I can also see where they are coming from though, seeing as Metallica seemed to get the most popularity. Seems like an interesting series though, is it on DVD or is it an online series? 

It is an intereting series. You can watch the series online at VH1Classic.com or buy the 11-part series on DVD

 

Were they responsible for creating metal? No

Thrashy metal? No (Motorhead and Venom)

Incorporating classical music into metal? YES!

And a damn fine job at that. They perfected a hybrid hinted at since Deep Purple AND pulled it off.

Kudos to them. WTF happened after the black album though? I know some like that stuff but no one can claim that it was innovative or cutting edge, just ok.

They may not have been the most thrash, compared to the brutal Slayer, but their first four albums are full of aggressive riffing and vocals, pounding drums and pretty much all that Jonas has been saying. I must say that they were more thrash then Anthrax and Megadeth. Anthrax, even though being one of my favorites, implemented various metal styles. Megadeth focused more on speed.

Exactly!

 

To me Show No Mercy sounds like it is Metallica influenced in a way. Listen to Crionics

People forget or don't know altogether what kind of an impact some songs had in the metal community. Songs like Whiplash were a huge shock and I think it is obvious that it is a song far heavier and faster than anything Venom did at that point.

Motorhead and Venom are definitely the godfathers of thrash (and Venom is also the godfather of death metal and black metal) but their music cannot be labelled thrash except in the case of a couple of songs (usually cited as proto-thrash).

In the Bay Area there were other bands doing heavy, fast music (like Exodus or Metal Church) but Metallica was the best and the first to set the standards. Slayer, as already mentioned had to take their cue from Metallica to step up their game after seeing them live in 1983 and still, you can't say that Hell Awaits was heavier than say Fight Fire with Fire or Creeping Death. Scarier, sure. Darker, absolutely. Sicker, of course! But heavier? Slayer sat on the thrash metal throne in 1986 with Reign in Blood but that's because Metallica were aiming for a much larger one (well, I am not sure they could dethrone Slayer even if they tried though... I mean Angel of Death and Raining Blood can't really be topped...).

Damage Inc, Battery, Disposable Heroes are absolute heavy as fuck and fast as hell thrash metal songs. Megadeth's classic Peace Sells is notably lighter and Anthrax were on the same level. Exodus? After the monumental Bonded by Blood, if anything got more accessible by thrash metal standards.

And it should be good to remember that the Big 4 of thrash had nothing to do with "first" or "most influential", even though they were certainly among them. It was all about the most popular and believe it or not during the Clash of the Titans tour (91), Slayer was the LEAST popular even though by that time they were the undisputed kings of thrash.

Anthrax is great,dude!!

As for Mustaine's influence, he sure had a hand in shaping thrash metal from the start but the heaviest songs (like Whiplash, the final part of No Remorse, Motorbreath, the Hit the Lights riff) weren't his with the exception of Metal Militia. He wrote Jump in the Fire, Four Horsemen (as Mechanix) and Phantom Lord which are the closest to "traditional" heavy metal. His statements that he created thrash are really self-flattering as he always mentions the solos as being an integral part of it. Hetfield was way more responsible and it can be confirmed with the host of GBH and Discharge shirts he was seen wearing afterwards. He did not know those bands before Kill Em All was released but it is telling that he really appreciated the other extreme stuff of the time. 

Also let us not forget that Dave Mustaine was calling Megadeth the state of the art speed metal band, he wanted to be the fastest and the most technical (and certainly faster and more technical than Metallica, to prove a point).

Anthrax is VERY influential. Perhaps some don't like the kind of influence they had but it is undeniable. For starters, SOD was a HUGE influence to the groove/nu/rap/modern/whatever metal. How many bands have ripped off March of the SOD? That's 1985! The crossover, the image, the skate culture, the I'm the Man single which catapulted them to success, their tour with Public Enemy (unheard of! hip hop and thrash metal?). They really sold more than Slayer. As did Megadeth. 

There is a nice story about all that during the Clash of the Titans tour, when Mustaine was wondering why Slayer got to co-headline (and thus play last some nights) since they were clearly less popular than both Megadeth and Anthrax. And Scott Ian kinda agreed with that. Then famously, Slayer blew both bands out of the water on stage and in the merch sales, which resulted to the other two asking them to play last every night because otherwise the crowd was too exhausted for their shows. And again, famously, Kerry King was saying "serves them fuckers right, they wanted to rotate, we'll rotate!"

Good times. The least popular thrash metal band out of the big 4 destroying live the other two. Metallica of course in 1991 were on a completely different level.

Nope. Not the neoclassical type of metal. Cliff Burton was a trained classical musician and incorporated it into the songwriting. Many of those catchy chord progressions have their roots in J.S.Bach amongst others. Subtle but that's what makes it utterly brilliant. I will go along with Metallica as the kings of early thrash. They really did add an extra oomph to the metal world unlike any other of the day.

I don't understand why people think Anthrax is the worst of the big four often, they are very underrated. Anthrax is my personal favorite of the big four.  

They were very important in the development in thrash and speed metal, just listen to Spreading the Disease.

Dude, you're just different! There's no accounting for personal preferences of this sound or that. It's all good. I don't really have a favorite. They all had their moments good and bad. Personally i love Among The Living and Persistence Of Time but i even love their Fistful Of Metal. Their 90s stuff isn't my favorite though

I agree, I'm not too big on the John Bush-era either. I did love 'We've Come for You All' though. I know everyone has their own preferences, I've just never understood why Anthrax gets the least notice of the big four   

How about Among the Living and Persistence of Time 

Both definitely are amazing!! 

Worship Music was a great comeback album 

He had some classical training in college and some piano lessons, which I think is different than a trained classical musician, especially since he was not playing any classical instruments.

Be that as it may, I don't understand the distinction you are making with "neo-classical" and "incorporating classical music into metal". There is no obvious link between Burton's parts and classical music, except for the quiet part in To Live is to Die, which is way too late to credit the band for accomplishing what you say. What you call "subtle", I would call "essentially non-existent". In fact, I would argue that what you say Blackmore and Purple hinted at is way more prominent than anything Metallica did (like the live concerto - Metallica's S&M is shit by the way, just for the record). Cliff's contribution was knowledge of harmony and such, which he passed on to Hetfield and of course his free-spirited sense of songwriting which greatly influenced Metallica, hence the huge difference between Kill em All and Ride the Lightning. The adventurous songwriting is certainly not something pioneered by Metallica, even though I happen to believe that there are few things more perfect than the song Master of Puppets.

However, the main point is that you are grossly overlooking Malmsteen who truly fused classical music and metal, before Metallica and a gazillion times more notably than Metallica  - and his influence can be traced back to Blackmore partially (but how much further) and his documented studying of classical composers (including Bach and Paganini). His influence is undeniable. The fact that they called his stuff "neoclassical" is the dead giveaway. And every genre of metal that has classical music influences takes its cue from Malmsteen really. Before him of course there were many who had traces of direct classical music influences, like Blackmore and Rainbow (Difficult to Cure?), Van Halen's eruption bit, Ozzy's (well, Randy's) Mr Crowley intro, even that Am I Evil? lick at the beginning, just from the top of my head. But all these are just small things, little tastes of classical flavour. And still way more prominent than any Metallica bit (again, save To Live is to Die). And of course this is not even touching upon the prog rock and symphonic rock stuff of the 70s, which did feature actual classically trained pianists as keyboard players for example. But Malmsteen, man, he just totally fused the two, essentially created the hybrid, as you put it.

I love Cliff Burton more than most people and I have a VERY, VERY soft spot for him and I always say that without him Metallica would never have accomplished 1/10th of what they did. But to claim he (and the band) brought classical music to metal is waaaaay off the mark IMO.