Warner). James did not want to have to sing and play guitar so the
band were looking for a vocalist. James Hetfield played his first gig on
rhythm guitar on May 25 at Lars High school at Back Bay Costa Mesa
California. It was at this point that Dave Mustaine joined the band he
came to replace Lloyd Grant and played lead guitar, the joining with
Dave Mustaine brought the band allot more equipment which they needed at
that time.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]It was on June 14 that
the Metal Massacre LP was released it was Metallica's first appearance
on an official record the first release of the LP contained a few
mistakes though the bands name was miss spelt Mettallica and Lloyd
grants name was misspelled as Loydd Grant. Brian Slagel did not have the
money to reprint the sleeves and they had to stay as the were.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]July 6 marked the start
of the recording of the No Life Til Leather demo tape which contained
the songs Hit The Lights (version 4), Seek And Destroy, Motorbreath
(version 2), The Mechanix (version 2), Jump In The Fire (version 2),
Metal Militia and Phantom Lord. This demo was funded by High Velocity
Records[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]Metallica played their
first San Francisco gig at the Keystone on September 18. On November 11
the band played at the Woodstock in Los Angeles supporting Y&T but
it was on November 29 that Metallica played their first headlining show
in San Francisco with Kirk Hammett's band Exodus opening for them. Ron
Mcgovney played his last gig with Metallica on November 30 it was at
Mabukay Gardens in San Francisco. It was only on December 10 that
Metallica and Ron Mcgovney parted company though.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]December 28 1982 was
the day when Cliff Burton joined Metallica after persuading them to
relocate to San Francisco, this was Cliff's deal for joining the band.
This led to Metallica musically reaching a stage they may not have
reached if Cliff had not joined the band his influence was immediately
noticeable.[/color][/size][/font]
[font:009b=Verdana][size=9][color:009b=#ffffff]1983 was the year that
Metallica really made an impact. They moved to San Francisco during
February and played their first show on March 5 at the Stone a now
legendary venue for Metallica. Kirk Hammett's band Exodus opened for
them on what was to be Cliff Burtons first gig with Metallica. It was on
the move from LA to SF that the band got a little bit, too personal a
view into Dave Mustaines life style. It was decided as soon as they
reached SF that they needed to have a new guitarist they already knew
Kirk Hammett and it was decided to replace Dave with Kirk. On April 1
Kirk Hammett was asked to join the band. Dave Mustaine played his last
gig with Metallica on April 9. It was only on April 11 that the band
actually told Dave he was out of the band and gave him a coach ticket
back home to LA.[/color][/size][/font]
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