Was Metallica really responsible ?

As of late, I have been watching the documentary series entitled Metal Evolution and in it  it said that Metallica made Thrash and other side of Metal(the more menacing side of it) more accessible to the masses (there is a legitimate claim to this argument). Do you believe that this is true? I can understand what they are talking in sense(because many bands decided to follow or truly followed that route) but I don't really believe it because bands could have easily decided to stick with their guns(like Slayer for example) and say "screw that we're not changing". Let me know what you think. Was Metallica really responsible for this?

Metallica were the greatest and most popular thrash metal act of the 80s and was a huge influence on thousands of artists. You won´t find many thrash metal acts out there who don´t site Metallica as a major influence on their music, but you´ll find quite a few who won´t mention one or more of the other three. I think that says it all.

I believe that to a certain extent, yes, Metallica founded the thrash movement in the US, especially in the Bay Area and then the world began to recognize that. But 90s here believe that the band lost the post to other bands driven by them as Slayer, Exodus, Testament, among others, continue doing thrash metal today, diferent to Metallica. Metallica is currently one excelent metal band, but the thrash was for history.

Ps: Sorry for my stupid English.


Edited by Gabimm - 05 Jan 2015 at 7:23am

Many artists and historians mention Exodus as one of the originators of thrash, predating Metallica, but Metallica got big almost instantly, and a band like Exodus only ever achieved relative success. But that was the case for many other thrash metal artists from the 80s like Forbidden, Vio-Lence, and Heathen, just to mention a few other contemporary acts.

Edited by UMUR - 05 Jan 2015 at 9:29am

UMUR wrote: To my ears it´s a question of quality. Not that the above mentioned acts didn´t produce some quality material, but Metallica always stood out as something very special, and apparently I´m not the only one who heard it .

What Jonas said.

Was Metallica responsible for creating guitars? bass? drums? NO

Triceratopsoil wrote: If Metallica was the most popular thrash band, it was only because they were the least thrash of them all

That's exactly my point. People tend to forget that, and they tend to forget the historical perspective as well.

I have to disagree with Metallica being the least thrash of them all.

Edited by Unitron - 06 Jan 2015 at 12:47pm

UMUR wrote: I´m pretty sure no one had ever heard anything as fast and aggresssive as Kill ´em All when that album was released (maybe Steve can put some historical perspective on that statement)

A band that has already been mentioned was already pushing the boundaries at the time...Venom.

Metallica were different. They just stood out, sometimes a band arrives and you just know they are destined for huge success, that was Metallica.

Lets not forget Slayer were a straight up metal band before they saw Metallica play.

Perhaps that answers the original question?