Thrash Metal / Heavy Metal · 1980s Career
Metallica helped redefine heavy metal in the 1980s through speed, precision, darker themes and increasingly ambitious song structures.
Thrash breakthrough
Kill ’Em All and Ride the Lightning combined punk velocity with metal riffing, while Master of Puppets expanded the band’s compositional range dramatically.
Loss and continuation
Bassist Cliff Burton’s death in 1986 was a major tragedy, but the band continued with Jason Newsted and released …And Justice for All in 1988.
Why they matter
Metallica brought thrash metal from the underground toward the mainstream and became one of the most influential heavy bands of the era.